Yon

Thanks for taking the time to write this. I consider myself a squid master and still gained a lot of great info from the article.

Thanks! Are the wrasse legal to keep? Edible?

To be honest we hadn’t planned on a fish dinner for Tuesday night, but I woke up late and completely forgot to put the bone broth on for the Ramen soup I’d promised the kids. Instead, I’d taken the kids to my parent’s place to swim and while there my mum had mentioned that it would be nice if I got rid of some of the squid heads I had stashed in her freezer. At about the same time, my wife called from work and asked if I’d remembered to put dinner into the slow cooker. Thinking on my feet I told her that I’d forgotten but would see if I could catch some fish for dinner. So... while the kids swam I set up my cliff fishing outfit and threw a paternoster rig over my parent’s backyard fence, 80M down to the water below. Due to the amount of line I have out and the delay in feeling bites, I use circle hooks over there and just pop the rod into an umbrella holder until something hooks itself. The squid heads with all the guts tend to self-berley too so it seems to be an effective technique for that spot. It wasn’t long before the bites started coming on pretty strong and after 4 casts I came up with a small but decent pan sized snapper. Having sorted out dinner, I thought I’d try something different and changed hooks to a 6/0 live bait hook, baited up with those little strips of cartilage that I cut off the squid wings. I thread them onto the hook through the middle so that they look like tentacles wafting in the water and usually get some good bites. In this case the bite came immediately and bent my 20kg rod right over. I struck immediately but it was too late and whatever it was swam off (I’m guessing a big snapper - I’ve caught several there before). I let the line drop for a second so that I could tension it onto the spool as I brought it back in. When I started to wind it back up I felt some weight on the line and then some wriggling, only to find that I’d hooked up one of these (not sure what it is, but catch a lot of them in that spot). Threw it back, put my rod away and took the kids home to cook up the snapper, thinking I’d get a couple of bites and leave some for the wife when she came home. While I was cutting up a salad and the girls were upstairs my son was sat at the TV downstairs with the fish on the table. I heard footsteps and arguing, so I walked into the dining room to find that my 7 yr old had sneakily eaten 3/4 of a 40cm snapper himself and was licking his lips! 😂 Not many fish, but a good day in the brown rainy water anyway. Having read some of @Scratchie’s reports, I am thinking that I may try a soft plastic on my paternoster rig next time. Will certainly make it a cleaner experience!

Thanks Pickles. Had the pipis disappeared for a while? I’ve read that people used to take them by the bucket full but that fisheries are strictly enforcing the 50M rule now.

Thanks! I’ll have to try that next time as we are on the way home. Looked like a fantastic spot when I scouted the headland.

Yeah I agree. I think that the bait is better and fresher this way anyway.

Mate that’s a solid king. Well done! I enjoyed reading that report!

Exactly. Also they’re still at the age that they enjoy hanging out with me (albeit with the odd eye roll when I tell dad jokes).

They had an absolute ball! I think the combination of collecting bait and catching their own fish with it is addictive.

My girls were so stoked after catching their first flattie yesterday that they were willing to battle the rain and cold water for another go today. It took us about half an hour trudging around the beach to find a pipi bed, after which the girls berleyed up a good looking hole while I rigged the rod up for them. They started getting bites immediately and my younger daughter hooked up what was likely a big tailor as it bent the rod over and then just bit the hook off. After re-rigging and casting back into the hole my older daughter caught a fat 34cm bream and I caught a baby flathead that was quickly released. Called it a day after that as we were all wet and shivering, plus the girls wanted to eat the fish fresh. 3 diagonal cuts each side, some salt and oil in the pan. Cook each side about 5-7 min with a weight on and squeeze some lemon over it. Delicious! 😋 My kids love fish. Literally nothing edible left on it.

Thanks Guys - yeah she’s keen to go again today, which is pretty cool 😎

Brought my rock fishing gear with us for a short holiday in Gerroa, but the wind was howling all day and I don’t feel very safe with nobody about. so instead, I walked the beach with my kids looking for a few good holes to throw a metal into. As I waded in to ankle depth I found myself surrounded by pipis, so we smashed a couple together as bait and I quickly swapped the metal for a running sinker rig. Casted into the longshore trough that seems to run the length of the beach and gave my daughter the rod while I went to pick up a few more pipis. 2 minutes later she pulled in her first legal flathead! The 20lb braid and 30lb leader may have been a bit of overkill but hey, she landed her dinner with bait she’d gathered herself and was damn happy about it. Kept trying for an hour after that for no return, at which point we were both shivering and decided to call it for the day. I think we’re going to have to return in the summer. Such a magic spot.

Spectacular catch! what’s the secret to actually finding them? I’ve fished spots that are right on the drop off with a mate. One day the spot can produce a fish a cast, and the next nothing. problem is that we aren’t always sure where to look when it’s not productive

I don’t think so. Usually when they’re spawning the males have a bit of sticky white stuff coming out of them when you pick them up.

Fair enough! I don’t catch enough to do that hahahahah

None that I saw. How would you cook them if it did?

Why’d you throw it back?

Lost Despite the fact that I fish pretty often for a variety of fish, I'm still a pretty inconsistent fisho. I can catch 20kg of salmon off the rocks one day and nothing for 4 weeks later. So when my wife put "Fish - Daddy to catch" on our weekly meal plan, the pressure was on. I figured I'd give myself a buffer and head down the day before, so that if indeed I didn't catch anything, I could try again the day of... At any rate, there was a lot of green cabbage on the rocks and a fair bit of wash, so I was pretty confident that I'd at least get some Luderick for dinner. Unfortunately after about an hour trying and the time to get to work quickly approaching, I was still staring down a big donut as the wind started blowing in. So I figured that on the way back to the car I'd walk around the headland and try the leeward side, with the wind behind me. There's a spot I know where even on small days the waves hit the cabbage laden rocks and create some wash above a relatively deep drop off, so there's usually fish holding there. With 20 minutes before my parking ran out, I dropped a float sitting on top of 12lb fluorocarbon and a big chunk of weed sitting on a #6 red JW Octopus hook. It wasn't 10 seconds in the water before my float shot down and my drag started to peel off! Now I usually fish a short leader so in no time I was staring at the biggest bloody drummer I have ever caught, easily 3kg! Got him up on the rocks, went down 2m to water level and got him up onto the high rocks. I had to flip over my bail arm to give myself enough line to get to him with a 10ft rod in my hands (I don't like laying it down on the rocks as it scratches the rod pretty badly). The second I flipped the bail arm over and the tension in the line relaxed, he started flopping around and flopped back down onto the lower rock, with my hook lying next to me! So I ran down to grab him but saw a wave coming in and had to skitter back up (I've got kids, not taking any chances) to avoid the wash. The last I saw of him was him swimming sideways off the rock platform and back into his cave ☹️ while I was left on the rocks with my hands shaking. Needless to say I didn't bring home dinner that night or the night after and copped a lot of crap from the wife and kids about my fishing abilities... Won I fished 4 mornings straight after that day, but didn't catch a thing. Tried all over the eastern suburbs from Waverley down to the Malabar headland with nothing to show for it. On the fifth day of my dry spell I was just out there before work to get some sunshine. Working from home has meant I'm outdoors less, so I need all the Vitamin D I can get. I figured I'd drop some cabbage into the water anyway, just in case. My rig wasn't in the water for more than 3 seconds before the float popped down and I yanked a decent drummer onto the rocks. It wasn't huge, 41cm, big enough to feed myself and the missus. I figured I'd be good with that but had about 30 min left on my parking, so popped the float back in with a large chunk of cabbage on it, hoping to catch his big brother... 10 more seconds, the float shoots down again and a serious battle ensues. I was positive that it was another drummer because Luderick just never take drag, yet I could see white flashes in the water and it lunged, which I thought was strange. When I finally got it up onto the rocks, I was staring at a 47cm long, fat Luderick! I had no idea they grew that big! The photo doesn't do it justice, so you'll have to take my word for it . So between the two fish I fried up the luderick with some chips for the kids and the wife put the Drummer on the the griddle, under a weight, salt and peppered and lightly dusted with flour. I'm not lying when I say that this was the most delicious fish I have ever eaten. Tasted like lobster! It ended up being too much food for us, so we fed the neighbours on either side too. So there you go - made up for losing my PB Drummer with a decent catch and a fantastic meal. You win some and you lose some. Seems to be what this is all about sometimes.

I’ve caught a kingfish on the smaller pink one a while back. Rigged it with a quarter ounce jighead and let it drift through the water column. Went back that day and bought two more packs of them at $5 each and haven’t caught a single thing on them since.

Great report. Your persistence obviously paid off! Such a good eating fish too.

Thanks!!!

I’ve been meaning to get some momoi. Just so expensive here. Was going to wait until we visit my in laws in America...

Wazza, that’s a hectic story! I grew up just down the rod from there, in a house on the cliffs edge. I still fish from my parents backyard sometimes - Best snapper fishing in Sydney! Over the years we watched several rescue attempts of fishos, with several Vietnamese immigrants meeting a sad end at the bottom of that cliff. Glad you didn’t meet that fate, sounds awfully close to it. @JamoDamo I’m curious, how did you find that video? Tony Cox still fishes around Coogee and is always full of useful advice and information. One of the old-time greats. Wazza, it sounds like you two are of the same generation. Respect ✊...

I haven’t found the answer yet either. Cliff fishing I use 80lb braid and 120lb leader. I can just skull drag them up. with a light outfit I dunno... doesn’t seem to be a good way to land them.

Yeah - I’d like to try it. Harder to keep a salmon alive overnight in a bucket than a few yakkas though!