Long Sunday grind

[devoker]

I started early in the morning on a wharf with my wife, hoping to help her catch her first fish. I gave her the light rod with ecogear zx 43 and I was casting a halco twisty. We didn't have much luck as there were 3 other fishermen covering the other side with burleying. I suppose most fish were going into that direction. Once they left I casted the ecogear to that side and hooked a decent fish, but it dropped the lure halfway. After a few minutes I casted to the same area and landed a small snapper around 15-20 cms. I forgot to take a pic though. Unfortunately, my wife couldn't hook any fish.

Around noon, I decided to check some spots in lane cove river. I drove to Boronia park reserve and descended close to shore. The side wind was very strong. at the first I didn't close my mail arm fast that my line caught on tree and lost a jighead and soft plastic. I casted there on 3 different spots but I had zero hits. The current was also very strong as it was running out.

I decided to call it there and moved to another spot I wanted to try.

Tiniest spot I have ever fished. I started with 2" grubs and get a hit 2 metres away yet didn't hook. I casted the same areas a few different times and landed this flatty.

The first I did after it was to check my leader and it snapped very quickly. I retied it and continued with the soft plastic. I saw a few small whiting chasing the lure but they didn't commit. Then I decided to swith to a 17 g metal so that I can cast outside the area. I couldn't believe that I could cast this lure so far with my 2-4kg rod (2-14g lure weight) that I could see my backing knot (I have 150 m braid). I worked the lure by bouncing it off the bottom. Soon after the second flathead came.

After a few more casts and I caught my smallest tailor ever I had a few tailors before but they were all caught with larger metals so they wre legal sizes.

After releasing this ferocious little guy, I made the mistake of not checking my leader because I thought it should be fine as they usually bite the metal, but I was wrong. I casted the metal again quite far and during the retrieve the leader snapped Unfortunately, it was my only light metal lure. Then, I switched to small crankbaits to cast near structure with the hope of finding a bream, but I had no luck. I then tried a soft vibe to cover the same area but no fish was biting. Lastly, I tied a topwater lure to practise some walk the dog action, but again zero hits and decided to leave.

The next spot was ferry street in hunters hills. As soon as I went there I knew it was mistake. The wind was blowing strong to the west while the current was racing to the east at the same time. I decided to continue with heavier vibes to keep control of the line, but even with them the lure was ending up 20 30 metres left of where I casted all the time. I tried bouncing it off the bottom without any luck. I even tried retrieving them like retrieving metals with the hope of getting a tailor. All I caught was a mussel off the bottom

On the way back I tried another spot on lane cove river on the other side of hunters hill. I walked down the hill to the shore and founded a very shallow areas as it was getting very close to the low tide. I tried both 1/6 and 1/16 jigheads with grubs and walked on the mud to cover a decent 100 m area but the water was to shallow (probably less than 40 cm). I didn't want to get into the water not to mess up my shoes too much (it is very annoying to wash and dry stinking shoes in an apartment without a garage). I also tried some jerkbaits for extra casting distance and tried working them with a jerk/jerk/pause action. It looks like it wasn't the best spot to go on low tide. Overall, spent around 6-7 hours fishing at 5 different spots, but only catching 4 fish. Still better than catching nothing though. I guess I need to find better spots for windy days on lane cove river.

Then, I joined my wife to play tennis for anothor 2 hours and ended up getting an headache with heat exhaustion although I drank more than 3-4 litres of water Don't forget to drink electrolytes on such hot days like this!

 

Edited November 4 by devoker

[Little_Flatty]

Nice work @devoker. Epic day of fishing! Your third spot next to the Boatshed can be good topwater territory on a higher tide. On the other side at tarban ck reserve is one of my favourite topwater luring spots 😎

[big Neil]

I enjoyed reading your report devoker, you certainly gave it a big effort trying 5 different places in 7 hours. I think that if you persist with your efforts you will be well compensated by catching a lot of fish. Tide and conditions, as well as location are all important but the amount of time practicing your skills will pay long- term benefits in the future.

Good luck, keep at it.    bn

[devoker]

1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said:

Nice work @devoker. Epic day of fishing! Your third spot next to the Boatshed can be good topwater territory on a higher tide. On the other side at tarban ck reserve is one of my favourite topwater luring spots 😎

I saw that other side and definitely it will be on my list next time I visit.

1 hour ago, big Neil said:

I enjoyed reading your report devoker, you certainly gave it a big effort trying 5 different places in 7 hours. I think that if you persist with your efforts you will be well compensated by catching a lot of fish. Tide and conditions, as well as location are all important but the amount of time practicing your skills will pay long- term benefits in the future.

Good luck, keep at it.    bn

Thanks Neil. I am getting better and better with retrieve and landing. The biggest issue for me right now is finding good locations that is better suited to wind and tide. I wish I had more time to scout more places, but it is difficult to find the time between work, family, and other hobbies.

[lhan]

What a dream spending a whole day exploring fishing spots! You're doing really well mate!

Don't worry much about water depth actually. Fishing the shallow during high tide and the shallower deep section during low tide produce well for bread and butter species especially in warmer months. Knowing where the structures are is the key imho.

[bessell1955]

Gee, you really gave it a crack!