Yarra Bay & Molineux Point - 28/12/07

Well I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and are looking forward to a safe and prosperous new Year. I've been flat out lately so I'll keep this report short and sweet and let the photos do the talking.

Last week I continued my assault on the HWO, but this time was accompanied by Terry who was keen to get a king or two after returning from a successful month bike racing in Europe. I was first to hook-up and guess what...? 63cm's! I reckon its' the same kingfish that's stalking me! Terry then landed a 55cm kingie and followed up with a 64cm bandit that looked big enough but just didn't make the grade.

My next trip there I got stuck into some nice tailor up to 45cm's but there were no kings about that day. I picked up a few cracker bream on the way back on Gulp 3" Minnows in Mouldy Cheese colour and I was surprised to see the colour difference in the two largest - one was the normal silvery colour caught around here but the other had a real golden tinge to him. I'd say he's come down from the upper reaches of the Georges or Cooks to get ready for the spawning season. You can see the big difference in the two fish in the photo and they were caught only about 10 meters apart from each other.

Terry had been out on the Bay yesterday and cleaned up on Aussie Salmon so we launched from La Perouse at 5am and ventured straight over to Yarra Bay where all the action had been. It was a picture perfect morning and there were hundreds of seagulls sitting around on the water waiting for things to fire up. Unfortunately, they didn't though! Not one bust up all day did we see and although we trolled nearly the whole 4 hours we were out, we didn't get one hit.

Molineux Point was jam packed so we ventured around a bit more to the port and decided to flick a few Mojo's at the Channel Markers. First marker and I skip the lure across the surface. Nothing. Ok, this time I'll let it sink. 2 meters or so down and the line goes tight so I lift the rod and YEEHAH, I'm on. I'm oh so close to the pole so I don't go hard and I slowly lead him out into the open water. When I feel I'm a safe distance out, I get stuck into him. ZZZzzzzzzzzz....oh Jasus, I hope he stops! He was heading straight back to the pole but I pulled him with up with about 5 meters spare (phew, that was close). He slugged it out down deep most of the time and when I got first colour I just knew I'd bagged my first legal for the summer.

67cm's on the tape (about bloody time, too) and as homage to the Kingfish God's, I set him free to fight another day. Terry and I had a couple of more hits at various markers but that one kingie was the only fish we saw this morning. At least I have that 63cm monkey off my back now. : )

Adam and I would like to thank all our regular visitors to the Kayak Fishing Sydney site for a very successful year. We have had visitors from over 30 countries in the last 12 months and we hope you'll continue to visit us over the next year as well. The DVD is in the editing stage and slowly but surely it's all coming together. Work has been a bit of a killer for me the last 6 months which has meant I haven't been able to dedicate as much time as I'd like to the DVD but we'll get there eventually. Thanks for your patience. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Botany Bay - 13/12/07

As many will know, the legal size for Kingfish was increased this year from 60cm's to 65cm's. This will mean a lot of fish will be going back into the drink that would have been going straight onto the barbie last year. And I know that I'm putting my fair share back because the only ones I've caught so far the last few trips have been just under.

Last thursday I had a late start and planned to fish the flats over near Towra for bream but the supposed 8-9 knot winds were more like 15-20! It was a grey day and I figured I'd give the HWO a whirl instead. There was already a boat anchored just off from it and they were casting a variety of baits and also slowly retrieving a gang-hook rigged garfish. I approached from the opposite side and proceeded to lob out my Mojo's. The tide was about an hour away from top so I felt the conditions were pretty good.


Ooh, what was that??? I had a hit but the hooks didn't stick. That put me back on my toes so to speak and the next cast there's a 'whack, whack' and the rod bends under the weight of a nice fish. The guys in the boat are watching as my line zips back and forth. It's obviously a kingie and we dance around each other for a few minutes until I lift him aboard. And hello, what's this? Hanging out of his mouth is a one meter trace with a swivel on the end so I unhook my lure and have a look down his throat. The fella is gut hooked so I just cut the line as far down as I can. Onto the tape and 'Aaaargh', he's 62cm's. For a previously hooked fish, he was in great condition and he powered off when I set him free. So if anyone was busted up last week that was using about a 25lb trace, don't worry, it wasn't a legal fish anyway. : )

Back to the HWO and I change to a Bass Assassin for something different. The guys in the boat haven't landed anything yet and they looked pretty cheesed off when my rod buckles over for the 2nd time. This guy takes a nice long run and I'm calling it for a 70cm specimen. When I finally bring him alongside, I'm shocked at his size (or lack of it) and he only stretches out to 63cm's. Man he went hard! He's in top condition too and another one (sheesh) is returned to the old briney.

The boat has had enough by now and they haul anchor and do the Russian Ballet. The wind is picking up a bit so I decide on 10 more casts and then I'll call it a day. On about cast number 6 there's a 'tug, tug, tug' as my lure nears the surface and then the smallest kingie I've ever seen almost leaps out of the water to get the SP. No real challenge here and as I lift him in I notice he has a mark on his side where he's been grabbed by something a bit bigger than him at some earlier stage. At least he managed to escape relatively unharmed and at 45cm's he's waaaaaay under legal. Maybe next year, buddy, maybe next year.

So not a bad couple of hours and I think the HWO is showing some sort of pattern to me. If it's dead calm without a breath of wind, I never seem to catch anything there but if it's blowing it's t!ts off with lots of surface chop, I normally pick up one or three. The overcast conditions and the tide phase would've helped also but I'll start to keep track of the wind conditions a little bit better from now on. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Georges River - 25/11/07 & 9/12/07

Kayak fishing has taken a backseat the last couple of weeks due to a few bream tournaments that have been and gone. The first was the squidgy Bream challenge where I joined up with Gary Brown as Team Pflueger. These team-event tournaments have a 5 bag limit of bream with a minimum 25cm fork length and you have 7 hours to catch your bag.

Gary and I hit a lot of our favourite spots and we caught a heap of bream, the only problem was that they were JUST short of the min length! It was sooooooo frustrating, catching a 26-27cm fish and tossing it back because it is 24.5 cm's fork length. We managed a bag of 3 fish that went 1.268kg's and we knew that it wouldn't be good enough. Out of 33 boats we came in at 17th. The best fish of the day went to Gary with his 35cm whiting, pictured above.

Of course, some teams hit pay-dirt big time and the winning bag weighed 4.88kg's. These were caught on the flats around Towra Point, working the edges of weedbeds with SP's as the tide dropped. But the fish of the day went to Chopper (g'day Bill!) with a monster that pulled the scales down to 1.618kg's. It was a horse and is easily the biggest bream I have ever seen in the flesh!

To ease the pain, I had a quick flick mid-week down at Oyster Bay and figured it was about time I carried out the Banana Theory test number 3. No 1.5kg bream came over the side but I did get a few with a nice couple of flatties as well that went very well on the BBQ later that night. All fish were caught on SP's. Funnily enough, I haven't hooked up on a HB the last two times I've been out. Strange that, as the flathead normally pounce all over them.

Last weekend there was the Berkley Summer Series first round which was held on the Georges River as well. This time I was with Steve Sommerville and we were team MOJOMAN! This time we got off to a better start and by 10:30am we had three ok'ish fish in the live-well. Little did we know it but we could've packed up then and there. I'd say we landed a dozen bream that were 24cm fork length. Deja Vu, or what? Plus we must've landed about 20 flatties each, ranging from 15cm's to a nice one that Steve pinned that went 50cm's.

We each had our share of hard luck stories and I was absolutely smoked by a big bream amongst some jetty pylons. He picked up the Gulp camo sandworm ever so gently but when I set the hook he ripped line off the reel and wrapped me around the nearest pylon before I could lock the reel up. Ooh, he would've been a nice kicker for the bag. Our three fish weighed 1.3kg's and out of 33 boats we came....17th! If nothing else, we're consistent. : ) The winning bag this time was 4.67kg's which came from the groynes over near Kurnell, I hear.

It's all good fun though and as long as you're having a good time, it doesn't really matter where you come on the leader board, although the $1,920 for first place does sound kinda sweet. There's a few more to go yet, so we still stand a chance of getting on the podium, I guess. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid