Winter Snapper in June

[whiskey299]

I have been slack recently and haven't been posting much so here is a combined report for the month of June. 

Given that the weather has been terrible and I haven't received any boat invites to fish offshore I fished in the harbour to get my fishing fix and to feed the family.

 

Session 1

Fishing in the harbour after Sydney got an absolute drenching.

Water colour was
Water temperature was
Weather was

Fishing was very slow and bait was almost non existent and impossible to find. Sat on top of a deep wreck and was lucky to stumble onto my biggest estuary Snapper measuring 43cm.

Spotted big eye were caught on a mixture of sabiki, slow jig and bait, I guess they will take anything if they’re hungry!

Tailor were caught on yakka strips. So glad I didn’t donut today as I seriously thought it was going to be one of those days. Not as many boats for a long weekend but they were still annoying . Couldn’t find any rats or soapies today.

Water temp 14.8 - 17C

 

 

 

Session 2

What great session fishing in Sydney Harbour.

Even though it was very cold and windy, I was lucky enough to score a 47cm midday Snapper on the 30g slowjig, a decent upgrade from the last session. From the initial run I was calling it a rat kingfish, but I’m so glad I was wrong. Even with this tea coloured water, fishing was still pretty good. A lot of bust ups and bird activity this morning and as usual by the time my kayak got there, they had moved on. Still haven’t caught any squid yet as I think the water clarity has put them off.

Found several schools of spotted bigeye camping out in the deeper spots taking bait and slowjigs.

Landed about 4 jewfish were undersized approx 50-60cm also taking bait and slowjigs.

I can’t seem to get away from sharks, this one is probably a dusky whaler, I could be wrong as I’m terrible at shark IDs. It already had an existing hook on one side of its jaw and I just added another to balance it out . I just don’t have the proper tools to safely remove it, so it’s better to cut the leader and let the hook rust out.

 

Water temp 12.8 - 14.8C. About a 2C temp drop from last week.

 

 

 

 

 

Session 3

Taking annual leave for a Monday fishing session during full moon, I must be crazy! Luckily it paid off and I got the target species.

Conditions today were mint
Water clarity
Water temp 13.8-15.8C

The Tailor were something fierce today, smashing minnows, poppers, slow jigs, live bait, strip bait, basically taking anything! I lost some big tailor which were easily +50cm and they pulled drag like a kingfish and eventually cut my leader. Generally not welcomed by most fisherman but they’re great steamed in black bean and garlic sauce or fish cakes. Release as many as I kept.

While unhooking a tailor I threw my double paternoster rig back into the water and forgot to close the bail arm. While dispatching the tailor I could hear some rod noises but didn’t know where it was coming from. About 5 mins later I realised my line was on the bottom and bail arm still open. I closed the bail arm and started to retrieve the line only to find I had a fish on. Since the water clarity is barely visible I was shocked to see a good snapper and tailor hooked up. I still don’t know how the hooks were set on both fish but just grateful to catch a keeper snapper. Shame I missed the first run. Snapper measured 46cm. Kept 2 tailor for myself and gave rest of the fish to my dad and to share with Uncles.

Also caught heaps of spotted bigeye all released. Caught about 4 soapies on a mix of slowjigs and bait.

 

 

Session 4

Not much to report today but I caught enough bait to spell out what’s trending at the moment. If you know you know!

 

Compared to session 1, bait was just everywhere and I couldn't seem to get away from them.

I even packed up my sabiki rig so I would stop catching them but then they just latched onto my size 1 hook meant for other fish. 

 

Also bagged a feed of snapper and spotted bigeye. No big tailor about just tiddlers and soapies.

 

 

 

[james Cutler]

Some top fish there. Nice snapper.

Well done.

[kantong]

cracker fish there, thanks for sharing the report!

[ireallylovefishies22]

Nice haul, do those red bigeye make good eating?

Edited yesterday at 02:59 AM by ireallylovefishies22

[LuckyFil]

Those snapper are really good size for inside waters. Well done.

[spraka]

Amazing! If I may ask, what depth were you fishing in? @whiskey299

[Yowie]

Very nice bags of fish for the month. The reddies the pick at those sizes.

[whiskey299]

On 7/2/2024 at 11:26 AM, james Cutler said:

Some top fish there. Nice snapper.

Well done.

 

On 7/2/2024 at 12:03 PM, kantong said:

cracker fish there, thanks for sharing the report!

 

19 hours ago, Yowie said:

Very nice bags of fish for the month. The reddies the pick at those sizes.

Thanks

 

On 7/2/2024 at 12:59 PM, ireallylovefishies22 said:

Nice haul, do those red bigeye make good eating?

I reckon spotted bigeye are fantastic eating.

 

21 hours ago, spraka said:

Amazing! If I may ask, what depth were you fishing in? @whiskey299

About 20-22m deep.