Kayak: Long reef/narrabeen wrecks sand flats

[99FishingWorld]

Weather looked good so launched the hobie from fisherman’s beach around 7 AM. As I took my beanie off I dropped my sunglasses into the sand and didn’t realize until I was on the water…knowing this I quickly put my hat on and made sure I always drifted with my back towards the sun.. Unfortunately I didn’t have my fish finder because australia post messed up my battery delivery…

There were barely any boats in sight and none in the long reef close wall that normally has 10-20 boats .. must be the colder weather 

Anyways decided to go straight past the reef in close and head to the narrabeen wrecks and drift the sand along the way for some flathead using paternoster rigs.

Managed to land flathead after flathead but only two came up legal. One 52 cm and one 42cm. It was my PB record for flathead though!

I caught probably 20 overall. There were two boats or so on the wrecks, I tried drifting over them but with only an iPhone GPS it’s not easy work 😂 

I was about 5-6 km from shore but was very comfortable even when the wind was gusting every so often.

decided to go south and try a few marks but seemed like it was still just sand and undersized flathead as shown in the map.. I noticed 5-6 boats further south, probably where the gravel marks are, I have these marks in my GPS but decided it was too far and left it for another day… I also noticed Wahoo charters heading out that way 😈

On the way back I drifted over the close reef to try for some reef species..no sweep.. I kayaked total probably over 20km, I was exhausted and landed with ease, the surf was low so managed to surf a few basic waves back in near the rocks to save time.
 

kayakers please make sure you remember to set your drag especially with heavy setups or prepare to shit yourself when you snag and you can’t take the rod off the holder or reach for the bail arm 😂

All in what a fun day exploring the area.

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by Tarik

[Isaac Ct]

Great report mate, shame about your GPS battery not coming soon enough but I guess that is how it works sometimes. A nice feed to show for your tiring efforts though. 20km in a kayak, 🥵

[Restyle]

although a cool morning, it was a good day for offshore with the mild westerly. Few fish to be had, but a pb makes all the undersize ones worth it in a way

[99FishingWorld]

3 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Great report mate, shame about your GPS battery not coming soon enough but I guess that is how it works sometimes. A nice feed to show for your tiring efforts though. 20km in a kayak, 🥵

Thanks mate.. yeh I just realized a lot of it was drifting but was still.. 

2 hours ago, motiondave said:

Good stuff, nice day to be out. 

Cheers

2 hours ago, Restyle said:

although a cool morning, it was a good day for offshore with the mild westerly. Few fish to be had, but a pb makes all the undersize ones worth it in a way

Thanks mate. Hoping to hit the foul grounds further to the south for snapper or other desirable species!

If anyone has any advice around this area so tell please!

[Larkin]

A couple of nice blue spots! well done 👍 

I took my hat off once and and had my glasses fly off - were caught in mid air by my son sitting on the back of the JetSki. Now I use a Gill Floating sunglass strap that’s Fluro yellow.  Keeps your glasses floating in the water if they fall off.

[Little_Flatty]

Nice adventure Tarik, you certainly earned your fish. Sounds like great exercise too.

[jenno64]

Big day out....deserved a feed!

[bessell1955]

20k's your really did put in the effort!

 

[masterfisho7]

Sounds like a great day nice report those flathead should make top eating well done 

[whiskey299]

Crikey 20km! Well done!

When the conditions are good I may give Longreef a crack one day, although I'm not sure about doing this in winter, just the thought of a wet launch in the kayak makes me want to stay home lol!

[Rebel]

Great report.

Top haul.

Nice Kyak.

Well done.

[Pickles]

Good stuff @Tarik, can’t beat a feed of flathead, sounds like a great day on the water.

[99FishingWorld]

9 hours ago, whiskey299 said:

Crikey 20km! Well done!

When the conditions are good I may give Longreef a crack one day, although I'm not sure about doing this in winter, just the thought of a wet launch in the kayak makes me want to stay home lol!

the water is actually super warm. i guess that's why people are still managing to catch dollies and marlin at this time of the year?

The wind is what is usually quite cold. If the suns out, all is good!

11 hours ago, masterfisho7 said:

Sounds like a great day nice report those flathead should make top eating well done 

Yes cooked them up tonight, beautii mateeee

On 5/8/2022 at 9:32 PM, Little_Flatty said:

Nice adventure Tarik, you certainly earned your fish. Sounds like great exercise too.

Thanks mate. I hope to go down south and launch from stanwell park beach this week, looking to head over to The Hump and drift a long some of the wrecks down there... call me crazy but I might just end up at the FADs one day 🤣