One of these days came yesterday

[Madkanu]

@zmk1962 and I have been talking about getting out fishing one of these days. Unfortunately that has been a challenge as Zoran wisely fishes mid week to avoid the busy ramps and I unfortunately still have to work for a living.  As chance you have it, I had a few days off this week currently being between jobs and so wind and swell forecasts pointed to yesterday being our day. Rain forecast was a bit “sub-optimal” but we agreed we were all game to push ahead. 
 

We hit the Brooklyn boat ramp at 6am. (Wow, nobody here!) and were on the water for sunrise.

We tucked in just around West Head to load up on yakkas before venturing out to a few of Zoran’s offshore spots to look for flatties. 

Maria hauled up a couple shovelnose rays which went back and Zoran pulled in a keeper tailor and an octopus which we sent back.  As far as flatties go, we only found a couple of small spikey rats and mice.  After trying a few different spots we had been rockin’ and rollin’ out on the ocean for a while and the probability of rain had definitively flipped from 50% to 100% along with the wind picking up beyond what was anticipated so we were pretty chilled and damp by this point and elected to change tack.  

On our way to the next location we were greeted by a harbour seal sunning itself (what sun?!).  Maybe things were looking up.

 

We went to work looking for snapper and immediately started having a bit of action. Not what we came for but a few rock cod, a sergeant baker and nannygai came aboard and assured dinner was sorted. 

Once things quieted down in the land of red fish, we headed back into the mouth of the Hawkesbury to see what else we could come up with.  Within minutes we hit upon two hairtails.  Maria brought hers aboard first and while Zoran was managing that one struck my yakka.  I had to keep him double parked for a few minutes until Zoran had Maria’s safely in the well.   maybe not huge for a hairtail but I was pretty thrilled with it.
 

The next bit of action was a decent sized squid which also decided it wanted a meal of yakka. I decided to keep him which wound up being a nice entree of salt and pepper squid before dinner last night.

(not the fanciest of presentations but it didn’t last long)

 

Soon after the tidal flow decreased and things slowed down again.  Around 2:30pm we elected to call it a day.
 

 

I’ll leave it to the master to fill in any blanks in this story as well as correct anything I may have wrong.  I really just wanted to thank Zoran and Maria for a fantastic day  and thanks Zoran for your patience with my questions, the hairtail and rockcod  cleaning lessons and some of the tangles we had to deal with.  A great day and one I won’t soon forget (particularly as we eat our way through the rest of the catch!)

Thanks for the experience!

Rob

[Yowie]

Nice work there Rob. Zoran usually manages to find a few fish. 

Don't let Zoran fill in the blanks, he just makes up stories. 

[Isaac Ct]

Well done all of you, nice feed. Good to get out with mates.

[Pickles]

Great report Rob - a day out with Zoran (and Maria) is always a good day and the fish are a bonus. I’ve heard a few ports of Hairtail showing up in unusual places, but it happened over inter the last time we had a heavy rain event also - must trigger their movement (been getting them near Fort Denison in SydneyHarbour too) 

[rickmarlin62]

Nice work  sounds like a great day on the water

[Madkanu]

3 hours ago, Pickles said:

Great report Rob - a day out with Zoran (and Maria) is always a good day and the fish are a bonus. I’ve heard a few ports of Hairtail showing up in unusual places, but it happened over inter the last time we had a heavy rain event also - must trigger their movement (been getting them near Fort Denison in SydneyHarbour too) 

Absolutely @Pickles!  Always a pleasure spending time with those two.   Interesting about the hairtails. Reason enough to be out fishing in the rain. 

[bessell1955]

A good report and a nice catch.

[jenno64]

Great post Rob!

sounds like a great day out and some tasty meals to top it off👌

[zmk1962]

Here’s a video Rob @Madkanu … cheers for the great write up! You’re great crew and company ... it was a memorable day for sure. Maybe not because of the abundance of target species but definitely for perseverance. Just to add, the yakkas were in abundance at West Head but nothing wanted them offshore or at the reefs despite coming across a few bait balls with promising arches around them. Water temp inside 14.7C, water temp at 60m 17.4C. 

And despite what @Yowie says I'll just let the video evidence do the talking ... 

 

Cheers Zoran

PS - This is the 2nd time I have been out with the flatties being a no show ... on both occasions there was a large ship motoring around the 30-60m grounds - on this occasion it actually identified itself on CH16 as a Navy ship undergoing exercises and firing blanks .... hmmmmmm  🤔

Edited June 30, 2023 by zmk1962

[Madkanu]

1 hour ago, zmk1962 said:

PS - This is the 2nd time I have been out with the flatties being a no show ... on both occasions there was a large ship motoring around the 30-60m grounds - on this occasion it actually identified itself on CH16 as a Navy ship undergoing exercises and firing blanks .... hmmmmmm  

See, I knew you’d fill in the “blanks”! 🙂

iI seem to remember the navy ship identifying itself as “Australian Warship Valencia” but I probably misheard it as my wife just pointed me towards the Pittwater Boaties Facebook group because of a post she saw and apparently  HMAS Diamantina (a minesweeper - https://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-diamantina-ii?fbclid=IwAR2Mpv6-F6PE88jEYMKALg0Y-iF38NgoCEwrhfSGD4I6Ps349wo9oKtMvi8_aem_AaSpBkgbLU466Wse6RnhoOlP_RKWZkhkggY0QLsrAXLVbMIEgPHTDUS4IJWnyieQI6k&mibextid=Zxz2cZ) has been hanging about.

Whatever it was firing/detonating/practicing looking for we didn’t hear but one of the bits I heard over the radio was that it was 30kg. 

[frankS]

Zoran. Looks like a great day on the water despite the lack of targeted species and the cold weather.

You may be able to claim a Hairtail on plastics record ?.

Something I have never done, although catching hundreds of Hairtail I have always got them on bait.

Frank

[zmk1962]

4 hours ago, frankS said:

Zoran. Looks like a great day on the water despite the lack of targeted species and the cold weather.

You may be able to claim a Hairtail on plastics record ?.

Something I have never done, although catching hundreds of Hairtail I have always got them on bait.

Frank

Hey Frank … any day on the water is a great day. We’ve had a shocker  last 3 weeks saying goodbye to 4 members of the extended family so even half an opportunity to head out in marginally comfortable conditions was snapped up. 

Yup the hairtail on plastic record would be a go except for two issues- 1) Maria caught it 😳 and 2) we didn’t take any measurements 🤣 … too wet and cold - just wanted to get it done. 

Actually both Rob and I had our plastics bitten off on the first drop at FnS… M brought in the hairy so we knew what was there … I then rigged Rob with a livie that was the 2nd. I had a livie out by then but the tide turned so that was that. 

In hindsight all great fun. 

cheers Z
 

[zmk1962]

5 hours ago, Madkanu said:

See, I knew you’d fill in the “blanks”! 🙂

😂 BLANKS 💥 👍👍👍👍

[kantong]

well done @Madkanu @zmk1962 on what looked like a fun day out on the water. A nice vlog there Zoran, captured the important moments! Grilled hairtail, a most delicious meal