No kings today, but flattie feast.

[Pickles]

@Hads and I headed out early today (3/1/22) to chase kings and Dollie’s at the Fad / Wave rider and then kings in the harbour. At 5am, the Roseville ramp already had about 30 trailers and 5 boats lined up to launch, so decided to not stay in the harbour. Following advice from Raider Emil, I tried some bait jigs (usually find I can catch as many with my trusty 6lb handline and no 10 circle hooks) and filled the live bait tank in 15 minutes.

We set out for the FAD but noticed a school of gulls and terns diving on a bait school just off Middle Head, so flicked out some plastics, metals and strip baits and hooked into some super-sized Pacific Mackerel (slimies), after boating about 20 we decided to ring a few of my charter operator buddies to see what was happening with the kings yesterday, but even with Intel’, decided to stick with game plan and met up with @The Rev, who was also heading outside.

It was very sloppy close to North Head, so headed to Mugs, Iggies and Manly reef, to see if any Samson or Amberjack were around as water temp was 24 degrees, but only bagged one snapper (42cm), so not unhappy. We changed the game plan and decided to drift for Flatties and glad we did as we bagged out on blue spots, with 2 over 50cm. As always, there were plenty of little ones, but also plenty around 40cm. Rang @The Rev and invited him to share the action.

Heading back in around 11.30, there were 70boats anchored in the bay opposite Chinamans beach so not looking forward to the mayhem at Roseville, but surprisingly at mid day, it was quick and easy retrieve.

We came back with a good feed of fish- but no kings.

Edited January 3, 2022 by Pickles
Spelling

[big Neil]

Good to see that you're not wasting your valuable time Bob. Good result to bag out on Flatties (yum,yum). Did the Slimies get used live or for strip baits? Heading off for a spot of Cod fishing tomorrow, very hot down here. Neil

[bessell1955]

Once again, you always have a plan B.  Which comes good.  Well done on the flatties. 

[Smobaby]

Well done no dolliesa few tiny kings at the fads today live bait hard to come by outside

[Pickles]

1 hour ago, big Neil said:

Good to see that you're not wasting your valuable time Bob. Good result to bag out on Flatties (yum,yum). Did the Slimies get used live or for strip baits? Heading off for a spot of Cod fishing tomorrow, very hot down here. Neil

Cheers Neil, we stripped the Slimies up and kept 14 for the BBQ and smoking. Hope you get into some Cod mate.

[Pickles]

14 minutes ago, motiondave said:

Good stuff.

I think the boat ramps should be a bit quieter with people gone away, or stuck at home with the Rona.

I'm heading out tomorrow arvo so hopefully get something done before the weather turns to poop mid week..

Hope you’re right Dave, ‘cause there were a heap of boats today.

[Pickles]

35 minutes ago, bessell1955 said:

Once again, you always have a plan B.  Which comes good.  Well done on the flatties. 

Cheers Bessel

[Yowie]

Nice work again Bob. A big bag of blue spots goes down well.

[zmk1962]

Excellent result again Bob. Can’t complain about a flattie bag out back up!

cheers Zoran 

[Rebel]

Great report. Well done.

[PaddyT]

Good stuff Bob-glad my tip on the livies paid off!! , it is a bit slim pickings on the kings at the moment though!

[GordoRetired]

Good work again Bob. Lovely feed of Flathead which is always a bonus. 🙂

[Larkin]

Nice catch 👍

some good sized slimies about

[Dan1979]

On 1/3/2022 at 5:30 PM, Pickles said:

@Hads and I headed out early today (3/1/22) to chase kings and Dollie’s at the Fad / Wave rider and then kings in the harbour. At 5am, the Roseville ramp already had about 30 trailers and 5 boats lined up to launch, so decided to not stay in the harbour. Following advice from Raider Emil, I tried some bait jigs (usually find I can catch as many with my trusty 6lb handline and no 10 circle hooks) and filled the live bait tank in 15 minutes.

We set out for the FAD but noticed a school of gulls and terns diving on a bait school just off Middle Head, so flicked out some plastics, metals and strip baits and hooked into some super-sized Pacific Mackerel (slimies), after boating about 20 we decided to ring a few of my charter operator buddies to see what was happening with the kings yesterday, but even with Intel’, decided to stick with game plan and met up with @The Rev, who was also heading outside.

It was very sloppy close to North Head, so headed to Mugs, Iggies and Manly reef, to see if any Samson or Amberjack were around as water temp was 24 degrees, but only bagged one snapper (42cm), so not unhappy. We changed the game plan and decided to drift for Flatties and glad we did as we bagged out on blue spots, with 2 over 50cm. As always, there were plenty of little ones, but also plenty around 40cm. Rang @The Rev and invited him to share the action.

Heading back in around 11.30, there were 70boats anchored in the bay opposite Chinamans beach so not looking forward to the mayhem at Roseville, but surprisingly at mid day, it was quick and easy retrieve.

We came back with a good feed of fish- but no kings.

Hey Pickles.

 

Gotta love the ever reliable fall back options of flathead. We were in the tinnie beside you at Nelson Park Marker, it was completely dead with no kings,, downrigged heaps of markers in the main harbour, and several wrecks without a single strike.

The ramp was great when we came back in at 10am, as the rangers were their turning cars, and boaties both away since the carpark was full, which made retreiving a dream with no one on the ramps since nobody could find parking spots. Great the see the rangers out in force and booking those who were parked illegally.

 

Dan

[Pickles]

On 1/10/2022 at 7:35 AM, Dan1979 said:

Hey Pickles.

 

Gotta love the ever reliable fall back options of flathead. We were in the tinnie beside you at Nelson Park Marker, it was completely dead with no kings,, downrigged heaps of markers in the main harbour, and several wrecks without a single strike.

The ramp was great when we came back in at 10am, as the rangers were their turning cars, and boaties both away since the carpark was full, which made retreiving a dream with no one on the ramps since nobody could find parking spots. Great the see the rangers out in force and booking those who were parked illegally.

 

Dan

 Hey Dan - bummer about the Kingies - still better than staying at home and mowing the lawns. It’s great to touch base with Raiders on the water🙂👍