Hawkesbury report 23/09/23

[XD351]

G’day Raiders, 

Today was another trip to the Hawkesbury ( monotonous I know ) with a low tide at 8:11 am I thought I would explore a few spots I had identified using the theory I wrote about in another thread and this did prove to work - with a bit of tweaking and today’s bait was half pillies and garfish fillets. First stop was the western side of Dangar but as I had arrived around 5am the tide wasn’t really running at full pelt so defining the dead spot was a bit harder than imagined and the area was much larger than first thought- I could run a dozen drifts in there - I only ran one for no fish 

Western side of dangar

I then went to moony moony to do some sounding and decided to run a drift here , I started at the north east side of the island and drifted down through the channel and out into the delta where this current meets the main river current and there was a clearly defined current line. As my drift approached this current line my garfish fillet got smashed and after a short tussle up cam the first and biggest flathead of the day 58cm on a garfish fillet and as I had no fish in the freezer at home this one’s time was over. I continued the drift down to the rail bridge where I was met by a hungry school of small mulloway - time to move !

Moony moony.

 

Next stop was the western edge of  Peat island and as a few decent arches had shown on the sounder I wasn’t overly enthusiastic but dropped a bait to see what was down there - my suspicion was true - smallish mulloway so I moved a little upstream towards the passage that runs behind the island and started my drift . I was beginning to think this was another donut spot but as I was heading for the main channel it thought I may as well keep drifting, lucky I did as it produced two flathead  - first one 44.5cm on a garfish fillet and as I hit the main current line another at 57.5cm on a half pillie and they also took a holiday in the esky !

Peat island

I then moved up to the eastern end of Milson island and ran a drift along the edge of the mud flat and this was uneventful- the tide was on the turn by now so I drifted up the Milson Island passage to see what was lurking in there . I got to the edge of the first hole and my Gobbler’s paddle tail got hit and I was on to another decent flathead, This fish didn’t really fight and I thought this was going to be easy! When it got to the surface this mid to high 50s fish went berserk - it literally launched out of the water and tail walked! Each time I got it in the net it went nuts and tail walked itself back out 😡Third time it shook the lure and disappeared into the depths 🤬 I continued to drift right through the passage and out into the main river for a donut result - I now officially hate my landing net !

Milson island passage 

 

Finally I ended up where I fished last weekend ( Melvey’s wharf )but this time the tide was running in.I wanted to see how this changed the dynamics of this spot and was surprised to find a bubble line where the depth drops Into10m of water out of around 6m and after a few failures to get the drift right because the wind had picked up and wanted the drive me into the shore I finally got it right ! I was surprised to find the flathead were still sitting on the edge of the trash / current / bubble line but were on the down river end  . This drift produced the last flathead at 45cm on a garfish fillet and a few small mulloway .

Melvy’s wharf

It is hard to see but there is a bubble / current/ trash line . 

After this I fished the Milson island steps where I got the last decent flathead last weekend and the hole at the point just east of the railways bridge on the southern end  but  only managed a few pickers .

Milson island steps

The point to the east of rail bridge on southern end of brige.

When I finished cleaning my fish a few guys lobbed up with a few flathead around the 40cm mark and said they got them near Patonga so maybe the fish are starting to move down to breed now the water temp is up over 18.5c .

Oh and I learned a hard lesson today - never ever leave your car door open at a boat ramp , did and a pelican took a dump on my car , it splashed off the side of the roof and all over the inside of the door , the end of the rear seat (has a cover fortunately!) and all down the door recesses - it stinks like rotting fish 🤮

Anyhow I hope you found it interesting and helpful!

Edited September 25, 2023 by XD351

[Scooter0069]

Great report XD and helpful information will be giving it a go in a few weeks thank you

[Larkin]

Nice flatties XD! 

haha, mate you got to have some good luck coming your way with with a bird poop like that 😂

[XD351]

19 minutes ago, Larkin said:

Nice flatties XD! 

haha, mate you got to have some good luck coming your way with with a bird poop like that 😂

Hope so , the last few trips have cost me a phone , a rod and a trailer light ! There were 4 pelicans there -3 small ones and a big one that was a bully so i deliberately didn’t feed it - I can near on guarantee it was that mongrel that crapped on my car !

[Yowie]

Very detailed report, and a nice bag of flatties to show for the effort.

Pelican crap does stink, not good about landing inside the car.

[bessell1955]

A very informative report, thank you. 

[Little_Flatty]

A cracker of a report Ian! Some fantastic eating sized fish there.

I think there’s something to your theory about bubble lines. Thanks for sharing your thinking about spot selection and why. I think it will help a lot of Raiders with their flathead hunt.

[Isaac Ct]

Great stuff mate, nice bag of fish. Good to see that previous post and its ideas kicking into place.

[Robbo from Sydney]

Hi XD
I am impressed by the thought you have put into this.  You are clearly in thinking like a hunter rather than a passive fisher!

I would love to know what app you are  using for the maps you showed above? I am looking to add one on my i-phone and the detail looks good.

In terms of the pelican, be thankful you are not in a convertable -I have heard of some really bad experiences from pelicans sitting up on street lights over the Horneybrook Bridge in Brisbane.....

[XD351]

G’day Robbo ,
It's the Navionics boating app , there is a free version but the maps are old and a lot of the functionality is locked. I purchased the subscription which for me was worth the $40 a year . 
You can also get C-MAP but it is twice the cost and I didn’t like it as much - you can get the free trial and try it for yourself .

All I do is take a screenshot and edit it in photos .

Don’t forget the Deckee app , it has some great features as well .

Along with those I use the map app on my iPad and google earth to sus out fishing spots . 

I could use my theory in pretty much any river that has a reasonable tidal flow but in places like Sydney harbour (east of the spit and harbour bridges) , Botany Bay and Jervis bay where there is less tidal flow  will require a different approach . I think Port Hacking will sit somewhere between these two extremes as it is not really an open bay like Botany and it doesn’t have the river system like Sydney harbour. 

[jenno64]

Great report! Well done on the flatties and marking rose spots should pay further dividends 👌

[Robbo from Sydney]

17 hours ago, XD351 said:

G’day Robbo ,
It's the Navionics boating app , there is a free version but the maps are old and a lot of the functionality is locked. I purchased the subscription which for me was worth the $40 a year . 
You can also get C-MAP but it is twice the cost and I didn’t like it as much - you can get the free trial and try it for yourself .

All I do is take a screenshot and edit it in photos .

Don’t forget the Deckee app , it has some great features as well .

Along with those I use the map app on my iPad and google earth to sus out fishing spots . 

I could use my theory in pretty much any river that has a reasonable tidal flow but in places like Sydney harbour (east of the spit and harbour bridges) , Botany Bay and Jervis bay where there is less tidal flow  will require a different approach . I think Port Hacking will sit somewhere between these two extremes as it is not really an open bay like Botany and it doesn’t have the river system like Sydney harbour. 

Thanks for this. I mostly fish Middle Harbour (east of the Spit) and a bit in the main Sydney Harbour but looking at trying my luck up i n the Hawkesbury system later this year

[Jo5hC]

Great feed of flatties there! Unlucky with the pelican though.

[XD351]

2 hours ago, Robbo from Sydney said:

Thanks for this. I mostly fish Middle Harbour (east of the Spit) and a bit in the main Sydney Harbour but looking at trying my luck up i n the Hawkesbury system later this year

I started fishing the harbour in the late 70s and once my mate got his P’s it was nearly every Saturday, Mostly drifting for flathead along the edges of the shipping channels either side of sow and pigs but this seemed to die off once the deep water outfall fired up - it took the food source for the baitfish away and the flathead with them . Once I got my license it was Saturday at the channels , one or two nights a week either at cabarita for mulloway or folly point for bream on green nippers .

[Pickles]

Another great report @XD351, it sounds like you spent a full day out in the Hawkesbury Ian, well done on the Flatties, somewhat surprised you didn’t pick a legal Jewie up, especially off the deeper water side of the Vines. it’s great you’re willing to share your adventures so openly (I’m the same and don’t believe there are “secret” spots).

Well done mate - I’d love to get out on the water with you sometime (once my cracked ribs heal up)

[XD351]

Hi Bob, I hope the ribs are healing well and you can get back out soon ! Deerubbun misses you !
I have caught a heap of not quite legal mulloway in those spots - usually on slack tide and I will generally move on once they turn up - I like to minimise any impact I may have on them so they can grow into the 50lb version I definitely want to catch !

I’m not a believer in the secret spot or X marks the spot brigade either , if I can get someone to think about their fishing a little bit more or become more involved in rec fishing by teaching them some basic fish finding skills and putting them onto a fish or two then I’m happy to do so . I don’t own the river - I belong to it , the river allows me to take some fish to sustain me and I take only what I need - There is no place for greed in Mother Nature !

“Well done mate - I’d love to get out on the water with you sometime (once my cracked ribs heal up).”

Likewise! Don’t rush the healing process mate ! I did once and ended up carting sore ribs around for months , when they finally healed I did the same injury to the other side 😭😭😭😭

Might be time for a Raiders meet up on the river and maybe a friendly fishing comp - winner gets a virtual trophy and a swollen head 🤣🤣🤣

Now I have doomed myself to a donut day 🤣🤣🤣

Take care mate - kingie season is almost here and you need to be in peak condition for that !

Ian .

Edited September 28, 2023 by XD351

[big Neil]

A great and detailed report of your recent adventures XD351. Obviously. your in-depth knowledge of the areas where you fish are a massive help in your successes. I hope that you and Pickles manage to spend some time together on the water... two dedicated anglers, indeed.

Cheers, bn

[seasponge]

Great report XD!