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Pittwater Action - Saturday 9th Jan 16


nanman

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Hi all,

Decided to go for fish for the first time for the new year last Saturday so headed off to Pittwater very early in the morning. Left home about 4am as its about a 50min drive from home to Bayview boat ramp. I was on my own so it took a little longer than usual to have the boat launched and ready to go but was on the water around 5.15am. It was around first light so the skies were too awesome to ignore so had to take a couple of snaps.

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I got to the location to see no one else there so I cruised around a bit to see if I could sound out any bait fish and there were plenty around so i decided to anchor up on one location and bait up couple of rods and start burling. Kept at it for about an hour and half with no luck just pickers. The water was really murky after all the rain so I thought the kingies may have been put off by it. So I decided to go the squid grounds hoping to get some live squid but the water was still murky around the heads as well so I guess for that reason I didn't have any luck with the squid either.

Went back to the location again to see now there were about 5-6 boats there anchored up by then. So, I cruised around a bit more again to find a suitable location to anchor without getting too close to other boats etc and started burling up again.

Usually this area is full of yakka but last couple of visits there it was full of these small fish that I don't know what they are so I decided to take my GoPro out and take some shots of them. Anyone know what these are? Do they make good live bait?

https://vimeo.com/151842718

Anyway about 30mins of burling without any action so I decided to reposition the boat so as I was winding up one rod there was bit of weight on it so i gave it a wack to set the hook and pulled in this decent flathead of about 43cm.

More time passes without any action and looking around other boats it much the same for everyone else. All of a sudden though I noticed the guys in the boat behind me looking in one direction with a lot of interest so as I turn around to see what its all about I see this massive could of smoke rising up to the skies. Turns out to be a boat close by had caught on fire. This goes one for a while and lot of boats and kayaks had gathered around the boat so I decided to keep fishing. The flames got larger and larger and it took quite some time for police to arrive followed by fire and the westpac rescue chopper came around for a look as well.

https://vimeo.com/151843951

The fire had been extinguished and I'm still burling away without any hits but then one of my rods bends in half. So I grab it and start winding but then it start peeling line and going harder than before. I was fishing with 20lb leader so i didn't want to tighten the drag too much but I knew I could up the drag a bit more so I did. I gained a bit of line but then it started to head to the reef and snap busted my leader and its gone. I was quite certain it wasn't a rat but not a hoodlum either.

So I quickly toss more burly into water to keep them in the area while I was rigging up again. About 5mins after that dissappoinment the rod buckles over again and as soon as I picked up the rod and start winding it starts peeling line again just like before. But this time I had a 30lb leader so I was able to put bit more hurt on it but it still kept on going for a while. The tussle kept going for about 5mins until I was starting feel I'm winning and finally I see colour. I had my GoPro on head this time and thought great so hit the record button but damn.. it hadn't recorded.. err

Anyway, as it came close to the surface I made a lunge toward the new which was on the other side of the boat and the fish took the opportunity to make another run towards the reef. So, another tussle later bring it back to the surface but landing it solo was another story. I had 3 missed attempts to land it with rod in one hand and the net in the other but finally managed to get it on boat. There was no one else on the boat to give high fives to share my joy so gave a thumps up to the boys on the boat behind me who I'm sure was watching most of the fight.

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I was sure it was over legal size but got the tape out to give it a quick measure and it was 71cm so into the ice slurry it went. Now, I've noticed this happened to me few times so just wondering if any raiders have noticed this too. When I remeasure the fish at home after its been in the ice slurry for a long time the fish had shrunk by about 1cm. Is this possible?

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Thanks for reading

Edited by nanman
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Hey Mate

Can't help you about the fish shrinking, mine always grow. One bream I caught when I was 7 has grown that much it's now legal.

Regarding the bait fish, could be hardy-head, if so an OK bait for flathead tailor but not big enough for kings etc. Otherwise I'm not sure, way too narrow for herring and tailor.

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Couldn't make out what small fish were, but from my experience any small fish that hasn't a legal minimum size is worth putting out for a live bait. Any preditory fish in the area is probably feeding on them, especially if putting out wounded vibes when put out on a hook. I definately would be putting one out to try

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Nice, detailed report, very interesting read. Thanks mate.

Can I ask what you were using for burley and bait seeing as you didn't get any livies?

Hi mate,

Pilchard cubes for both burley and bait.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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