Tweet
My main Australian fishing mentor on this trip,Ollie,picked me up at sunrise from my daughters apartment in Freshwater and off we headed to our fishing mark. This turned out to be some rock ledges north of Sydney. Access was fairly easy via a chain which had been installed by the local council.
Once down Ollie studied the waves for a few minutes and then said that it was too dangerous for me to fish due to the swell pattern. Note the holes that have been drilled in the rocks to accommodate fishing rods. I do not know if the council of a fishing club had done this. Also note Ollie's shark rod always at the ready !!!!
He told me that he would give it half an hour and then we would move on to somewhere inside the harbour. Ollie then donned his special "cleated trainers",baited up with pilchard and cast out. Within a couple of minutes he struck into a good bite and the fight was on. It was a kingfish which gave a very good account of itself.
As I was taking a picture of Ollie with his fish a large wave just came from nowhere and nearly swept Ollie off the rocks. Ollie thought the fish looked just undersize (65cm for kingfish in NSW) so carefully measured it. It was a fraction under so back it went to fight another day. Tide movement is very small in the Sydney area - just about 1.5m between HW and LW. The waves can be deadly though as I had just witnessed. Sadly an angler was swept off the rocks near here and drown during our stay. We packed up at this point and headed to Sydney Harbour.
Ironically our next venue was right outside Manly Aquarium. The plan was to catch yellowtail first on small hooks,baited with pilchard and then livebait with them for salmon,bonito,kingfish or whatever turned up. Ollie crumbed up some bread first to attract the baitfish in. This was our fishing spot,not bad at all but it was screaming hot. On Ollies advice I had bought a large hat similar to his. Not very stylish but great for keeping the sun off. Check out the safe swimming area inside the shark net and Manly ferry to the right.
Olliie was first in as usual with a yellowtail and popped it into a bucket of sal****er with a portable aerator helping to keep the fish alive. He quickly filled the bucket with yellowtail while I struggled to catch one. Ollie is simply a top angler and I was learning lots from him on every trip. Ollie had loaned me a spare rod and reel for livebaiting as my spinning outfit was unsuitable for this. Basically it was a sturdy spinning rod/reel loaded with 40lb mono. A 3oz running ledger and a 4/0 hook nicked into the yellowtail.
Ollie saw a couple of squid close in so started casting for them with his shrimp rig. Live squid being the top kingfish bait. After a few casts Ollie got snagged up and then snapped off. These shrimp lures cost $25 dollars a pop so he simply stripped off and dived in to try and find it. He never did get it but what a top bloke,a pleasure to fish with.
Another top tip Ollie gave me was to knock back the drag to virtually zero when doing this type of fishing as he had seen a few rods just simply fly into the harbour. This was to prove very useful for me at a later date. Nothing happened during the first hour so I decided to try and get at least one yellowtail so as not to totally blank. Yippee at last,check this out. LOL
True to form Ollie had all the action with two good runs before he eventually managed to hook up. It was a salmon,what a great fight with it jumping out of the water a few times. Ollie said that his freezer was full of salmon which he had kept for shark bait and did I want it. I did say that my sister-in law,who was with us on this trip,was keen on fish of all types. Ollie then cut off two great fillets. Job done.
Well what a great day out it had been. There are a lot of different techniques for us visiting UK anglers to learn when fishing in Australia and I had one of the best teachers. Sorry for the gap between the reports but I have been too busy enjoying mysef since coming back from Australia.
Did Ollie manage to get his shark ? Why was I glad that Ollie had advised me to back off my drag all the way ? To be continued. Hope you enjoyed this one.
John
Once down Ollie studied the waves for a few minutes and then said that it was too dangerous for me to fish due to the swell pattern. Note the holes that have been drilled in the rocks to accommodate fishing rods. I do not know if the council of a fishing club had done this. Also note Ollie's shark rod always at the ready !!!!
He told me that he would give it half an hour and then we would move on to somewhere inside the harbour. Ollie then donned his special "cleated trainers",baited up with pilchard and cast out. Within a couple of minutes he struck into a good bite and the fight was on. It was a kingfish which gave a very good account of itself.
As I was taking a picture of Ollie with his fish a large wave just came from nowhere and nearly swept Ollie off the rocks. Ollie thought the fish looked just undersize (65cm for kingfish in NSW) so carefully measured it. It was a fraction under so back it went to fight another day. Tide movement is very small in the Sydney area - just about 1.5m between HW and LW. The waves can be deadly though as I had just witnessed. Sadly an angler was swept off the rocks near here and drown during our stay. We packed up at this point and headed to Sydney Harbour.
Ironically our next venue was right outside Manly Aquarium. The plan was to catch yellowtail first on small hooks,baited with pilchard and then livebait with them for salmon,bonito,kingfish or whatever turned up. Ollie crumbed up some bread first to attract the baitfish in. This was our fishing spot,not bad at all but it was screaming hot. On Ollies advice I had bought a large hat similar to his. Not very stylish but great for keeping the sun off. Check out the safe swimming area inside the shark net and Manly ferry to the right.
Olliie was first in as usual with a yellowtail and popped it into a bucket of sal****er with a portable aerator helping to keep the fish alive. He quickly filled the bucket with yellowtail while I struggled to catch one. Ollie is simply a top angler and I was learning lots from him on every trip. Ollie had loaned me a spare rod and reel for livebaiting as my spinning outfit was unsuitable for this. Basically it was a sturdy spinning rod/reel loaded with 40lb mono. A 3oz running ledger and a 4/0 hook nicked into the yellowtail.
Ollie saw a couple of squid close in so started casting for them with his shrimp rig. Live squid being the top kingfish bait. After a few casts Ollie got snagged up and then snapped off. These shrimp lures cost $25 dollars a pop so he simply stripped off and dived in to try and find it. He never did get it but what a top bloke,a pleasure to fish with.
Another top tip Ollie gave me was to knock back the drag to virtually zero when doing this type of fishing as he had seen a few rods just simply fly into the harbour. This was to prove very useful for me at a later date. Nothing happened during the first hour so I decided to try and get at least one yellowtail so as not to totally blank. Yippee at last,check this out. LOL
True to form Ollie had all the action with two good runs before he eventually managed to hook up. It was a salmon,what a great fight with it jumping out of the water a few times. Ollie said that his freezer was full of salmon which he had kept for shark bait and did I want it. I did say that my sister-in law,who was with us on this trip,was keen on fish of all types. Ollie then cut off two great fillets. Job done.
Well what a great day out it had been. There are a lot of different techniques for us visiting UK anglers to learn when fishing in Australia and I had one of the best teachers. Sorry for the gap between the reports but I have been too busy enjoying mysef since coming back from Australia.
Did Ollie manage to get his shark ? Why was I glad that Ollie had advised me to back off my drag all the way ? To be continued. Hope you enjoyed this one.
John
gonna try and get there in august sometime us
Comment