Botany & Oyster Bay - 11/6/07

Well, what a wild and woolly week that was! If you managed to find a break in the weather to get out, then well done. I managed to get out twice but both times were quick trips. That was enough to give me my 'fix' though, so I'm right for another couple of days.

So it's well and truly winter and the kingie season I guess is officially over now, but I still wanted to land one in June. So last Thursday (7/6/07) I made my way to the Hot Water outlet (again). 15 knot winds and a few spots of rain didn't deter me and I proceeded to cast with a few surface poppers hoping a few tailor would be scouting about in the pre-dawn gloom. But no, nothing smashed the lure off the surface in a spray of salty water, so I switched to the Mojo Twitchin' minnow stickbait that's worked for me in the past.

The wind was gradually picking up and casting into the breeze was starting to seem fairly futile. And now the rain really started to come down. 'Ok, 3 more casts and that's it,' I thought. Half way back on the second cast I see a flash of silver, the line tightens, I strike! And I'm on. Ooh, and this doesn't feel like a tailor either. A few solid runs down deep and I call it for a kingie but I can tell it's not a big one. I quickly get him to the side of the yak and lift him out for a few snapshots. Only 47cm's but I've achieved my goal of a kingfish in June! With a 'See you next year!' I sent him back into the deep.

I quickly head back for a few more casts when all of a sudden I hear a rumble and then 'CRACK'...Lightning. Ok, that's it for me, I'm outta here! I just load up the car and jump in when it buckets down, so I planned my escape to perfection.

The next few days I considered building an ark but by Sunday the rain had eased off. I knew the waters would be a nice coffee-colour on Monday but in the afternoon I flicked a few plastics around Oyster Bay. I headed to the mouth of the bay figuring there'd be more chances of fish near the main river. To say it was quiet would be an understatement but I still managed to get a few fish.

The first one I picked up was a nice 53cm flathead that was nestled on a sandy patch amongst a rocky shoreline. He pounced on my 3" Gulp minnow in Lime/Tiger and twice I thought he'd run me around some rocks but sometimes you get lucky and he was a welcome addition to the yak.

The next couple of hours saw me land a few bream to 29cm's but as I said, the fishing was definitely slower than what I am used to in this neck of the
woods. At least the systems around Sydney will have gotten a good flush out and I reckon the fishing will be great once it all settles down. Snapper should be great around any of the headlands, just make sure it's safe before you head out to get them. Happy yakkin', everyone.

cheers,
Cid