The Peak at this time of the year...

[anthman]

Hi all, with what appears to be good conditions this weekend 0.8m swell /8sec period and 4knt westerly winds, my mind is turned toward The Peak.

Assuming those conditions stay stable (there aren't any spikes in conditions predicted before or after), how would a 4.7m boat, recently serviced and just over a year old, fair in those conditions? It's a stabicraft 1550 Fisher, if that helps. I've been caught out when the weather turns bad on the home run from long reef to nth head and did not enjoy that - that taught me that going out in 1.5m swells and "12knt" winds is too volatile.

Also, how does The Peak fish this time of the year? Would be dead baiting paternoster + knife jigging

Thank you all!

Edited April 21, 2020 by anthman

[kingfishbig]

It would be pushing the limits. Bear in mind that many of the weather forecasts have been wrong in recent times.  Eg Meteye is still showing 10 - 15 knot westerly winds, but looking out the window it would appear to be much stronger than that. If the westerly wind gets up it would much worse than coming back from long reef due to the distance from land and lack of lee effect. 

I'm not sure if it's worth the trip in any case. The Peak is often crowded and the fishing slow. I do very well on the closer reefs about 1- 1.5 miles off the eastern suburbs. The paternoster works well but I'd swap the knife jigs for slow jigs. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by kingfishbig

[GoingFishing]

1 hour ago, anthman said:

Hi all, with what appears to be good conditions this weekend 0.8m swell /8sec period and 4knt westerly winds, my mind is turned toward The Peak.

Assuming those conditions stay stable (there aren't any spikes in conditions predicted before or after), how would a 4.7m boat, recently serviced and just over a year old, fair in those conditions? It's a stabicraft 1550 Fisher, if that helps. I've been caught out when the weather turns bad on the home run from long reef to nth head and did not enjoy that - that taught me that going out in 1.5m swells and "12knt" winds is too volatile.

Also, how does The Peak fish this time of the year? Would be dead baiting paternoster + knife jigging

Thank you all!

I used to take my renegade 4.6m out to the botany wide FAD in those type of conditions. 

Getting to the peak in those conditions in that boat will be very safe. As with anything exercise caution. Get to know your boat and how it handles 

[kingie chaser]

I have been told in days gone by people used to go to the Peak in their tinnies 

 

 Anyway I think given the right conditions it would be fine, looking at your boat I know I would be going out there.

 

Its a hit & miss spot, I've only been out there once & it was summer & it was perfect conditions & got nothing. I have read a lot of articles saying winter is the better time out there for the larger nomadic kings.

In saying that tried to get out there on another occasion in a Formosa 550 Tomahawk centre console with a Yammy 150ph on it, forecast was winds below 10knts, got about 3 or 4 Nm off the coast from BB & the wind became more like 25knts from the SE & the swell became around 1.5/2m but very chopped & lumpy, we turned back!!

 

I would be prepared to fish a number if ways, jigs, live bait, dead bait, even a double paternoster with a SP on one of the hooks!.

As long as fish are on the sounder then one of those should work, you just have to know when to swap to find whats working.

 

Just keep an eye on the weather & leave well before it gets close, wind to probably the hardest thing to predict.

 

Good luck, if you need a partner let me know, we just have to stay at either end of the boat 🙄 

 

Also there are some old threads on here that could help, here's one-

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by kingie chaser

[anthman]

2 hours ago, kingfishbig said:

It would be pushing the limits. Bear in mind that many of the weather forecasts have been wrong in recent times.  Eg Meteye is still showing 10 - 15 knot westerly winds, but looking out the window it would appear to be much stronger than that. If the westerly wind gets up it would much worse than coming back from long reef due to the distance from land and lack of lee effect. 

I'm not sure if it's worth the trip in any case. The Peak is often crowded and the fishing slow. I do very well on the closer reefs about 1- 1.5 miles off the eastern suburbs. The paternoster works well but I'd swap the knife jigs for slow jigs. 

Very true, which reefs are those from the eastern suburbs? 

Sounds like a sensible and low risk venture. Might check out The Peak when it's (excuse the pun) at its peak, in the dead of winter.

@kingie chaser thanks for the info, might save it for winter. I read that article too, def feels hit and miss.

@GoingFishing yup, thank you. I always read "pick your days" being the advice but would be interesting to see what people "pick".

[kingfishbig]

10 minutes ago, anthman said:

Very true, which reefs are those from the eastern suburbs? 

 

Mainly off Coogee and Maroubra in the 65 - 75m depth. They are over a large area so you can do long drifts, probably too many over a large area to give specifics. Just use you sounder and look out for other boats, especially charter boats.  

[kingfishbig]

37 minutes ago, kingie chaser said:

I have been told in days gone by people used to go to the Peak in their tinnies 

 

 Anyway I think given the right conditions it would be fine, looking at your boat I know I would be going out there.

 

Its a hit & miss spot, I've only been out there once & it was summer & it was perfect conditions & got nothing. I have read a lot of articles saying winter is the better time out there for the larger nomadic kings.

In saying that tried to get out there on another occasion in a Formosa 550 Tomahawk centre console with a Yammy 150ph on it, forecast was winds below 10knts, got about 3 or 4 Nm off the coast from BB & the wind became more like 25knts from the SE & the swell became around 1.5/2m but very chopped & lumpy, we turned back!!

 

 

Yes, but a 16 ft tinnie was state of the art back in the 1970's. There we quite a few drownings too, including Gary Chapman the former Olympic swimmer, who coincidently was coming back from the Peak in his Quintrex tinnie!

Of course if the weather stays perfect there will be no problem, but as you found out that can't be counted on.

 

 

[New Signing]

General rule of thumb is your boat will out perform you. What i mean by that is when you think its getting a bit much for you to keep your feet to fish and its time to head home your boat will still be perfectly fine

[noelm]

The age old question, if it comes up rough, just take your time, as long as you have adequate fuel, you will get home, trying to get home as fast as you can is not the way to go, slow and steady, you will find the boat will have a "happy" speed in different conditions.

[anthman]

1 hour ago, kingfishbig said:

Mainly off Coogee and Maroubra in the 65 - 75m depth. They are over a large area so you can do long drifts, probably too many over a large area to give specifics. Just use you sounder and look out for other boats, especially charter boats.  

I launch and go via nth/south heads. That would place me about the same distance south as it would be to long reef, which would you go?

Edited April 22, 2020 by anthman

[kingfishbig]

3 minutes ago, anthman said:

I launch and go via nth/south heads. That would place me about the same distance south as it would be to long reef, which would you go?

I go out from Botany Bay so I have never fished Long Reef. 

[PaddyT]

best time of year for the peak is right now-lead up to the May full moon should see a good build up of kings as the begin their run to the deepwater to spawn-your boat will certainly handle a trip to the peak but a westerley will be uncomfortable coming home. As for hit and miss sure-its like most reefs-it needs current.

 

[anthman]

31 minutes ago, PaddyT said:

best time of year for the peak is right now-lead up to the May full moon should see a good build up of kings as the begin their run to the deepwater to spawn-your boat will certainly handle a trip to the peak but a westerley will be uncomfortable coming home. As for hit and miss sure-its like most reefs-it needs current.

 

Embarrassingly, I measured the distance incorrectly. From botany heads it's about 11km. From South head, it's 17.5km. from South head to 12mile it's 19km. Which places them both quite far. 10km is my limit, so far...

 

 

Edited April 22, 2020 by anthman

[GoingFishing]

1 hour ago, anthman said:

I launch and go via nth/south heads. That would place me about the same distance south as it would be to long reef, which would you go?

The waters north of Sydney headlands are farrrrrr more productive than the south.

When you head north from sydney heads, the sea floor is covered with scattered reefs from almost 500m from the shoreline out to to 70-80m line.

When you head south, it almost entirely barren sandy sea floor out to the 70-80m line pretty much out to the reefs east of coogee/bondi that Kingfish big is talking about.

This will be very clear to you even with a 5 minute review of the charts on your fishfinder.

If you are wanting to fish in shallower water out from Sydney......head North ! Id be happy to share some further information.

[anthman]

23 minutes ago, GoingFishing said:

The waters north of Sydney headlands are farrrrrr more productive than the south.

When you head north from sydney heads, the sea floor is covered with scattered reefs from almost 500m from the shoreline out to to 70-80m line.

When you head south, it almost entirely barren sandy sea floor out to the 70-80m line pretty much out to the reefs east of coogee/bondi that Kingfish big is talking about.

This will be very clear to you even with a 5 minute review of the charts on your fishfinder.

If you are wanting to fish in shallower water out from Sydney......head North ! Id be happy to share some further information.

That's good info, yes further information would be really appreciated! I have explored north of the headlands - bit before Manly and about 2km out (was about 40-60m depth) couldn't sound any thing and sargaent baker nonstop.

[kingie chaser]

@anthman, I know there is lots of GPS marks available on here & elsewhere on the net but I like to have a look at them while on a map, have a look at some of these-

http://www.ozpolitic.com/fish/map-gps-marks-fishing/Sydney-II-S-New-South-Wales-map-gps-marks-fishing.html

[kingfishbig]

39 minutes ago, anthman said:

That's good info, yes further information would be really appreciated! I have explored north of the headlands - bit before Manly and about 2km out (was about 40-60m depth) couldn't sound any thing and sargaent baker nonstop.

That's not surprising. There is hard reef like that off Coogee and Maroubra at that depth and you tend just to get rubbish fish. It's actually the gravel/ low reef out wider that's productive for snapper, mowies etc. It looks fairly featureless on the sounder but I have always caught something there. 

[New Signing]

3 hours ago, noelm said:

The age old question, if it comes up rough, just take your time, as long as you have adequate fuel, you will get home, trying to get home as fast as you can is not the way to go, slow and steady, you will find the boat will have a "happy" speed in different conditions.

Not only that, if you lob a lure or two out the back and just make your way home steady you're a good chance of picking up a bit of bait for next trip

[New Signing]

57 minutes ago, anthman said:

That's good info, yes further information would be really appreciated! I have explored north of the headlands - bit before Manly and about 2km out (was about 40-60m depth) couldn't sound any thing and sargaent baker nonstop.

Catching sarges isnt the worst thing in the world. They normally sit on hard reef with rock cod and the like. If you continue your drift eventually you will come off the hard reef onto gravel beds where the more desirable species tend to spend their time. Also sarges are really good cut baits

[anthman]

5 hours ago, kingfishbig said:

That's not surprising. There is hard reef like that off Coogee and Maroubra at that depth and you tend just to get rubbish fish. It's actually the gravel/ low reef out wider that's productive for snapper, mowies etc. It looks fairly featureless on the sounder but I have always caught something there. 

Is there anyway to tell on the sounder when it changes from hard reef into gravel? Like colour/density change?

Edited April 22, 2020 by anthman

[kingfishbig]

12 minutes ago, anthman said:

Is there anyway to tell on the subset when it changes from hard reef into gravel? Like colour/density change?

It depends very much on your sounder. Some have a colour code system. In any case the bottom will look flatter when you get on the gravel and you won't feel your sinker hitting reef or getting snagged (assuming your using braid). Anyway with a westerly wind your drift should see you hitting the gravel sooner or later.

[zmk1962]

Most sounders will show a gravel / mud / sand bottom as a thicker line, and hard ground as a thin line. It comes down to absorption of the sounder ping signal. The more that is absorbed (soft bottom) the thicker the echo shadow, the more that is reflected back (hard ground) the thinner the line.

Cheers Zoran

[New Signing]

Also if you use your bottom zoom you will see the undulations etc of the reef a lot better

[anthman]

Thanks all. I think I'll focus in on north of the headlands, close on sounder for when terrain changes and then bottom bash drift , hopeful something comes by. Goal will be to stay above soft ground. Any other tips?

[noelm]

Long before we relied on electronic equipment, finding reef edges was simply a matter of drifting, getting snagged, catching Red Rockies obviously meant hard reef, then no snags, quality fish (a quick land mark taken) means the edge or rubble, now just save it on your GPS and go back and see how the reef runs, catching Sand Flathead is pretty conclusive it's just sand bottom, after a while, you can build up your own secret spots, and while drifting, check what your sounder reading looks like as you go over different terrain.