Multiple reports this week so let’s get straight into them:

Cooks River – 27/9/08
Terry and I launched at 5am although due to a mix up in communication, we were at different ramps! Deciding to meet in the middle, we fished our way towards each other. By the time we met, I had one bream and one flathead while Terry had one bream and had been royally smoked by another that did him over on the oyster-encrusted rocks.

Drifting along and chatting, there was a lone branch sticking out of the water. I flicked my SP and Terry flicked his Pygmy II HB. I snag up and Terry hooks up! And this thing took off like a banshee. It ran straight under my yak so I quickly pushed the mirage drive fins up against the hull. Some swift rod work by Terry sees him work the fish clear and he lands a ripper bream that goes 42cm’s total length.

A few minutes later, Terry lands a 50cm Flattie while all I can get is a Trevally. Pffft, show-off…

Georges River – 4/10/08
The water temp was over 20 degrees but the fish are still not playing fairly. We worked some weedbeds with blades and landed a mixed bag of whiting, flatties and bream but none of them were monsters. I let a banana tag along to give the theory another chance to trip me up (or tip me over, I suppose) but I still managed to catch a few.

WSBB Devlins Bass Comp – 5/10/08
One of the regular social days was held by WSBB (http://www.wsbb.com.au/smf/index.php?topic=2263.0 for the full report) and although I didn’t attend, Terry did and managed to take out top spot for the day with a few nice bass. I’ll let him tell the story so here is his report:

A very calm morning with no wind & thunder in the back ground made it very promising to catch a Bass or two. We left from the ramp at 6 am to our hot spots Half an hour into fishing & I scored, on the board. Yeeha! 200mm got a few at that size which I was hoping for a bigger model. By 9am I finally got a 265mm; it was tough going to get a descent fish. But just as it was nearly time to head back, caught some quality fish taken on SP'S which things looked promising for the win. It was a awesome day & plenty of action.

That's Terry for you, good on the bream and good on the bass. Like I said, show off! ; ) Well done, buddy. Happy yakkin, everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Botany Bay - 13/09/08

Ok, it's spring, the weather is getting warmer and we arrived right at the crack of dawn...so where are the tailor and kingies??? Terry and I were positive there'd be a few about but nary a nibble could we get on our various soft plastics and metal spinners. However, we did notice a few schools of 2" long baitfish that shadowed our yaks, which is definitely a promising sign. Another few weeks and the singing of reels should be sweet music to our ears.

To ensure we didn't go home empty handed, we started to target various marker bouys and channel markers with 3" minnows and 6" sandworms. I was first on the board with a 30cm trevally and a few minutes later, dropped a slightly bigger one right next
to the yak. Aarrggh! Terry then called out he was on and landed the first bream for the day.

We continued out to the Sticks and by now the wind had dropped off completely and it was a magical day to be out on the water, too. A few more bream and couple of small squire came over the side of the hobies before I landed my best treva for the day - a 36cm specimen that had a later appointment with my BBQ.

The water temp was about 16 degrees which is up a couple from a few weeks ago. Thankfully the legs don't have to freeze off while launching anymore. This weekend I'm tempted to give the bass a go but it might need a couple more weeks before they to start to really come on the chew. I'll decide on friday where to go, based on the weather this week, I suppose. Either way, whether salt or fresh, it'll be good to be out. Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,
Cid

Botany Bay - August

No fishing for me this week due to the crapola weather that saturday turned on but I managed to catch up with Pete Smith from the Compleat Angler store in the Dymocks Building in the city (http://www.compleatangler.com.au) who was the lucky bugga that landed that corker of a tailor that I reported on last week. Excuse the quality of the snap, but it's a photo of a photo, as Pete didn't have a digital copy.

The short story is that Pete was chasing bream in Botany Bay (at a secret spot, as for some reason he wouldn't tell me where!) from his canoe and was using one of the new Koolabung X-ray blade lures (pink and white). He felt a bump on one cast and momentarily hooked up before dropping the fish. Thinking it was a bream, he fired off back to the same spot and whamo!, hooked up solid.

Luckily for Pete, he'd hooked the fish right at the front of the mouth and the line was safely out of the way of those considerable chompers. The brute went 64cm's fork length and the total length was 74cm's (I think, sorry if i'm wrong Pete). This is easily the biggest tailor that I've personally seen come out of Botany Bay and the fact that it was landed on bream gear is a fine testament to Pete's angling skills. To get the full account, drop in and quiz Pete and maybe you'll be able to get the exact location out of him. : )

I think I may just have to head out on the weekend and see if I can get one myself. Happy yakkin', everyone.

cheers,

Cid

Botany Bay - 30/8/08

Well Hallelujah! After bad weather, holidays, work and 'it's too damn cold to go fishing' sleep ins, I managed to get out on the blue wobbly stuff. As I dragged the Hobie down the beach off Foreshore rd, I noticed that the distinct nip in the air that had been lurking around for far-to-long now, was conspicuous by it's absence. Let's hope that the worst has left us until next year and we can get back to some summer sessions accompanied by lots of fish.

I was after a feed and hoped that the flats would hold a few flatties that, hopefully, would lurk about in the shallows trying to soak up some of the warmth from the sun. I made my way out along the 3rd runway, casting towards the runway from the marker bouys and I had rigged up a 3" Gulp minnow in pumpkinseed on a

1/16th jig head. The first fish for the day was a small wrasse which received a nice hello before be set free.

A few casts later however, I felt a distinct thump and knew that I had one for the BBQ. A nice run followed by a couple of head shakes that settled down quickly and my best flathead for quite a while slid into the net. 55cm's long and it's right on the limit for what I'll keep.

With the monkey off my back, I kept casting and dropped a fish only 20 meters fruther along. The next 10 minutes passed with nary a touch until again there was a quick chomp and number two at 45cm's joined his mate in the livewell. That was enough for me for dinner so I moved about and had a few throws at the marker poles in the hopes of an early kingie but it looks like I'll have to wait a little longer.

I kept my eyes open for any surface activity but there wasn't a seagull in sight, let alone any bust-ups. The tailor have been pretty scarce for me this winter but I spoke to fellow angler last week that landed a 75cm tailor over near Kurnell. What a monster! He's promised to get me the photo, so if I get it, I'll put it up next week.

Oh, and Happy Bass Day for yesterday, too. I'm hoping the bass season will be a ripper and I look forward to getting out and flicking a few surface lures up under cover, waiting for that adrenaline-enducing water explosion when your lure is engulfed by that bronzed Aussie icon. Ooh, I can't wait. Happy yakkin', everyone.

cheers,

Cid

Botany Bay - 20/7/08

Work is still the bane of my existence but at least it keeps the wolves from my door. It was a week and a half ago that Terry and I ventured out of the Cooks River and over towards the runway as during the week he'd bagged a half a dozen salmon on SP's over the flats. Showing the stability of the Hobie Outback, Terry stood to cast a popper at a few surface boils not far away, but to be honest, I think he was trying to temp the Qantas jet. Thank God he didn't hook up! : )

Unfortunately, the boils only proved to be small chopper tailor that were no bigger than 25cm's. There were no signs of any salmon on the surface and our submerged SP's couldn't raise a scale either. We started to target the marker bouys and eventually picked up a few legal bream but nothing to write home about. I hooked what felt like a nice trevally (thump, thump, thump coming back up the line) but I pulled the hooks on it 30 seconds into the fight. A minute later, Terry lands one but he's in a generous mood and sets it free to grow a little more.

Heading back I switch to a TT Switchblade and start working the flats, hoping for a flathead. No flatties but I did manage to rack up another species on the blade, this time a Flounder that came home with me and tasted magnificent once filleted and dipped in a beer batter and served up with fresh lime wedges, Maldon Sea salt and cracked black pepper. Mmmm Mmmm...

The weather is looking a bit dicey this weekend but if there's a chance, I'll give it a go somewhere. I just hope it warms up a little...

cheers,

Cid

Cooks River - 6/7/08 & Botany Bay - 13/7/08

A short and sweet report as work is keeping me too busy! Boooo Hisssss!!! Another attempt at jewies in the Cooks and apart from a HUGE hit that was over as soon as it started, there was no jewfish coming up to say hello to us. I'll get one one day.

Back to the TT Switchblades and the bream start to come in fairly consistently. Terry calls out and I turn to see he is being towed upstream, so I head over to take some photos. It's a beauty, too and goes 39cm's total length (37cm's fork). She's a real porker and we set her free to go eat a few more mouthfuls for breakfast.

I lose a cracker that must have been lip hooked and then Terry drops another horse that is also taking him for a tow. All up we landed about 15 bream and I finish off the day with a very nice trevally that also hit the gold Switchblade. As I head back to shore, Terry heds outside the mouth of the Cooks and proceeds to land 8 salmon that are working over the flats. No bust ups on the surface, they're just scoffing down his 3" bass minnow in pearl watermelon colour that's rigged on a resin jighead. A couple of trevally finish off the day for him and all up it's been a great session.

Last sunday I had an hour and fifteen minutes to kill (ha!) and after talking to Terry who'd bagged out on salmon and trevally over near Foreshore rd yesterday, I launched from Kurnell at 6:30am for a commando assault on the resident fish. First off, poppers at the HWO, hoping for tailor. Nuthin'. I change to Mojo Twitchin' Minnow's and hope for a winter kingie. Zip. Over to the bouys around the fish cages and I let a few various SP's sink next to them hoping for bream. Zero result, so I head out to the Sticks, trolling a deep diving HB, which doesn't even get a nudge.

More SP's flicked about, followed by switchblades and then back to different SP's. And still, I come up with a big fat donut. I head back to shore dragging another HB and as I land I realise it's the first time EVER that I've been out on the yak and haven't even had a bite. Now, there's been times I haven't landed a fish during a session but to go out (albeit a short time) and not get even a small bump was, I think, pretty unusual.

Fishing...just when you think you have it sussed out, it comes back and bites ya in the bum big time. And we wouldn't have it any other way, would we? Happy yakkin, everyone!

cheers,

Cid

Cooks River - 29/6/08

I had planned to go chasing Jewies on the weekend but I dragged my lazy bones out of bed too late, so instead I thought I'd bother the local bream population at one of my favourite breamin' grounds, the Cooks River.

First off I hit the freeway wall and picked up four average bream (biggest 29cm fork) using a TT Switchblade in gold, the same colour that did all the damage last weekend. When I reached the airport service bridge, I switched to SP's and rigged up with a 3" minnow in pumpkinseed. On the 2nd set of pylons, I flicked it right up into the shadows and after letting it sink to the bottom, I hopped it out with a few pauses between hops. I felt the line go tight, so I lifted the rod then BOOYAH!

At first I thought I'd hooked a jewie but I couldn't have been happier to be wrong. The fight was a little more sluggish than I'd expect but I figure the cold water has a lot to do with that. To make room for her in my live well, I had to put the 3 smallest bream back into the river!

At just over 41cm's fork length, it beat my previous PB by 2 cm's. Back on shore, I measured the girl alongside my next biggest bream and she makes him look like a tiddler! She would've been 3 inches thick at the shoulder and even though I didn't have my scales with me, I reckon she would've been close to 1.4-1.5 kg's. She was a thumper!

As I eased her back into the water, she was obviously none the worse for wear after her short stint in captivity and she sped off into the depths with a few quick tail beats, quickly followed by her smaller brother. So no jewfish to report but who cares when you can catch a bream like that? At a total length of 45cm's, I'm now only 5cm's away from my goal of a half meter bream. : )

So what to do this weekend? Try for some more winter bluenoses around the breakwalls, spin up a few greenback tailor in the Bay or get out of bed on time and try for the jewfish around the bridges? What a choice... Happy yakkin', everyone!

cheers,

Cid