Fishing with minimal catching

[GordoRetired]

Forecast for Saturday looked pretty good so plans were made to head out to 12 mile and chase some kings.... Well as they say the best laid plans of mice and men! ! ! !
Started well with the boat in the water before 6.00 and headed to Balmoral to fill up the live bait tank before heading out. Then it started to go wrong. We anchored up and started with the berley...hum no yakkas, kept berleying still no yakkas, All we managed was a reasonable sized Trevally.  After best part of an hour we gave up. Plan to hit 12 mile out the window. 😞
Plan 2. Head out to the reefs as we did have bait on board. Started out the front of Manly drifting around and got minimal bites, one of the boys pulled in a 40cm Snapper but other than that only the odd Sargent Baker and rock cod.
That was pretty much how to day went from then on, we tried multiple spots from Manly up to Long Reef and were hardly getting touched. By the time we got to Long Reef wide, around 11.00 we still only had the one snapper. Managed a reasonable Nannygai and 1 keeper Flathead on the wide drift but overall it was one of the quietest days that I have ever experienced.  Spoke to a few other boats and that seemed to be the consensus all round. One of them had been to 12 mile and come back in to Long Reef as 12 mile was dead as well. So at least we were not the only ones not landing fish.

The main highlight of the day was seeing a few dolphins and lots of whales. One small pod of whales just off Manly put on a fantastic display of breaching and tail slapping around 100m from us for around 20 minutes which was wonderful to watch.
Ah well, better luck next time. 🙂

Edited October 1, 2023 by GordoRetired

[Yowie]

All that effort for not a lot, however, better on the water than sitting at home and thinking about fishing.

[XD351]

I call it the transition time - winter fish shut down but the summer fish haven’t quite woken up yet , there is another transition time usually mid autumn which is the inverse of this one . 

[Ross_P]

Too close to the full moon I think. Been keeping a log for years and 2-3 days either side of full or new moon dont seem to produce that well....

[XD351]

I never liked the full moon period. Also I heard on the news of some phosphorescence events on the beaches and when that is around I never seemed to catch fish - day or night .

I fished Saturday and came away with one measly 42cm flattie and the highlight of my day was towing a boat back to parsley bay ramp - they had a drained battery and couldn’t start the motor , note to self - keep a jumper pack in the boat ! 

Edited October 1, 2023 by XD351

[minnowm]

A tough day of fishing, but those encounters with dolphins and whales were just worth it.Thanks for sharing your day on the water. better luck on your next fishing adventure!!👍

[noelm]

For Flathead I have never found the moon, tides, Luminescence in the water or anything else matters, the only thing that “seems” to change is a lot more small ones during summer. Other fish might change their habits during these periods, but (in my opinion) fish don’t starve during the full moon, or days either side of the full moon!

[jenno64]

Unlucky about the fishing Gordo but lucky those whales didn't get too close!

[blaxland]

Still a good day out and fish to boot

[GordoRetired]

20 hours ago, jenno64 said:

Unlucky about the fishing Gordo but lucky those whales didn't get too close!

Absolutely, especially after what happened to those poor blokes that day down south. Very sad.

[Ross_P]

I always gut my fish and inspect stomach contents. Sometimes they are full especially if I am burlying other times they have nothing at all in the stomach, especially true with flathead. So there are definately times when the fish are in feeding phases and other times when they definately fast. As to wether its the moon phase I havent noted but maybe I will. Very interesting.

[Pickles]

Sad news Gordo - guess you could have been bowling or playing golf, but it wouldn’t have been as much fun. Hope you get into some good fish soon. I always find spring is pretty ordinary time of year for fishing.