Here's part two of my top end magical mystery tour!
After a day lay off in Darwin, we made the 2 hour trip down the Kakadu Hwy, past all the famous rivers such as the Adelaide, Mary, Corroboree Billabong and West Alliagator Rivers down to our final destination...the expansive South Alligator River.
I have fished the South Alligator once before and did reasonably well. I had great hopes of snagging my first monster barra and getting my dad's first EVER barra. Day one we went up-river to hit the run-off flood plains and drains chasing the tide change early in the morning. It wasn't long, i think my second cast, i hit pay dirt. I was flicking 7" Gulp Jerk minnow plastics on 3/8oz Nitro heads in only 6 ft of water. The run-off was gushing so moderately weighted heads were necessary to get down to where the fish were holding.
The take of a barra is similar to that of our southern jewies. Both being implosion feeders the take feels like a single subtle tap rather than the whack of a golden snapper or the multiple tap tap's of a bream. Once you get a used to what it feels like, there's no mistaking it. Sure enough i came tight to a nice barra, the first of the trip and at a moderate 60cms it was a good eye opener. The push of the run-off sure made these fish fight harder and when they turned side on to the current we had to chase 3-4kg fish to land them. What was a 'metery' going to fight like?
Soon after dad got his first taste of barra fever. He hooked up and had a little blighter bouncing all over the river barely spending time in the water. I could see dad's face light up and knew he was already hooked; pardon the pun.
In the ensuing few hours till the tide picked up everyone on board was having a field day. We landed 25 barra but the big one eluded us as the biggest only went 65cms.
Day 2 saw us repeat the same game plan. On cue the barra were playing ball. We tried trolling lures on a famous rockbar first off but had no luck so the day 1 tactic of flicking lures to bank side structure was employed. The tide were growing as we approached the full moon so the window was greatly reduced. Even still we landed 20 barra and i dropped what would have been my PB fish. They worst part is that you actually see the fish you drop. I would say 90% of the barra hooked jumped directly after hook-up. 50% of the time they throw the lure. 100% of the time you can see how a fish you just lost. I was demoralised but eager to make amends.
Day 3 saw us change tact completely. We made the 80km trek down river to fish the mouth and try and diversify our species. To cut a long story short we bombed out. The creeks were full of bait and were draining nicely but the barra were noticeably absent. We tried trolling and foul hoked a stinky 30lb catfish just to show what a bad day we were having. Time to go home...all 80kms. To save the day we stopped at a few drains they were pouring milky water into the tannin river. The colour change looked good and we hooked a few small barra to ease the pain.
Our last day saw the worst tides of the trip. The tide was gushing early and the run-off water only exacerbated the issue. We had a half hour window and made the most of it. I caught the barra of the trip at around 80cms adjacent to a submerged tree at the entrance of a creek mouth; classic barra habitat. It must have been only 6kgs approx but the aerial displays were awesome. The big bucket mouth did everything to shake the lure but with a bit of luck and good management we landed the fish. We boated another 5 or so fish till the tide picked up and we had to head for the airport.
The 8 day trip covering both blue water and creeks accounted for over 24 different species and well over 300 fish; not to mention over 100 jighead fatalities and 3 snapped rods. Probably a story for another time. This will be a hard trip to outdo but i am positive a better adventure will come.
I'm not sure how i will feel about catching bream and flathead now? If there is one thing i can report, every fish you hook in the top end fights like a maniac, even if it's a tiddler!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Top End Sojourn - Part 1
I thought it might be best if i split this report up into 2 sections. I had 3 days fishing the blue water out of Dundee Beach and 4 days barra fishing on the South Alligator River. Part 1 is the low down of the blue water sessions we had...friggin awesome!
We set off from Dundee Beach to make our passage down to the Perron Islands some 60kms away down the coastline, adjacent to the mouth of the Daly River. Due to some overwhelming good reports, on the way we made a detour to the Finniss River to troll up some Barra and get the fishing off to a good start. The river resembled a Sydney metropolitan system cause it was bumper to bumper boats. I came over 3000kms to fish a packed waterway in the middle of nowhere?
The river didn't let us down. We trolled through 2 sticks which i termed the goalposts and every pass was a barra. No monsters but a great start to the trip. The best went 80cms. We were using Manns Boof Baits.
We left the river and commenced to our destination. About 10kms form the island we came across wheeling birds and busting fish. No sooner had we stopped, i had a lure into the melee. Instant hookup! I had a light 3-5kg flick stick and was seriously outgunned. I looked around to see the boys rods all loaded up and smiles across everyones face. This was shaping up to be a killer trip. about 10 minutes later i had my fish to the boat. At around 6kgs i caught my first Mack Tuna. The boys landed a few decent longtail as well.
A decision was made to leave the fish biting, much to my agony, to chase the tides around the Perrons for a session on Golden Snapper. The week previous had seen a mind blowing bite occur on goldies and Mick Beare wanted a repeat dose. We arrived and deployed our plastics in anticipation. While the goldies didn't show up like they had in the previous week, Sean Cremin landed a beauty at 5kgs and put up a great fight. Bouncing plastics over the reef accounted for a variety of species and we had consistent action for the next 4 hours. We landed, goldies, red throat emperor, spanish flag, estuary cod, sharks and other ooglies.
We left the island and decided to trek over to Redcliffs where we were going to anchor up for the night. On passage once again we came across diving birds. We rigged our trolling rods and instantly i hooked up to a rampaging fish. The rpm's on the spool indicated one thing...a spanish mackeral. At 12kgs it was a bruiser and a great adversary. Trolling for the next couple hours saw more longtail and mack tuna come over the side of the boat.
We arrived at redcliffs and anchored for the night. Dad and i being keen buggers kept a few longtail for bait and commenced bottom-bashing for goldies. While i won't go into full details, let me just say the next 4 hours was the best bait fishing i have ever done. Every drop was met with a hungry fish ready to peel line off the spool. I reckon we caught over 50 goldies, 20 sharks, a handful of massive cod, and everything else that fights like a demon in the territory. By midnight i was pooped. Time for bed!
The next morning we tried to flick a few poppers around for GT's. Nothing was doing so we decided to head over to a place called Mack Mountain and Sail City. Once again on the way we came across more busting fish. It was longtail and mack tuna time again. We landed another dozen or so speedsters and headed off to find more spanish mackeral. We got to Mack Mountain and it didn't disappoint. Dad got his first spanish Mack and we got a few more tuna's. It was time to pull out the plastics again...
In about 70ft of water we drifted over a patch of reef that was full of life. Every drop of the lure was met with a positive take. We landed all manner of top end sportfish such as coral trout, GT's, Golden Trevally, queenies, barracuda and every shark known to man. We attrition rate was high on jigheads but the fun factor was sky high. The notable capture for me was a 15kg GT i landed on a 3-5kg stick on 14lb braid. The rod was loaded to the fore grip for 30 mins while the fish dictated terms. Slowly but surely i won the battle. What a fight! I saw my backing more times than a care to remember.
We headed off again in search of the elusive top end black jew. By this stage we had accumulated 21 different species and the mission was to hook as many as we could. A jew would have just about sealed the deal. It was already the trip of a lifetime in terms of fish caught. But as happens, fishing is a fickle game and the jewie evaded us. Just means I have to make a return trip to catch one.
The last morning saw more plastics action. I hooked my PB goldie at around the 5kg mark and a cracker cod. the tide picked up and the fishing died off. Time to relax and gear up for 4 days of barra fishing...
Stay tuned for part 2...
We set off from Dundee Beach to make our passage down to the Perron Islands some 60kms away down the coastline, adjacent to the mouth of the Daly River. Due to some overwhelming good reports, on the way we made a detour to the Finniss River to troll up some Barra and get the fishing off to a good start. The river resembled a Sydney metropolitan system cause it was bumper to bumper boats. I came over 3000kms to fish a packed waterway in the middle of nowhere?
The river didn't let us down. We trolled through 2 sticks which i termed the goalposts and every pass was a barra. No monsters but a great start to the trip. The best went 80cms. We were using Manns Boof Baits.
We left the river and commenced to our destination. About 10kms form the island we came across wheeling birds and busting fish. No sooner had we stopped, i had a lure into the melee. Instant hookup! I had a light 3-5kg flick stick and was seriously outgunned. I looked around to see the boys rods all loaded up and smiles across everyones face. This was shaping up to be a killer trip. about 10 minutes later i had my fish to the boat. At around 6kgs i caught my first Mack Tuna. The boys landed a few decent longtail as well.
A decision was made to leave the fish biting, much to my agony, to chase the tides around the Perrons for a session on Golden Snapper. The week previous had seen a mind blowing bite occur on goldies and Mick Beare wanted a repeat dose. We arrived and deployed our plastics in anticipation. While the goldies didn't show up like they had in the previous week, Sean Cremin landed a beauty at 5kgs and put up a great fight. Bouncing plastics over the reef accounted for a variety of species and we had consistent action for the next 4 hours. We landed, goldies, red throat emperor, spanish flag, estuary cod, sharks and other ooglies.
We left the island and decided to trek over to Redcliffs where we were going to anchor up for the night. On passage once again we came across diving birds. We rigged our trolling rods and instantly i hooked up to a rampaging fish. The rpm's on the spool indicated one thing...a spanish mackeral. At 12kgs it was a bruiser and a great adversary. Trolling for the next couple hours saw more longtail and mack tuna come over the side of the boat.
We arrived at redcliffs and anchored for the night. Dad and i being keen buggers kept a few longtail for bait and commenced bottom-bashing for goldies. While i won't go into full details, let me just say the next 4 hours was the best bait fishing i have ever done. Every drop was met with a hungry fish ready to peel line off the spool. I reckon we caught over 50 goldies, 20 sharks, a handful of massive cod, and everything else that fights like a demon in the territory. By midnight i was pooped. Time for bed!
The next morning we tried to flick a few poppers around for GT's. Nothing was doing so we decided to head over to a place called Mack Mountain and Sail City. Once again on the way we came across more busting fish. It was longtail and mack tuna time again. We landed another dozen or so speedsters and headed off to find more spanish mackeral. We got to Mack Mountain and it didn't disappoint. Dad got his first spanish Mack and we got a few more tuna's. It was time to pull out the plastics again...
In about 70ft of water we drifted over a patch of reef that was full of life. Every drop of the lure was met with a positive take. We landed all manner of top end sportfish such as coral trout, GT's, Golden Trevally, queenies, barracuda and every shark known to man. We attrition rate was high on jigheads but the fun factor was sky high. The notable capture for me was a 15kg GT i landed on a 3-5kg stick on 14lb braid. The rod was loaded to the fore grip for 30 mins while the fish dictated terms. Slowly but surely i won the battle. What a fight! I saw my backing more times than a care to remember.
We headed off again in search of the elusive top end black jew. By this stage we had accumulated 21 different species and the mission was to hook as many as we could. A jew would have just about sealed the deal. It was already the trip of a lifetime in terms of fish caught. But as happens, fishing is a fickle game and the jewie evaded us. Just means I have to make a return trip to catch one.
The last morning saw more plastics action. I hooked my PB goldie at around the 5kg mark and a cracker cod. the tide picked up and the fishing died off. Time to relax and gear up for 4 days of barra fishing...
Stay tuned for part 2...
Friday, April 9, 2010
S-Factor
These days there’s no disputing that effective attractants and scents significantly improve your catch rates when using lures. Squidgies new Pro Range with S-Factor is at the cutting edge of this revolution.
Just recently we spent time on the mighty Hawkesbury River targeting the monster blue-nose bream that inhabit the area. We were bouncing little softies down the deep rock walls that flank the river. We tested the new S-Factor scent against the popular Gulp products to see if it cut the angling mustard. We also trialed the new Squidgys range of lures without the application of S-Factor and the results were plainly obvious. We landed cricket scores of bream with the lures that had S-Factor applied to it and very ordinary results on the plastics without. Even the Gulp lures were out-fished by a margin of 5 to 1. Add to this by-catch of mulloway and a massive sea mullet and early indications are the S-Factor scent is light years ahead of the competition. Re-application of S-Factor scent is recommended every 15 casts or so for best results.
The theory behind the S-Factor product is based on a fishes highly advanced sense of taste. After vigorous testing by none other than Dr Ben Diggles it seems our local species respond better to scents that are water soluble than those based around fish oils and pheromones. Research suggests a fish can taste the S-Factor without even having it in its mouth, as long as it’s within close range.
While the science can convince us the S-Factor has it sorted out, it’s the runs on the board that ultimately prove its worth. But if you ask the tournament guru’s if they reckon this stuff works then see how often they apply it to their lures during competition!
Just recently we spent time on the mighty Hawkesbury River targeting the monster blue-nose bream that inhabit the area. We were bouncing little softies down the deep rock walls that flank the river. We tested the new S-Factor scent against the popular Gulp products to see if it cut the angling mustard. We also trialed the new Squidgys range of lures without the application of S-Factor and the results were plainly obvious. We landed cricket scores of bream with the lures that had S-Factor applied to it and very ordinary results on the plastics without. Even the Gulp lures were out-fished by a margin of 5 to 1. Add to this by-catch of mulloway and a massive sea mullet and early indications are the S-Factor scent is light years ahead of the competition. Re-application of S-Factor scent is recommended every 15 casts or so for best results.
The theory behind the S-Factor product is based on a fishes highly advanced sense of taste. After vigorous testing by none other than Dr Ben Diggles it seems our local species respond better to scents that are water soluble than those based around fish oils and pheromones. Research suggests a fish can taste the S-Factor without even having it in its mouth, as long as it’s within close range.
While the science can convince us the S-Factor has it sorted out, it’s the runs on the board that ultimately prove its worth. But if you ask the tournament guru’s if they reckon this stuff works then see how often they apply it to their lures during competition!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
What is Australia's No1 sportfish?
Now here's a conundrum - I'll bet if I asked Aussie fishos what they thought was the BEST sportfish in our waters I'd get a pretty mixed response.
I’m sure boys on the east coast and north of the NSW border would say any of the grander billfish they catch off Cairns. Fishos further north in reef country would probably nominate a barrel-sized dogtooth.
I bet the boys in the NT would have a handful of logical selections with the GT figuring highly on the list. The die hard barra anglers would probably have their say as well, tipping in with a wild-caught "metrey". I’m sure some might even select the cobia.
WA fishos would have a few to pick from, seeing as their state is one-third of Australia’s landmass and covers tropical and temperate waters. The species would no doubt be an eclectic mix of what fishos target in their local waters. In the north of WA my guess would be sailfish and in the south, Samson fish.
In SA the boys - in the past - might have said great white sharks, but these days thumping big bluefin tuna out wide or Whyalla’s mind-blowing 40lb reds would be my guess as the fish of choice. If I lived there I would probably select the 40kg plus kings that turn up around Coffin Bay.
In Victoria my guess is your guess. If I had to speculate I think the overwhelming popular choice would be makos or XOS snapper. I’m sure the gummy might rate a mention but is it Australia’s best sportfish? I highly doubt it.
In Tassie, the boys would in all probability say southern bluefin or the hard pulling striped trumpeter.
In my local NSW waters the only choice would be a beakie of some description. There are some decent fish lurking in our backyard but none can truly match the class of the northern species other than our beaked friends. Sorry diehard mulloway anglers!
So I put it back in your court. And the answers can be for a variety of reasons as well. What do you think is our BEST sportfish?
I’ll start. Tally one point up for a GT the size of your front door!
I’m sure boys on the east coast and north of the NSW border would say any of the grander billfish they catch off Cairns. Fishos further north in reef country would probably nominate a barrel-sized dogtooth.
I bet the boys in the NT would have a handful of logical selections with the GT figuring highly on the list. The die hard barra anglers would probably have their say as well, tipping in with a wild-caught "metrey". I’m sure some might even select the cobia.
WA fishos would have a few to pick from, seeing as their state is one-third of Australia’s landmass and covers tropical and temperate waters. The species would no doubt be an eclectic mix of what fishos target in their local waters. In the north of WA my guess would be sailfish and in the south, Samson fish.
In SA the boys - in the past - might have said great white sharks, but these days thumping big bluefin tuna out wide or Whyalla’s mind-blowing 40lb reds would be my guess as the fish of choice. If I lived there I would probably select the 40kg plus kings that turn up around Coffin Bay.
In Victoria my guess is your guess. If I had to speculate I think the overwhelming popular choice would be makos or XOS snapper. I’m sure the gummy might rate a mention but is it Australia’s best sportfish? I highly doubt it.
In Tassie, the boys would in all probability say southern bluefin or the hard pulling striped trumpeter.
In my local NSW waters the only choice would be a beakie of some description. There are some decent fish lurking in our backyard but none can truly match the class of the northern species other than our beaked friends. Sorry diehard mulloway anglers!
So I put it back in your court. And the answers can be for a variety of reasons as well. What do you think is our BEST sportfish?
I’ll start. Tally one point up for a GT the size of your front door!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Fishing Knots for Soft Plastics
Hi Everyone,
For those who attended the talk on soft plastics last night at the Panthers Leagues Club attached are diagrams of the two knots that we use when fishing with soft plastics.
Loop Knot
Albright Special
http://www.netknots.com/html/albright_special.html
The actual knot is showed you last night qwas the improved albright which made the 10 turns down the line, not back up the line as domenstarted in this link i have supplied, but apart from that everything else is the exact the same process. If you have any issues tying these knots just let me know.
For those who attended the talk on soft plastics last night at the Panthers Leagues Club attached are diagrams of the two knots that we use when fishing with soft plastics.
Loop Knot
Albright Special
http://www.netknots.com/html/albright_special.html
The actual knot is showed you last night qwas the improved albright which made the 10 turns down the line, not back up the line as domenstarted in this link i have supplied, but apart from that everything else is the exact the same process. If you have any issues tying these knots just let me know.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Fillet & Release???
Recently the recreational fishing sector has come under intense scrutiny from a number of areas. While we often fight against irrational policy making, lack of funding, the commercial sector and other lobbyists, the number one opposition to our passionate pastime are the dreaded greenies. No surprises there!
Apart from critical issues such as locking us out of our valuable waterways, a recent arguement has raised a fair bit of public commentary. Is it ethical to catch & release fish purely for sport??? On face value the question seems almost illogical, yet on further inspection probably commands some further thought.
Firstly, most fishermen consider themselves to be envirnmentalists. We usually all have a love of the outdoors and do our best to keep it in prime condition. Most adhere to the stringent regulations palced on us and follow the generous bag limits imposed. There are also another band of keen anglers who purely catch fish for the sport. They release everything they catch to help protect our dwindling fish stocks for future generations of fishermen. This band of conservation-minded fishos are growing rapidly. This trend has gained momentum from the catch and release tournamnet scene flourishing across Australia.
The arguement by the 'others' is quite basic. It is cruel to catch fish purely for the sport. It is inhumane to subject fish to pain and stress purely for our enjoyment. It matters little if the philosophy of catch and release actually aides their overall outcome of increased fish biomass, simple fact is they dont want anyone fishing.
Their retort to this actually contradicts what they stand for. They would prefer we keep everything we catch, as it it more ethical to fish for consumption than sustainability. Now, what they would prefer is to abolish catch and release in favour of a more dignified approach...fillet and release!
Apart from critical issues such as locking us out of our valuable waterways, a recent arguement has raised a fair bit of public commentary. Is it ethical to catch & release fish purely for sport??? On face value the question seems almost illogical, yet on further inspection probably commands some further thought.
Firstly, most fishermen consider themselves to be envirnmentalists. We usually all have a love of the outdoors and do our best to keep it in prime condition. Most adhere to the stringent regulations palced on us and follow the generous bag limits imposed. There are also another band of keen anglers who purely catch fish for the sport. They release everything they catch to help protect our dwindling fish stocks for future generations of fishermen. This band of conservation-minded fishos are growing rapidly. This trend has gained momentum from the catch and release tournamnet scene flourishing across Australia.
The arguement by the 'others' is quite basic. It is cruel to catch fish purely for the sport. It is inhumane to subject fish to pain and stress purely for our enjoyment. It matters little if the philosophy of catch and release actually aides their overall outcome of increased fish biomass, simple fact is they dont want anyone fishing.
Their retort to this actually contradicts what they stand for. They would prefer we keep everything we catch, as it it more ethical to fish for consumption than sustainability. Now, what they would prefer is to abolish catch and release in favour of a more dignified approach...fillet and release!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Old school with new tricks
I have had the pleasure over the past 4 or 5 seasons to open the eyes of some very important people in my life to the allure of soft lures. These important people were the cornerstone to my whole outlook on fishing. They fuelled the fire in my infancy, taught me the basics, helped me develop the patience,and gave me the appreciation of comraderie and mateship, beyond what is known outside the sphere recreational fishing.
My dad and grandfather have taken to plastics like any angling challenge in their life. My dad now sports more specialist sp outfits than bait rigs, a hobie to fish out of for his adjacent lake and braid coming out of his ears. He has all the elements in place to be a gun lure fisho. And to be honest he already is. I think it really appeals to his meticuluos nature.
My pop on the other hand is something different all together. Where my father was open to new ideas, listened to the mistakes i made and heeded the good oil to fast track his learning, much like i did when i was in his shoes years before, my pop has really run his own show. We all gave him the basics, told him what gear to use and what lures to use and where but he rarely listens.
I'm not sure if it is part of old age, he is 80 years old now and probably can't be given advice by a snot-nosed thrity-something. He will conceed we are onto a good thing though, but not initially.
I remember our first session together on sp's. It was in Botany. We landed over 30 flatties and good variety of by-catch. I was so excited for him cause he caught his fair share of fish. I was beaming with excitement and all he could muster was "they work ok...but they only catch flathead, no good for anything else". He's is a hard man to please! What made matters worse was he snapped the tip off his new graphite stick i bought him to get into the whole concept. "bloody rods break to easy...not as good as my ugly stick".
From those humble beginings has spawed a love affair for using platics now. He still will never admit it but i know he's keen when he rings me on a wednesday to tee up a session with me for the weekend. He knows i never use bait.
But the remarkle thing is he runs his own race. He used cheap old reels that wobble like a punch drunk boxer on his last legs. His rods are his trusty glass rods that weight more than my Navara. He will not conform. No matter how much i try and talk to him. But in essence this is what i love most. He defys the odds and still from time to time teaches me a lesson or two. It burns!
Last weekend at Botany he did it to me again. He pulled out his rods that barely have enough cotton on the bindings to hold on the guides, out came the DAM reels loaded with braid, probably thick enough to use as anchor rope, a jighead large enough to use off the continental shelf and he kicked butt. Go figure.
As a side note, the bay seems to be firing again. The winter chill has evaporated and the fish are ready to play ball. There a few kings getting around but they are timid. The flatties are VERY hungry and the tailor are a good class. The trevs seem to be a good size too with fish up to a kg roaming all over the bay.
My dad and grandfather have taken to plastics like any angling challenge in their life. My dad now sports more specialist sp outfits than bait rigs, a hobie to fish out of for his adjacent lake and braid coming out of his ears. He has all the elements in place to be a gun lure fisho. And to be honest he already is. I think it really appeals to his meticuluos nature.
My pop on the other hand is something different all together. Where my father was open to new ideas, listened to the mistakes i made and heeded the good oil to fast track his learning, much like i did when i was in his shoes years before, my pop has really run his own show. We all gave him the basics, told him what gear to use and what lures to use and where but he rarely listens.
I'm not sure if it is part of old age, he is 80 years old now and probably can't be given advice by a snot-nosed thrity-something. He will conceed we are onto a good thing though, but not initially.
I remember our first session together on sp's. It was in Botany. We landed over 30 flatties and good variety of by-catch. I was so excited for him cause he caught his fair share of fish. I was beaming with excitement and all he could muster was "they work ok...but they only catch flathead, no good for anything else". He's is a hard man to please! What made matters worse was he snapped the tip off his new graphite stick i bought him to get into the whole concept. "bloody rods break to easy...not as good as my ugly stick".
From those humble beginings has spawed a love affair for using platics now. He still will never admit it but i know he's keen when he rings me on a wednesday to tee up a session with me for the weekend. He knows i never use bait.
But the remarkle thing is he runs his own race. He used cheap old reels that wobble like a punch drunk boxer on his last legs. His rods are his trusty glass rods that weight more than my Navara. He will not conform. No matter how much i try and talk to him. But in essence this is what i love most. He defys the odds and still from time to time teaches me a lesson or two. It burns!
Last weekend at Botany he did it to me again. He pulled out his rods that barely have enough cotton on the bindings to hold on the guides, out came the DAM reels loaded with braid, probably thick enough to use as anchor rope, a jighead large enough to use off the continental shelf and he kicked butt. Go figure.
As a side note, the bay seems to be firing again. The winter chill has evaporated and the fish are ready to play ball. There a few kings getting around but they are timid. The flatties are VERY hungry and the tailor are a good class. The trevs seem to be a good size too with fish up to a kg roaming all over the bay.
Friday, September 4, 2009
South Alligator River
Hi Fisho's,
Just got back from a 3 day stint in the top end. Flew in to Darwin on a red-eye flight and arrived afetr midnight. 3am we pack the car and make the 2 hour drive into Kakadu and subsequently the boat ramp at the South Alligator.
On the weekend there were the year's smallest neaps; tidal variances were only 50mm at stages. The river was supposed to clean up and the fish able to bite freely. I have had a few trips north to trpoical locations that slightly disappointed when you consider the expectation placed on it by eager fisho's intent on catching more fish than at home. As most know though, fishing is rarely like that, fish bite when they bite, whether it's the untouched north or hard fished waters like sydeny harbour.
I had an idea of what i wanted to achieve over the few days i had. I knew we were going to troll for Barra, cast lures at bank-side structure and head offshore for some tastey reef fish. I also wanted to use plastics predominantly against the local techniques and see if my rubber lures could keep pace with the social and cultural norm.
We fished all the likely spots around Little Brook Ck and Mud Island and caught a swag of decent Barra to 82cms, a stack of hard-fighting goldies to 2.5kgs, grunters, queenies, threadfin, blue salmon, a small GT and a juvy balck jew. Not a bad mixed bag of tropical sportfish on the rubber stuff.
Offshore it was a bit tougher. Although the tide was placid I only manageed to hook a small queenie, spanish flag, moonfish, a nice GT that smoked me and a tenacious reef shark. The bait was catching the bulk of the fillets out in the blue.
I guess the key take-outs for the weekend were that our southern techniques using plastics certainly do work north of the border. I basically used bream and flatty retrieves on jerk minnow type lures all weekend and held my own against the hard body brigade. I even managed to convince the locals a spin rod is just as deadly as a baitcaster in the right hands. Mind you i was required to prove it too.
The crocs in the river were noticably absent except for when we stranded ourselves on a sand bank and forced to get out and pull it into deeper water. Suddenly 4 moderately sized crocs appeared out of nowhere for an inquisitive look. Sneaky buggers instinctively know when a cheap meal presents itself.
I can't wait to head back there, run off is my next target. Bring on the rain!
Just got back from a 3 day stint in the top end. Flew in to Darwin on a red-eye flight and arrived afetr midnight. 3am we pack the car and make the 2 hour drive into Kakadu and subsequently the boat ramp at the South Alligator.
On the weekend there were the year's smallest neaps; tidal variances were only 50mm at stages. The river was supposed to clean up and the fish able to bite freely. I have had a few trips north to trpoical locations that slightly disappointed when you consider the expectation placed on it by eager fisho's intent on catching more fish than at home. As most know though, fishing is rarely like that, fish bite when they bite, whether it's the untouched north or hard fished waters like sydeny harbour.
I had an idea of what i wanted to achieve over the few days i had. I knew we were going to troll for Barra, cast lures at bank-side structure and head offshore for some tastey reef fish. I also wanted to use plastics predominantly against the local techniques and see if my rubber lures could keep pace with the social and cultural norm.
We fished all the likely spots around Little Brook Ck and Mud Island and caught a swag of decent Barra to 82cms, a stack of hard-fighting goldies to 2.5kgs, grunters, queenies, threadfin, blue salmon, a small GT and a juvy balck jew. Not a bad mixed bag of tropical sportfish on the rubber stuff.
Offshore it was a bit tougher. Although the tide was placid I only manageed to hook a small queenie, spanish flag, moonfish, a nice GT that smoked me and a tenacious reef shark. The bait was catching the bulk of the fillets out in the blue.
I guess the key take-outs for the weekend were that our southern techniques using plastics certainly do work north of the border. I basically used bream and flatty retrieves on jerk minnow type lures all weekend and held my own against the hard body brigade. I even managed to convince the locals a spin rod is just as deadly as a baitcaster in the right hands. Mind you i was required to prove it too.
The crocs in the river were noticably absent except for when we stranded ourselves on a sand bank and forced to get out and pull it into deeper water. Suddenly 4 moderately sized crocs appeared out of nowhere for an inquisitive look. Sneaky buggers instinctively know when a cheap meal presents itself.
I can't wait to head back there, run off is my next target. Bring on the rain!
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Top End
Hi Folks,
The best part of being a fisho is the sense of adventure inherent in the sport. Invariably you get taken to breath-taking locations far away from the mundane reality that is our normal existence. I love the quiet streams and rivers with the only sounds of life are the sweet hummings of native birds and the rhythmic wistle of russtling leaves. It is a blessing some may take for granted. From time to time i often tilt my head back, gaze at the scenery and and take in a deep breath, tasting the environment through all of my senses. It unwinds the soul and invigorates the mind.
These locations might be local, some spots i fish in the Hawkesbury River have this effect, or it might be in some far-flung location. Booked holidays to exoctic destinations are planned sometimes years in advance. The lead up is usually a crescendo of excitement and nervous energy and BAM...the trip you have anxiously awaited for months on end has dissipated into a historical occurence. The week you have booked flies past with little regard for time. Then it's over!
I have been lucky this week to redefine the process. Instead of months of anxiety and patience,I have been blessed with an impromptu opportunity to the top end; the South Alligator River to be precise. My mate Sean called in Wednesday evening and suggested i should pack my bags and head north immediately. The tides have aligned and time is now. The opportunity too good to miss. Airfare tickets booked next day, pack my gear in a flurry of panic and today i fly. No time to contemplate, no time to assess and no time to lament.
Perhaps impromptu is better. If you look at the time pre trip we usually have, say 12 months and the duration of the trip, say 1 week, we have a disproportionately balanced cycle. 52 weeks to salivate and 1 week to devour. No wonder the time away flies past. Here we have 2 days to prepare and 3 days away. Perhaps the time will trickle in comparison. I hope so. It's times like these that we cherish, and adventures like this all too infrequent in modern times.
I will report of the fishing as soon as i'm back!
The best part of being a fisho is the sense of adventure inherent in the sport. Invariably you get taken to breath-taking locations far away from the mundane reality that is our normal existence. I love the quiet streams and rivers with the only sounds of life are the sweet hummings of native birds and the rhythmic wistle of russtling leaves. It is a blessing some may take for granted. From time to time i often tilt my head back, gaze at the scenery and and take in a deep breath, tasting the environment through all of my senses. It unwinds the soul and invigorates the mind.
These locations might be local, some spots i fish in the Hawkesbury River have this effect, or it might be in some far-flung location. Booked holidays to exoctic destinations are planned sometimes years in advance. The lead up is usually a crescendo of excitement and nervous energy and BAM...the trip you have anxiously awaited for months on end has dissipated into a historical occurence. The week you have booked flies past with little regard for time. Then it's over!
I have been lucky this week to redefine the process. Instead of months of anxiety and patience,I have been blessed with an impromptu opportunity to the top end; the South Alligator River to be precise. My mate Sean called in Wednesday evening and suggested i should pack my bags and head north immediately. The tides have aligned and time is now. The opportunity too good to miss. Airfare tickets booked next day, pack my gear in a flurry of panic and today i fly. No time to contemplate, no time to assess and no time to lament.
Perhaps impromptu is better. If you look at the time pre trip we usually have, say 12 months and the duration of the trip, say 1 week, we have a disproportionately balanced cycle. 52 weeks to salivate and 1 week to devour. No wonder the time away flies past. Here we have 2 days to prepare and 3 days away. Perhaps the time will trickle in comparison. I hope so. It's times like these that we cherish, and adventures like this all too infrequent in modern times.
I will report of the fishing as soon as i'm back!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Fishing World Magazine
Hi All,
As some of you may know i do a little bit of work for Fishing World magazine. I have only been with the company a few years now but in that time i have had the pleasure to meet some outstanding people, fishing with a few of them and befriend a lot more. It really has invigorated my fishing, given me something to look forward to and in the process made me a better fisherman.
The aspect like most is thinking of a possible story and spending time to perfect the species or technique or even the location in question. I seem to enjoy a deadline??? But the writing of the story isn't the hard part. It's getting a fish to co-operate in front of the lens. Any good fishing writer will tell you quality pics are the main game, not so much the fishing or writing.
Anyway, the last month saw Fishing World's 40th anniversary of the magazine, way back when fishing luminaries such as Vic McCrystal were pioneering the sportfishing movement in Oz. It's hard not to feel a sense of pride writing for this mag when you gaze upon the history.
An article was posted on the fishing world website listing in chronological order the writers the boys at the mag feel have done some outstanding work over the years. I was filled with pride to be the last man on that list; number 88 in fact. I could not believe i was on a list of names that outlines the heritage of the cream of fishing writers in this country. Some have passed on from writing, whist some still persue writing to this day. Names such as Rod harrison, John Mondora, Geoff Wilson, John Newbery and the eppervescent David Green just to name a few. I love gazing back on my old issues i pinched from my uncles. This was in a time when Greeny still had some boyish good looks!
It was a proud moment in my angling life. Who would have thought the wharf rat from sydney made it good. Check the link hereabouts for some nostalgic value.
Please support the magazine everyone. It's our patrons that keep the dream alive!
http://www.fishingworldmag.com.au/news/fisho-writer-roll-call-and-40th-tributes
As some of you may know i do a little bit of work for Fishing World magazine. I have only been with the company a few years now but in that time i have had the pleasure to meet some outstanding people, fishing with a few of them and befriend a lot more. It really has invigorated my fishing, given me something to look forward to and in the process made me a better fisherman.
The aspect like most is thinking of a possible story and spending time to perfect the species or technique or even the location in question. I seem to enjoy a deadline??? But the writing of the story isn't the hard part. It's getting a fish to co-operate in front of the lens. Any good fishing writer will tell you quality pics are the main game, not so much the fishing or writing.
Anyway, the last month saw Fishing World's 40th anniversary of the magazine, way back when fishing luminaries such as Vic McCrystal were pioneering the sportfishing movement in Oz. It's hard not to feel a sense of pride writing for this mag when you gaze upon the history.
An article was posted on the fishing world website listing in chronological order the writers the boys at the mag feel have done some outstanding work over the years. I was filled with pride to be the last man on that list; number 88 in fact. I could not believe i was on a list of names that outlines the heritage of the cream of fishing writers in this country. Some have passed on from writing, whist some still persue writing to this day. Names such as Rod harrison, John Mondora, Geoff Wilson, John Newbery and the eppervescent David Green just to name a few. I love gazing back on my old issues i pinched from my uncles. This was in a time when Greeny still had some boyish good looks!
It was a proud moment in my angling life. Who would have thought the wharf rat from sydney made it good. Check the link hereabouts for some nostalgic value.
Please support the magazine everyone. It's our patrons that keep the dream alive!
http://www.fishingworldmag.com.au/news/fisho-writer-roll-call-and-40th-tributes
Sunday, August 9, 2009
The Hex has been Lifted
Hi All,
If you read along to my blogs, you would know there has been a trend lately in my fishing that makes any environmentalist and fishing die-hard a happy camper. The influx of juvenile jewies plaguing our waters is still in full swing. What a great situation as well, our apex predators in our Sydney estuaries are breeding well and in abundance.
My general beef with this whole predicament is that my catch rates on jewies over 3kgs has almost disappeared. There are days were hooking 20 plus fish but all were infants muscling in on big brothers turf. Talking with a few old salts that have lived on the Hawkesbury River as long as adam was a boy, say if the small jewies are around, you can bet your bottom dolar the big ones aren't. Not too sure what the reason might be, but one can guess, based on the voracious attitude to feeding that little might be left for the bigger specimens to eat. One thing is for sure. If you catch a jewie, you can almost gaurantee subsequent fish caught will be of similer ilk. I rarely catch jewies in a short timeframe of drastically different sizes.
Obviously being a schooling fish this pattern makes legitimate sense; fish generally school with others of similar age and size. But what complicates this theory is jewies are known to be canabalistic. They will eat a juvenile jewie. So if a spate of juvenile fish are abundant, where are the big ones ready to eat them??? Who knows, they still may be there but are only dialed in on a particular food source. Therein lies much of the answer really.
The good news is i broke my winter hoodoo. I hooked a beautiful fish last weekend around the old fashioned 16 pound mark. I was flicking around 6" plastics all moring without interest. The moment i switched to a small squidgy wrigler hot tail in white body pink tail, smeared s-factor on it i cam up trumps. As they say, even elephants eat peanuts. While no monster jew, it was hooked on 4lb braid and 10lb leader on a 2-4kg stick and fought in close proximity to a jagged rocky shoreline. To make matters more interesting i hooked it on a Nitro jighead - Bream Series which are a light guage hook for finesse fishing. When the jewie was landed after a dogged 20 minute fight and placed in the environet, the half straightened hook simply fell out. My luck was in last saturday and that fish was meant to model for the camera. After behaving itself it was great to see it swim away. I hope this is the begining of a new trend.
Now the monkey is officially off my back!
If you read along to my blogs, you would know there has been a trend lately in my fishing that makes any environmentalist and fishing die-hard a happy camper. The influx of juvenile jewies plaguing our waters is still in full swing. What a great situation as well, our apex predators in our Sydney estuaries are breeding well and in abundance.
My general beef with this whole predicament is that my catch rates on jewies over 3kgs has almost disappeared. There are days were hooking 20 plus fish but all were infants muscling in on big brothers turf. Talking with a few old salts that have lived on the Hawkesbury River as long as adam was a boy, say if the small jewies are around, you can bet your bottom dolar the big ones aren't. Not too sure what the reason might be, but one can guess, based on the voracious attitude to feeding that little might be left for the bigger specimens to eat. One thing is for sure. If you catch a jewie, you can almost gaurantee subsequent fish caught will be of similer ilk. I rarely catch jewies in a short timeframe of drastically different sizes.
Obviously being a schooling fish this pattern makes legitimate sense; fish generally school with others of similar age and size. But what complicates this theory is jewies are known to be canabalistic. They will eat a juvenile jewie. So if a spate of juvenile fish are abundant, where are the big ones ready to eat them??? Who knows, they still may be there but are only dialed in on a particular food source. Therein lies much of the answer really.
The good news is i broke my winter hoodoo. I hooked a beautiful fish last weekend around the old fashioned 16 pound mark. I was flicking around 6" plastics all moring without interest. The moment i switched to a small squidgy wrigler hot tail in white body pink tail, smeared s-factor on it i cam up trumps. As they say, even elephants eat peanuts. While no monster jew, it was hooked on 4lb braid and 10lb leader on a 2-4kg stick and fought in close proximity to a jagged rocky shoreline. To make matters more interesting i hooked it on a Nitro jighead - Bream Series which are a light guage hook for finesse fishing. When the jewie was landed after a dogged 20 minute fight and placed in the environet, the half straightened hook simply fell out. My luck was in last saturday and that fish was meant to model for the camera. After behaving itself it was great to see it swim away. I hope this is the begining of a new trend.
Now the monkey is officially off my back!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Kindergarten Capers
Hi All,
I wrote recently about the influx of juvenile jewies inhabiting our local waterway's here in Sydney and it seems the trend is set to continue. Predominantly i have found the trend to be more prolific in the Hawkesbury River than other Sydney estuaries but as i stated previously, Sydney harbour and the George's River is experiencing the same phenomenon.
This time however, instead of finding the jeuvi's a little more mature and slightly bulkier than before, i happened to stumble across a patch of kindergarten kids. Honestly, the fish were no bigger than 30cms. What made this a bizarre situation wasn't the pint size of these blighters, but the fact they all were caught using 5" jerk minnows. Now that's 12cms approx of lure! In most instances the lure was well hidden in a disproportionately cavernous mouth. All aboard were amazed at the ferocity the small jewies had in both chasing down the lure to hit it and the venom displayed once they were hooked. They fought well above thier weight.
If you were to gauge the fight and attitude a mature jewie might have based on the dogged nature as juveniles, you would be fooled into thinking they would be an unstoppable adversary and willing to hit any lure put in front of them. Unfortunately this couldnt be further from the truth. As they grow they get wise. The takes are no more than timid taps, once hooked the runs are fairly short comparative to other apex predators in our waters, and they can be fussy eaters on both livies as well as lures. But maybe that's the reason we here in NSW revere them so much. If it was easy catching them everyone would be doing it!
There is another plague in our southern Sydney waters as well. Leatherjackets are showing up in mammoth numbers throughout all the clean waters in the hawkesbury System. These include Pittwater, Cowan and Brisbane Waters. The jackets don't seem to encrouch in the dirtier water in the main river itself but are becoming an annoying pest to all local fisherman.
Those who flick lures know the penchant jackets have for lures and a day's fishing is becoming a costly excerise. They are the species of jackets you see well offshore. I would be interested to know why they have come into such shallow water but are ruining some of the gun local spots. Some days your lure will not last 30 seconds before it's reduced to a bare jig head.
I know jackets were once fished commercially in Cowan but to the best of my knowledge are not anymore. Maybe this might have something to do with the influx of fish. Whatever the reason...I hope they disappear soon.
I wrote recently about the influx of juvenile jewies inhabiting our local waterway's here in Sydney and it seems the trend is set to continue. Predominantly i have found the trend to be more prolific in the Hawkesbury River than other Sydney estuaries but as i stated previously, Sydney harbour and the George's River is experiencing the same phenomenon.
This time however, instead of finding the jeuvi's a little more mature and slightly bulkier than before, i happened to stumble across a patch of kindergarten kids. Honestly, the fish were no bigger than 30cms. What made this a bizarre situation wasn't the pint size of these blighters, but the fact they all were caught using 5" jerk minnows. Now that's 12cms approx of lure! In most instances the lure was well hidden in a disproportionately cavernous mouth. All aboard were amazed at the ferocity the small jewies had in both chasing down the lure to hit it and the venom displayed once they were hooked. They fought well above thier weight.
If you were to gauge the fight and attitude a mature jewie might have based on the dogged nature as juveniles, you would be fooled into thinking they would be an unstoppable adversary and willing to hit any lure put in front of them. Unfortunately this couldnt be further from the truth. As they grow they get wise. The takes are no more than timid taps, once hooked the runs are fairly short comparative to other apex predators in our waters, and they can be fussy eaters on both livies as well as lures. But maybe that's the reason we here in NSW revere them so much. If it was easy catching them everyone would be doing it!
There is another plague in our southern Sydney waters as well. Leatherjackets are showing up in mammoth numbers throughout all the clean waters in the hawkesbury System. These include Pittwater, Cowan and Brisbane Waters. The jackets don't seem to encrouch in the dirtier water in the main river itself but are becoming an annoying pest to all local fisherman.
Those who flick lures know the penchant jackets have for lures and a day's fishing is becoming a costly excerise. They are the species of jackets you see well offshore. I would be interested to know why they have come into such shallow water but are ruining some of the gun local spots. Some days your lure will not last 30 seconds before it's reduced to a bare jig head.
I know jackets were once fished commercially in Cowan but to the best of my knowledge are not anymore. Maybe this might have something to do with the influx of fish. Whatever the reason...I hope they disappear soon.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
'The Bay of Plenty'
Hiya,
I hate to mislead you here. I'm talking about Botany Bay not the real 'Bay of Plenty' in NZ...In my last blog i had the eviable task of relaying the exciting winter fishery we have been enjoying in Boatny over the last few seasons; winter time kings. While in the this persuit the boys and i have uncovered some interesting new fisheries and some new patterns in the bay which remain largely untested but for now seem to be yielding some good results.
The first observation is that flathead in the bay are now a year round target. I can head out most days and get my limit, even though the fish seem to move around a touch more in Winter. One day you will find them in some obscure patch in the middle of nowhere and the next session they have vanished like a well oiled magician. This winter has seen a very poor baitfish run and working birds are mostly adbsent the days i have fished it. This means the sounder is a vital tool, and a lot of time is spent finding activity on the screen. Some days we can't find anything decnet marking up at all. In this situation we will fish sublte water depth changes and current lines. There are many in the bay so our pattern is to spend time on each area to we find fish.
The key to successful flathead luring in winter is to keep mobile. My old man gets miffed when we catch a flathead and 5 minutes later i pack the electric and head to another spot. Flathead are a schooling fish contrary to belief and a single fish in 15 minutes of flicking a new spot is a poor return. When a school is located flathead are usually caught in multiples. Until this happens i will rarely commit to one spot in the bay. Ming you i can go a whole day without finding a school of fish. A straggler here and there will usually make up my quota for dinner though.
Trevs and sambos are only now starting to yield good returns. While trevs may be more prolific at the entrance to the bay, they have taken a while to venture well inside, down past Towra and towards Captain Cook's. The sambos are quite nomadic at the moment and can be found literally anywhere down to Ramsgate. We are getting the odd one or two at any time of the day. No set patterns seem to be highlighted thus far.
Bream are an interesting absentee lately. The lack of baitfish are not helping on this front. The season is quite late though as warm water is still around. The cold currents havent fully set in yet. Maybe a month or so before the bream start to venture back in the bay. I have heard some decent catches around Kurnell but i rarely head over that way these days.
This has been our weakest season for tailor thus far too since switching exclusively to lures. While we have caught the odd fish, they are not stealing our jig heads as much as previous years. The ones we have caught though are monsters. I got one on the weekend that nudged 3kgs! I orginally called it for a sambo as it had a bad attitude and being lip hooked allowed me to be patient and enjoy the fight; usually on 10lb leader it would be game over. It did bite my thumb though; that was fun. Probably a good lesson here for the youg-uns, keep your fingers well away from a tailor's mouth. The temptation to salvage a plastic isn't always worth it!
So pretty much more of the same. At the moment its rightly named the 'bay of plenty'; if your brave enough to battle the freezing mornings and copiuos Av-gas!
I hate to mislead you here. I'm talking about Botany Bay not the real 'Bay of Plenty' in NZ...In my last blog i had the eviable task of relaying the exciting winter fishery we have been enjoying in Boatny over the last few seasons; winter time kings. While in the this persuit the boys and i have uncovered some interesting new fisheries and some new patterns in the bay which remain largely untested but for now seem to be yielding some good results.
The first observation is that flathead in the bay are now a year round target. I can head out most days and get my limit, even though the fish seem to move around a touch more in Winter. One day you will find them in some obscure patch in the middle of nowhere and the next session they have vanished like a well oiled magician. This winter has seen a very poor baitfish run and working birds are mostly adbsent the days i have fished it. This means the sounder is a vital tool, and a lot of time is spent finding activity on the screen. Some days we can't find anything decnet marking up at all. In this situation we will fish sublte water depth changes and current lines. There are many in the bay so our pattern is to spend time on each area to we find fish.
The key to successful flathead luring in winter is to keep mobile. My old man gets miffed when we catch a flathead and 5 minutes later i pack the electric and head to another spot. Flathead are a schooling fish contrary to belief and a single fish in 15 minutes of flicking a new spot is a poor return. When a school is located flathead are usually caught in multiples. Until this happens i will rarely commit to one spot in the bay. Ming you i can go a whole day without finding a school of fish. A straggler here and there will usually make up my quota for dinner though.
Trevs and sambos are only now starting to yield good returns. While trevs may be more prolific at the entrance to the bay, they have taken a while to venture well inside, down past Towra and towards Captain Cook's. The sambos are quite nomadic at the moment and can be found literally anywhere down to Ramsgate. We are getting the odd one or two at any time of the day. No set patterns seem to be highlighted thus far.
Bream are an interesting absentee lately. The lack of baitfish are not helping on this front. The season is quite late though as warm water is still around. The cold currents havent fully set in yet. Maybe a month or so before the bream start to venture back in the bay. I have heard some decent catches around Kurnell but i rarely head over that way these days.
This has been our weakest season for tailor thus far too since switching exclusively to lures. While we have caught the odd fish, they are not stealing our jig heads as much as previous years. The ones we have caught though are monsters. I got one on the weekend that nudged 3kgs! I orginally called it for a sambo as it had a bad attitude and being lip hooked allowed me to be patient and enjoy the fight; usually on 10lb leader it would be game over. It did bite my thumb though; that was fun. Probably a good lesson here for the youg-uns, keep your fingers well away from a tailor's mouth. The temptation to salvage a plastic isn't always worth it!
So pretty much more of the same. At the moment its rightly named the 'bay of plenty'; if your brave enough to battle the freezing mornings and copiuos Av-gas!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Winter Kings
If there is one observation i have made over years about fishing Sydney waterways is Botany Bay is by far the premier location as the mercury plummets. Just when other waterways are shutting shop for a few months as green cold water pushes in from the south, Botany begins to turn on the heat.
It's this time of year catching kings in the bay is our highlight. I know most pundits will say late spring and early summer are the prime times but rest assured winter in the bay is still kingy fever! The most appealing aspect of this winter focus is the depth of water we regularly catch these powerhouses. We regularly see kings busting up in less than 2 meters of water, herding whitebait tight to shore.
Admittedly there is only a short window of opportunity here as the kingys retrest to the safety of deeper water once the sun climbs higher in the sky. usually you will get about an hour to find the fish, figure out what presentation to use, then hook as many as you can till they fall off the bite. It's an adrenaline packed hour let me say that.
While i will refrain from marking an X on a map for you punters i will say that most of the kings have been taken over sand flats. While this is fairly cryptic, seeing as the entire bay consists of sand, i'm sure the crafty angler can join the dots. All that is required is your standard 2-4kg bream flick stick, 6lb braid and a hell of a lot of patience. The kings hit the afterburners real hard in shallow water. Probably seems to startle them and when they sense they are in danger in shallow water, far from thier ideal habitat, they freak out. What this ultimately means for us is line burning runs, a signing drag and disappearing braid off the spool. Dad got taken deep into his backing on the weekend and all i could do was laugh my arse off as he winced in agony. The kingy won that battle convincingly. The beauty of this fishery however is that its far from structure and occurs over sand flats, nothing for the vaunreable kings to do thier usual 'bust you up on anything they can find' routine.
Overcast days will prolong the bite and typically stickbait/Jerk Minnow type lures are the most successful. The usual size of the fish is decent. I wouldn't say im going to brake an IGFA record anytime soon but they are around the 70cm mark as an average.
So while some of you have packed your gear away with one eye on spring, reconsider, cause Botany Bay is still producing, and producing summer species in adbundance.
It's this time of year catching kings in the bay is our highlight. I know most pundits will say late spring and early summer are the prime times but rest assured winter in the bay is still kingy fever! The most appealing aspect of this winter focus is the depth of water we regularly catch these powerhouses. We regularly see kings busting up in less than 2 meters of water, herding whitebait tight to shore.
Admittedly there is only a short window of opportunity here as the kingys retrest to the safety of deeper water once the sun climbs higher in the sky. usually you will get about an hour to find the fish, figure out what presentation to use, then hook as many as you can till they fall off the bite. It's an adrenaline packed hour let me say that.
While i will refrain from marking an X on a map for you punters i will say that most of the kings have been taken over sand flats. While this is fairly cryptic, seeing as the entire bay consists of sand, i'm sure the crafty angler can join the dots. All that is required is your standard 2-4kg bream flick stick, 6lb braid and a hell of a lot of patience. The kings hit the afterburners real hard in shallow water. Probably seems to startle them and when they sense they are in danger in shallow water, far from thier ideal habitat, they freak out. What this ultimately means for us is line burning runs, a signing drag and disappearing braid off the spool. Dad got taken deep into his backing on the weekend and all i could do was laugh my arse off as he winced in agony. The kingy won that battle convincingly. The beauty of this fishery however is that its far from structure and occurs over sand flats, nothing for the vaunreable kings to do thier usual 'bust you up on anything they can find' routine.
Overcast days will prolong the bite and typically stickbait/Jerk Minnow type lures are the most successful. The usual size of the fish is decent. I wouldn't say im going to brake an IGFA record anytime soon but they are around the 70cm mark as an average.
So while some of you have packed your gear away with one eye on spring, reconsider, cause Botany Bay is still producing, and producing summer species in adbundance.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Juvenile Jewies
They say things come around in cycles and certainly in fishing that rings true. Quite often you hear certain species have bumper seasons in terms of fish biomass and then seemingly disappear the following season. Tuna seem to be a prime cadidate for that... and when the catch rates are studied, most times the fall in numbers can be attributed to seasonal boom and bust type cycles that have been a constant pattern for decades. Being such an important commercial target, catch rates have been very closely monitored for some time...
I dont do too much offshore fishing, mainly due to not owning an adequate vessel, but cycles are still apparent in estuaries as well. It's perhaps not as noticable in enclosed waters due to the variety of species on offer. For instance, if i go cubing for tuna, chances are i might not catch a fish all day. I have a lot of time to think about where the fish have disappeared to! Whereas if i go fishing for bream, chances are i will catch a host of other species in the process. Ultimately, though the by-catch can distract you to the real situation at hand, bream numbers might be down on last year!
Which leads me to my next point! Over the last few months i have been putting a lot of recon work into the Hawkesbury River. In the process i have found a number of new 'gun spots' and new techniques to catch fish on plastics. The one thing that has been highlighted here is the sheer amount of juvenile jewfish that seem to be around this year. I have fished the Hawkesbury for a number of years but i have never seen so many soapy jewies come up as i have in the last few months. If our current catch rates are anything to go by, fishing for jewies in the Hawkesbury will be mind blowing over the next few years. I reckon in the past few months alone we have pulled over 100 undersize or just legal fish. Obviously they will take time grow to a decent line peeling size but when they do...its game on!
The funny thing is the Hawkesbury is one over-harvested waterway. Is it that commercial trawling nets now allow small jewies to escape? or is it just another case of a boom cycle of fish? Who can tell! But the signs of juvenile life are encouraging.
The only drama is trying to keep the soapies away from my lures long enough to catch a schoolie.
I dont do too much offshore fishing, mainly due to not owning an adequate vessel, but cycles are still apparent in estuaries as well. It's perhaps not as noticable in enclosed waters due to the variety of species on offer. For instance, if i go cubing for tuna, chances are i might not catch a fish all day. I have a lot of time to think about where the fish have disappeared to! Whereas if i go fishing for bream, chances are i will catch a host of other species in the process. Ultimately, though the by-catch can distract you to the real situation at hand, bream numbers might be down on last year!
Which leads me to my next point! Over the last few months i have been putting a lot of recon work into the Hawkesbury River. In the process i have found a number of new 'gun spots' and new techniques to catch fish on plastics. The one thing that has been highlighted here is the sheer amount of juvenile jewfish that seem to be around this year. I have fished the Hawkesbury for a number of years but i have never seen so many soapy jewies come up as i have in the last few months. If our current catch rates are anything to go by, fishing for jewies in the Hawkesbury will be mind blowing over the next few years. I reckon in the past few months alone we have pulled over 100 undersize or just legal fish. Obviously they will take time grow to a decent line peeling size but when they do...its game on!
The funny thing is the Hawkesbury is one over-harvested waterway. Is it that commercial trawling nets now allow small jewies to escape? or is it just another case of a boom cycle of fish? Who can tell! But the signs of juvenile life are encouraging.
The only drama is trying to keep the soapies away from my lures long enough to catch a schoolie.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Making a bird of it
Hi Ya,
Much has been written about the use of birds in finding fish, in particularly feeding fish on the surface. Many a great skipper can tell the different characteristics of birds and which birds are likely to lead them to fish. Others tend not to be as useful. Then the mannerisms of the birds can tell us when the fish are frenzied, the obvious signpost is when they are diving head first into the water, picking up scraps as they go.
Unlike offshore, in the estuaries bird activity seems to be ingnored somewhat. The predominant species are seagulls and pelicans. They are literally everywhere you look in inshore and enclosed waters and most fishos seem to idle past them, unless the birds are actively feeding on the surface, then most will stop for a quick investigation. But like many birds, the subtlety of thier behaviour can lead you to better fishing more often.
I was fishing Botany Bay recently, an area where seagulls do in fact feed actively on the surface, primarity due to tailor. I could see a flock of birds actively working the surface and at a distance made the prognosis that it was tailor underneath. Dad and i watched the activity for more than an hour till it died down. We were after shallow water kings so we didn't want to miss the prime time dawn bite we get in 3 meters of water just to catch tailor.
No kings came up so a move was in order. Dad made the comment to suss out the now dormant birds sitting on the water, seemingly motionless. We dedided to have a quick flick to see if any predators were still in the area but i wasn't too convinced. To cut a long story short, the ensuing hour saw one of the hottest flatty bites we have had in quite a while. Now this might not sound too interesting but upon thought a few factors were highlighted that drove home a very important point, it's not always the working birds that can lead you to fish.
First off, we found the flatties as far away from any discernable structure as possible. We found them smack bang in the middle of the bay, pretty much a barren wasteland of sand and stuff all else. Secondly, the tide was contradictory to prime flatty time. The fish were aggresive and ready to play ball.
This got me pondering. There have been countless times upon reflection that we have pulled good fish from underneath sedentary seagulls, as well as foraging pelicans. I know in Tuggerah Lakes the precense of pelicans means the presence of prawns, and the presence of prawns...well i'm sure you can guess the rest.
I guess the key here is give birds more attention. Not just working birds but birds stationary and waiting to feed. Don't think they are there just for a good rest. Birds can see and sense more than we hope to ever understand about our fishery. Use them...even if nothing obvious stands out.
Much has been written about the use of birds in finding fish, in particularly feeding fish on the surface. Many a great skipper can tell the different characteristics of birds and which birds are likely to lead them to fish. Others tend not to be as useful. Then the mannerisms of the birds can tell us when the fish are frenzied, the obvious signpost is when they are diving head first into the water, picking up scraps as they go.
Unlike offshore, in the estuaries bird activity seems to be ingnored somewhat. The predominant species are seagulls and pelicans. They are literally everywhere you look in inshore and enclosed waters and most fishos seem to idle past them, unless the birds are actively feeding on the surface, then most will stop for a quick investigation. But like many birds, the subtlety of thier behaviour can lead you to better fishing more often.
I was fishing Botany Bay recently, an area where seagulls do in fact feed actively on the surface, primarity due to tailor. I could see a flock of birds actively working the surface and at a distance made the prognosis that it was tailor underneath. Dad and i watched the activity for more than an hour till it died down. We were after shallow water kings so we didn't want to miss the prime time dawn bite we get in 3 meters of water just to catch tailor.
No kings came up so a move was in order. Dad made the comment to suss out the now dormant birds sitting on the water, seemingly motionless. We dedided to have a quick flick to see if any predators were still in the area but i wasn't too convinced. To cut a long story short, the ensuing hour saw one of the hottest flatty bites we have had in quite a while. Now this might not sound too interesting but upon thought a few factors were highlighted that drove home a very important point, it's not always the working birds that can lead you to fish.
First off, we found the flatties as far away from any discernable structure as possible. We found them smack bang in the middle of the bay, pretty much a barren wasteland of sand and stuff all else. Secondly, the tide was contradictory to prime flatty time. The fish were aggresive and ready to play ball.
This got me pondering. There have been countless times upon reflection that we have pulled good fish from underneath sedentary seagulls, as well as foraging pelicans. I know in Tuggerah Lakes the precense of pelicans means the presence of prawns, and the presence of prawns...well i'm sure you can guess the rest.
I guess the key here is give birds more attention. Not just working birds but birds stationary and waiting to feed. Don't think they are there just for a good rest. Birds can see and sense more than we hope to ever understand about our fishery. Use them...even if nothing obvious stands out.
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Unfair Advantage
Hi Fishos,
In this era of advanced tackle such as engineered reels that rival space science, fishing lines made from sophisticated hi-tech materials and lures created from organic substances it's a wonder fish stand a chance. You would think we all would be pulling fish hand over fist. The funny part is that even if we use this state-of-the-art equipment we still invariably have fishless trips. Coming home empty handed is the sometimes the only constant you can rely on. It seems the improvements in tackle only keep us up to speed with the changing behavoiur of our adversaries.
Then other times it's the basic plays that reap the biggest rewards. On saturday i was fishing in my back yard, Berowra Waters. Lately the fish in the Hawkesbury system have been much more co-operative in the creeks and tributaries rather than the main flow. Seeing as i fish this peice of water regularly my goal was to try some locations i haven't persued before. That's quite difficult as i have scoured most of this deep catchment but there were a few spots i regularly drive over without too much attention.
The first spot was a prominent hole right on a prominent bend or point. This may sound like a no-brainer but the reason i never stopped previously is the high traffic volumn past this section. It was early so i decided to try it. I was rewarded early with a flathead first cast and on the second cast i felt the tell-tale tap of our friend 'the rabi'. For those uninitiated it's what Sami Omari calls the Jew. Positive hookset, were on. Fish boated! It was a nice little soapy but couldn't pop the drag. I was looking for his mother anyway.
I was starting to get some nice soundings showing and just as i was about to have my third cast, a very bad mannered captain decided to cut a path in between me and the marker pole on the point, disecting us perfectly only 10 meters from my boat. I didn't say a word. If he didn't know what he had done then nothing i was going to shout out was going to make a difference. It goes without saying the markings disappeared...the hole shut down.
I laboured on for a few hours after that; no cigar. I was still a little miffed about the rude boatie. The tide had turned now and i tried another spot with very similar characteristics to the first one; a prominent point with adjacent deep water. I had a boat anchored 50m off the point. I saw him jiggle a silver can attached to a rope. I made polite conversation with the guy and built the courage to inquire about the berley he was using. Sure enough he said dog food???
I couldn't fault him for using it though. Him and his mate were reeling fish in one after the other; flathead, bream, flounder and soapies were all succumbing to the flavour of Pal.
I was right beside em and was catching the odd stray flathead. It was obvious the berley was working it's magic. Being polite i asked if i could drift downstream and fish way back in his berley trail. To be honest i wasn't expecting a positive response. To my amazement i got the nod and off i went. In the next hour i had what i would call a hot bite. Throw all the new wizz bang gadgetry out the window. This was a case of yesterday's techniques still firing today. Without Pal dog food i was screwed. No space-age reels with scented plastics were going to salvage my session...but berley did. A little politness after some gross misconduct managed to deliver me a great few houres.
The fisho anchored upstream did remark about me stealing his fish before they made it to the back of his boat. Truth was he had a killer session too. It was an unfair advantage to fish in that berley trail. But no more than we try to give ourselves with all the latest and greatest technology anyway. Maybe i should carry a can of Pal with me all the time...just in case.
In this era of advanced tackle such as engineered reels that rival space science, fishing lines made from sophisticated hi-tech materials and lures created from organic substances it's a wonder fish stand a chance. You would think we all would be pulling fish hand over fist. The funny part is that even if we use this state-of-the-art equipment we still invariably have fishless trips. Coming home empty handed is the sometimes the only constant you can rely on. It seems the improvements in tackle only keep us up to speed with the changing behavoiur of our adversaries.
Then other times it's the basic plays that reap the biggest rewards. On saturday i was fishing in my back yard, Berowra Waters. Lately the fish in the Hawkesbury system have been much more co-operative in the creeks and tributaries rather than the main flow. Seeing as i fish this peice of water regularly my goal was to try some locations i haven't persued before. That's quite difficult as i have scoured most of this deep catchment but there were a few spots i regularly drive over without too much attention.
The first spot was a prominent hole right on a prominent bend or point. This may sound like a no-brainer but the reason i never stopped previously is the high traffic volumn past this section. It was early so i decided to try it. I was rewarded early with a flathead first cast and on the second cast i felt the tell-tale tap of our friend 'the rabi'. For those uninitiated it's what Sami Omari calls the Jew. Positive hookset, were on. Fish boated! It was a nice little soapy but couldn't pop the drag. I was looking for his mother anyway.
I was starting to get some nice soundings showing and just as i was about to have my third cast, a very bad mannered captain decided to cut a path in between me and the marker pole on the point, disecting us perfectly only 10 meters from my boat. I didn't say a word. If he didn't know what he had done then nothing i was going to shout out was going to make a difference. It goes without saying the markings disappeared...the hole shut down.
I laboured on for a few hours after that; no cigar. I was still a little miffed about the rude boatie. The tide had turned now and i tried another spot with very similar characteristics to the first one; a prominent point with adjacent deep water. I had a boat anchored 50m off the point. I saw him jiggle a silver can attached to a rope. I made polite conversation with the guy and built the courage to inquire about the berley he was using. Sure enough he said dog food???
I couldn't fault him for using it though. Him and his mate were reeling fish in one after the other; flathead, bream, flounder and soapies were all succumbing to the flavour of Pal.
I was right beside em and was catching the odd stray flathead. It was obvious the berley was working it's magic. Being polite i asked if i could drift downstream and fish way back in his berley trail. To be honest i wasn't expecting a positive response. To my amazement i got the nod and off i went. In the next hour i had what i would call a hot bite. Throw all the new wizz bang gadgetry out the window. This was a case of yesterday's techniques still firing today. Without Pal dog food i was screwed. No space-age reels with scented plastics were going to salvage my session...but berley did. A little politness after some gross misconduct managed to deliver me a great few houres.
The fisho anchored upstream did remark about me stealing his fish before they made it to the back of his boat. Truth was he had a killer session too. It was an unfair advantage to fish in that berley trail. But no more than we try to give ourselves with all the latest and greatest technology anyway. Maybe i should carry a can of Pal with me all the time...just in case.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The Windy City
Hi Fishoholics,
Just a berated report from the windy and wild south coast. Last weekend i made a pilgammage down south with my ol man to meet up for a fish with our fearless editor, Jim. The reports weren't too positive on the wind front but like most die-hards i kept an optimistic outlook and prayed to the gods that Tim Bailey got it wrong.
We arrived friday night to the Palm Beach caravan park on St George's basin to be met with a stiff westerly blowing at a mere 40kts. Things were not looking good. Up we get a 4:30am sat morning and the same westerly was still around. It's a long way to come not to wet the boat so we decided to have a crack anyway.
After picking up Jim we hit a few spots in the Shoalhaven, targeting some jew which are apparently on the move in the river at the moment. Wind aside, the Shoalhaven is a magic looking waterway. It's a microcosm of the Hawkesbury system, my home ground back in Sydney. My dad was rewarded first up with a beaut looking EP around the 35cm mark. We didnt measure it but he did behave well for the camera (pic hereabouts). 2 nice eater sized lizards we next to follow.
We made a run down to Broughton Creek to catch the tide change. The wind picked up as well, if at all that was possible. I reckon it hit 50kts at stages. We were forced to venture well into the creek and had decent success in the trying conditions. We snared another EP, which basically made my day, and few ppint size bream and a couple more keeper lizards, one going 59.5cms. My throwback threshold is 60cms so this was one unlucky bugger. Rules are rules. Soon after we called it a day.
Sunday morning it looked as though the wind had abated. My prayers to a higher power were answered. We launched the boat in the basin and for half hour the conditions were perfect. Then we heard the trees in the distance. Yesterday's 40kt wind was back, and with a vengence. Dad and i are pretty resiliant buggers so we persisted. We tried to find a spot with some protection and in the process started having some success on flattys. In turn the wind changed into a higher gear. For the last hour the highest speed on the electric, and i run an 80lb thrust model, couldn't hold position against the wind...holy moly. We were catching these lizards adjacent to some weedbeds and kept getting blown away. The only option was to discard the leccy to try and hold position in favour of the stronger main motor! That should give you a clue how tough it was.
Like idiots we were last boat to come off the water. But we did have a feed to show for it. We managed the wrangle 20 odd flatties out of those dismal conditions. Really i was so proud of our efforts. We hung in there and came home feeling like we achieved something.
Next time i head down south i reckon i'm gonna sacrifice a live offering to the man upstairs. Cause prayers alone this time were far from enough.
Just a berated report from the windy and wild south coast. Last weekend i made a pilgammage down south with my ol man to meet up for a fish with our fearless editor, Jim. The reports weren't too positive on the wind front but like most die-hards i kept an optimistic outlook and prayed to the gods that Tim Bailey got it wrong.
We arrived friday night to the Palm Beach caravan park on St George's basin to be met with a stiff westerly blowing at a mere 40kts. Things were not looking good. Up we get a 4:30am sat morning and the same westerly was still around. It's a long way to come not to wet the boat so we decided to have a crack anyway.
After picking up Jim we hit a few spots in the Shoalhaven, targeting some jew which are apparently on the move in the river at the moment. Wind aside, the Shoalhaven is a magic looking waterway. It's a microcosm of the Hawkesbury system, my home ground back in Sydney. My dad was rewarded first up with a beaut looking EP around the 35cm mark. We didnt measure it but he did behave well for the camera (pic hereabouts). 2 nice eater sized lizards we next to follow.
We made a run down to Broughton Creek to catch the tide change. The wind picked up as well, if at all that was possible. I reckon it hit 50kts at stages. We were forced to venture well into the creek and had decent success in the trying conditions. We snared another EP, which basically made my day, and few ppint size bream and a couple more keeper lizards, one going 59.5cms. My throwback threshold is 60cms so this was one unlucky bugger. Rules are rules. Soon after we called it a day.
Sunday morning it looked as though the wind had abated. My prayers to a higher power were answered. We launched the boat in the basin and for half hour the conditions were perfect. Then we heard the trees in the distance. Yesterday's 40kt wind was back, and with a vengence. Dad and i are pretty resiliant buggers so we persisted. We tried to find a spot with some protection and in the process started having some success on flattys. In turn the wind changed into a higher gear. For the last hour the highest speed on the electric, and i run an 80lb thrust model, couldn't hold position against the wind...holy moly. We were catching these lizards adjacent to some weedbeds and kept getting blown away. The only option was to discard the leccy to try and hold position in favour of the stronger main motor! That should give you a clue how tough it was.
Like idiots we were last boat to come off the water. But we did have a feed to show for it. We managed the wrangle 20 odd flatties out of those dismal conditions. Really i was so proud of our efforts. We hung in there and came home feeling like we achieved something.
Next time i head down south i reckon i'm gonna sacrifice a live offering to the man upstairs. Cause prayers alone this time were far from enough.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Jewel in the Hawkesbury
Hi fishos,
After my last bass and EP expidition i finally made it back to the briny after a few weeks off. I have been chomping at the bit to gt amognst the action, reports of great fish have been coming in thick and fast. Usually i wouldn't mind hearing all the good news stories but when your grounded, boat out of action and fishless for a few weeks, it's like someone driving a nail thru your skull. Envy wouled be the word that comes to mind shortly after quite a few expletives.
Anyway we headed off to Mooney in the Hawkesbury system to chase some elusive jew plus a few other likely estuary suspects. Mooney is a tide-out system only. Don't even think about chasing fish on the in-coming, your wasting your time. The odd fish can be caught but the game is well and truely over. Really the catalyst for a good fishing session is the prawn run and this happens on the outgoing tide. If the prawns are on the move the fishing is phenomenal.
We hit our first deep hole of the morning, a special spot where we have scored a jew on every attempt so far; 7 fish in 5 sessions. The signs were ominous as prawns were being slurped off the surface by unseen predators. Some splashes were moving far too much water to be bream. Usually this spot produces straight away but the first half hour only saw i tailor to 1 1/2kgs. Not a bad fish and it gave a good account of itself. We drifted thru the hole and came to the back end where an eddie is created by the curving shoreline. The results were istantanious. My uncle Andy got the first tap which indicated the presence of jew. Saddly he missed out but looked around to hear my little reel screaming for mercy. In the next 45 minutes Andy and i had a ball on jewies to 3kgs. It was basically a fish a cast. We caught and released 15 jews with 3 double hook-ups in the process. I'm sure we woke every resident on the river and this one oyster farmer kept shaking his head in disapproval.
The bite shut down so we pushed up the creek a considerable distance to catch the last of the tide. I was targeting bream and perch on the fringes, Andy jewies and flathead in the chanel. You can do that in Mooney, the place is small enough for that kind of duel tactic. Until the tide stopped i landed a dozen fiesty bream to 30cms and quite a few quality perch. Andy got 1 more jew, just a little tacker, and a handful of 45cm plus lizards.
The tide stopped...then nothing. The whole place shut down as if someone flicked a switch. This was about 10am now and we still had the day to go. We persisted, as die-hards do, but really the full time siren had sounded. All we were doing was picking up the scraps.
The damage was done on Gulps. At the moment my go-to lure of choice is the 5" Jerk Minnows in the new assorted chicken colours. They all work. Try colours that shillouette well against the murky Hawkesbury water. Imitate a prawn colour if you can. Remember, colours of plastics change in the water. Something that looks scary to us might seem quite natural to fish.
After my last bass and EP expidition i finally made it back to the briny after a few weeks off. I have been chomping at the bit to gt amognst the action, reports of great fish have been coming in thick and fast. Usually i wouldn't mind hearing all the good news stories but when your grounded, boat out of action and fishless for a few weeks, it's like someone driving a nail thru your skull. Envy wouled be the word that comes to mind shortly after quite a few expletives.
Anyway we headed off to Mooney in the Hawkesbury system to chase some elusive jew plus a few other likely estuary suspects. Mooney is a tide-out system only. Don't even think about chasing fish on the in-coming, your wasting your time. The odd fish can be caught but the game is well and truely over. Really the catalyst for a good fishing session is the prawn run and this happens on the outgoing tide. If the prawns are on the move the fishing is phenomenal.
We hit our first deep hole of the morning, a special spot where we have scored a jew on every attempt so far; 7 fish in 5 sessions. The signs were ominous as prawns were being slurped off the surface by unseen predators. Some splashes were moving far too much water to be bream. Usually this spot produces straight away but the first half hour only saw i tailor to 1 1/2kgs. Not a bad fish and it gave a good account of itself. We drifted thru the hole and came to the back end where an eddie is created by the curving shoreline. The results were istantanious. My uncle Andy got the first tap which indicated the presence of jew. Saddly he missed out but looked around to hear my little reel screaming for mercy. In the next 45 minutes Andy and i had a ball on jewies to 3kgs. It was basically a fish a cast. We caught and released 15 jews with 3 double hook-ups in the process. I'm sure we woke every resident on the river and this one oyster farmer kept shaking his head in disapproval.
The bite shut down so we pushed up the creek a considerable distance to catch the last of the tide. I was targeting bream and perch on the fringes, Andy jewies and flathead in the chanel. You can do that in Mooney, the place is small enough for that kind of duel tactic. Until the tide stopped i landed a dozen fiesty bream to 30cms and quite a few quality perch. Andy got 1 more jew, just a little tacker, and a handful of 45cm plus lizards.
The tide stopped...then nothing. The whole place shut down as if someone flicked a switch. This was about 10am now and we still had the day to go. We persisted, as die-hards do, but really the full time siren had sounded. All we were doing was picking up the scraps.
The damage was done on Gulps. At the moment my go-to lure of choice is the 5" Jerk Minnows in the new assorted chicken colours. They all work. Try colours that shillouette well against the murky Hawkesbury water. Imitate a prawn colour if you can. Remember, colours of plastics change in the water. Something that looks scary to us might seem quite natural to fish.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Bass En Masse
While my electric has been out of action for the last 3 weeks i have visited a few of my old land-based stomping grounds in the upper reaches of the Hawkesbury i havent seen in years. I have fished these spots since those days, only it's been out of the comfort of my boat.
This time of year i start to dedicate some time to catching some of our native species, namely bass nad EP's. To be honest i prefer to chase bass at this time rather than in the height of summer. It a lot more challenging to start with but the size of the bass are generally bigger too.
I wrote an article in Fisho a few months back on bass and EP's in the Hawkesbury and discussed at length the relationship between these two extremely similar species. I guess the key takeouts were that both species seem to migrate in Hawkesbury at much the same time. The difference was that bass migrate to the brackish in winter and EP's migrate to full salt at that time. While we are a little off the full brunt of winter the migration has already started.
This is a blessing in disguise as the closed season in winter prohibits us to catch either species for 3 months. The time to capitalise on th3e spawning run is pretty much about now. Reports of big catches of bass and EP's are filtering through around the Lower Portland and Ebenezer areas. Admittedly most of these have come in the twightlight periods and even into the full darkness of night. The fish are hurding hawkesbury prawns to the surface and gorging themselves in the process.
One thing that really struck home with me after my land-based efforts was the difference in attitude between fishing from shore as opposed to fishing from a boat. The spots i fish in these upper reaches have restricted access due to bank-side vegetation. I can only fish small pockets of prime land. This usually means i have to methodically work over the area with multiple presentations until i strike it rich. In a boat i might try 5 or 10 casts to a likey looking spot with the one lure and move on if i have no interest.
Both techniques have thier merits. The more ground i cover in a boat the more fish that see my lure. Here, mobility is my key asset. From shore, the slow methodical approach can lure inactive fish into striking. It's not uncommon to frustrate fish into taking the bait, so to speak. The less options you are presented with can be a blessing in disguise. The thinking angler will persist until something works.
From this is one little 3 meter wide ledge i fished from i did really well. Funny thing was it took me half an hour and 20 different lures to get my first touch. Once i found the right combo (the old faithful bloodworm wriggler) i got stuck into both EP's and bass. It was top little session. Just goes to show you don't need a boat to catch good fish in Sydney.
This time of year i start to dedicate some time to catching some of our native species, namely bass nad EP's. To be honest i prefer to chase bass at this time rather than in the height of summer. It a lot more challenging to start with but the size of the bass are generally bigger too.
I wrote an article in Fisho a few months back on bass and EP's in the Hawkesbury and discussed at length the relationship between these two extremely similar species. I guess the key takeouts were that both species seem to migrate in Hawkesbury at much the same time. The difference was that bass migrate to the brackish in winter and EP's migrate to full salt at that time. While we are a little off the full brunt of winter the migration has already started.
This is a blessing in disguise as the closed season in winter prohibits us to catch either species for 3 months. The time to capitalise on th3e spawning run is pretty much about now. Reports of big catches of bass and EP's are filtering through around the Lower Portland and Ebenezer areas. Admittedly most of these have come in the twightlight periods and even into the full darkness of night. The fish are hurding hawkesbury prawns to the surface and gorging themselves in the process.
One thing that really struck home with me after my land-based efforts was the difference in attitude between fishing from shore as opposed to fishing from a boat. The spots i fish in these upper reaches have restricted access due to bank-side vegetation. I can only fish small pockets of prime land. This usually means i have to methodically work over the area with multiple presentations until i strike it rich. In a boat i might try 5 or 10 casts to a likey looking spot with the one lure and move on if i have no interest.
Both techniques have thier merits. The more ground i cover in a boat the more fish that see my lure. Here, mobility is my key asset. From shore, the slow methodical approach can lure inactive fish into striking. It's not uncommon to frustrate fish into taking the bait, so to speak. The less options you are presented with can be a blessing in disguise. The thinking angler will persist until something works.
From this is one little 3 meter wide ledge i fished from i did really well. Funny thing was it took me half an hour and 20 different lures to get my first touch. Once i found the right combo (the old faithful bloodworm wriggler) i got stuck into both EP's and bass. It was top little session. Just goes to show you don't need a boat to catch good fish in Sydney.
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