cogo44

100% they were toads! Only two jackets were landed all day compared with heaps of puffer fish or toads. The first fish landed consisted of a double header gurnard and a green toad.

Green toads and plenty of them.Twenty six sinkers never returned.

Apart from the large swell of over two metres, our Sunday trip was hampered by large backwashes coming off the cliff bottoms and hordes of line snipping toads. Two decent snapper was our only worthy catch with the rest being a miserly mixture of small whiting, morwong, gurnard and rock cod. Not a great advertisement for fishing off Sydney. Better luck awaits us!

Much better than the size we used to get at Sussex Inlet.

The trags were nearly all big keepers. The bust off culprits were most likely the much smaller choppers.

A good day on the water south of Sydney Heads where some nice flathead came on board. However, we have never caught so many trags and tailor close in with quite a few bust offs. When a seal turned up and grabbed a few fish, it was time to move well away. Six banjo sharks were also released.

Will be checking out that area for flatties on Friday. We find 60 to 70 metres to be usually the best depth to drift there. At around 50 metres, the spikeys come out to play but some good keepers can be caught in the nursery.

The BOM forecasts for Sydney have become increasingly erratic of late. They typically overestimate the wind velocity and the likely rainfall. Have others noticed the unreliability of recent weather forecasting?

Twelve of us had a good day on the flathead drifts off Manly on Tuesday and later Rosa Wide. While we got 46 flathead, the whiting outscored them at 59. A few pigfish, jackets and gurnard were also in the mix. The catch was above par for January in our experience. Not one banjo shark was snagged which was a welcomed change.

Fished the flathead drifts yesterday out from Manly and down to North Head. No wind and no current meant a very slow drift but whiting and flathead were about. Slimies and yellowtail turned up and then the wind and current kicked in making it very hard to hold bottom so we went closer in about 50 metres where fishing was easier and with mixed grounds the variety of fish became wider. For the last drift we went closer again off North Head and with one minute to go before lines up, a big lizard whacked my mullet offering. She weighed in at 1.3 kilos gutted and cleaned. Ten of us ended up with 29 flathead, 32 whiting and a mix of reef fish making a total of 114 fish. A great day on the water.

Well done! The Roosters are also winning on the water! Surely you must have pulled up a triple header as an omen for 2020?

I always have a 3/0 wide gap Shiner not far above the sinker and use cut baits when fishing inshore for flathead. Probably catch over 75% of flatties on the bottom paternoster dropper with the wide gap hook. Lately, even whiting are being caught on this bottom hook as well although they are more likely to be caught on one of the top two 2/0 hooks.

On Saturday, fishing inshore off Sydney, nine of us had our best catch for almost two years. 52 whiting, 50 flathead and 46 big leatherjackets and a few sundries made for an awesome day of fishing. Whales were in plentiful supply as well. The jackets of course played havoc with hooks and sinkers but the catch was a worthy trade off. Even the current was kind to us and the drift was just about perfect.

Spot on!

It works!

The whiting were hungry enough to take mullet, slimy mackerel and especially school prawns. We find that if there are whiting around, you can be sure that the flatties are also nearby. We all use three dropper paternoster rigs. We use 150 to 200 pound braided main line and 30 to 40 pound traces. This is mainly to assist untangling of lines when you have eight to ten on board. In no way does the use of heavier line limit our catch rate given that we fish between 50 and 70 metres.

We fished in 50 to 55 metres as it was clumpier out wide.

On our last few trips off inshore Sydney, the whiting were totally absent and the flathead catch was below par. On Saturday, eight of us landed 64 whiting with the great majority of them being as big as we have seen for years. Baits were attacked all day and only the quick flathead had any chance of having a go at the baits on offer. The sea was sloppy for the first few hours but settled down reasonably well and gave us a good drift all day. Twenty five good sized flathead came on board with the best weighing in at 1.4 kilos cleaned. The best news was that the current had settled down and lines were not going down the side of the boat and tangling. Many old fishos who we have fished with over the years, often claimed that autumn was the best fishing window off Sydney. Let's hope it continues to be so!

Out from Sydney and caught a fish that no one on board had encountered. The beardie was identified by referring to an on board book. The muddy water and strong currents made for a difficult day out from Manly and Freshwater. Nevertheless, eight of us weighed in a mixed bag of 22 kilos (cleaned).

Lovely mixed bag of quality fish from a successful bottom bash.

We generally fished around the 65 metre marks when the whiting were biting. A gully between the reefs is good for flathead and whiting.

We went out on Sunday as well and fished the reefs and sand areas nearby off Freshwater and Manly. The sea was choppy and the chill factor on the westerlies made for an uncomfortable start. The jackets were certainly around but we caught more whiting than those toothy little buggers. In fact the crew of ten landed 34 flathead and 32 whiting as well as morwong, pigfish, a sole snapper and a rare red mullet.The current was very tricky and at times and we did not get much of a drift as the current and the wind were cancelling out each other. Two whales came close to us and we saw a few more closer inshore. The most frustrating part of the day was spent untangling monumental tangles caused mainly by the unpredictable current flows. Whatever, everyone had fish to take home.

The previous weekend off Dee Why and Harbord was a similar story of breaching whales and plenty of good sized flathead on the chew. Winter fishing off Sydney can be very rewarding.

Hope the flatties are on the chew on Saturday out from The Heads and south.