Bonito bust ups in the harbour

[little fisho 20]

headed down to a busy pier in sydney harbour for an afternoon to find hundreds of garfish and yakkas being riled up by a small school of bonnies, watched them smash bait on the surface and jump out the water chasing them as i was rigging up. snagged 1 small bonnie on a pillie and watched them nose my pillies, live yakkas and lures for the rest of the day without a good hookup. still great fun seeing the bonito cruising around. also hooked up to a waterbird on a live yakka, which bit me hard as i was unhooking it, should have been more careful but was too annoyed by the bird taking my bait to take too much notice. also snagged a huge gar when i was spinning that came home with me too.

[wazatherfisherman 1,372]

Awesome sized Gar! 

[little fisho 20]

44 minutes ago, wazatherfisherman said:

Awesome sized Gar! 

will be going very nicely in the pan tomorrow😋

[Little_Flatty 115]

8 hours ago, little fisho said:

will be going very nicely in the pan tomorrow😋

Whopper gar indeed. Might think about targeting them in the harbour instead of my usual spot in Berowra. How you would get through the yakkas though, I have no idea!

[Rebel 768]

Great report. Well done.

[little fisho 20]

8 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Whopper gar indeed. Might think about targeting them in the harbour instead of my usual spot in Berowra. How you would get through the yakkas though, I have no idea!

the gars were floating around the surface much further out than any yakkas, hence why my stickbait landed straight on top of this unlucky fellow on a big cast

[Little_Flatty 115]

13 hours ago, little fisho said:

the gars were floating around the surface much further out than any yakkas, hence why my stickbait landed straight on top of this unlucky fellow on a big cast

Thanks for the info. Sounds like the trusty bubble float might be called into service...

[Pickles 1,002]

Great report and a good sized gar (looks like a little “Long Tom”).

I’ve only fished for garfish in the harbour, but if I’m targeting them I will scatter a small handful of bran (from produce store, not the bran you’d buy as breakfast cereal). Unlike Yakkas, I have found they tend to be seasonal and not a year round thing and usually mixed in with Yakkas and further back behind them, so not close to the burley pot/ back of the boat and nearly always on the surface.

[frankS 981]

My guess is that the gar is a Robust Garfish out of it's area, usually a tropical species, but we do get oddballs here from time to time.

The upper tail fin being shorter then lower tail fin and the dark blotch below the dorsal fin leads me to believe this species.

I have caught a few up at south west rocks but never in Sydney.

Great catch.

Frank

Edited Monday at 09:00 PM by frankS

[Jords boi 10]

Good Stuff! I've been fishing the piers/wharves around the harbour bridge (northside) and have seen heaps of action lately, more often than not, right in the middle of the channel so too far for stickbait/metal casts.