Oscarthebeagle Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Fished in the Port Hacking on Friday with my dad in my boat. Plan was to chase surface fish early, pump some nippers, fish the shallows than head back to the ramp at 1030 and swap dad for my wife and 2 boys, aged 3 & 5. Launched from Grays Point at 600 and headed to lilli pilli. Just on sun rise the whole area was alive with Pilchard schools every direct had fish rippling on the surface and the sounder regularly blackout with the schools. I started casting a sluggo, which had worked on previous trips and dad fished live bait. After 15 minutes off no hits i swapped to my live bait rod, shimano baitrunner 6-8kg rod 15lb braid 30lb fluro trace, and hooked up almost straight away, with a good first run before hanging around down deep taking short runs everytime i gained some line. In the clear water you could see the fish very early in the fight, a kingfish (maybe legal) Out in the open water i was no chance off being reefed so could enjoy the fight, until he tried to use the only bit of structure around, our boat, 1/2 dozen times with the fish only a couple of metre out he darted under the boat and motor causing me to dunk the rod into the water to keep the line clear, great fun. After a few more minutes he was netted and in the boat, 68cm, and straight into the esky. In the last 3 similar trips the boat had caught 20+ kingfish but this was the first legal. We continued to fish and released another 4 undersize kings, the bites were very spread out. I think the problem was too much baitfish in the water meant the predators were not finding our baits. With a couple of wake board boats starting up we decided to move on. We kept a block or so worth of fresh caught pilchards and headed off to pump nippers while the tide was low and then had a look at the ocean, short sharp nasty old wind chop made the ocean messy. We had a look around the bombie, but nothing was happening so headed back into the shelter of the river. Came across some surface fish near mainbar and managed a Frigate Mackerel before they disappeared. Back to lilli pilli we fished the shallows, we caught a couple of low 40's Flathead, a 28cm bream, 1 male blue swimmer, 1 female blue swimmer (released), a flounder (released) and a few undersize fish before in was time to head back to the ramp and swap over. Picked up my wife and boys and headed back out. Coming past one of the bays near the church camps i noticed a few seagulls sitting on the surface so went to investigate, sounder lit up with bait fish, so dropped over the bait jig, caught some, hook through the nose and cast out and almost straight away hooked up. Let my 6 months pregnant wife have the rod, after a short tussle she had a rat king released. Cast out the next bait for the same result. Noticed my 3yr olds rod, (cheapest shimano reel, cheap Rogue blue rod, 3kg platypus pretest) had the perfect hook and thought, whats the worst that can happen. Hook up the next live bait and cast out. Once again it's taken almost straight away, after the initial run i give both boys a turn on the rod but both give it back after a minute or so, kingfish are too tough for them. I take back over and land the fish, 5 cm or so undersize, the boys are excited with what they caught and they call it "our" fish as we all helped. A quick photo and then happily released. We continued doing this for a while, jigging baitfish, cast out, instant hook up with a couple more caught, a couple of bust offs and a few missed bites. And then i hear the dreaded words "I'm bored" and thats it we move on leaving behind a hot bite of great hard fighting fish. It seems a constant bite of big fish and bait jigging is not enough to keep two little boys content. We move over to the shallows and anchor up where the boys have a blast trying to catch tiny trumpeter on a handline. The older boy manages a legal bream and then we head off for a swim at mainbar before heading home. A quick side note on just how spoilt we fisherman are. We went to Westfield on the Saturday and looked in the fish shop. Whole Kingfish $21.99 kg giving my 2.55kg fish a value of $56.07. The flathead i gave to my dad as they had dinner guests over, the guest loved it and they commented that they pay up to $54 a kg for flathead tails from the shop. On the Sunday we had a 3rd birthday party for our boy and served some of the kingfish as small bite size boneless crumbed pieces, it was meant for the kids but it was the adults who happily ate the plate of fish, all saying how nice it was. We really are lucky. Thanks for reading. Ash 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berleyguts Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Great report and great to to get the kids into ‘em! I bet they had a ball! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Awesome report mate what a day out with fishing and family! Perfect !!! Ps....$50/kilo for flathead !!!!!!!! Wowzzzzaa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest123456789 Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 Great report thanks for sharing. It sounds like that legal king you caught had been caught a few times before! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingie chaser Posted February 10, 2019 Share Posted February 10, 2019 What a great day with the whole family Ash, and a feed as the bonus. Yeh we are lucky for sure & while I don't just fish so I don't have to pay outrages fish shop prices its just a good feeling you can put food on the table from your direct efforts to hunt & gather. Thanks for the report, Im going to have to head to the Hacking soon for a session Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Good work Ash. Plenty to keep most fishos entertained, but not always the kids. The fishing is getting better now that a lot of holiday makers, school kids are not on the water as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welster Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 What a great and informative report. Those kids getting bored during the hot bite are hard to please, I know the feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rah Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Great report mate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sydney south Posted February 11, 2019 Share Posted February 11, 2019 Good reading - thankyou.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Great report and great photos. The fish up here to buy are a bit cheaper. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 What a great report Ash. Can't believe how much fish costs. We certainly are lucky if we can catch our own and have fun in the process. bn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corro Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 Sounds like an awesome session! I've never actually caught a pilchard before but they are hardly cheap either! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61 crusher Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 Great photos & read, and 2 sessions with the whole family getting involved, I’ve had the same problem with my 2 girls having to leave a hot bite on more than one occasion to go swimming, I haven’t caught Pilchards before and was wondering what brand and size jig do you use to catch them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oscarthebeagle Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 13 hours ago, 61 crusher said: Great photos & read, and 2 sessions with the whole family getting involved, I’ve had the same problem with my 2 girls having to leave a hot bite on more than one occasion to go swimming, I haven’t caught Pilchards before and was wondering what brand and size jig do you use to catch them? This is what i was using. I don't particularly use this brand, it is probably just what was in the tackle store when i decided i needed bait jigs. Hope it helps. Ash 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
61 crusher Posted April 8, 2019 Share Posted April 8, 2019 21 hours ago, Oscarthebeagle said: This is what i was using. I don't particularly use this brand, it is probably just what was in the tackle store when i decided i needed bait jigs. Hope it helps. Ash Thanks for that, did you add bait to the hooks or were they taking the jigs as is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now