drc2076

Cheers. No way I was leaving that beach without photographic proof! Rod was a Wilson live fibre RLF41/2 6kg. Rod length 10ft 6ins.

Hi Reagan, I was using my light surf outfit which comprises a Wilson live fibre RLF41/2 6kg rod matched to a Shimano Stradic ci4+ 4000 running 20lb braid. I have a heavier combo on standby for nighttime beach fishing when I chase my elusive surf jewfish. One day . . .

A free afternoon and an over abundance of salted pilchards and preserved beach worms taking up far too much space in the family freezer was all the reason I needed to head out and fish the afternoon high tide on "Gone Fishing Day". Conditions on the northern beaches were overcast and choppy. Not a lot of visible structure but at least the onshore wind was fairly light so conditions were fishable, and after a 45 minute drive there was no way I wasn't going to be wetting a line. Got started around 4pm with two hours remaining of the run in tide. Started with the beach worms, but even with a liberal coating of sax scent there were no takers. Was using a two hook rig so added pilchard to one of the hooks and suddenly started getting enquiries. After a few hits I'd bring the rig in to check and sure enough it was the pilchard that was getting the attention, with the worms untouched. Came to the view that these worms were very probably past their use by date. Tossed them into the drink and loaded up the rig with pillies. As the sun started going down the bite started coming on. First fish landed for the day was a small Aussie Salmon running to about 35cm. Unless I ended up with an irresistible table fish, today was only going to be catch and release. So back he went. Next up was a small, just legal, flathead. I sent him back as well in the hopes of something bigger. Unfortunately, what came in over the next hour was another 3-4 small flatties, all well shy of legal. Next up a decent sized dart and then another couple of small flatties. All released. It was getting near dark and I was starting to think about heading home. Had caught plenty of fish so I already considered the time well spent. By now the tide had started to run out. One last cast. Loaded up another couple of pillies and tossed them into what remained of the gutter I'd been fishing. The rig had barely had time to settle in the water when something hit it. The rod bent and line began to peel off the drag at a great rate. Earlier in the afternoon I'd been busted off in a random clump of kelp so I'd sized up my leader from 12lb to 20lb, and now I was thanking my stars for having done so. Took me a good ten minutes to get it under control. When I finally turned his head and beached him I'd landed a PB Aussie Salmon running just over 70cm. I couldn't help myself. I had to run down the beach and ask another fisho to come down and get a photo before I lost the light entirely. He kindly obliged. After the photos the fish was successfully released back into the surf and I headed home feeling pretty damn pleased with myself. Tight lines.

And it happened again. Decided to take an early mark Friday (and a handful of nurofen to counter a sinus headache) and take advantage of daylight saving. Headed up to my Pittwater spot with the trusty salted pillies. Two good size tailor (close to 40cm each) a nice trevally, a bunch of small pinkies and a host of near misses. All released. As per normal, the minute it got full dark the spot shut down completely.

You're quite right. There is no logical reason why they would necessarily go off the bite just because the sun's gone down. And yet, on every occasion I've fished this spot I get serious trevally action in the hour before last light and then zero.

Sandy Point.

He seemed pretty cool about it. I'd have probably snapped a rod over my knee! Conditions were difficult but yes, I caught a few fish, fed a pelican and saw a pod of dolphins. Not the worst way to spend a Sunday morning.

PM sent. Always keen to learn new techniques.

That'd be funny. He knew what he was doing. His crab catching skills were pretty impressive. Thought the braid straight to the hook was an interesting choice but to each their own.

Feels like it's been windy since last December. Every day I feel like going fishing it blows. Crazy.

Cheers Chokpa. Should be drummer and luderick around just not my day today.

Ocean rocks at Mona Vale this morning in search of luderick. Not ideal conditions. A run out tide, stiff, chilly NW breeze and a swell with quite a bit more force than the forecast was predicting. But if I don't fish today I don't fish for another week, so today it was. The end result was an under sized drummer (28cm) and two rock kale. The second kale was the third fish of the day. By this time I'd copped a couple of dunkings from big waves (did I mention the swell was bigger than forecast?), was cold and frustrated. Bad news for the kale. All morning a lone pelican had been standing on the rocks behind me watching my progress. This time I unhooked the kale and tossed him straight into the open beak of the pelican. Birds gotta eat too. I wasn't the only one having a frustrating morning. An Asian bloke nearby was fishing for groper. It was quite a sight to see him catch his red crabs to use as bait. Wouldn't fancy sticking my hands into blind rock pool nooks and crannies. My luck I'd meet a blue ringed octopus. Things were slow for me and I've never chased groper before so I went over to watch his progress for a while. Pretty heavy outfit as you'd expect. Running what looked like at least 60lb braid with a large ball sinker straight to the hook. No leader. I asked about the wisdom of using braid rather than mono in such snaggy terrain. His English wasn't great but I gathered he thought braid was up to the task. After a while I went back to resume fishing but when I glanced back towards him I saw his rod buckle like crazy. He'd hooked up to a good size groper! I watch him fight the fish and get it up over and onto the lower rock ledge. The fish was thrashing about on the lower ledge when the braid gave way and the groper (a brown) headed back to freedom. Hard to judge its size but suffice to say it was big enough to be filthy for having lost such a good fish. Ah well. Personally, if it was me I'd be stopping off at the nearest tackle shop on the way home and respooling with at least 60lb mono. He just caught a few more crabs and went back to it. As far as I could tell he was beaten by the falling tide and never got another touch. Highlight of the day was unhooking one of my three to look up and see a large pod of dolphins cruising close by the ledge. Fantastic. So no fish worth bragging about but a good morning all the same with a few entertaining moments. Packed it up around 11:30. Tight lines.

A 2kg bream! Great catch. Good on you for letting him go but you missed out on a good meal there.

Cheers. They were great fun! A king would have been fantastic but not on this trip. Interesting thing, the bite was consistent around the hour before sunset, but the minute it got fully dark they went quiet. Tide was still running in. Not sure if that's standard for trevs or not. Would be interested to know the experience of others.

Fishless by choice or circumstance? Here's hoping you get the chance soon. Best wishes.

Surf conditions sent me to plan B today, meaning a trip to Pittwater in the late afternoon hoping for some nice winter bream. Started out with vibes. Nothing. Switched to gulp crabbies. Loved only by leather jackets who picked them to pieces. Next to my cranka crab lure. Now we were getting somewhere. Lots of enquiries but only landed under size pink snapper. As the sun was going down I switched to unweighted pilchards. And suddenly the place was trevally alley. Mostly around 28cm but they give a good account of themselves. Best fish of the day was this trevally which ran to about 38cm. Extended the fight just to enjoy the feel of it. When it became fully dark, with the tide still running in, they went totally off the bite. So in the end nothing spectacular, but plenty of action, a beautiful sunset and a PB trevally. I'll take it. Tight lines.

Great bag of fish. Impressed!

A couple of hours free today so decided I'd brave the winds and see what I could manage from my nearest accessible ocean rock platform. I decided to only fish with what I could find at the location so on arrival I grabbed a couple of handfuls of cabbage, tossed them into my bait bucket and walked out to the point. I had underestimated the strength of the winds and how bloody cold they were. It wasn't too pleasant standing in the wash and I knew it was only going to be a short session. I was just hoping for something decent to make the hypothermia worthwhile. My first down was a strong one. A good fish on the line! But he ran under the nearest rock ledge and my 6lb leader was no match for it. Bust off. Still, this was encouraging. For the next hour or so it was pretty quiet. So I wandered around the platform trying different spots but no takers. Just about fed up with the wind and the cold I went back to the site of the original bust off. Another strong down, another hook up. This time on 8lb. Fought like hell but managed to steer him away from the ledge this time and was stoked to land this bad boy. Measured 41cm and equalled my luderick PB. Either way the day was now worth the cold. Stuck around for a while longer and managed to also land a 35cm rock kale. A first! The wind was still howling and blowing my float diagonally to the surface so decided to call time and head home to thaw out. Both fish released unharmed. Tight lines.

Plenty of debate about that in this forum. Personally, I wouldn't eat the fish from there.

Walk over to the end of Jones Bay wharf @ Pyrmont. Luderick and bream everywhere.

I've seen some decent jewfish come out of Tuross lakes on squid baits. Good hunting.

Cheers Burnsey, must give it a try. I've only really looked at flat rock, never considered the pool. Easier and safer is right up my alley! Tight lines.

How do you go at Curly for blackfish? Always looks pretty crowded whenever I go by.

Gotta admit, I'm now a believer. When I ran out of worms I started using gulp soft plastic sand worms also smeared with sax. No change in the hook up rate.

Need to work on my technique. I can find them and get them up but the little buggers are just too quick for me. So far. I normally buy from Narrabeen just because I'm time poor (hard to find a few hours for fishing let alone bait gathering) but if stock is going to be limited in the cold months I can see I'm going to need to take matters into my own hands. Literally.