A Strange Day Out at Bellambi

[GoingFishing]

Gday Raiders

We headed down to Bellambi today with Snapper being the target. Whilst overall a success, it was quite the odd day.

Arrived at the ramp (6:15) to find a much longer cue than the norm. Upon inspection it was clear that this mornings low tide was special. Special in that it was very low. very very low.

Now call me an impatient bastard, but if your at the ramp at 615 I will have to assume your not a holiday maker who takes his boat out once a year. Most of these blokes clearly from Sydney (as am I) but who don't use this ramp often. Standing around, scratching their heads. I offered help to those who would accept it and after about 45 minutes it was finally my turn. 6.2m plate boat off the trailer in less than 4 minutes, nice surge lifted the arse up and i cranked it into reverse. To be fair i was attached to the back of a Kakadu so we could back down a little further into the water. But still what I found most frustrating is that some blokes had 40 minutes of waiting time, watching others before them get off and when it was their turn they're still confused and hadn't thought out a strategy about how they would do it. It took some of them a good 15 minutes to get off.  On a normal day not the end of the earth but with only the far left lane available for larger boats the wait was torture. I guess all you can do is help and try to give them some confidence.

So pick up old mate from the wharf water so shallow i could only stick the nose of my boat up against it, old mate Ralph climbs onto the bow, holding onto the railing of the hardtop his phone goes straight off the side and into the water.....well isnt this the best start to the day. Took his shoes off and went for a quick walk in the water but couldn't find it, despite being in less than 700mm of water it had been covered in the sand or hidden amongst the kelp + low light didn't help. 

Finally underway having lost about an hour and a half of prime time snapper fishing we were rewarded with almost perfect conditions and managed a good 30 knots to the humps. The day was slow, picking up a legal fish every half an hour so but we slogged it out to the tide change around midday and were eventually rewarded with two better fish at 55cm and 60cm.

Back at the ramp nice high tide Ralph parks up the trailer I line up the drive on......motor wont tilt up? WHAT THE F???? is going on today?.... Put engine in idle play around with the trim buttons no joy. Somehow my mind ventured to my recent computer problems and this sarcastic voice said to me "did you try turning it off and on again".....heck why not. Turn the engine off and on and trim back to working as usual......confused but happy we got the boat back on the trailer, strapped it up and were on our way.

After washing down the boat I said to the mrs lets have some fresh baked snapper for dinner, butter garlic and chilli.

Perfect way to end the day. Natures obstacles aside, an awesome day on the water with lots of sunshine and plenty of whales and blue ocean.

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by GoingFishing

[Berleyguts]

Good effort, still!

Hmmm... I’m launching at about dead low tomorrow. Wondering if I should launch at Soldiers Point rather than Little Beach and make the longer run to the heads. 🤔

[GoingFishing]

6 minutes ago, Berleyguts said:

Good effort, still!

Hmmm... I’m launching at about dead low tomorrow. Wondering if I should launch at Soldiers Point rather than Little Beach and make the longer run to the heads. 🤔

Fishing is as much about patience and perseverance As it is about catching fish.!

Soldiers point is better...just allow an extra 15 minutes and a couple of litres fuel 😊

Edited July 7, 2019 by GoingFishing

[Berleyguts]

12 minutes ago, GoingFishing said:

Fishing is as much about patience and perseverance As it is about catching fish.!

Soldiers point is better...just allow an extra 15 minutes and a couple of litres fuel 😊

Yeah, I’ve been launching more at Little Beach lately but on a dead low with a solo launch, I think I’d better launch at Soldiers. Also, as it’s school holidays, there should be less looky-loos at the cleaning tables, too! 😂

[big Neil]

Thanks for the report which I really enjoyed reading. Trust the Snapper tasted as good as the photos make it look. Hope you don't have any more trouble with the motor trim. Cheers, bn

[noelm]

Both Port Kembla and Belambie are busy because Shellharbour is closed, seems like they are making a new slip for the 5 Harbour boats there, and have it closed for a long time, so the hundreds of trailer boats have to go elsewhere, OH, and the tide is very low at the moment, but today is a .4 which is OK.

[Scratchie]

9 hours ago, GoingFishing said:

Now call me an impatient bastard, but if your at the ramp at 615 I will have to assume your not a holiday maker 

Haha bloody oath you are! If your going snapper fishing, I’m leaving the ramp at 5am minimum! Haha. First light is the best period to target them. But you got a nice bag there Sam, well  done. A shame about the phone! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

[Welster]

Well that’s a frustrating start to the day.   It seems odd the tide is so low on a half moon.  I have never used the Belambi ramp but your comments had me thinking about the short draw bar on my current boat.

As far as fishing goes your efforts were well rewarded with a top feed.   What depths were you fishing?  

 

[GoingFishing]

2 hours ago, big Neil said:

Thanks for the report which I really enjoyed reading. Trust the Snapper tasted as good as the photos make it look. Hope you don't have any more trouble with the motor trim. Cheers, bn

Thanks BN. The snapper was very tasty. Somehow i forgot to mention the most frustrating part of our day....jackets and coutta. Lost so much gear yesterday!! Sometimes two drops in a row would come back as slack line.

2 hours ago, noelm said:

Both Port Kembla and Belambie are busy because Shellharbour is closed, seems like they are making a new slip for the 5 Harbour boats there, and have it closed for a long time, so the hundreds of trailer boats have to go elsewhere, OH, and the tide is very low at the moment, but today is a .4 which is OK.

Makes sense I wasn't aware...I guess that just adds to the problem

1 hour ago, Scratchie said:

Haha bloody oath you are! If your going snapper fishing, I’m leaving the ramp at 5am minimum! Haha. First light is the best period to target them. But you got a nice bag there Sam, well  done. A shame about the phone! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

Haha it's hard not to be after a 430am wake up and 1 hr drive from Syd to Bellambi. Maybe I will try earlier next time. Cheers Scratchie 

57 minutes ago, Welster said:

Well that’s a frustrating start to the day.   It seems odd the tide is so low on a half moon.  I have never used the Belambi ramp but your comments had me thinking about the short draw bar on my current boat.

As far as fishing goes your efforts were well rewarded with a top feed.   What depths were you fishing?  

 

One of the lowest tides i have seen. You could walk to one of the access ladders on the wharf over sand !

Cheers mate. The humps varies between 45 and 55m

Edited July 7, 2019 by GoingFishing

[GoingFishing]

19 minutes ago, jnrfinatic said:

That's an unfortunate start to the day, especially when the phone went in the juice! 

At least you got some good sized snapper to top off the day!

All in all though, great, detailed report and a good feed of snapper ready for the table! Well done

Thanks mate. Always a pain when a phone goes in the drink. Recovering numbers and personal data

[frankS]

Sam. Have you thought of using Wonga rd ramp Port Hacking and travelling south to the Humps etc ?.

Less time getting to the ramp for starters, far better ramp ( not a lot of parking but if you're early you get a spot ) and the run down is usually pleasant. It does mean that sometime you have to punch into the swell going home but cant have it both ways. Some great fishing between Jibbon and the humps as well.

You ended up getting a nice bag of fish .

Frank

[blindmullet]

12 hours ago, GoingFishing said:

"did you try turning it off and on again"

Classic IT Crowd line. Cracked me up

 

[Welster]

5 minutes ago, frankS said:

Sam. Have you thought of using Wonga rd ramp Port Hacking and travelling south to the Humps etc ?.

Less time getting to the ramp for starters, far better ramp ( not a lot of parking but if you're early you get a spot ) and the run down is usually pleasant. It does mean that sometime you have to punch into the swell going home but cant have it both ways. Some great fishing between Jibbon and the humps as well.

You ended up getting a nice bag of fish .

Frank

Given the wait at the ramp in hindsight it would of been heaps quicker. I have always gone down from the Hacking and usually fish a bit further south than the hump. 

Maybe you guys can point me in the right direction.   For snapper from Belambi I thought heading south might be a good option. 

[GoingFishing]

1 hour ago, frankS said:

Sam. Have you thought of using Wonga rd ramp Port Hacking and travelling south to the Humps etc ?.

Less time getting to the ramp for starters, far better ramp ( not a lot of parking but if you're early you get a spot ) and the run down is usually pleasant. It does mean that sometime you have to punch into the swell going home but cant have it both ways. Some great fishing between Jibbon and the humps as well.

You ended up getting a nice bag of fish .

Frank

I had considered and decided against it. Whilst the distance to the ramp may be shorter, the time required to Wonga rd ramp is actually not that different from my place because i would be driving through suburbia as opposed to 100km/hr on the highway to bulli. Probably a time saving of 15 minutes. Then from Wonga rd its an extra 10km to the headlands, then the distance from hacking south heads to humps is circa 19km so overall......a Wonga rd launch seemed more time consuming and/or more to travel, at least by boat.

Also, i dont always travel to the humps from Bellambi, i usually fish the 40m line due east from Bellambi reef and sometimes south

1 hour ago, blindmullet said:

Classic IT Crowd line. Cracked me up

it was a very "DOH" moment. still scratching my head about what happened there.

1 hour ago, Welster said:

Given the wait at the ramp in hindsight it would of been heaps quicker. I have always gone down from the Hacking and usually fish a bit further south than the hump. 

Maybe you guys can point me in the right direction.   For snapper from Belambi I thought heading south might be a good option. 

the wait at the ramp is usually pretty good. 10-15 minute wait is the norm

The humps produces good snapper, theres lots of broken ground and reefs between bellambi and the humps which produce snapper. pays to move around as they can be as deep as 60m or as shallow as 30m

Edited July 8, 2019 by GoingFishing

[Yowie]

Good bag of reddies, couple of nice ones to top it off.

[Rebel]

Great catch and a good feed.

[Oz98]

Hahaha yep good ole Bellambi for ya there my friend! 

 

Glad you got fish to compensate the wait and hardship though! 

 

[GoingFishing]

4 hours ago, Yowie said:

Good bag of reddies, couple of nice ones to top it off.

Thanks Yowie, good fun them larger ones

4 hours ago, Rebel said:

Great catch and a good feed.

Thanks Rebel

43 minutes ago, Oz98 said:

Hahaha yep good ole Bellambi for ya there my friend! 

 

Glad you got fish to compensate the wait and hardship though! 

 

Haha seems like this kind of drama is not uncommon

 Thanks mate 

11 hours ago, frankS said:

You ended up getting a nice bag of fish .

Frank

Ps, thanks Frank ! 

[recurve]

Bellambi ramp starts at 4.15am. At this time it is all locals getting in before the chaos from Sydney arrives. It's a pretty smooth affair normally, even on dead low. A lot of locals won't fish the weekend due to all the drama and queues. 

 Around 5.45am the first of the Sydney  crowd turns up and there are always novices and bellambi newbies amoung them. This is when the hold ups, balls ups and lack of etiquette happens. 

There are plenty of good snapper grounds around Wollongong. You don't need to go all the way to the humps to get snapper. I've always found the humps really hit and miss so don't bother anymore. 

Some of the best snapper fishing is only 4k - 5k from the ramp. 

[Formosan]

Good bag there mate. Do you know how many Kms is from Bellambi ramp  to the humps?

[Basil D]

from Bellambie to the Hums? no idea lol but from wallys warf to the Humps is about 28km

[GoingFishing]

On 8/4/2019 at 10:41 PM, Formosan said:

Good bag there mate. Do you know how many Kms is from Bellambi ramp  to the humps?

19kms from Bellambi ramp to the humps

[Basil D]

On 7/7/2019 at 9:41 PM, GoingFishing said:

Gday Raiders

We headed down to Bellambi today with Snapper being the target. Whilst overall a success, it was quite the odd day.

Arrived at the ramp (6:15) to find a much longer cue than the norm. Upon inspection it was clear that this mornings low tide was special. Special in that it was very low. very very low.

Now call me an impatient bastard, but if your at the ramp at 615 I will have to assume your not a holiday maker who takes his boat out once a year. Most of these blokes clearly from Sydney (as am I) but who don't use this ramp often. Standing around, scratching their heads. I offered help to those who would accept it and after about 45 minutes it was finally my turn. 6.2m plate boat off the trailer in less than 4 minutes, nice surge lifted the arse up and i cranked it into reverse. To be fair i was attached to the back of a Kakadu so we could back down a little further into the water. But still what I found most frustrating is that some blokes had 40 minutes of waiting time, watching others before them get off and when it was their turn they're still confused and hadn't thought out a strategy about how they would do it. It took some of them a good 15 minutes to get off.  On a normal day not the end of the earth but with only the far left lane available for larger boats the wait was torture. I guess all you can do is help and try to give them some confidence.

So pick up old mate from the wharf water so shallow i could only stick the nose of my boat up against it, old mate Ralph climbs onto the bow, holding onto the railing of the hardtop his phone goes straight off the side and into the water.....well isnt this the best start to the day. Took his shoes off and went for a quick walk in the water but couldn't find it, despite being in less than 700mm of water it had been covered in the sand or hidden amongst the kelp + low light didn't help. 

Finally underway having lost about an hour and a half of prime time snapper fishing we were rewarded with almost perfect conditions and managed a good 30 knots to the humps. The day was slow, picking up a legal fish every half an hour so but we slogged it out to the tide change around midday and were eventually rewarded with two better fish at 55cm and 60cm.

Back at the ramp nice high tide Ralph parks up the trailer I line up the drive on......motor wont tilt up? WHAT THE F???? is going on today?.... Put engine in idle play around with the trim buttons no joy. Somehow my mind ventured to my recent computer problems and this sarcastic voice said to me "did you try turning it off and on again".....heck why not. Turn the engine off and on and trim back to working as usual......confused but happy we got the boat back on the trailer, strapped it up and were on our way.

After washing down the boat I said to the mrs lets have some fresh baked snapper for dinner, butter garlic and chilli.

Perfect way to end the day. Natures obstacles aside, an awesome day on the water with lots of sunshine and plenty of whales and blue ocean.

 

Good catch there, nice presentation of the cooked fish as well.

and hey, when isnt it a strange day at bellambie lol

[Formosan]

7 minutes ago, Basil D said:

from Bellambie to the Hums? no idea lol but from wallys warf to the Humps is about 28km

u still kickign around here?

[Basil D]

1 minute ago, Formosan said:

u still kickign around here?

Once a raider, Always a raider at heart