Friday 14th Fishing report - Long Reef and South Head

[fragmeister]

Hi All,

Another long hiatus from my Friday Fishing Reports... but here it is.

I managed to get a Friday away from the office, so I headed out to Long Reef just on dawn armed with a block of pillies and hoping to snare a snapper or two.

I left the Wharf Road ramp at around 4:30am hoping to get out to Long Reef at first light.

On the way down the river some weird stuff started happening with the outboard when I throttled up and put the boat up on the plane. It felt like it was cavitating. It would run ok, but it still felt a little "off". Each time I throttled up, it felt like I was trying to get the boat up on the plane with the motor fully trimmed to the plane position.... you know the feeling.

The temperature was fine and the teltale was dribbling away as usual, but everything was not right, so I stopped the engine and tilted it up to have a look. I had left the earmuffs on the motor! Now if someone can explain to me why it resulted in those symptoms, I would be very grateful.

I headed on my way with the Yamaha150 4 stroke purring away as usual and passed the heads just before first light.

The seas were pretty flat, and I arrived at my Long Reef Wide marker a bit later than I wanted to, but I engaged the Minkota, set the spot lock and started a burly trail in about 40 meters. Two hours of burlying later and I had only one bite ( a jumbo tailor) , so I moved closer to the reef at a place called White Rock.

I spot locked again, started another burley trail. I was only in 15 meters of water and I could see Trevs and Sweep in the trail, plus some rat Kings.

Over the next 2 hours or so I must have caught 30 rats, on just about anything I threw out.  This is what the sounder looked like.

The action was so frantic, I didn't take any pictures of the Kings.

There may have been some better specimens in the mix, as I did get reefed a couple of times

They took whole frozen squid, half pillies and a 6 inch jerkshad in psycho chicken colour. The occasional Bonito came along, but I decided to move.

Didn't mean to take video of the bonnie LOL!

I saw a couple of whales at Longie on the northern side of the reef. They seemed to be in quite shallow water, which surprised me.

I went over to South Head in 30 meters of water off Rosa Gully for a bit of bottom bouncing just to see what turned up. As expected, just Spikey Flathead ... but bigger than they are when the blue spots are around in summer.

I moved out to 40 meters ... slightly bigger Spikies

I moved out to 50 Meters ... slightly bigger Spikies

I moved out to 60 Meters ... the same sized Spikies.

I moved back to 20 meters and picked up these two flounder. I put them both on the brag mat and sent the smaller one back. I didn't expect that. I don't know much about the season for flounder, but clearly they are in the shallows. Maybe @Yowie can shed some light on this.

I think if I had rigged smaller hooks, I might have picked up a few more of these.

It was 1:30, and I was ready to head back home, so I moved in close to South Head on the way back into the harbour and saw lots of bird action close in but no apparent pelagics. Lots of bait on the sounder though.

All in all, it was an excellent day. Lots of fish (although not many keepers) but very relaxing. The swell has very low and the wind for most of the day was light.

Water temp got as high as 18.5 out wider

Looks like Saturday should be a good one too, so get out there boys and girls!

Cheers

 

Jim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 14 by fragmeister
Typo

[wazatherfisherman]

Great report and photo's- sounds like an excellent day out Jim

[Yowie]

Well Jim, just a matter of perservering to see what turns up. Have caught flounder in 150 feet of water, the smaller one not too bad, the larger one is a great size. No throwbacks in the deep water.

A good sized chopper there.

Plenty of spikies out there at the moment. Blue spots not in big number yet.

[mrsswordfisherman]

Great report as always

Thanks Jim welcome back 👏

[big Neil]

Great day on the water Jim and really good to see you back on here reporting on your fishing. Hope all is well in your camp, you really have to try to get more time on the water, it's the best medicine for all that may ail us. Cheers, bn

[bessell1955]

What fantastic photos!

[Blackfish]

Great write up and great photos. Better than being at home.

[Rebel]

Top sunrise.

Great stoory.

Well done.

[jenno64]

Great report Jim!

lots of sounder action there and plenty of fish to keep you busy! Cracking tailor too!

[fragmeister]

21 hours ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Great report and photo's- sounds like an excellent day out Jim

Hey Waza.. Thanks. Forgot to mention that I tossed out one of your 6' worm patterns and that was one of the times I got smoked.

21 hours ago, Yowie said:

Well Jim, just a matter of perservering to see what turns up. Have caught flounder in 150 feet of water, the smaller one not too bad, the larger one is a great size. No throwbacks in the deep water.

A good sized chopper there.

Plenty of spikies out there at the moment. Blue spots not in big number yet.

Can't wait till the Bluespots are back!

20 hours ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

Great report as always

Thanks Jim welcome back 👏

Thanks Donna, Hopefully, it won't be so long next time.

20 hours ago, big Neil said:

Great day on the water Jim and really good to see you back on here reporting on your fishing. Hope all is well in your camp, you really have to try to get more time on the water, it's the best medicine for all that may ail us. Cheers, bn

Thanks Neil.  I am fit as a fiddle but a little more time on the water won't hurt!

9 hours ago, bessell1955 said:

What fantastic photos!

Cheers.

8 hours ago, Blackfish said:

Great write up and great photos. Better than being at home.

Thanks. Soooooo much better than being at home or work.

6 hours ago, Rebel said:

Top sunrise.

Great stoory.

Well done.

Thanks Rebel.

5 hours ago, jenno64 said:

Great report Jim!

lots of sounder action there and plenty of fish to keep you busy! Cracking tailor too!

Thanks. Yes, the sounder was very fishy. Plenty of good-sized fish in there too. Some rat kings were having around, and it is interesting to see what baits drifted in among the burley will entice them. Close to the boat will only take pillie cube if you have a clear leader and hide the hook. Away from the boat and in deeper water, it seems less critical.

I caught a few on light tackle, and they were lots of fun.

Edited July 15 by fragmeister

[zmk1962]

Excellent report Jim … my last two trips have resulted in no bluespot as well - think we need to wait for slightly warmer water.  You seem to have had great conditions and a very enjoyable day on the water after the long hiatus. 
Re: muffs - they would have restricted water flow definitely- maybe there is a thermal sensor that activates a limp mode to reduce risk of overheating - I don’t have the yam150 to check the manual so just a guess. 
cheers Zoran 

[Larkin]

Sounds like a great day on the water was had!

Good sized Bonnie!

[dlvbw]

Sounds like an Epic rat session! So much fun! 

[JonD]

4.3am is time to go to bed, not heading out on a cold morning!!!!!....Really though great report, surprised how warm the water is up there, with it being 14'c on my last two dives down here, not to mention dirty brown sludge in the water here. 

[kantong]

top report mate, a nice mix of fish

[kyngfish]

I had similar boat issues with my Haines with a Mercury on it, took it to the local mechanic and they said it was to do with the hydraulic steering, there was a lot of air bubbles in it. They drained it and put new fluid in and all was good after that.

[fragmeister]

On 7/16/2023 at 8:45 AM, zmk1962 said:

Excellent report Jim … my last two trips have resulted in no bluespot as well - think we need to wait for slightly warmer water.  You seem to have had great conditions and a very enjoyable day on the water after the long hiatus. 
Re: muffs - they would have restricted water flow definitely- maybe there is a thermal sensor that activates a limp mode to reduce risk of overheating - I don’t have the yam150 to check the manual so just a guess. 
cheers Zoran 

Not a bad theory . I did actually think I heard a warning beep from the console, but when I checked the temp was normal, so I thought I imagined it.

Cheers

 

Jim

[fragmeister]

On 7/16/2023 at 11:24 AM, Larkin said:

Sounds like a great day on the water was had!

Good sized Bonnie!

I think that might be a PB for me ... but I don't keep records so I am not sure.

On 7/17/2023 at 8:48 AM, JonD said:

4.3am is time to go to bed, not heading out on a cold morning!!!!!....Really though great report, surprised how warm the water is up there, with it being 14'c on my last two dives down here, not to mention dirty brown sludge in the water here. 

Was very cold until I got down the harbour . I guess the warm water keeps the air temperature above quite warm.

On 7/17/2023 at 9:17 AM, kantong said:

top report mate, a nice mix of fish

Thanks. Winter at Longie always fires well for me. I reckon I could have had a keeper king if I paid more attention to the drag settings.  I let them reef me a little too easily.

On 7/17/2023 at 7:51 AM, dlvbw said:

Sounds like an Epic rat session! So much fun! 

Great fun. I miss it. Used to do every Friday. Damn work!

On 7/16/2023 at 11:24 AM, Larkin said:

Sounds like a great day on the water was had!

Good sized Bonnie!

Yes mate. Sometimes I forget how great it is to have a day out.