New Signing Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 G'day fella's, just a quick report from yesterday. Headed out from Crookhaven heads around 5 Sunday morning and in no time at all had filled the live bait tank with 20-30 mixed size slimies and yakkas. Got about halfway to the banks before we made the decision to head down along the cliffs until the wind dropped a bit. Dragged live slimies and yakkas both weighted and unweighted all the way along the cliffs to the drum and drum sticks with nothing seen other than the odd patch of bait marked on the sounder. Once we had rounded the drum we decided to switch over to lures and go and chase the temp changes on fishtrack towards the JB canyons. Around 3 mile out the long corner got hit, the rod loaded but failed to stay connected. Only saw a splash so could have been anything. Most likely a stripey or dolphinfish id say. Shortly after we found a huge pod of dolphins and birds working tiny little bait fish. We stayed with them for a good hour without raising as much as a look in. We continued to troll towards the canyons where we come across awesome temp breaks withing about a 3 mile area. Water changing from around 20.5, 21.5, 21.8, 22.3, 22.7 all the way up to 24.9. I was certain we'd pull a fish out of the washing machine but managed zilch. Not a cracker. Disheartened we decided to head back up to the banks via the block and fad for a drift over the tide change. Normally i troll my marlin lures are 5.5-6 knots which is around 2100rpm on my motor. At those revs we were averaging about 3 knots meaning the current was absolutely flying. Around the drum canyons we had around 60 stripies take flight but that was all we saw. After a trip that seemed to take a lifetime we got to the FAD which due to the current had a wake boiling off the back of it about 40mtrs long and was struggling to stay above water. A couple of passes wide and close resulted in nothing unsurprisingly with the water around 24.8. Worked our way back into the banks and switched over to baits. We marked heaps and heaps of bait high in the water column so our confidence levels improved again. Trying to walk baits into the current actually saw us going backwards. We gave it half an hour either side of the tide change before we pulled the pin and headed home as i had a 2 hour drive back over the hill. Interestingly when we pulled up to pull the gear in thousands of tiny slimies around the 3 inch mark appeared under the boat. Perhaps the fish are tuned in on those. On Saturday we spoke to a couple of guys who had been fishing the ANSA comp. They had a small black 47.8kg and a 10kg king. The only fish we heard of on the sunday from the very limited boats battling the washing machine was a small 30kg fish. Sorry i don't have more to add. Will have another crack the 10/11/12 of March. Ive had a bloody terrible start to my season in truth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fragmeister Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Well written report buddy... just missing a fish! But I am glad that didn't discourage you from posting. I look forward to the next report ... Its pretty obvious you know your stuff and you know the JB area so I expect the season will pan out better that it started for you. Cheers Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted February 20, 2017 Share Posted February 20, 2017 Nice report, shame about the catch. Do you have any luck pulling lures at that speed ? I tend to like swell from behind where Ive found almost every marlin strike I get is when my boat surges from 12-14 kh up to 16-18kh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Signing Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 Thanks fellas. As a rule i try and troll side onto the swell so that my lures aren't bursting out of the water and skipping too much. I adjust my speed to suit the day and direction to get my lures working properly. That could mean on a calm day increasing to 8 or so knots. I don't normally have too much trouble raising fish at those speeds. Last season i had a couple of days with multiple fish up including a day where we raised 9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croydon Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Tough luck on the fish buddy, been pretty quiet off Batemans Bay lately, with the best of the bite being off Bermi at the moment. I'm heading up to Crookhaven Heads for the first time in a couple of weeks, do you have any directions for finding livies there? Cheers........... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Signing Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 G'day Dave, Just head straight out through the bar and turn to your right. You don't have to go too far along the rocks there, maybe 500 yards. I tend to just use a dog food roll from the super market, start your trail and up they come. Obviously they come up a little easier in low light. I see a lot of people moving around a fair bit but normally i just stay where ive started my trail. They show up eventually Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Croydon Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Thanks for that, heading up with a few people from our local fishing club, hopefully the weather plays ball. Much appreciated. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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