Snapper and Kingies came out to play at Long reef (with 30other boats). But Grubs fishing off the wharf.

[Pickles]

My buddy @Hads and hads junior (Adrian and Jensen) hadn’t been out for months, so we decided on an early start with a plan to hit the heads for snapper and then Sydney FAD to see if any Dollie’s around. Wearing my new “banana hat” that @Ledge kindly gave me.

We loaded up with little Yakkas - perfect Dollie and Kingies sized bait and then headed to the snapper grounds. 1/2 the plan worked, but with predicted winds at 10.30 (spot on this time BOM as the wind picked up by 11 when headed back) we decided to give FAD a miss. In an hour between 9.30-0.30 we had boated 16 Kingies and 2 nice snapper and left them biting. The Kingies were all rats around the 50-60cm mark and no legal fish, but we were getting consistent double and tripple hookups and had a ball (much to the disdain of the boats around us, who kept getting closer and closer and at one stage we had to politely warn off 2 boats that almost collided). There are so many kings out there at present and it’s not about the spot, it’s about technique, so no need to crowd.

I’ve boated over 60 kings in past week - all the same way - 30lb fluro to 6/0 Mustad hoodlum or BKK circle hooks tied on with uni knot, no weight and floated back in burley stream. 30lb is pretty light, so instructions included shout out “fish on” if it’s a good fish and we’ll head out to deep water and tow the Kingies with us - works well and rarely get busted off. 
The biggest snapper went 50cm. On the way back we drifted (unsuccessfully) for big blue spot Fatties.

Back at  Roseville ramp there were (7) junior fishos fishing off the wharf. I offered them the balance of Yakkas left in the live well, which they were keen to get, I then suggested they pickup their empty plastic bait bags and shopping bags. One of them made some unhelpful remarks and “helped” the rubbish into the water claiming they weren’t theirs. I motored around and picked them up and reminded them that they were illegally fishing off the wharf (not that I minded - we’ve all started our careers wharf fishing) and if they were going to be there,  it is a fisherman’s responsibility to look after the environment. God has a way of hold us all accountable for our actions and whilst we were “discussing” the issue of “fisherpersons responsibilities”  a NPWS officer walked down the wharf and told them to clear off, which they were unwilling to do. I don’t know what the outcome was, but it really gets up my nose when fishos don’t keep OUR shared environment clean.

Anyway, we had a great day out and early return with no waiting to flush the boat - Love this ramp.

Edited December 16, 2023 by Pickles

[Yowie]

Good work there Bob, plenty of kings but none legal. sounds like the reddies, few in number but keepers, were the better catch.

Fishing grubs are not helping the situation.

[Welster]

What a fund filled morning.  Hopefully the kids have a think about their standards.

[Larkin]

Bit of an arm workout bringing up the kingies!

looks like you’ve had a similar experience with the deep water flatties to a few other raiders.

[whiskey299]

Great report Bob. You didn’t miss much at the fad. It was just rats taking slow jigs.

That’s a nice snapper you got

[Little_Flatty]

Good day out by sounds of things Bob.

I really don’t know who brings up young people to litter like that, or not pick up the rubbish that was already there for that matter. I’d be terribly ashamed if my kids grew up to be like that.🤬 I guess all we can do is to model the behaviour and hope it catches on.

[bessell1955]

A very rewarding session.

[jenno64]

Shame about the young bogans Bob but good to see you modelled the right behaviour…nice action on the kings too🙏🏻

[big Neil]

Another cracking day with some newbie anglers Bob. Great that you got among some fish. Shame to come back to the wharf to be greeted by ignorance and rank stupidity. Hope all was well with the Fisheries inspector... bn