Botany Bay - 1/11/07 & 3/11/07

As I write this report I can hear it howlin' about 20 knots outside and it's chucking the rain down in bucketloads. I think I might sleep in tomorrow. But last week conditions were great for some early sessions and twice I snuck out and was home before the family were outta bed. I'm yet to get a legal kingfish this season so I'm going to perservere at the HWO until I get one. The last few times have seen tailor biting their heads off and this time was no different. The EastCoast Splash n' Dash worked wonders again and it's now looking decidedly chewed. Any colour I threw today was successful and a quick retreive had fish climbing all over them.

Once the tailor disappeared, I switched to the Mojo Sp's and the third cast was hit just as it landed. I thought it must've been a tailor but the strong, deep run told me Mr.King had grabbed hold. Line wasn't peeling off at a great rate though and this guy was quickly subdued. He put on an acrobatic display when I got him to the surface so I took a few quick snaps of him dancing away. 60cm's on the tape and he's back into the ocean to fight another day.

A couple of other kayakers had arrived (Tim and I'm sorry, but I've forgotten your mates name) and Tim was soon into a king also. I switched from the blue Mojo to the yellow to see if it made a difference. Well, I guess not, as 5 minutes later I'm hooked up to number 2! This guy has a bit more grunt and when I measure him he's HEAPS bigger than the first at 61cm's. : ) What a monster... Another one goes back but at least now I only have 4cm's to go until I catch a legal one this spring.

Saturday morning was a bit windy and overcast but nothing too extreme. But where were the tailor? Not a nibble. Ok, let's try for kings...Zip. Funny how only a few days apart can be so different. I switched to a Mirashad minnow HB as the guys from the other day had been getting into the trevors. The first fish is a cracker that was 47cm's long and screamed off at the start. The next two were a bit smaller at 38 and 39 cm's but they went almost as hard. I stuck with the HB's today but another great method for targetting these guys is to drift over the sand and flick and twitch SP's such as a 3" bass minnow in watermelon colour rigged on a 1/16th oz jighead. They'll hit them nice and hard but just remember to go fairly gentle on them as their mouths are quite soft. Bream are also a very real prospect using this technique, too.

I hope this weather improves soon so I can get out and tangle with a few thumper bream as I reckon after these storms, the bream will go nuts. Happy yakkin', everyone.

cheers,
Cid