Mosman Bay Wharf and Clontarf - NEED HELP

[TheFishyFisherman]

Hello raiders. I went to Clontarf with some prawns and pillows and fished right off the beach. We fished the big drop off but got nothing (it’s almost winter now) except toad fish so we gave up and went to Mosman bay wharf for the first time. We fished near the cafe (away from the ferry stop) and saw a couple of decent legal bream right underneath the pylons so we tried to lure them out with prawn heads as burly but only attracted the toadies. There were no baitfish around to my surprise so we started casting toward the pylons with little weight to not scare the bream but the toadie would smash up our prawns and pillies before it would reach the bream 🤬. Eventually, my friend started casting out but no hookups and tiny bites were felt. I persevered and painstaking went for the bream, desperate to catch something decent. Used a size 3 hook with bits of peeled prawn but the toadies were being annoying. I put on an extra big piece of prawn on a size 1 hook to target the fan belly leatherjacket that was swimming around but eventually gave up. Just when I’m about to give up I feel a big tug and  wait. It reel my line in but it turned out that a bream was eating it and I unintentionally set the hook as I was reeeling. It was a short fight (lasted about 30 seconds. 😂😅) and had to haul it up because I was standing like 3 metres above water. I was scared of dropping it cuz i had it on my yakka gear but managed to land it. It went in the esky after it was scaled and gutted for dinner. On my last cast, I get my line tangled on some seaweed but the seaweed starts jiggling and I realise that it was the camouflaged fan belly leather jacket that I was chasing before. I jag hooked it on its tail accidentally! I clean it too and then head home. (Surprised that I didn’t hook any of the toad fish there🧐)

Anyway, the leather jacket was a fluke catch so I would like some tips about the spot. Also my first time fishing Clontarf too.

Edited May 27 by TheFishyFisherman

[ireallylovefishies22]

Nice job on catching the bream, they can be tricky customers especially around pylons and jetties. While I've never fished Mosman wharf, I've fished Clontarf a couple of times. In the summer you get lots of poddy mullet, whiting and bream up on the flats. chucking out a poddy into the deeper areas will probably get you flatties, tailor or maybe even a kingfish if you're lucky. Last time I went, I saw plenty of smaller whiting in the shallows, but there would be the occasional 40cm+ fish. Using yabbies up on the flats and live poddies in the deeper areas would probably be my go to.

[44jeff]

10 minutes ago, ireallylovefishies22 said:

• Nice job on catching the bream, they can be tricky customers especially around pylons and jetties. While I've never fished Mosman wharf, I've fished Clontarf a couple of times. In the summer you get lots of poddy mullet, whiting and bream up on the flats. chucking out a poddy into the deeper areas will probably get you flatties, tailor or maybe even a kingfish if you're lucky. Last time I went, I saw plenty of smaller whiting in the shallows, but there would be the occasional 40cm+ fish. Using yabbies up on the flats and live poddies in the deeper areas would probably be my go to.

thanks for the tips!

Edited May 27 by 44jeff

[DerekD]

Those bream have been pretty educated over the years with all the people chasing them. They can be very bite shy until it gets dark and then you have a really good chance with unweighted bread but molded on the hook.

[TheFishyFisherman]

17 hours ago, ireallylovefishies22 said:

Nice job on catching the bream, they can be tricky customers especially around pylons and jetties. While I've never fished Mosman wharf, I've fished Clontarf a couple of times. In the summer you get lots of poddy mullet, whiting and bream up on the flats. chucking out a poddy into the deeper areas will probably get you flatties, tailor or maybe even a kingfish if you're lucky. Last time I went, I saw plenty of smaller whiting in the shallows, but there would be the occasional 40cm+ fish. Using yabbies up on the flats and live poddies in the deeper areas would probably be my go to.

Thanks so much for the info. I’ll wait until the summer for the mullet (live baiting is fun). Whereabouts in the flats is best for whiting? I’ve also heard that there are squid during high tide under the marina.

[TheFishyFisherman]

17 hours ago, DerekD said:

Those bream have been pretty educated over the years with all the people chasing them. They can be very bite shy until it gets dark and then you have a really good chance with unweighted bread but molded on the hook.

I agree. They wouldn’t really touch my bait until I used my yakka gear which is really light. Does anyone know how to distract the toadies tho? Do I just burly elsewhere to make them go away?

[ireallylovefishies22]

27 minutes ago, TheFishyFisherman said:

Thanks so much for the info. I’ll wait until the summer for the mullet (live baiting is fun). Whereabouts in the flats is best for whiting? I’ve also heard that there are squid during high tide under the marina

Last time the whiting were everywhere on the flats. Masses of them were fighting to have a go at my surface lure, but most of them were around knee-thigh deep. As for the squid, I've never targeted them around there but I've heard there's plenty.

[TheFishyFisherman]

Thanks!!! I didn’t know you could use surface lures unless u were fishing really shallow water. I though whiting only ate of the ground. Was it a popper or a soft plastic?

[TheFishyFisherman]

Would they still be around cuz it’s almost winter. The mornings have been like 9 degrees in Sydney. Surprised that we can still catch fish

Edited May 28 by TheFishyFisherman

[ireallylovefishies22]

20 minutes ago, TheFishyFisherman said:

Thanks!!! I didn’t know you could use surface lures unless u were fishing really shallow water. I though whiting only ate of the ground. Was it a popper or a soft plastic?

It was a bassday sugapen, a floating stickbait. I think squid are year round, I used to target large calamari at La Perouse at this time of the year. Tbh you can still have some great fishing even during winter. Trevally and luderick would definitely start feeding around now. However, the last time I went to Clontarf in the winter I didn't see a single fish up on the flats.

[TheFishyFisherman]

Thanks!!

[R E G I C Y C L E]

19 hours ago, DerekD said:

Those bream have been pretty educated over the years with all the people chasing them. They can be very bite shy until it gets dark and then you have a really good chance with unweighted bread but molded on the hook.

The mosman bream also seem to fire up with a bit of fresh water pumping out of the canal at the back of the bay, after rain. They sit on the edge of the drop and will have a go at anything that comes over.

[TheFishyFisherman]

Wow thanks. When yo mean the edge, do you mean the stone platforms? (The ones with bird poo all over them)

[Burger]

15 hours ago, ireallylovefishies22 said:

Trevally and luderick would definitely start feeding around now. 

Just as an FYI, Luderick feed year round…..

They’re a bit more prolific in winter as the ocean fish come into harbours and rivers to spawn.

Some ppl only target them in winter due to other species shutting down in the colder water.

[DerekD]

58 minutes ago, TheFishyFisherman said:

Wow thanks. When yo mean the edge, do you mean the stone platforms? (The ones with bird poo all over them)

No I believe @R E G I C Y C L E means the back of the bay rather than the ferry wharf. There is a stormwater channel which exits near the grassed area at the back of the back. There are a lot of rocks with oysters on them where the water drops out (the edge) of the channel and into the bay itself. You can see a lot of bream there when the water clarity is good. Coincidentally, I've also seen meter long kings in that back corner on a higher tide in the years where they were prolific throughout the harbour.

[R E G I C Y C L E]

1 hour ago, TheFishyFisherman said:

Wow thanks. When yo mean the edge, do you mean the stone platforms? (The ones with bird poo all over them)

@DerekD is correct. See below rough line of the drop from shallow water (around half a meter) to deeper water (over 1.5m). This is very obvious if you visit the spot on low tide (although on low tide the bream seem to turn off and retreat back to the marina). When the canal at the back of the bay is pumping the fish will sit in the deeper water waiting for food to come over the drop. I only fish lures, but I imagine drifting unweighted bread or other bait off the drop would be successful on a range of species. 

The same concept applies for all bays in the Parra system that have a canal flowing in. The main thing is to find the drop off to have consistent success.

Note that the above is from my experience, and bream especially are always ready and willing to throw a curve ball just when you think you have figured them out.

Edited May 28 by R E G I C Y C L E

[Bennyg78]

Contrary to popular belief fish feed all year round, I don't go on a fasting diet in Winter either! 

Usually you will find fish like bream holding deeper in Winter time, as the water temp is more consistent in the deeper waters. 

You can still catch them, but they might be stacked up on deeper vertical structure or drop offs.

Keep trying and once you crack the pattern for that day you'll get a few bream doing the same thing 

[TheFishyFisherman]

Thanks guys!! I’ll try what u have said next time!!! 

[ireallylovefishies22]

On 5/29/2024 at 8:09 AM, Burger said:

Just as an FYI, Luderick feed year round…..

They’re a bit more prolific in winter as the ocean fish come into harbours and rivers to spawn.

Some ppl only target them in winter due to other species shutting down in the colder water.

Yeah i was aware you catch good numbers of luds during the summer, but i always thought they fed more actively in the winter.

[juicy233]

On 5/27/2024 at 8:17 PM, TheFishyFisherman said:

Hello raiders. I went to Clontarf with some prawns and pillows and fished right off the beach. We fished the big drop off but got nothing (it’s almost winter now) except toad fish so we gave up and went to Mosman bay wharf for the first time. We fished near the cafe (away from the ferry stop) and saw a couple of decent legal bream right underneath the pylons so we tried to lure them out with prawn heads as burly but only attracted the toadies. There were no baitfish around to my surprise so we started casting toward the pylons with little weight to not scare the bream but the toadie would smash up our prawns and pillies before it would reach the bream 🤬. Eventually, my friend started casting out but no hookups and tiny bites were felt. I persevered and painstaking went for the bream, desperate to catch something decent. Used a size 3 hook with bits of peeled prawn but the toadies were being annoying. I put on an extra big piece of prawn on a size 1 hook to target the fan belly leatherjacket that was swimming around but eventually gave up. Just when I’m about to give up I feel a big tug and  wait. It reel my line in but it turned out that a bream was eating it and I unintentionally set the hook as I was reeeling. It was a short fight (lasted about 30 seconds. 😂😅) and had to haul it up because I was standing like 3 metres above water. I was scared of dropping it cuz i had it on my yakka gear but managed to land it. It went in the esky after it was scaled and gutted for dinner. On my last cast, I get my line tangled on some seaweed but the seaweed starts jiggling and I realise that it was the camouflaged fan belly leather jacket that I was chasing before. I jag hooked it on its tail accidentally! I clean it too and then head home. (Surprised that I didn’t hook any of the toad fish there🧐)

Anyway, the leather jacket was a fluke catch so I would like some tips about the spot. Also my first time fishing Clontarf too.

I've fished Clontarf quite a bit in the past year or so and have seen things like a small bull shark chasing mullet as close as 2m off the beach and have found the drop-off only really holds toadfish, baby snapper and the very very occasional Jewfish. I find flicking soft plastics off the pool to the right of the drop-off to be quite productive for bream and the occasional flathead and have seen people sitting there dropping bits of garlic chicken right down next to the netting and pulling up bream like there's no tomorrow. Fishing on the high tide off this pool I've found often works best as the bream are quite lively in feeding in the flats at this time, good spot for yakkas as well off the pool there. I have also seen a school of bonito feeding inside the swimming pool one evening. Another spot that's worth giving a go around Clontarf would be the rocky point between Grandmas Beach and Wessels Beach down the other side of Clontarf. I've caught tailor, trevally, bream, flathead and seen schools of bonito and salmon feeding and swimming off here a handful of times. Walking along the rocks from Wessels Beach to Castle Rock Beach and fanning out your casts with some soft plastics is also another good way to catch some fish if you are up for a bit of sketchy walk along the rocks there. Moral of the story, don't give up on fishing clontarf beach and its surrounding areas, there are lots of good fish to be caught around here.

[TheFishyFisherman]

R u actually allowed to fish near or off the netted pool tho? People swim there and I dont want to catch any humans swimming around it

[juicy233]

Yeah just don't fish inside of the pool whenever there are people swimming in it. You'll see people there standing on the corners of the pool perimeter casting out towards the marina.

5 hours ago, TheFishyFisherman said:

R u actually allowed to fish near or off the netted pool tho? People swim there and I dont want to catch any humans swimming around it

 

[TheFishyFisherman]

But the marina isn’t within casting distance from outside the pool right? (Sorry I might be wrong, don’t really have a good memory of what it was like) I can only cast up to 25 metres (with a 6 foot rod). Wouldn’t it be more convenient to fish near the marina or is that not allowed?

Edited June 1 by TheFishyFisherman

[juicy233]

yeah the marina is a bit out of casting distance but casting in that general area is good as there is a nice deep kelpy bit there

[TheFishyFisherman]

That’s good (For fish) but it seems snaggy because of the kelp