On and off day

[GordoRetired]

Last Thursday I decided that it was time to get the boat out and see if I could catch a feed, the lunar charts were saying that there was due to be an early bite so just for a change I got up extra early, set the boat up and headed to the Roseville boat ramp. By a little before 6.00am I was driving away from the ramp and heading out towards the heads. On the way past the Spit I did the right thing and logged in with Marine Rescue so that they knew where I was headed.
An hour after leaving the ramp I got to an area knows as Foul Grounds which is a few miles our from Curl Curl beach. Got my first rod set up with a paternoster rig, 2 4/0 hooks baited with 1/2 a pilly on each. Dropped it down, as it hit the bottom I clicked on the overhead drag and before I could get the rod to a rod holder I was hooked up. First fish of the day a nice Fathead a little over 40cm. Now that is what I call a good start to the day.
Re-baited and dropped the rod back down then got the second rod set up and in the water. Over the next hour or so I ended up with 5 decent sized Flathead in the live bait tank, keeps them fresh when you are not using it for live bait. All the fish were between 40 & 50cm, what I call a good eating size. Would have thrown back more than I kept even though they were legal size, I prefer a decent size fillet. 
Interesting by catch considering that I was fishing in around 60m of water, a couple of Whiting. Not all that big, around 25cm, but not what I expected out there.

Then after around 8.30 the bite just shut down. After a couple more drifts across the grounds I decided to drop the reef pick and see if any Snapper or Morwong would be tempted by a static bait, no joy, not even a touch.

I then decided to head over to the reef know as Whale. Reef pick down and set 2 rods. Got a few touches, a small Snapper, undersized, a large slimy, a couple of Nanigy, a brown looking something a bit like a rock cod, but nothing to keep.

After an hour or so there I started heading in to Iggys where I have caught some nice Snapper before. On the way in I had some fun watched a pod of Dolphins balling up some bait and smashing their way through it. There were Dolphins jumping and splashing about like mad and hitting the bait ball at amazing speed. It was quite a spectacle.

After the entertainment I headed on to Iggys and set up again.The only thing I caught of any interest was a 3 foot Port Jackson shark. At least it had some weight to it. Unhooked and set free. Other then that nothing worth mentioning.
Final attempt to catch something of interest was to drop a couple of bullet head lures out the back and troll from Many around North Head and on to Quarantine. Not a touch but as the wind had picked up a bit it was a more comfortable ride than smashing through the chop.

Interesting take on the day, the site https://tides4fishing.com/au/new-south-wales/sydney had shown a good early bite based on 'solunar activity' and they were spot on. The bite lasted for around 1 1/2 hours then just died. Still can't complain as I managed to come home with a decent feed of Flathead, one of my favorites.
Sorry, no pictures but I sure that you have all seen Flathead before 🙂

 

[corro]

Decent feed from the flatties! Great report.

[61 crusher]

Good to see you got the boat out & got a nice feed of blue spots, like you I prefer to keep the larger ones for a feed

Would’ve been interesting to see what the other spots produced if you were there for the bite time

Always good to see nature in action sometimes that’s all that’s needed to make for an enjoyable day out

Good read 👍

[Rebel]

Great report and well done.

[masterfisho7]

Great report well done 

[GordoRetired]

1 hour ago, 61 crusher said:

Always good to see nature in action sometimes that’s all that’s needed to make for an enjoyable day out

Good read 👍

Quite agree. I have been lucky enough to see Dolphins, Whales and seals over the last few trips.

[Yowie]

Sounds like an interesting day out, better than being at home.

A feed of good eating sized flatties to take home. The whiting you caught, could they have been red spot whiting, usually found in the deeper water?

[saltrix]

Thanks for the interesting report. 
I have often caught the red spot whiting in 50 to 60 metres, and fisheries say they are caught up to 160 metres.  The catch size limit per year is 788 tonnes so there must be a few around. They are also known as the Eastern School Whiting and are a common catch in Morton Bay Qld.

[zmk1962]

Good stuff Gordo. Can’t complain about some quality time on water and a feed to boot. 
Personally I’ve stopped being inspired to go wet a line by solunar forecasts - I prefer to just go and treat it as a challenge to bring a feed home no matter the solunar forecast. 
Cheers Zoran 

[Pickles]

Great report Gordo, sounds like a good day and from memory Thursday was a calm day with low swell and little wind early.

 What depth is the foul grounds ??

[GordoRetired]

2 hours ago, Yowie said:

The whiting you caught, could they have been red spot whiting, usually found in the deeper water?

I did not notice any red spots, but then I was not taking much notice as they were too small to think about keeping. Had they been a little bigger it would have been a different matter. 🙂

[GordoRetired]

30 minutes ago, Pickles said:

Great report Gordo, sounds like a good day and from memory Thursday was a calm day with low swell and little wind early.

 What depth is the foul grounds ??

It was pretty calm early on, by lunchtime it had picker up a bit.
The Foul Grounds are around 50 - 60m deep. Not a bad area to drift. Previously I have had some reasonable Snapper, Morwong, Nanigy and Pearl Pearch as well as the Flathead. Both drifting and anchored work out there.

[GordoRetired]

38 minutes ago, zmk1962 said:

Good stuff Gordo. Can’t complain about some quality time on water and a feed to boot. 
Personally I’ve stopped being inspired to go wet a line by solunar forecasts - I prefer to just go and treat it as a challenge to bring a feed home no matter the solunar forecast. 
Cheers Zoran 

I am much the same, that day the wind forecast was good so that was my decision to go fishing made, then one of the sites I use for weather also shows solunar info. I think that was what prompted me to get out early for a change rather than my usual on the water around 8.00 start...
 

[Yowie]

2 hours ago, saltrix said:

Thanks for the interesting report. 
I have often caught the red spot whiting in 50 to 60 metres, and fisheries say they are caught up to 160 metres.  The catch size limit per year is 788 tonnes so there must be a few around. They are also known as the Eastern School Whiting and are a common catch in Morton Bay Qld.

You've been doing some research. 😁

[GoingFishing]

6 hours ago, GordoRetired said:

I did not notice any red spots, but then I was not taking much notice as they were too small to think about keeping. Had they been a little bigger it would have been a different matter. 🙂

Great report Gordo. Glad to hear you got out.

Red spot whiting dont grow very big at all and have no size limit. Once deep fried you can pretty much eat their flesh with the bone in. They taste quite nice.