originalrockhoppa

Oh sorry mate, somehow my gorilla math made you a bit older than that, hope I didn’t offend you most of those guys I mentioned were 5-6 years older than me and I’m 50 so same vintage as yourself, you must have started young just got back from bluefish, walked in, got to the bottom of the climb then freaked out at a set of waves and climbed straight back out, I’m such a pussy nowadays oh well, good bit of exercise anyway haha, perfect for nth head though, how I wish I could get down there, so devastated it’s inaccessible 😔

Hey waza Both those names ring a bell but can’t say I knew them You might remember Bob Speed, used to work for Manly ferries, bream fished at bluefish with a Rangoon cane pole and wine cork even in the 90’s, he was about 55 at the time, he used to bring the big ferry ropes down for the climb over into tumbledown, massive man he was with forearms like thighs, Dom White was another of the older crew I could rattle off a few other names but prob all a bit after your time, penman brothers Dave and Rob they fished over south way plenty, Craig Debressac, Glenn Ash, Jason Wagemans all hard core Rockies back in the day Gonna try to get back to the Harry Pontey at hat head this year for the first time in 20yrs, I hope to see some old faces that have moved to other divisions keep an eye out for my reports if you’re interested in seeing how I go this season

The first time I got taken rockfishing was down nth head, climbed down in the dark, I was told it’d be easier if I couldn’t see the bottom. There was a reasonable climb though apart from missing rungs on old timber ladders and swinging yourself around a blind corner and trusting there was somewhere for your foot to land without being able to see it. I was a bit sketchy with heights but by this time was 2 years into my electrical apprenticeship and had been forced up a long bowing timber extension ladder which got me a bit acclimatised to climbing. Once I was down there Bellissimo caught an approx 10kg king plus other fish, John Belfield was with us there too getting amongst it (John being the guy that fished the mattens and was a part of the video) I got a few reddies, tarwhine and bream, got busted up a couple of times then couldn’t stay away after that, I was just as hooked as the fish. Not proud of it but there was a bit of shamatuerism (A Steve starling term I think) going on at the time and bream were worth chasing. The next time I went back there was with John in the afternoon and with a southerly in our faces at the top of the climb I asked him if he’d mind going to bluefish instead haha. After a while I was almost running up and down there, helped a bit that I’m tall and had a long reach. Haven’t been down the head in about 20 years, I really miss it, the climb got rebuilt with council issue galvanised steel ladders and stainless pigtails chemset into the rock face, one of the club members was a boiler maker on the council haha but they’ve deteriorated beyond repair now, nobody wants to do maintenance. A bit of paint every couple of years they’d prob still be good. I moved down the south coast for a while then lived at Cronulla for a decent stretch and have only been back in my home area for a few years. I miss the head so much I'm seriously considering walking around from bluefish this season and spending the night but it’s such a long trudge be prob 2hrs from bluefish carpark and the amount of gear needed for a proper fish would break my back. John used to accasionally bring the matten swing arm pulley over to the head with his Southside crew and fit it to some bolts there to lower gear down but that area is all high fencing now after the council figured out that sandstone cliffs deteriorate and chunks collapse, after the big rock fall near the hat, they had to do a study to work that out haha. At least nowadays I usually have the ledges to myself when I go, sometimes there’ll be someone else there but usually they’ll be going when I’m leaving or Vise versa, not many real fishos around here anymore mate. I spent a couple of days down there over winter recutting foot and hand holds that had worn out, so much easier with battery powered tools rather than lump hammer and chisel. A couple of days pruning bushes along the track too. Still more to do, it’s getting harder for me to get up and down some spots so I figure if I spruce it up now it’ll make it easier for me to keep going down there as long as I can. Hope I can still get down there if I make it to 81. The climb is nothing like the mattens though, that place was nuts. Inside the harbour from the nth head just past old mans hat, there was a place that was called the monkeys where you needed a rope ladder to get down to a ledge where someone during the depression had built a shelter, not a pill box, in the 80!s they found a newspaper down there from the 30's I never went there either but a spot just west of there the 'harbour ledge' about 15m up, you had to jump and slide down the rope about 3m to land on a boulder just above the ledge, took people down there that got to that point then they went back up and waited for me to finish fishing I only heard stories about the numbers of people that used to hit the ledges and the bags of fish that used to get weighed at the Bluefish fishing club. . Bellissimo's personal best fish list reads off almost like a state record list. The best spots always seem to be the ones that are hardest to get to. I went for a fish almost 2 weeks back then rolled my ankle the next day, still limping but want to get down tomorrow, see how I go, think I’m dreaming but I’ll definitely go for a fish just before this next southerly hits on Tuesday, there’s likely to be some swell but hopefully I can get to a spot Haha yeah rice, I forgot, never ciggie butts though haha wow from the fishos no doubt, the north side beaches used to get covered in sewer on a half decent southerly, I used to spend a lot of time surfing when I was younger, ear infections were rampant, paddling out through the foam that was up to your chin even when holding your head as high as you could, solid logs and condoms, wasn’t pretty, much better now that it’s gone

I really enjoyed reading this thread a few days back and I’ve been giving it some thought and just had to post. This form of fishing is quite often taken up as the first type of rock fishing a lot of people will do. I don’t recommend that at all The thing with blackfishing off the rocks is that you’re there generally on a high tide, standing on a 'green ledge', staring at a float Without situational awareness, that only comes from solid guidance and personal experience this is one of the most dangerous forms of rockfishing, so easy to get caught out by a wave because of the a amount of time spent looking at or for the float Pussy footing for them, which has been explained in this thread, is a safer option to the float because you don’t need have your eyes fixated to the bobbing red stick but it’s obviously a tricker skill to master Anyway, not real sure where I’m going with this apart from saying any novice should really stick to low tide until they gain at least some experience

Warringah anglers fishing club, formed in 1971, active in the Sydney northern division of the nswfca and nswfca team comps, weigh ins are at the Time and tide hotel in dee why, next weigh in is 19th January 1pm. Competitive and friendly. Come on down

Second post just so I can follow the thread

Great reading, Waza, thanks Only time I fished the bluefish murk was when it was turned back on for a while early or mid 90's, haha too many years of systematic abuse to my brain cells has clouded my memory. Thankfully I missed the earlier period as I didn’t get into rock fishing till I was a bit older at 19 in 89. I know one person who contracted hepatitis from it (more than likely that’s how he got it). The thing that blew me away other than the smell and paper on your line was what the bream, blackfish, blurters, reddies had in their guts, choka block fat full of peas and corn, lol we all need to chew our food better. I know one guy that was still fishing the mattens with his crew in the 90's but after seeing the video that was doing the rounds at the time of those boys climbing it I never took up the invitation to join them. Just stuck to nth head and bluefish for my deep water spots. Few trips to Rosa gulley and through the chute to get to that big cave at the northern end bream fishing just after dark was productive. I’d struggle to find it now. Hope you’re still catching fish mate

Yeah thnx rebel, it’s nowhere near as heavy as the s9177 I use atm I love my mt8144 too but don’t use it for distance casting much I only use 1 piece so I can lower them down the cliff every few metres when I need to, then I can climb with both hands

I need to cast a max of 150g lead and bait. The s9177 gets it out a fair way but I’m thinking the fsu might give me a better hook up on the smaller reddies when they’re a bit shy. Could also be a waste of money too haha

I’ve got an fsu 5144 had it a long time, from memory that was only up to 10kg This fsu 5162 blank is pacific composites thnx for the reply

Saw this rod for sale, was very tempted to buy it, still might go back and grab it I’d really like to know it’s actual line class and cast weight rather than coughing up cash then snapping it I need to cast up to 150g running 10kg I can make a decent guess but if anyone knows for certain, I’d much appreciate the help, cheers

Ha yeah, my bad for bringing up an old thread I’d just joined and was looking through different topics and saw something I could reply to without looking at the date of the original post I’m a bit new to forums and stuff

Congrats mate, nice one

Bummer about the fishing Stay safe mate

Headed out this morning for a quick fish, took about 20 baits with me. I was on a deep water rock ledge on Sydney's northern beaches. Left home early to be on the rocks before ‘first crack’ just after 4, I got there about 4.30😂. The moon didn’t help light the way much as it was orange due to the smoke. The swell was a bit bigger than I would have liked on arrival 1-1.5m NE. It wasn’t yet half tide and was running out to only a 0.6. Had to wait till well after 5 before I could see well enough to access a decent wash. Very smokey. My first December fish as mid November required a medical procedure then I sliced my thumb playing with a new pocket knife lol smh only just healed and nearly opened up today, another couple of hours it would have popped the seam. I was fishing with an MT7144 matched with a 650A Alvey spooled with 5.5kg mono. Sinker straight onto a 3/0 Mustad 92554 hook. Fish strips for bait. First cast I used an old 2 ball (new 3 ball? I don’t care, I’m not changing what I call them) Caught a red rock cod, released, ok too heavy. Next cast 1 ball for an undersized reddie. Then a legal one of about 33cm. Couple more undersized fish followed before I got another keeper of the same size. After this I alternated sinker sizes between 01 and 1 ball every few casts (and a couple of 2 ball casts that only resulted in snags early on) By this time the sun was starting to throw that dull red glow across the water, so still what I’d call a ‘delayed sunrise’. It didn’t help, hello sweep 🤬 started getting my baits picked and pecked at constantly. Pulled in a few of the bigger sweep, released, then the salmon showed up, hitting my bait almost as soon as it hit the water. I played with them for a while making em jump around to amuse myself as I skull dragged them in, got one in, released, busted off on two others. Then the choppers showed up, couple of bite offs as soon as I hit the water before I started hooking rat kings, lol as soon as I hit the water. Got 2 undersized ones on the rocks and another keeper surface reddie in between. Got a keeper king about 80 cm, gut hooked, not a lot more fight than the mouth hooked unders. Tried a heavier lead again but couldn’t get through the top layer of fish anymore. Quickly picked up my gear and dashed to another wash with my last 3 baits, no hits and a bit dodgy standing where I was, it was ok, had a close by spot to retreat to but I’m not as adventurous as I once was, cant always move as quickly either, threw the last 2 baits away. So I fished from about 5.20 till just before 8. Plenty of action, maybe because of the southerly due? 😉 Not as many legal reddies around as I would have liked but it was ok. Stopped at a mates and dropped off the 3 reddies and wished them a merry Chrissy. The king will go into a fish chowder that I’ll munch on over the next few days still gotta figure out how to download pics on here, says my files are too big, I dunno Good luck to everyone fishing over the holidays, stay safe