Yamba Charter 6th June

[Jiggy]

So after sitting around twiddling my thumbs for the last couple of months I was hanging to get out of the city and catch some mighty Sergeant Baker. I am after all the self crowned Greatest Sergeant Baker Fisherman in Sydney. Thursday I jumped into the 4x4 and charged up to Yamba. I had booked a seat on Charter X as it wasn't worth towing the boat up for just a day really; Friday I had to work out of the hotel I was staying at and was coming back Sunday.

Wandering around after work on Friday and noticed that no one was fishing one of the better blackfish spots there. If your ever up there this spot can go off big time but the fish often want black weed. When they are like that the generally won't take anything else.

We headed out at six and went south towards Brooms Head to the first spot and baits down. Felt a few bites then I'm on; it was the right colour but wrong species. A pannie snapper. Back down and shortly later I'm on again; tusk fish.

I got to say at this stage I was getting worried as neither I, nor anyone else, had caught a sergeant baker. This just wasn't going to plan at all. I had caught some micro red rock cod but that's not what I was after. Finally someone did catch one and the deckie cut it up for bait!! What a sad way to treat a prized game fish like that. At one stage a floater that was out went off and I was hopeful that it would be a giant one, but it was only a 73cm snapper.

 

We fished on after that for more snapper, tuskies and a few trag. I briefly tried slow jigging but I kept tangling up with others so stopped pretty quickly. By the time we had to head in there was not a bad collection of fish in the box and everyone was pretty happy. FYI there were more fish in the box include a metre whaler shark that was kept for the table.

I myself was pretty happy and had enough fish for a couple of feeds which is fine for me. How can you not be happy floating around on a nice day, see a few whales and get some salt spray on the face. It was nice just getting out and about and a fish or two was a bonus.

The charter was very good and they knew where to go. It wasn't the best moon phase for reef fish but we did OK. If anyone would like details on the charter PM me and I'll pass their info on. Once we got back they started prepping for an evening charter; they run these during the winter as there is no wind. I saw the results on their Facebook page..yeah they did ok

 

I think I need to go on one of these charters and see if I can stop being the worst jewie fisherman in Sydney!

Cheers

Rob

Edited June 8, 2020 by mrsswordfisherman
Pic edit - site rule breach, no blanked out faces

[Blackfish]

Thats certainly a mixture of fish species that was caught and a cracker of a Tuskfish to.

[big Neil]

A long trip but well worth it from the looks of your catch. Well done, bn

[Rebel]

Great day out. Well worth the trip. Super photos.

[lucapalooka76]

17 hours ago, Jiggy said:

So after sitting around twiddling my thumbs for the last couple of months I was hanging to get out of the city and catch some mighty Sergeant Baker. I am after all the self crowned Greatest Sergeant Baker Fisherman in Sydney. Thursday I jumped into the 4x4 and charged up to Yamba. I had booked a seat on Charter X as it wasn't worth towing the boat up for just a day really; Friday I had to work out of the hotel I was staying at and was coming back Sunday.

Wandering around after work on Friday and noticed that no one was fishing one of the better blackfish spots there. If your ever up there this spot can go off big time but the fish often want black weed. When they are like that the generally won't take anything else.

We headed out at six and went south towards Brooms Head to the first spot and baits down. Felt a few bites then I'm on; it was the right colour but wrong species. A pannie snapper. Back down and shortly later I'm on again; tusk fish.

I got to say at this stage I was getting worried as neither I, nor anyone else, had caught a sergeant baker. This just wasn't going to plan at all. I had caught some micro red rock cod but that's not what I was after. Finally someone did catch one and the deckie cut it up for bait!! What a sad way to treat a prized game fish like that. At one stage a floater that was out went off and I was hopeful that it would be a giant one, but it was only a 73cm snapper.

 

We fished on after that for more snapper, tuskies and a few trag. I briefly tried slow jigging but I kept tangling up with others so stopped pretty quickly. By the time we had to head in there was not a bad collection of fish in the box and everyone was pretty happy. FYI there were more fish in the box include a metre whaler shark that was kept for the table.

I myself was pretty happy and had enough fish for a couple of feeds which is fine for me. How can you not be happy floating around on a nice day, see a few whales and get some salt spray on the face. It was nice just getting out and about and a fish or two was a bonus.

The charter was very good and they knew where to go. It wasn't the best moon phase for reef fish but we did OK. If anyone would like details on the charter PM me and I'll pass their info on. Once we got back they started prepping for an evening charter; they run these during the winter as there is no wind. I saw the results on their Facebook page..yeah they did ok

 

I think I need to go on one of these charters and see if I can stop being the worst jewie fisherman in Sydney!

Cheers

Rob

Champion effort! 

Sounds like we are cut from the same cloth. I regularly tell my fans if I choose the location and method you're going to catch eff-all fish. Take me on a charter with a great skipper and I'll catch fish for dayz. Go figure?? 🤔

[rickmarlin62]

Bit of a shame on the mighty sergeant bakers  but at least you got some crappy rubbish bottom feeders

[61 crusher]

Shame about your target species but then again that’s a great haul of by catch & photos 

[Guest Guest123456789]

No no no no no you’re doing it all wrong. If you want to catch bakers make sure you go out on YOUR boat with a full crew and lots of fresh bait you’ve caught yourself in preparation. And ideally Christmas Eve.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Guest123456789
Typo

[Scratchie]

Just hate when a plan doesn’t come together! Nice bycatch though. Hopefully that will keep you going for a while! Haha 😂 

cheers scratchie!!! 

[Jiggy]

On 6/8/2020 at 4:31 PM, rickmarlin62 said:

Bit of a shame on the mighty sergeant bakers  but at least you got some crappy rubbish bottom feeders

My thoughts exactly until I ate one of the tuskies last night. More crappy bottom feeders please.

[Jiggy]

On 6/8/2020 at 4:55 PM, flatheadluke said:

No no no no no you’re doing it all wrong. If you want to catch bakers make sure you go out on YOUR boat with a full crew and lots of fresh bait you’ve caught yourself in preparation. And ideally Christmas Eve.

Yeah and say at least we'll get a flathead or two as an extra incentive. The bakers will jump into the boat then.

[Keflapod]

Who the hell named the fish seargeant baker anyways? Can you imagine if you're amongst some not-so-fishing mates and you get asked what are your goals in life, then you state loudly and proudly "I love to get my hands on a good sargeant baker"? They are gonna tell you they are happy that you finally came out of the closet. They will probably ask you if your boat is named "the closet".

Should have called the fish RED GOLD.There are are more people out there competing for biggest baker than there are for snapper I reckon. And when you get a good one, there are more cheers for that fish than there is for any other fish.Everyone is laughing and congratulate you on a truly fine capture. Some fishing clubs even have a trophy for it.

OK seriously now - that's a nice bunch of fish there and obviously a great fishery. Also you got a lot of enthusiasm to travel all that way for a day in the hope of a world record baker. The things we do for a fish.

Edited June 17, 2020 by Keflapod

[Jiggy]

On 6/14/2020 at 10:27 AM, Keflapod said:

Who the hell named the fish seargeant baker anyways? Can you imagine if you're amongst some not-so-fishing mates and you get asked what are your goals in like, then you state loudly and proudly "I love to get my hands on a good sargeant baker"? They are gonna tell you they are happy that you finally came out of the closet. They will probably ask you if your boat is named "the closet".

Should have called the fish RED GOLD.There are are more people out there competing for biggest baker than there are for snapper I reckon. And when you get a good one, there are more cheers for that fish than there is for any other fish.Everyone is laughing and congratulate you on a truly fine capture. Come fishing clubs even have a trophy for it.

OK seriously now - that's a nice bunch of fish there and obviously a great fishery. Also you got a lot of enthusiasm to travel all that way for a day in the hope of a world record baker. The things we do for a fish.

In my younger days we'd think nothing of getting up at midnight and driving 7 hours to hunt all day. Then drive back the same day as we had work/life obligations. I'm not that crazy anymore...well maybe a little. I'll have to do this again soonish, I really liked those tuskies.