Port Hacking - mixed bag

[Yowie]

Headed out early this morning to Lilli Pilli, and it was one of those days.

Anchored on the edge of the deep water, pulled up a couple of large yakkas so cut them up and used them for bait, the pillies produced nothing. Prior to sunrise, there were fish jumping about, mostly Watson bonnies, some leaping out of the water and out of casting range. Once the sun hit the water, the fish disappeared, though I did pull out the mack tuna on a lure, quite a speedy fish for it's size.

The yakka strips produced the reddie, tailor, crab, and what I though was a good fish at first on a handline, but turned out to be a long tailed ray, quite a speedy critter.

Once the sun was up, I up-anchored and pumped a few nippers, then drifted the Lilli Pilli flats. I only planned to stay a short while, but found some fish so fished there for a few hours. The nippers produced the bream, whiting, flattie, sand mullet and a trevally about 40cm that was released. The mullet contained some roe so it is spawning time for them - could have caught plenty but had enough fish. 

As I was about the head home, fish started jumping over the sandbank at the mouth of South West Arm so I headed over at at pace and threw a metal amongst them for the 2 Watson bonnies before they disappeared for good. A few feeds for me, and some for family as well.

[hookerbruce]

Excellent result, plenty of eating fish and fish for bait. Looked for a report from you yesterday but you went today. Had other things happening today and thinking of a short trip in the morning will see what the weather is in the morning.

[Blackfish]

Great mixed bag and certainly a interesting array of fish Yowie.

[Pickles]

Top work again sensei - a nice mixed bag there Dave.

[Isaac Ct]

Great stuff Yowie, back to the usual habitats. Getting up early and absolutely killing it, well done.

[Little_Flatty]

Nice work Yowie. Would you call this normal or is it a slightly bigger bag of fish than usual (even for you)?

Regardless, full marks for diversity. Not often you see a mullet and whiting alongside a mack tuna and a watsons leaping bonito! Shows your versatility. If there was a king in the mix, that would just complete it!

[Yowie]

3 hours ago, hookerbruce said:

Excellent result, plenty of eating fish and fish for bait. Looked for a report from you yesterday but you went today. Had other things happening today and thinking of a short trip in the morning will see what the weather is in the morning.

Just one of those days Bruce, the fish were biting. Breadcrumbed fillets tonight of whiting, bream, flattie and mullet - my son and his girlfriend had a good feed with us. More to go.

Hopefully you can give it a go Wednesday.

2 hours ago, Blackfish said:

Great mixed bag and certainly a interesting array of fish Yowie.

Thank you. A bit of everything today, something to eat and something to salt for bait.

1 hour ago, Pickles said:

Top work again sensei - a nice mixed bag there Dave.

Thank you Bob, one of those days when the fish are on the bite.

19 minutes ago, Isaac Ct said:

Great stuff Yowie, back to the usual habitats. Getting up early and absolutely killing it, well done.

Thank you Issac. Picked the right spots today. Plenty of whiting but not many biting - as I say, if you can see the whiting, they can see you and are less likely to bite.

3 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

Nice work Yowie. Would you call this normal or is it a slightly bigger bag of fish than usual (even for you)?

Regardless, full marks for diversity. Not often you see a mullet and whiting alongside a mack tuna and a watsons leaping bonito! Shows your versatility. If there was a king in the mix, that would just complete it!

It is a good mixed bag of fish, better than normal.

If I caught a kingie, It would have been tossed back. The wife does not like them as the flavour is too strong. In saying that, many years ago I had a holiday at Lord Howe Island, and the flavour of the kingies there is superior to those caught in NSW.

[big Neil]

Fabulous result Yowie. How do you decide what to eat first? bn

[Restyle]

Quite the diverse bag of fish there, you’ll be having a difficult time on what species to eat each night 

[Little_Flatty]

1 hour ago, Yowie said:

If I caught a kingie, It would have been tossed back. The wife does not like them as the flavour is too strong. In saying that, many years ago I had a holiday at Lord Howe Island, and the flavour of the kingies there is superior to those caught in NSW.

Interesting that your wife thinks the flavour is strong. Does she eat the mullet? 

If I get a legal king, it's going into a poke bowl

My wife isn't a fan of the 'fishy' fish, whilst I love them, especially smoked or barbequed over coals. I think flathead are our household favourite.

Oh, I'd just love another trip to Lord Howe. Same goes for Fraser Island, or K'gari as they now call it. Magical parts of the world!

[Larkin]

Love it! Nice mixed bag. 
what’s the water clarity like at the moment?

[Scratchie]

Really good mixed bag there Yowie! Those Watsons and small Mac have been everywhere up here too! They are great fun on the light spinners. They are so quick. Scare the crap out of ya when they hit the lure right next to the boat! 😂

cheers scratchie!!! 

[mrsswordfisherman]

Productive as usual @Yowie 

[Yowie]

11 hours ago, big Neil said:

Fabulous result Yowie. How do you decide what to eat first? bn

A bit hard to decide BN, so cooked up a mixture of fillets, crumbed and pan fried, chips and veges, and a nice bottle of riesling to wash it down.

11 hours ago, Restyle said:

Quite the diverse bag of fish there, you’ll be having a difficult time on what species to eat each night 

Just mix it up and go. The whiting are definitely the best eating, the reddie and flattie not far behind.

10 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Interesting that your wife thinks the flavour is strong. Does she eat the mullet? 

If I get a legal king, it's going into a poke bowl

My wife isn't a fan of the 'fishy' fish, whilst I love them, especially smoked or barbequed over coals. I think flathead are our household favourite.

Oh, I'd just love another trip to Lord Howe. Same goes for Fraser Island, or K'gari as they now call it. Magical parts of the world!

I do have a mullet recipe if needed, but I ate some of the fillets last night, not her. She likes whiting, or battered flattie fillets which are messy to cook at home.

9 hours ago, Larkin said:

Love it! Nice mixed bag. 
what’s the water clarity like at the moment?

Thank you. Water colour past Lilli Pilli is good fishy water, though the forecast rain will make it murky once again.

7 hours ago, Scratchie said:

Really good mixed bag there Yowie! Those Watsons and small Mac have been everywhere up here too! They are great fun on the light spinners. They are so quick. Scare the crap out of ya when they hit the lure right next to the boat! 😂

cheers scratchie!!! 

Thanks Scratchie. The mack hit the lure near the boat, a big splash then off like a rocket. It was just blind spinning on that cast as the other fish had stopped jumping about.

[Yowie]

5 minutes ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

Productive as usual @Yowie 

Thank you Donna. Fish for eating and fish for salted bait for next time.

[Rebel]

Cracker haul.

Well done. Great photo,

[leonardgid]

very nice catch , i would be very happy with that ,

 

 

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, Rebel said:

Cracker haul.

Well done. Great photo,

Thenk you, worth the effort.

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, leonardgid said:

very nice catch , i would be very happy with that ,

 

 

Thank you, I am happy with the catch, considering the weather and rain of recent time.

[Scooter0069]

Great mixed bag and report Yowie hoping to get out Sunday weather permitting 

[Yowie]

Just now, Scooter0069 said:

Great mixed bag and report Yowie hoping to get out Sunday weather permitting 

Thank you. Good luck as I think the water will be muddy again after this morning's rain.

[Fab1]

On 4/5/2022 at 4:00 PM, Yowie said:

Headed out early this morning to Lilli Pilli, and it was one of those days.

Anchored on the edge of the deep water, pulled up a couple of large yakkas so cut them up and used them for bait, the pillies produced nothing. Prior to sunrise, there were fish jumping about, mostly Watson bonnies, some leaping out of the water and out of casting range. Once the sun hit the water, the fish disappeared, though I did pull out the mack tuna on a lure, quite a speedy fish for it's size.

The yakka strips produced the reddie, tailor, crab, and what I though was a good fish at first on a handline, but turned out to be a long tailed ray, quite a speedy critter.

Once the sun was up, I up-anchored and pumped a few nippers, then drifted the Lilli Pilli flats. I only planned to stay a short while, but found some fish so fished there for a few hours. The nippers produced the bream, whiting, flattie, sand mullet and a trevally about 40cm that was released. The mullet contained some roe so it is spawning time for them - could have caught plenty but had enough fish. 

As I was about the head home, fish started jumping over the sandbank at the mouth of South West Arm so I headed over at at pace and threw a metal amongst them for the 2 Watson bonnies before they disappeared for good. A few feeds for me, and some for family as well.

Very nice work as always young man.Keep up the great work/reports.

[jenno64]

Great bag Yowie! Amazing variety and some nice fillets and bait for next trips. Your timing was also impeccable as the river is back to chocolate for another month!

[Yowie]

3 hours ago, Fab1 said:

Very nice work as always young man.Keep up the great work/reports.

Thank you Fab.

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, jenno64 said:

Great bag Yowie! Amazing variety and some nice fillets and bait for next trips. Your timing was also impeccable as the river is back to chocolate for another month!

Thank you. I knew what was coming with the rain. This is the longest period I can remember with discoloured water