Sydney Harbour, Pittwater, Northern Beaches and Offshore
Reports by Stefan Hansson, Narada Taranto & Darren Thomas
Fish Outta Water Fishing Tackle Store, Sydney

Fishing Report 11/12/2007

Not only is the water hotting up with the summer months but the fishing has begun to fire as well.

With the return of Squid in good numbers this week the Kingfish seem to be warming up and taking a liking to the light lines dangled by anglers across the Harbour.
Most of the reports filtering through are coming from the upper Harbour at areas around Clifton Gardens and Shark Island. Although the majority of fish are smaller there are some crackers amongst them with a few fish weighting
in at approximately 8-9kg. Squid are the preferred bait although the pickers seem to be destroying many of the live squid before they even get a chance to be snavelled by a king. Its frustrating fishing as it can take quite some time to get the bait tank filled with squid and with so many Jewfish around the temptation is to lay your bait close to the bottom to entice these
illusive fish into a run.
Des Toms of Hookem Cookem Charters has been successfully targeting these fish over recent weeks using a combination of Squid, Slimy Mackerel and
Yakkas. One such charter saw three of these fish landed in one short session and although they are not large fish they are fantastic sport and boast bragging rights amongst most Sydney fishos. The average size of these fish is between 70cm to the magic meter mark.
If you are really serious about these fish find turbulent water around structure and use large fresh baits fished close to the bottom. Sydney harbour has a host of shipwrecks that fish particularly well for Jewfish but
careful placement of the boat and bait is needed to make sure you're in the zone.

There are also plenty of other species around the harbour so don't despair if your after a feed of faithful old flathead or bream. The drift across Clontarf proved to be productive this week for flathead with over a dozen landed up to 67cm. Soft plastics accounted for the majority of the fish although if you prefer to soak a bait this will also produce plenty of fish. The added bonus with bait fishing is that there are a host of other species that will also climb on, including some lovely whiting and bream that also haunt the shallows and weed beds along these drifts.

North Harbour has been particularly productive with anglers chasing tailor and Flathead from between the moored boats and a few anglers have landed
nice Jewfish from some of the deeper holes between Reef beach and the Ocean world.

There are still Tailor thick through the harbour and they are easily caught using both bait and lure. Trolling around Shark and Clark Islands will produce lots. Diving minnows like Gold Bombers and Rapala CD 7 lures in
Quanta's and Silver Mackerel are consistently good lures but most small lures with a tight action will do well.

Long Reef anglers are still reporting some good snapper on soft plastics with the average fish weighing in at 2.5kg and some exceptional species around 6kg.
Huge schools of sweep are also around and although they are a pest for bait anglers some nice Kingfish have been pulled from the midst of the schools.
I managed to land a few Samson fish and Amberjacks at the same locations while chasing reds while Kaj Scholte pulled some big Trevally from the shallow reefs on 5 inch Berkely gulp's.

Beach fisherman braving the cold and windy conditions have been rewarded with plenty of Tailor and a few Aus Salmon thrown into the mix and although there has been few reports of Jewfish taken from the beaches with the recent rain Narrabeen and around the lakes entrance seems a good place to try.

Keep on fishing brave the weather and I have no Doubt you will be rewarded.

Narada Taranto
And the team
Fish Outta Water

Fishing Report 14/08/07

With the water at it's clearest and coldest this week catching fish has been
harder than usual but some good catches have still been recorded.
Offshore fisho Scott Hopewell trolled up a 60kg yellowfin just inside Browns
Mountain using 24kg line and an 8 inch McGoo pusher. Mick Lyons fished
overnight chasing broadbill east of the shelf, no broadies were hooked but
two 15kg yellowfin were boated and a Mako shark was dropped boat side.

Longy and the surrounding reefs are still holding Trevally and snapper with
thick berley trails required to entice fish.
Sydney harbour water temp is averaging 15 degrees reports Hookem's Des
Toms.
Salmon are deep at north head but the two clear water and moon phase are
effecting there bite. The odd Trevally are scattered throughout and are
normally thicker for this time year.
Clifton Gardens has the pick of bait spots at the moment holding slimies
around the marker buoys.
Come down to Fish Outta Water this Thursday night and Hone your technical
skills at our fish 'n' tips talk from 6pm. This weeks guest speaker is
Fishabout tours Stuart Reid renowned harbour charter fisho.

Rock and Beach guide Alex Bellissimo fished Narra beach with clients Mark
and George for a catch of salmon to 2kg spinning metal slugs beyond the
wash.
FOW customer Milan swapped the boat for the rocks this week and for his
first trip on the rocks Alex put him onto a 6kg Silver Drummer on 15lb gear,
cunjevoi was the bait and North Curl Curl was the venue.

Darren Thomas
Fish Outta Water

Winter Madness 08 07 08

The water temps have continued to drop this past week with temps now at 15
degrees. In addition the water clarity is quite amazing with at least 15m
visibility. Des Toms of Hookem Cookem Charters reports it is the clearest he has seen
the Harbour for many years and with mixed emotions as the clear water can
make the fishing a little tricky as the fish become easily spooked.

Anglers have been reporting fantastic catches of many winter species
including one of the best runs of Sydney Snapper I have seen in many years.

Anglers fishing from the rocky headlands from North Head to Barrenjoey
should find an abundance of Trevally, Bream Rock Blackfish and Luderick
available from both the washes and clear water, particularly in the lower
light conditions of late afternoon and early morning. A constant stream of
bread burley or mixed sand burley will greatly enhance your chances of
catching a good feed of fish. In addition it is advised to have a variety of
natural baits on hand as you will find some bait will produce better results
on different days and different tides. Remember variety is the spice of
life.
For the lure brigade there is an abundance of Australian salmon on hand and
some fantastic tailor to around 3kg available. These fish have mostly
fallen foul to small chrome lures like the Raiders and Snipers from 15gm's
to 60gm's spun through the washes and white water. Allow these lures to sink
for 2 to 6 seconds before winding them back in at warp speed. I have not
yet seen an angler wind too fast for a tailor or salmon so don't be shy of a
fast retrieve.
Salmon are also popping up on the Beaches along with some smaller Tailor
around the 1 to 2Kg mark. Pilchards on a size 3/0 gang hook are an ideal way
to fish for these two species although you may miss some of the smaller
species like bream and whiting. If its whiting and the like you are after I
recommend worms as bait and smaller long shank hooks.
If you really want to learn a thing or two about rock and beach fishing Fish
Outta Water are holding a talk this week by local angling ledged Alex
Bellissimo on Thursday night. All are welcome so come along and hone your
skills with the best in the business.

Boat fishos are also enjoying lots of success both in shore and off shore.
Sydney harbour is currently full of slimy mackerel and of course there are
still some eager King Fish keen to get an easy meal. Since the ban on
commercial fishing in Sydney harbour it seems that many summer species like
the king fish are staying around much longer although perhaps it's just that
there are actually still some left. One of our regular customers caught in
excess of seven this past Friday and although they were not huge 65cm to
85cm they are still great sport on inshore tackle.
Some quality Mulloway have also been taken in both North Harbour and Middle
Harbour by some very skilled or lucky anglers this past week.
If you prepared to sit and burley for an hour or so you should be rewarded
with plenty or Trevally and bream as they charge through the burley trail.
Keep your tackle light for this style of fishing with small 0 and number 2
size sinkers fished directly on top of the bait. The idea is to gently
drift your bait back in the burley trail until you feel the bites then pop
the reel into gear and gently load the rod. This will also see you land
some great snapper as they will generally hang in the same burley trail as
the Trevally only a little deeper in the water. This worked extremely well
for us fishing for Reds at both Long Reef and West reef during the week.
Reports have also filtered in of some fantastic snapper to 53cm caught
around Long Reef and East Reef on soft plastics. Be prepared to spend some
time finding them though as this form of fishing takes some expertise. The
key seems to be finding water of depth between 8m to 20m with a gravel or
rocky bottom.

The jigging brigade are as always landing great kings with a few of the
better models pulling the scales at 15kg although those smaller fish that
usually inhabit the harbour are out wide now on the reefs and eager to eat
gigs of any size.
Blues, pinks and silver Jigs are producing well at the minute in weights
between 200gm to 300gm. Vary your retrieve speeds and jig rates until you
find one that works then stick with it.
Good reports have come in from both the 12 Mile and the Peak although Long
Reef and the Colours have also produced some nice fish.

Whatever your favourite fishing, the best way to catch'em is to chase em' so
get out there and have a go.

Good Luck

Fish Outta Water
Narada Taranto &
All the team.

Fishing Report 03 07 08

Plenty of fish have been caught during the week past and the rougher
conditions previously endured are mostly responsible for this bite. Long
Reef trailer boat fisho's have been landing good snapper on most local close
in reefs, with some fish hauling the scales down to 6.2kg. A bit of current
and fishing unweighted down the trail has been very successful and in many
situations the fish have been left biting as bag limits were reached.
Fish Outta Water is launching our 2007 Fish 'n' Tips Nights this Thursday
6pm with crowd favourite Des Toms doing a winter kingfish special on Sydney
Harbour locations and preferred methods, this will include new 2007 spots
and promises to be a red hot night so call the store on 9949 9488 for your
free booking. We're currently holding our Big Mid-Year Sale with many
bargains for every fisho. Don't hesitate the sale will only run for another
2 weeks.
The Peninsula's Beaches are firing at the moment with Narrabeen, Collaroy
and Queenscliff holding Tailor and Bream, Dee Why angler Dennis Bennett
caught good flatties to 40cm using pillies and a light rig during an evening
session off Collaroy.
Bait-fishing tactics have been tested recently but some very hungry squid
down Manly way aren't to choosey and are keen on small jigs of various
colours. A 2 hour pre work morning session had 7 medium squid in my bag,
here's hoping a big jewey likes them as much as I do.
Darren Thomas

Fishing Report 25/6/07
Quite ferocious conditions kept fishing to a minimum during the week, yet those willing to brave the weather caught some good fish at their locations. The harbour isn’t so chocolaty brown anymore and seems to be fishing reasonably, Pete Roberts fished up the Spit way to land bream, trevally and a big flathead, Pete berleyed hard and used squid and prawns to catch a feed.

One customer fished off Little Manly Point hooking plenty of cowanyoung and a couple of keeper reds along with two nice flounder. The stones copped a good belting and stirred up a few species for rock fisho’s, Alex Bellissimo used the long cash to land snapper to 1.8kg on pilchard baits fishing at Avalon. Warringah anglers held a rock and beach comp on the weekend which was won by Dave Penmad with a catch of drummer, trevally and groper. A few trevally and bream off Palm Beach Wharf using pilly fillets in freezing conditions.

Report: 28/05/07

With the seas flattening out somewhat this week, it certainly seems to have
most fish adjusting to the changing conditions and not so eager for a chew,
never the less there's still good angling to be had peninsular wide.
Schooling salmon are just offshore a couple of km's in footy field size
schools and will edge closer in the coming weeks; kingfish are still taking
baits on offer, Nathan Cefai jigged at the peak and landed fish up to 8kg.
Long Reef has trevally, morwong and snapper (plate size) taking baits worked
down the trail but be prepared to spot hop till you locate some active
baitfish.
The stones have quietened down as expected when the wash decreases but a bit
of a berley trail will kick things on. Alex Bellissimo reports Groper to 8kg
caught by Al Jamal and Co. using Red Crabs while Spiro Arkoudis landed
drummer up to 10lbs using peeled prawns. Fishing the wash with plenty of
bread berley. Further north Bluefish pt produced 4 bream to 800gms and
groper to 2kg for angler Binni Lee.
Sydney Harbour remains consistent with snapper, kingfish, and bonito
throughout middle harbour and some good large squid are obtainable at most
local spots. Hookems Des has surface temps fluctuating between 18.5 - 19.7'
Celsius.
Pittwater Pete reports kingfish taking various baits, throughout the system,
squid and yakkas' aren't playing hard to get for a change and are the
prolific baits to target these bigger fish. Good flatties are holding on the
mackerel beach flats, try Careel Bay and Stokes Pt for bream on pillies.

Darren Thomas


FISHING REPORT. 22/05/07
Seasonal changes currently in motion have plenty of fish on the chew & flat
seas during the week allowed many an angler access to their favourite spot.
The Stones are holding good fish but not on every ledge, so look around. DY
rocks came good for a feed of reds on sat arvo, fishing wide with strip
squid on the bottom caught some good platys. Curly rocks has Samson fish to
2.5kgs while Alex Bellissimo reports of 1 trip fishing with a customer
which resulted in 27 landed bream & 2 solid drummer . King Dave Penman had a
good session rock fishing catching 20 trevally & 6 reds to 1.2kgs, Palmy
rocks is holding some big squid with early evening the best time.
Sydney harbour has a few jews on the hunt around forty baskets with two fish
weighing 5kg a piece being landed by Milan using strip fillets.

Des Toms from Hookem Cookem Charters reports water temps at 20.5 degrees on
average for the past week and has seen some nice fish landed on board his
charters. Big Tailor, Travelly and that very tasty fish the John Dory have
found their way on to his customer's lines. Des recommends trying Old Mans
Hat, Middle Harbour and Quarantine for your best chances of a feed.

Offshore Deb West fished on board Runner reef charters with the Japanese
jigging team this Sunday for a healthy feed of Yellowtail Kingfish.
Deb reports that the morning was quiet although there appeared to be plenty
of fish on the sounder. Fortunately the skipper (Jim) had a few tricks up
his sleeves and found where the fish were feeding. Although small the action
was fast and furious with triple hookups common. Over twenty fish were
boated although only enough to feed the immediate needs of the jiggers were
taken.

The best jigs were River To Sea knife Jigs, Zest Knife Jigs and Daiwa
Sacrifice sticks.
Although when King Fish want a feed there is little they won't eat.

Pittwater Pete reports Kings still on the chew and getting bigger. Squid are
still a top bait and are also easier to get at the moment. Salmon are
schooling up and have moved into Pittwater but Pete reports that they are
hard to locate at the moment so make sure that you have a 14gm slice rigged
and ready or you may miss your chance for a shot at the school.
When even the birds are struggling to keep an eye on the schools you know
they are very spooky

Darren Thomas
Fish Outta water.

FISHING REPORT
15/05/07

It's been a while since I have been able to arrive at my local bait grounds
and have found that it has been overloaded with all manner of bait.
Palm Beach wharf was firing on Monday night. At first glance there were
approximately 20 squid of various sizes although not all of them were
interested in the jigs I offered. Plenty of Bait can be found at most spots
and is easy to catch with the right bait and tackle.
According to Harbour and Pittwater anglers this fresh bait has been
producing good catches of the right fish with plenty of anglers turning
there bait into a feed of quality table tucker.

That ugly fish the John Dory have moved into the harbour over the past week
with some fantastic fish landed on live bait. One of our local customers
walked into the shop with a big smile and 2kg's of cleaned John Dory on
Monday. Thant's a good dory in anyone's language.
Hookem Cookem's Des Toms reports some big King Fish on the prowl around
Bradley's Head with the majority of them being taken on Live Yakkas.
Some unsuspecting anglers have found them selves rushing to get more drag as
they hooked large fish around Shark Island where the old poles were.

Big Tailor are also on the cruise and can be caught both on bait and lure.
Bonito, Watson's leaping Bonito and smaller Kings (Hiromassa) have been
taken west of the Spit Bridge in the slightly warmer waters.

Offshore the Jigging Brigade have been catching smaller kings at the Peak
the Colours and some of the small offshore reefs although the Leather
Jackets are causing some problems at the 12 mile with many a jig lost. If
you like Leather Jackets please take some, just head to the 12 Mile and fill
the esky. I would hate to be another fish down there as they seem to eat
everything alive or dead.

The closer reefs are producing some nice table sized snapper to the 4kg mark
with nice mowies and flathead thrown in.

Off the stones has been a little quiet although the usual suspects such as
Tailor and Aust Salmon have been around in small numbers. A few keen pig
fishermen (Drummer) have reported some nice fish taken on that smelly bait
Ab Gut although they have had to work for their rewards.
Larger squid have also been available from the stones so if it's calamari
you want head to the local rock platforms and flick a squid jig out. For
best results try The pheromone Jigs or the Yammashita Jigs in Brown
Pilchards and Pink Try the sizes of 1.8g 2.0g and the 2.5g smaller jigs are
producing the results at the moment.

Happy fishing

Darren Tomas & the team at
Fish Outta Water

FISHING REPORT 08 05 07
Finally a cracker of a weekend ,no wind, no rain & super glass conditions
allowing plenty of fishos comfortable terms to access their favourite
spots. The harbour provided the most reported success with anglers still
hooking kingfish, Peter Roberts fished west of the spit in 22 meters of
water & landed 5 kings, 2 of which were via a deepwater offshore method in
jigging. Although not reknowned in such shallow water it certainly has an
aggressive effect on these pelagics proving too irresistible. Plenty of
yakkas & squid are available at the usual haunts so most baitfishing
sessions have been short & sweet. Balmoral has tailor & trevally taking
pilchard baits & metal slugs while over at Manly some rogue kings in the
6-8kg range are getting around & are noticeably attracted by lures retrieved
at fast speeds.
With the swell down a bit the beaches are holding whiting & the occasional
flathead, Manly, Dee Why & Narrabeen are popular venues with beach & tube
worms working a treat. Once again if you choose to fish after dark expect
the odd noah to find your bait particularly in these calmer conditions. Al
Bellissimo & Rob Marich caught 18 whiting during one beach session, while
off the stones Jacob Rowles landed 9 pigs & a good bream fishing the
berleyed wash at Long Reef. Al spun up some rat kings off Curl Curl using
ganged garfish & Claudio Toya fished Narrabeen hooking some good
trevally.
Northward bound Pittwater has quietened down somewhat but blue swimmer
crabs are still on the menu & quite reasonable sizes are being caught on
the flats. With water temps on the decline & currently at 20-21.4 celcius it
wont be long before the trevs invade the system.

Darren Thomas.

Fishing Report 30/4/07
An absolute cracker of a wet week just rolled through turning our blue water
bays a nice chocolaty colour and in turn every stormwater outlet would've
been worth a cast as some anglers found. West of the Spit Bridge one angler
landed 9 bream to 1.2kgs on soft plastics and 3 flathead to 3.4kgs,
bloodworm was the most popular colour in squidgies and powerbaits. Pickering
Point and Tunks Park still have kingfish and bonito smashing baitfish early
mornings, just spot the working birds or surface action.
Plenty of weed has invaded most beaches and with the strong wind and tides
fishing the sand wasn't easy, more sharks are lurking at night mostly
whalers on Dee Why, Narrabeen and Mona .
Vale beaches with some good Tailor here and there on pillies and gangs, a
good cast behind the suds puts you in the zone.
At the turn of the runout tide Narrabeen lake has whiting on beach worms and
as the flow speeds up heavier lead will be required.
Rob Marich fished with Alex once the swell subsided catching kingfish,
bonito, salmon and snapper in the wash at Dee Why.
Further North Pittwater Peter reports frigates scattered throughout the
system busting up patches of micro tucker, west head and the joey has the
odd king while
unweighted baits cast around the Marinas are proving too big a temptation
on the resident bream.

Darren Thomas

Fishing Report 23/4/07
Some pretty severe storms during the week seemed to have stirred up some fish and the changing water clarity encourages predatory species to hunt. Our harbour and beaches are providing plenty of action if you don’t mind a bit of rain, Fishabout Tours operator Stuart Reid reports captures of Kings, Salmon, Tailor, Bonito, Blackfish and even a Cobia to his clients this week all from Sydney Harbour. Hookems Des Toms tells me Harbour Temp is at 21.4’ celius and cooling slowly making Yakkas easy to get and quite small in size similar to a CD-7. Trevally have moved into the Harbour and have been caught at the Wedding Cake and Nilssen Park on unweighted baits in the trail.

To the stones and fishing guro Alex Bellissimo put Peter Kyvetos into some 8kg Hoodlum Kingfish and landed Pete his first Groper of 6kg.

The beaches are producing some good Whiting & Beach Worms are bait of choice try Manly Dee Why and Bungan. Charlie Male landed a small Cobia while chasing Mulloway off the Beach although he was near the rocks, no Jewfish were caught but plenty of Sharks landed.

Pittwater Pete is still getting Kings and says to try West Head with Livies for these fish and expect some Bonito to pop up as visitations are common.

Darren Thomas

FISHING REPORT 9/4/07

Wildly uncomfortable conditions greeted competitors fishing the ‘Sydney Game Easter Classic’ over the weekend. Fishouttawater staff members Andrew Thorpe & Nathan Cefai fished aboard “wildwing” skippered by Richard Timbs in the comp, Thorpey tagged a black marlin while young Nathan landed & released a small yellowfin. These 2 fish were enough to win ‘champion boat’ in the tag & release category, fishing aboard the smallest boat in the fleet in Richard’s 23 footer. Andrew’s report stated conditions as fresh to frightening,at one stage the guys took a big wave over the back kicking all 3 bilge pumps into gear.The decision to whip back to Sydney past broken bay safe waters was a very wise one earning the Champion boat tag & release trophy & a few grands worth of prizes.Champion boat capture went to tantrum who weighed in a 264kg blue marlin.Andrew parks is fishing the wave rider off manly & informs me of plenty of small dollies on the chew & schools of striped tuna 4-7kms out working smaller baitfish.Sydney harbour wasn’t to busy over the long weekend & plenty of kingies are still being encountered preferring live yakkas & squid at all local haunts.The spit bridge has been holding good squid & is worth a shot with ya jigs around the moorings & pylons.

Befor the blow the stones fished hard with one angler landing a 9kg long tail tuna while live baiting.Alex Bellissimo put clients al & mohommad into the bream catching 8 fish to 800grams,during a late session al’s recommendation of a sweep for live bait did the trick catching Edward Harrison a 5kg jewey on Narrabeen beach.Charlie male hooked some big sharks,while soaking jew intended slab baits at Newport beach.I have been informed that today manly boat ramp is back in action so small boat fishos wont have to head west to launch avoiding the “rosey ramp rage” caused by so many bodies forced to use the only boat ramp operable on the northern beaches to access the harbour.Relax and enjoy,after all it is the holidays.

Darren Thomas
Fish Outta Water.

FISHING REPORT 19/03/07

Sydney’s offshore fishing kicked it up a notch on the weekend with plenty of reports from big dollies to Wahoo, Beakies & even Tiger Sharks. Broken Bay Game Fishing Club held a tournament during the 2 days; the continental shelf had some good action with Dolphin Fish to 10kg landed & multiple Marlin hookups & plenty of raised fish. “City Slicker” fished wide for the above action with Blue Marlin & Tiger Sharks captures also filtering in. The 60-70 fathom line has striped tuna working baitfish off Warriewood, still no resident dollies holding on the fads just the odd bigger fish taking lures intended for larger prey.

The Peninsula’s beaches got a decent stirring with Warra Beach holding some massive Whiting to 850gm; Nathan Cruckshawk landed 9 fish in the 30-43cm bracket using beach worms under Alex Bellissimo’s tuition. While Vinny and Lou hooked Salmon to 2kg and reported Flathead to 45cm.There seems to be whiting on most of the beaches as we speak.

Sydney Harbour’s Kingfish population continue to harass boat and land based Fishos alike, it seems to be a waiting game, you can cast chase them from spot to spot or wait for their arrival as they aren’t holding in any particular location.

The dosimeter has Roseville water temp at 23.8’ Celsius. Des says Clifton is the spot for big Bonnies, while Balmoral is Salmon territory. Further north of the Spit Bridge and North Harbour have Kings taking more Strip Squid baits and CD7 sized Yakkas.

West of the Spit Deb fished on her day off for three legal keeper Kings and another School Jewie for the icebox.

Easters here and its Sale time at Fish Outta Water stores. Specials on everything from rods, reels, lures and line. Our City stores in George St & Manly Vale Superstore are open 7 days over Easter

Pittwater Surface Temp is 2 degrees warmer than the Harbour with Pete Lablang recording some 27+ degrees at Bayview Marina with most of the action around the Careel Bay, Stokes Point location including Kingies, Tailor, Bream and Leather Jackets. Birds working near the basin and behind Scotland Island. Palm Beach and West Head have ripper bait holding with Yakkas and good sized Squid being very obtainable and squid drifted close to the bottom are near certain Jew baits.

Darren Thomas

Fishing Report Feb 26

The combination of large seas & excessive high winds created hard fishing conditions during the week but still plenty of fish were caught particularly in & around Sydney Harbour.

Hookems Des Toms has water temps from 22.3 c to 25.6 degrees & reports dirty water throughout. This isn’t always a bad thing with Des recommending to fish in the murky water cause that’s where the action is. Squid are proving quite tricky & yakkas at times are scarce. There’s still surface action all over with Clifton, Rose bay & Middle harbour holding salmon, frigates, tailor & bonito, with the kings sighted under the tailor school. Small metals are working on the tunas, & squid is the kings preferred choice of bait. Deb West landed 7 more kings over the weekend & her tally since Christmas is upwards of 90 fish, bonnies are keen for a lure or two with Dennis & Mat Rice trolling up some good fish around Nth Head in sloppy water.

The big swell fired up the beaches with Collaroy holding good bream & Dee Why engaging in salmon & tailor, both beaches are shark hangouts after dark with Dee Why wearing a closure recently due to a shark alert. Narrabeen lagoon has many a prawn skipping about & on the run out tides fishing the mouth has whiting & bream lying in wait for these small crustaceans.

Rock fishing was quiet due to big seas & winds but beforehand Alex Bellissimo managed 9 platey snapper to 1.2kgs fishing the wash using slimey fillets. Pittwater has similar minimal visibility but squidding remains consistent & kingfish are regularly on the chew with some salmon & tailor schools around The Basin. The bonnies are proving sporadic in their pursuit of the micro tucker they hunt, most fish caught are between 2& 3kgs with 7-14gram metal slugs being most anglers choice of hardware.

Darren Thomas

Fishouttawater

FISHING REPORT FEB 19
Sydney is currently experiencing an influx of warm water inside our bays and guess who’s finally moved in to our local offshore marker buoys? The dollies are back folks & its about time, yee haa, FOW staff member Bryan Lynch caught plenty of 2-3 kg sized fish & reported some leatherjackets in amongst them, here’s hoping they hang around long enough for us all to get into em. Fow city store manager Andrew Thorpe fished south of Browns with Richard Timbs to land 2 blue marlin, the boys hooked a 150kg & a 117kg fish respectively in 25.9 degree water.
Closer to shore the rocks are firing & Alex Bellissimo informs me various species are on the chew, Al fished with Rob Marich off Narrabeen headland whilst using pillies & prawns landed 20 bream up to 750grams. Over at Nth Head during another charter clients Peter, Matthew & William hooked kings to 95cm(approx 8kg) on kokoda poppers & live yakkas. Al tells me there were plenty of bust-offs on 30lb braid & this session laid on some wicked visual fishing with the kings chasing lures right to your feet.
Sydney Harbour has water temps up to 25.1 degrees but visibility is down to a minimum, these big tides have pushed in some murky water & Hookems Des Toms reports baitfishing has been easier but try Balmoral for bonito & big frigates, Rose Bay is holding surface feeding tailor & salmon while Clifton Gardens is still the kingfish hotspot. Quarantine has mako sharks stealing baits including livies & the odd hammerhead has been sighted cruising the topwater. Des verifies the Little Manly boat ramp closure for 8 weeks commencing from Feb 20 causing Roseville to cop the overload so try & keep calm & avoid any ramp rage.Plenty of jewies are about, Ashley Leafman landed an 8kg model amongst a bag of salmon,bonito & tailor during an arvo session in Middle Harbour.
Pittwater Pete reports some quite murky water up his way but plenty of flatties & bream around the drop offs with nippers being a preferred bait, I fished with Pete during the week catching squid in the morn & converting them into kings up to 67cm downrigging a local reef in the arvo. Pittwater is clearing but there are still plenty of fish on offer

Darren Thomas
Fishouttawater.


Fishing Report
Report Fishing 15/02/07


Sydney harbours water temp of 24degrees might be encouraging for kingfish
appetites but one down side to the warm water is the attraction of sharks.
Des from Hookem& Cookem charters has spotted plenty of late at spots like
Quarantine, Neilson Park ,Wedding cake and Clifton's Gardens .Some of the
sights are of sharks around the 12-15 feet. Apparently they are spooking the
kings a little as you could imagine so des reckons that the best times are
early mornings and late arvo's. Squid have been around in most of their
usual haunts and there were plenty of Bonnies around mid week.
In the calmer water west of the spit bream have been taking poppers and
plastics especially right up near Rossie . Tunks Park and the moorings
around Northbridge are becoming regular afternoon king fish drop in centres.
Further north Pittwater Pete said that there are Bonnies taking small slugs
throughout the system and plenty of kings on the rigger at his special
spots. Squid are available around the edges& still the choice of bait with
the Yakkas a bit hard to come by. The yacht club moorings through to Bayview
have whiting taking nippers on the flats as well as some Flatties around the
drop offs. Big Kings have been reported with some going as big as 15kg being
landed.
Offshore has phenomenal temps with water up to 26.9c wide of browns to the
Bait Station& finally a good showing of beakies with most boats hooking a
Marlin .
Hopefully conditions prevail for the Port Stevens interclub starting soon
with Ross Hunter already up there fishing the ground and scoring a Grand
Slam with a Black, Blue and a Striped Marlin on the weekend as well as other
multiple hookups.
Looks like the fishing is firing all over the place at the moment.

Report Fishing 05/02/07

FISHING REPORT

Our summer run of kingfish are becoming more prolific as each day goes by
with some anglers landing up to 14 fish per day and on a weekend day at
that. Furthermore there would have been 10 boats on this particular spot.
Des Toms from Hookem Cookem put 26 kings on the deck of his charter boat
over the weekend for his clientele and all from Clifton Gardens. Saturday
morning I arrived at Cliffo at 6am and saw Des fishing in amongst 10 boats
10-15 metres apart. I opted for a North Head run instead (not so popular)
with the Old Mans Hat laying on some awesomely big squid up to 1.5kg on the
larger prawn style jigs. A quick troll lobbed some Bonnies on metal slugs
and a Salmon. The surface temperature was 20.9 degrees celcius off the front
while an absolute stunning 23.9 degrees was all over inside. Another thing
all over inside was small boat fisho's and 10 per spot was the capita. Still
in the harbour Peter Roberts fished Nielsson Park for kings, 2 fish in 2
minutes to be precise and Frigate Mackeral and monster Slimies are working
in patches, Shae Straker fished with her dad and got an absolute cracker.
Rock and beach fishing is on the up with Alex Bellissimo reporting good
sessions, small rats to 65cm and Bonnies have been cubed up, 85 gram metals
doing the hookup. Flat rock at Curl Curl has Salmon are plenty during the
day and even bigger ones at night, Charlie and myself hit it during an
evening session with Charlie landing a good 4kg Salmon and plenty of sharks.
Flat Rock the morning before gave me a nice little red approximately 35cm
using squid heads on the bottom. Alex fished various beaches during the week
and fishing Manly with Hiro uchino using live beach worms caught Whiting and
Flathead. Drummer fishing with Alex, Rob Marich caught his first pig
weighing 3 kg while using peeled Banana Prawns at Manly. Alex hooked a
Whaler Shark on 27 pound string that tore off 250 metres of mono and his
baited Slimy fillet. Give Alex a ring to place a booking as some February
days are available. Al's Mobile is 0408 283 616.

Jan 28

Well another good week on the water for all. There was some average weather
around but some great results and days out for those willing to brave the
wind and get amongst it.

I can't remember how long it has been since I have seen so many small king
fish in the harbour.
As always finding the freshest bait proved to be the challenge. Squid are
by far the most productive bait at the moment and as these smaller fish are
not as fussy as the larger ones small strips are the best way to get your
bait to go the distance. On both harbour trips this week I managed only
three squid a trip but averaged over ten Kingfish a session. Small live
baits like yellowtail are also working but with varying results and given
the time it takes to gather them it's hardly worth the time invested.
After working all my favourite spots for squid and catching none I ventured
to some more unfamiliar grounds to gather the few we caught. The areas that
produced were inside South Head Balmoral Warf and Dobroyd head. Jigs varied
in colour but success seemed to come from smaller jigs such as the
Yammashita and Yo Zuri's in green, brown and blue. For some reason my usual
favourite of pink didn't produce but results were obtained from using scents
and sprays like Ultra Bite and Yumm.

Most of the Kingfish we landed were measured between 60cm and 70cm although
we defiantly hooked larger fish but lost them due to the lighter lines and
tackle. We have found that the lighter the tackle fished the better the hook
up rate, so on both trips we fished 10kg line on the heavier 10kg rods and
5kg on the lighter outfits. One of the reasons we fish outfits so light is
to catch snapper and bream which have been plentiful up to the 1.2kg size
around structure and some of the well known wrecks. Most of the smaller
kings caught were landed on the 5kg outfits although this did account for
some spectacular burning runs that ended in rod shattering bust offs.

Local angler Kaj landed 14 kings this way on Sunday using a hard earned
squid as bait. Positioned off Neilson Park in 20m of water he was able to
control some of the screaming runs and landed a 63cm king on 4lb braid.
Very sporting indeed!!

My usual haunts further up the harbour around the Roseville Bridge and Shark
Island lay quiet this week with barely a picker to snavel a bait.
Bonito on the other hand have been plentiful with early morning trolls along
both North and South head producing loads of fish. Smaller lures such as the
Rapala CD 9 and Gold bombers on shallow divers yielded the majority of the
fish as we worked close to the stones and around small rock edges.
Bonito are a fantastic fighting fish with reasonable eating qualities
provided they are prepared well. Remember it is imperative they are bled and
iced immediately and try to limit them from flapping around on the floor of
the boat as this bruises the delicate flesh.

Local angler Nathan Cefai had some hot sessions off the stones as he tossed
chrome lures like raiders off blue fish and North Head. The target of
course was kingfish although a large amount of Bonito, Tailor and Australian
Salmon were also thrown into the mix.
There have also been reports of Drummer in the Washes and nice snapper being
pulled from the bottom with peeled prawns, Pilchards and cunjevoi.

During the week nights Charlie Male patrolled the beaches in search of the
ever sort after Jew Fish. Again fresh bait is key, (see a pattern emerging
here)
as the hardest task when fishing for Jew Fish is finding the fish then
presenting a fresh enough bait to entice the run. Two nice fish were landed
from Northern beaches by Charlie and in true Jew Fish fashion both came on
the same night. He arrived at the shop next morning for a quick meeting with
the lie detector and a camera before his 11kg and 6kg fish were carted off
for dinner.
Nathan Cefai also landed a nice fish of 6kg but chose to release it and
return in the future for another round once it has gained a few pounds.

Continuing up the beaches to Pittwater where Pete Leblanc reports healthy
catches in his beautiful part of the world. I don't have much opportunity to
fish this area but there are few areas as picturesque. Pete has the good
fortune to live on one of Pittwater's Islands and Knows the area like no one
else if there are fish there then Pete knows where to find them.
The basin has lent it's self to some great Whiting fishing with some
thumpers caught on very lightly baited lines. School sized Jew is also being
picked up in the same sandy regions as they patrol the flats for an easy
feed.

Just like in Sydney harbour Bonito are patrolling the washes off West Head
and the surrounding headlands at times they are busting up on the surface
and are easy for most anglers to catch providing they have the right tackle.
Pete reports that Rapala's and diving lures are working a treat and more
importantly stand up to the abuse dished out by these toothy critters.

Off shore has been a little quiet due in part to the colder currents and
water but I have not yet spoken to participants of the weekend Game comp so
I will give you a better report on the big blue next week. Despite this
some smaller fish were taken out wide but when I say small I mean bait size.
I witnessed one 33kg striped marlin taken from the shelf and a 60 odd kg
fish tagged and released.

Mack tuna and Mahi Mahi are scarce but are still around working the fads and
the warmer current lines. All in all it's a tough call when you do the
costing on fuel to get out there.

For the rubber chucker plenty of nice flathead have been filleted and
cleaned over the past week mainly from deeper water around Middle and North
Harbour.
Smaller fish seem to inhabiting the sand flats and gutters along the sandy
stretches but occasionally a larger lizard will eat your shad if worked
right past its nose. If it's the flats you fish and larger fish you want
then target high tide when the Flat Head are hunting small whiting and
mullet as well as sunning themselves to warm up.
Bream are still around but as usual they are fussy and quite canny. The
usual lures and soft plastics are still accounting for the majority of fish
but the skill is in the hands of the angler who has to entice these weary
fish into a strike, nibble or a peck as the case may be.

Until next time fish hard, fish smart and above all fish for fun.

The team at Fish Outta Water
City and Manly
Narada Taranto

Well summer is in the air but the water is still as cold as ever.
Average temps at the peak and the 12mile have been around 19 degrees with
the arrival of some cold currents. To add to this the water colour has been
atrocious with a grey to black soup appearance punctuated with small purple
jellyfish. Despite this the boys and I managed to boat 8 kings on jigs at
the peak with the larger fish reaching 13kg and the average being 6kg. The
gigs that seem to be working best at the moment are the darker colours and
lumo jigs such as the river to sea Knife Jigs, Zest and Williamson for the
budget conscious Jigger. Once the water clears back to blue the jigging
will improve and I expect to see a much better catch rate. Remember to get a
great catch rate you need to have a healthy release rate.

On the northern beaches plenty of whiting, tailor and bream are still being
landed by the enthusiastic beach angler. Narrabeen, Palm, and Dee Why seem
to be the pick of the sandy stretches at the moment particularly at dawn and
dusk when the beaches are quieter. With the sweltering heat anglers are
finding the challenge is avoiding the careless swimmers not catching the
fish.
As I said early mornings and late afternoons the middle of the day is best
saved for watching the cricket/tennis and drinking a coldie.

The lakes have yielded plenty of prawns in the past five nights with most
prawn anglers choosing to convert these tasty critters into a healthy catch
of Whiting or bream. Alex (FOW Staffer) and some of the local boys caught
their bag of whiting and landed some healthy E Ps on live prawns during the
cooler hours of the afternoon.

Sydney Harbour has been firing with heaps of King Fish caught by all. The
Kings seem to be further up the harbour at the moment inhabiting the bays
and points through out Middle Harbour, North Harbour and even up beyond the
Harbour Bridge. Most of the fish being caught are between 55cm and 60cm so
anglers need to take care to make sure that the fish they keep are of legal
size. Remember they have a tendency to shrink once dead.
There have been rumours of some anglers getting busted off on 30lb and 50lb
braid close to the wedding cakes and a few secret spots but as of yet I have
not seen one of these monsters.
Some of the larger fish that have been caught have tipped the scales at
around 10kg but they have been landed by very capable and experienced
anglers.

Fresh squid is the pick of the baits with both squid strips and live squid
doing the trick. The hard part is as always catching the Squid. Work the
kelp beds around Middle Head, Balmoral and North Harbour. Again Early
Mornings are the best.
If you are prepared to catch the bait and put in the hours the rewards are
great.
Local angler Deborah West has moved her count to more than sixty king fish
since Christmas day with numerous Bonito and Reds in amongst the screaming
runs of Kings as they head for the nearest mooring or snag.

Keep fishing and remember the harder you work at it the luckier you will be.

Good Luck from all the Staff at Fish Outta Water
Narada Taranto
Fish Outta Water

Fishing report 15 1 2007

Only just since last week reports have virtually doubled with many a specie'
on the chew and some warmer water helping to keep them local. This week
reports of bonito taking various baits and lures are prolific and this sign
usually means plenty of fun to be had at all sides of the peninsular. In the
harbour, Bonnies have been busting up west of the spit through to north head
chasing their usual micro tucker with most captures being on small baits or
7-14 gram metals cast into top water schools. Rat kings and some hoodlums
(up to 90cm) seem to be in all corners of the harbour readily accepting most
baits from whole live and dead squid, live yakkas through to prawn baits.
One Fow customer has 43 captures to her name since January 1st with morning
sessions proving most successful.

Over to the stones fishing tuitionist Alex Bellissimo confirms reports of
bonnies busting up at Nth Head with salmon and plenty of rats being landed
by his clients. One client being Andrew Costa hooked and landed a 5kg
Jewfish during a blue groper session using red crabs for bait. Alex further
reports that Dee Why beach has trevally with Collaroy Beach holding whiting
to 38cm using beach and tube worms while further north Mona Vale rocks has
snapper to 750grams with tarwhine, bream and salmon also on the menu.

Charter operator Pete LeBlang informs me Pittwater surface temps are at
times in excess of 23 degrees Celsius with bonito schools often surfacing
and rat kingfish smashing baitfish with some bigger kings scattered
throughout. Sampson fish are a new species on the prowl while plenty of
bream, whiting and flathead are taking live nippers readily at Towlers bay.

Darren Thomas
Fishouttawater.

Fishing report 08 01 2007.
Well happy new year to all you anglers out there, I hope you've been fishing
cause there's been a few around. The offshore scene has reports of small
dolphinfish on our local wave rider buoy's and plenty of rat kings, these
species are providing plenty of light tackle action and surely it wont long
before some larger fish show up. The fluctuating ocean temps are reaking
havoc with fish metabolisms out there; small blacks and stripes are being
caught with most action beyond the shelf. Closer to shore Long Reef boaties
have been tangling with rats, reds and amberjacks with a few trevally on the
side, all species are eagerly taking most baits on offer.

Our beaches are holding whiting and tailor with a few good jewfish to 11kg
caught during the week; Manly, Dee Why and Avalon being most popular venues
and arvo to evening sessions most successful

Sydney harbour water temps are ranging from 18.6 degrees to 23.9 degrees
Celsius and some days reports of up to 8 kingfish with mad sessions, while
the next can be an absolute tour even just to locate yakkas and squid!
Manly, The Spit, Watson's Bay and Cliffo are all proven spots but its just a
waiting game so be ready as hookups can be many and captures can be few.
Flathead and trevally are 2 species currently easier to target, burleying in
Nth Harbour and at Clontarf will provide trevally in the trail while west of
the spit drifting around Seaforth and the marinas some flathead of up to 5kg
have been hooked. Currently the summer fishing season is on a late start so
be prepared to move around and find the fish and ye shall reap the rewards
of your labours.

Darren Thomas.
Fishouttawater.

Fishing report 2006-12-18

Well you certainly can tell here at Fishouttawater that we're in our busiest
week of the year cos there's plenty of fish on the chew.
Des Toms tells me that since the main wedding cake fell down in the harbour
last week plenty of rats moved in, most of em are only 55-60cm but a lightly
cast strip squid bait is just too tempting. Over at the gap and around at
colours on sth head trolling stickbaits close to the boat or using the drift
dragging baits are 2 methods quite popular for ensuring hookups.

Land based charter operator Alex Bellissimo fished with Jason Rouse landing
pigs to 3kg and kilo snapper in his berley trail fishing off Mona Vale
stones, Alex mentioned to be kelp aware cause it was a problem. Binni Lee
fished with Alex landing salmon to 2.5kg and whiting to 34cm using beach
worms freshly caught from curly; these fish were caught at Dee Why.
Alex fished Nth Head chasing kings and while using a 200gram Land & Sea
Knife Jig in green/blue hooked and landed an 88cm kingfish which weighed in
at 7kg.

Offshore at the shelf it was action a plenty with one boat hooking black,
blue and striped marlin also landing 20 wahoo, 10 yellowfin and 6 mahi all
10kg plus, all fish were caught between Browns Mountain and the Bait
Station. Various beakies were hooked during the week making for a ripper
preseason opener.

Finally to those who supply our fishing reports, thank you guys very much
from Dan, myself and the Fow staff and merry Christmas and super angling to
all our readers and may 2007 be a year to break some personal bests.

Darren Thomas and staff.
Fishouttawater.

Fishing Report 12-12-06

Bit of rain, bit of wind, bit of sun, a pretty good week for fishing
actually with some good results.

Dave Penman fished a couple of km's offshore using live baits bagged 5 legal
kings to 5 kg and hooked a 4kg cobia on a drifting yellowtail.

Hookem Cookem's Des Toms has harbour water temp up to 22.1 degrees Celsius
and on average 21 degrees, visibility is very clear. Des reports kingies at
Quarantine (marker buoy) and sth head keen on stick baits and squid strips,
while over at Clontarf more cobe's to 5kg have been landed. Harbour yakkas
are fairly shy but worth the effort to catch.

Rock and beach fisho Alex Bellissimo reports plenty of salmon off the
beaches taking a variety of baits from worms to livies. Alex fished with
Mark Vandenburge off the stones landing pigs to 2 kg on bread and cunje at
Warriewood. During another lesson Alex put Tony Gibbons into some salmon to
4kg whilst whiting fishing, first they caught the beach worms converting
them into bream to 750 grams, trevally to a kilo and whiting to 35cm.

Further north Pittwater Pete says the kings have slowed down a bit but he's
still catching jewfish on the downrigger using live squid, although only
soapies, the heaviest weighing in at 4.5kg. Squid are proving hard at times;
you can get two in three casts or two in three hours, just see how you go.
Most mornings tailor can be found between Careel bay and the basin.
Pittwater water temp has been up to 23.6 degrees on the surface, well worth
a shot.

Fishouttawater is currently having a "massive" summer clearance sale so
there are plenty of Chrissy bargains to pick up and with our summer fish
arriving a new combo might just be what Santa ordered.

Darren Thomas.
Fishouttawater.

Fishing Report 05 12 06

A fishing November to remember, first the hottest day, then the windiest
November day and during the week the coldest November day. These were all
100 year old records broken this month yet November has still been one of
the best fishing months this year.

Most beaches are holding good salmon and whiting with bream, trevally and
jewfish all being respectable by catches not to mention good sized tailor.
Manly beach, Dee Why and Collaroy have been the pick during the week with
plenty on offer.
Local reef fishos have found good reds, rat kings, trevally a plenty and
even early season amberjacks from Newport and Long Reef right through to
Manly. Rock fishos are doing very well with trevally and salmon catches in
solid no's and sizes. Curl Curl, Dee Why, Avalon are the standout ledges
with some fish on the chew into the very late hrs of the night.
Sydney harbour has 19-20 degrees water temp with each week showing more and
more promise than the previous. Kingfish reports and sightings are
multiplying as the weather warms with not all anglers staying connected
during their confrontations. One angler that did stay connected was Nathan
Cefai, fishing Nth Curly he live baited the stones to land an absolute
cracker of a king at 1.3m and 28 kilos!!! Great Fish.

Fishing Report 14 11 06

Water temps are back up to 20 degrees in the harbour and slightly warmer
offshore bringing a few good species on the bite. Deborah West fished her
favourite spot on Sunday night for another good jewie around 6 kilos on 3kg
string using a squid strip, would've made for good viewing. Kingfish
encounters are becoming more common week to week, Scotty McNeill live baited
bluefish point with yakkas capturing 2 fish to 75cm also losing two fish to
the bottom and hooking one that couldn't be stopped!
Hookems Des Toms says the harbour has vastly improved over the week with
baitfish and squid gone into hiding, but his preferred spot is the Eastern
Wedding cake. Des has confronted kings at Nth Head, Spit Bridge and Middle
Harbour also.

Pittwater is fishing well with flatties and bream taking baits around Sandy
Bay and Bayview, whilst small tailor and salmon schools are scattered
throughout providing some surface action. Lion Island is holding small
schools of rat kings very fixated on micro tucker. Trolling flies and/or
suspending under clear bubble floats are methods working well as these fish
aren't interested in many traditional methods and even live squid aren't on
the menu.

Offshore fishing is hotting up with plenty of bottom species taking baits
and plastics on local reefs. Narada Taranto fished on Sunday with the
jigging brigade landing kingfish to 15 kilos outside at the 12 mile drifting
various deep reefs.

Darren Thomas

Fishing Report 7.11.06

This previous week of rain has turned our season about face sending fish off
the bite with some fishos having success when the conditions prevailed.

Alex Bellissimo reports the beaches at and around Dee Why have been fishing
well. Dave Slaytor used tube worms to get some huge Tarwhine up to 1.6kg,
Bream up to 650gms and Whiting around 30cm.
Alex also fished the stones with client mike smith for some healthy pigs to
1.5kgs and put Michael Fitzpatrick in the zone with some nice Bream and
Tarwhine to 750gms .

Further north Avalon Beach has had plenty of Salmon for Charlie Male while
Palmy wharf laid on the bait with some healthy squid including one bumper
unit weighing nearly 2kgs. Pittwater Pete fished the Hawkesbury mouth on
the drift using prawns landing plenty of flatties up to 55cm with the
cooling water temps now down 2 degrees to 18.5. Peter said this has slowed
the bite just a bit but a little cunning and persistence will achieve the
results.

Now there is some good news if you work in the City. Fish Outta Water is
opening our second store at 478 George Street 1st floor in the Mick Simmons
store next door to the Hilton Hotel.
Situated across the road from the QVB we are opening our doors this coming
Monday so pop in and check us out as it will be the best tackle shop in the
2000 post code.

For more information ring the store in town on 02 9283 1907
Or the Manly Vale Store on 02 9949 9488
Darren Thomas

Fishing report for the 30.10.06

The beaches, Harbour and Pittwater have all produced good Mulloway captures
over the past week. Fresh squid pilchards and plastics have provided the
results securing some very healthy school Jews.
Manly Beach fished well for John Wells who bounced pilchards off the bottom
and cast unweighted baits into the washes. This produced two nice tailor and
a fat Salmon before a nice school Jew tore off towards Queenscliff. Wells a
renowned light line fishos took off after the fish hoping that his 5kg line
and 10Kg trace would hold without straightening his small 1/0 ganged hooks.
Soon after a nice 4kg Jew lay gleaming on the beach.

During the week another two fads were installed (Fish Attracting Device's).
This takes the current total to 14 for the season. Fisheries list these
fads on their web site and more information about them including the GPS
locations can be obtained from contacting them. There is reported to be
another seven on the way but as they are only installed for 9 months a year
it is important to see which ones are current.

The Long Reef wave rider boy is still holding some kings and with the
warming water should soon hold some Dolphin Fish for those of you keen to
tangle with the Beautiful Mahi Mahi. They are perhaps the fastest growing
fish in the sea with a six month old fish weighing 1kg and reaching a
staggering 10kg in one year. It's just as well they are such fast growers
and swimmers as they are damn tasty to boot.

Between South Head and Blue fish is where Des Toms from Hookem Cookem is
catching some large Salmon. Most have been hooked in deep water but the
schools are still busting up on the surface. I fished at Blue Fish
listening to yells of delight as Des's clients tangled with these
magnificent sport fish on light line. Des also reports that Kingfish can be
caught at the spit although it is important that quality baits be used.
Remember fresh is best.

Moving up the harbour FOW Deb West fished a 130mm Squidgy Fish (silver fox)
down deep for a lovely Jew tipping the scales at almost 6kg's. That's a
great eating size just ask Deb who's still enjoying the sweet taste.

FOW's Narada Taranto and Charlie Male both caught good fish this past week
both from the shore and the canoe.
Narada worked the stones at bluefish for nice Salmon, Bream and Kings.
Further up stream he landed some quality flatties over the sand and broken
bottom with 100mm shads and stick baits doing the damage.
Charlie fished Avalon for a good feed of Tailor using pillies and Gangs,
then changes tactics and fished Pittwater from the canoe to find plenty of
fish on the chew including 2 Jews from 2.5kg to 4kgs. Charlie found that
cubing rather than burly did the trick and got the bigger fish interested.
Both Jews had cubed pilchards in them on cleaning.

Water temps are up so hold on the fishing is hotting up.

Darren Thomas.

Fishing Report 16 10 2006

Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fridge. That's one of way of
describing some of our recent weather conditions. Uncomfortable seas and
howling southerlies certainly didn't help fishos during the past week
either, but some yellowfin were still boated proving that they haven't shot
through yet. 'Wahoo' cubed over the weekend out wide to capture 3 yellowfin
to 35kg, whilst a not so successful Jamie Ward and crew lost a 40 kg model
on 6kg line. After a long fight, the swivel eventually wore through the line
leaving the boys with a long, hard slog home and no result.
Schooling striped tuna provided the day's only consolation with fish to
5kg's being landed.

Long Reef wave rider buoy is holding rat kings with one boat cubing up a 6kg
mahi mahi, but couldn't tempt it with any method or bait available. Closer
in fishing the reef there have been plenty of mowies available taking baits
on the drift, so too are marble flathead and gurnards with pillies working
very well.

Andrew Parkes fished Sydney harbour throughout this week downrigging live
squid and squid strips and landed legal kings with small arrow squid and
baby cuttlefish found in their stomach contents. Parksey suggested to one
boat to try downrigging white plastic stickbaits as squid couldn't be
caught, with this method doing the job and two legal kings being boated west
of the spit bridge.
Mick gates went kayaking out the front amongst three salmon schools to
capture a mixed bag including 2 salmon, 1 tailor, 1 trev and 56cm rat king,
Mick was using Berkley soft plastics during his 1.5hr arvo session. Some
salmon have moved into the harbour and are keeping down deep so trolling
deep divers and downrigging are proving quite successful.

Pittwater Pete reports kingfish in Broken Bay taking squid down deep with
yakkas as a second choice of bait if squid can't be found, which is often is
often the case. Lion Island to west head has flatties hitting deep baits on
the drift some salmon and tailor are moving around Pittwater but aren't all
that easy to find due to thin no's. both yacht clubs are holding good bream
around the pylons quite fussy at times these fish have taken a liking to
good old bread baits, unweighted and cast in close.

Darren Thomas.
Fish Outta Water.

Fishing report 09 10 2006

You couldn't half tell we're now in the three windiest months of the year;
the weekend was an absolute blowout with a Saturday nor'easter and a Sunday
soueasterly change it certainly made it challenging to fish in any boat
anywhere.
Its pretty quiet in the offshore reports dept but bottom bashers not so wide
had more success with long reef working for rats and larger kings, snapper
to 4kg taking unweighted baits and striped tuna are being encountered a
couple of km's offshore and metal lures being trolled around 4-6 knots.

Harbour guide Des Toms has been working salmon schools at the heads each
morning at sparrows using plastics and whitebait copies but bigger
stickbaits are undoing rat kings at Bluefish Pt. a quick troll sth around
Nth Head has produced bonito and big tailor hookups providing heaps of
action with the different species keen for shiny lures in the whitewater.
Harbour water temps range from 18.5 at heads central with 19.2 at the spit
and a very toasty 19.7 under the coathanger. Slimey mackerel to 35cm are
around the Manly - Nth Harbour area and are keen on small baits and lures
eagerly taking both on different occasions, burleying a solid trail at Forty
Baskets provided plenty for the bait tank. John Dory aren't too far behind
and Reef beach is a choice of spot to confront these big mouthed delights
but remember to slow down your live baits to increase your hookup rate or
better still use the smallest livey in the tank and weigh him down two
metres off the bottom on a metre of leader. West of the spit nuisance
Leatherjackets are scattered almost to Roseville biting off plenty of rigs
usually because of bait residue from your hands contacting the line after
you bait up - be wary. More kingfish hookups at the spit on livies are a
regular occurrence with 5kg hoodlums to 77cm attacking live squid baited
down deep. Live squid are very popular and fairly accessible with prawn
style jigs undoing many a squid's freedom. Flatties, bream and whiting were
the catch of day for one lucky angler fishing plastics over the sand flats
at Clontarf, with a big 40cm flying Gurnard thrown in also hooked via this
artificial method over the weekend.

Up north to Pittwater drifting inside the Joey more flatties can be located
bouncing pillies across the sandy areas. Livies around west head or squid
around the Joey rocks have been the gun for baits targeting kings in Broken
Bay, downrigging is your best chance over and around reefs and headlands.
The leeward sides are preferred by fishos choosing this method, for a
different choice of livies try Careel bay for good sized garfish to 28cm
taking lightly weighted bread baits worked down a heavy burley trail.

2006/2007 Fishouttawater tide charts are available free from the store so
pick up a couple and increase your catch on your next trip.

Darren Thomas.
Fishouttawater.

03.10.06

With the swell on the rise over the last week and the wind gusting up to 40 knots, the offshore fishos kept trips to a minimum with some anglers reporting that the yellowfin have moved on. One boat did report hook-ups with six fish counted to 25kg but plenty of boats didn’t turn a reel.
Fishing closer to shore was a more preferable choice with kingfish on plastics at North Head causing headaches with more fish lost than boated. Bonito and salmon schools in the vicinity are taking trolled lures and live baits with fly rods also mixing it up. Des Toms from Hookem Cookem has harbour temps at 18.1 with generally warmer water bringing Snapper, Tailor, Squid, Trevally, Salmon, Bonito and those pesky leatherjackets all within range of his customers. Plenty of squid and finger licking yakkas are also available with Quarantine also holding slimy mackerel.
The current murky water has plenty of species searching for food, further west Andrew Thorpe wet a line at North Bridge and landed a nice pan sized napper of a kg or better.
Off the stones fishing instructor Alex Bellissimo reports some decent Pigs taking a mix of cunje and cabbage weed around North head and just inside. Clontarf fished well for whiting to 30cm and at Manly a small flathead was happily caught by 7 year old Andrew McIntosh during one of Alex entertaining lessons.
The beaches have kicked up a gear with Bream, Whiting, and Trevally devouring worms on Dee Why, Curley and Narrabeen With the latter of those laying on two excellent Jews on two consecutive nights. Weighing in at 7.5kg and 17kg these quality fish gave Alex a good run as they devoured his live yakkas. On the second night Alex did loose an even larger fish and the gleaming monster fish scale attached to the point of the hook laid testament to the size.
Sure it May still be a bit cold and windy but don’t let these minor inconveniences deter you from fishing your favourite spot, the fish still have to eat –fish on

Darren Thomas.

Fishing Report 2006-09-25

Our hottest day in 100 years fell during the weekend with some very strong
winds in tow, these two ingredients kept offshore fisho's onshore with
reports decreasing considerably.
Jamie Ward of Broken Bay Game Fishing Club fished nth of Browns Mountain
trolling lumo skirted lures for two Yellowfin weighing in at 24 and 25
kilos, cubing was not an option in the extreme breezes drifting boats way
too fast. While this large patch of warm water sits just offshore, hopefully
this awesome run of tuna will stay around.

Sydney Harbour has more visible signs of improvement with Tailor and Salmon
schools being reported though at times isolated just watch out for the
feeding gulls, soft plastics and hard bodied divers are connecting anglers
to the fish. Des Toms reports the water temp at 18.1 degrees and recommends
burleying for Trevally down deep and expect a few Flatties on the move due
to breeding season. The Spit Bridge and slightly west has some Kingfish
taking baits, not many legals but a promising sign for a bumper season.
Expect to see a few dolphins milling around chasing Salmon and the like,
with plenty of food in their vicinity it's not the last report of these
guy's we'll get.

Long Reef fisho's are catching mowies a plenty soaking deep baits, with good
platey reds to 2.5kg also on the chew attracted by consistent trails of
burley.

Off the stones angling tuitionist Alex Bellissimo recommends a long cast to
target snapper around 36cm and fishing the wash for luderick which are
currently quite prolific and in some spots can be seen in plague
proportions. If a beach fish is more suited to your style, live beach worms
have been too irresistible on Dee Why with whiting to 750 grams biting
eagerly.
If you haven't got your 2006/07 FOW tide chart yet drop in to Fish Outta
Water and pick a couple up

Darren Thomas
Fish Outta Water.

Fishing Report 19 09 2006

Very consistent weather and oceanic conditions are suiting many an angler
for offshore fishing in what so far has been a pretty decent tuna season.
Light breezes and minimal swell has allowed plenty of small boat fisho's to
get out to the mountain and nearly all have reported many a hookup out wide
mostly cubing, with fin averaging 30 - 35 kg.
David Rothwell fished browns during the week and landed three Yellowfin to
50kg, cubing pillies did the trick with 2 triple hookups for the day both
after 4:30pm. Dave said they left browns at dark with the fish still biting.
Jamie ward caught a 26kg fin on ten kilo tackle and reported a dolphin fish
capture at browns weighting in at 14 kg on the cubed pilchards again. Some
boats headed out less than 24 hrs later in mirrored conditions to not even
sight a fish; it's more a case of them finding you.
Rob and Joe Roberts bottom fished browns between tuna strikes for some 15kg
Gemfish, plastic lumo squid trailing a squid strip worked on these bottom
dwellers, Sept and Oct are the preferred months for these southward
migrating fish.

Closer to shore working seagulls on salmon schools around Nth Head are
alerting attentive anglers of their presence but can be quite boat shy very
often, so a long casted lure is normally required. Bonito are in the same
vicinity and mutton birds are their visual indicator, trolling has been the
most productive to hook these guys and the two kilometre mark has larger
schools with even bigger fish.

Off the stones fishing tuitionist Alex Bellissimo fished with Mark
Vandenberg to land Bream to 700 grams and closer to the beach, Whiting to
32cm. Billy Plummer landed Luderick and Pigs fishing with Alex at DY and
bigger pigs to 3kg satisfied clients Mike and Gavin with plenty of bustoff's
making it for an educating Bellissimo rock session.

Stable Conditions will be worth getting amongst this week and with
opportunities arising that "Fish of a lifetime" might not be so illusional
as realistic.

Darren Thomas.
Fish Outta Water.

12 09 06

During the week our wettest day in 120 years rolled through so you could understand reports being just a bit on the thin side, monstrous seas and howling sou'easters put paid to any offshore reports and Browns Mountain looked a lot quieter than the previous boat park it was last weekend.

When conditions allowed a few anglers wet a line for some success, Fow staffee Charlie Male found plenty of salmon on Manly Beach with an occasional Trevally falling to his squid strips. Fishing tuitionist Alex Bellissimo found the right spot during the blow to
land a few Snapper to 800 grams and Luderick to 1.4kg on bread baits fishing the wash around Sth Whaley and further reported Salmon to 3.5kg gracing the rocks up there caught by long casting pillies bottom fishing.

Pittwater provided Bream and Leatherjackets for some lucky anglers prevailing rough conditions but by no means was it easy. Schooling Salmon have thinned right out but try Mackerel Beach for a shot at them.

Luderick have started schooling around the local wharves and pools in the harbour with fish being caught at Forty Baskets and Clontarf, a mix of sand and green weed will bring these fish in.

With all this rain and dirty water McCarrs Creek and the Hawkesbury up north and Middle Harbour down south will be suitable locations to target mulloway when the current conditions stabilise and that should be around Wednesday/Thursday.

05 09 06
Boats were reported at Browns on sat all cubing for yellowfin in absolute pristine conditions but results were very few fish boated, what a complete turnaround from last weekend because trolling lures was successful 100% for the three boats out there applying this method. Scott McGowan of McGoo lures trolled up 4 yelleybeans to 15kg, 2 from the shelf and 2 more at browns. One of these fish is a pending record for Jack Peterson at the Parkway Pirates fishing club, all fish were caught on 15 kg line. The 2nd boat caught 1 fish to 30kg well away from the flotilla and just inside Browns, funnily enough last weeks plague proportions of mako sightings has dropped to zero. With all that berley in the water there would have been a la carte of fish attracting delicacies for fish to choose from and the lure hitters may have been more after a chase than a feed. One fisho reported that his fin spat out enough cubed bits to make a block (2.5kg).

Closer to shore rat kings were in abundance at Newport reef, Mark Olsen and Aaron McLean hooked around 30 fish, all released with the biggest going 60cm. Berkley soft plastics playing a big role during this session.

Just around the Joey inside Pittwater Fow staffee Charlie Male captured his first king since moving to NSW, it went 68cm and eagerly took a down rigged yakka amongst the moorings at "The Supermarket" whilst I can't say I was as lucky. Pete Le Blang reported the surface action has slowed up with the odd school of salmon and tailor popping up. Whiting and keeper Bream with the odd good sized Trevally are being caught but berlying is a must in the super clear water, Pittwater's water temp I found was 18.4 degrees Celsius on sat at Careel Bay up another degree from last week.

Rock and beach fishing continues to reward anglers with good numbers and species of fish; Billy Plummer whilst under the tuition of guru Alex Bellissimo caught Drummer to 2.5kg during a 10 fish session and left the fish biting on departure. Long Reef has Trevally to 1.2 kg, try Warriewood for the pigs and a 2.5 kg Bluefish was landed on cunje, this species is certainly an unusual capture in our territory. Give Al a ring on 0408283616 for a very worthwhile angling adventure.

Des Toms from Hookem' Cookem has Harbour water temp at 17.6 degrees Celsius and recommends Nth and Sth Head for salmon and the gap for small kings, while Dobroyd Pts and Quarantine are holding good yakkas; squid are playing hard to get but inside Nth Head is the venue for trevally and small slimey mackerel. Fish Outta Water's "Fish n' Tips" night this Thursday instore at 6pm is hosting Gary Brown, Talking on all aspects of Estuary and small boat fishing so book early for a free seat!!!

Darren Thomas

28 08 06
A week of rare winter beauty has been bestowed on us of late, with fine weather, little wind, stacks of warm water and ‘Fin still schooling up off the shelf. Though it means Browns is a weekend carpark, at least most of those making the trip offshore are being rewarded, with Yellowfin to 60kg, a few Albacore, and big oceanic sharks some of the more recent landings.

Early in the week a few lucky souls were able to get a day off from the grindstone, including James Drummond, who couldn’t stop smiling or eating fresh sashimi on Monday after landing his first Yellowfin off the shelf out of Broken Bay. 30kg is not a bad fish to start on, and it was shortly followed by two more similar size “schoolies”. Rob Roberts also managed a few fish out wide of Browns over the weekend, starting on the ‘Fin, mixing them in with a few Albacore during the day, and polishing things off with a nice mako around 180kg before it was time to head back in. The sharks have been big and plentiful with Mako’s, Tigers and Whalers all lurking ready to investigate a strong berley trail.

The beaches are also feeling a little sharky at the moment, with numerous reports of night time whalers coming in from Manly to Palmy. Warwick Woolcott landed every night time skinny dippers delight, a 5 foot bronzy, from a close gutter at manly, on a Tuna fillet. Charlie Male has also picked up a few lately, around the 3 foot mark, from gutters at Avalon and Whale beaches, where some giant greenbacks are also doing the rounds stealing pillies on dusk.

Sydney Harbour thankfully does not have the same numbers of sharks as can be seen elsewhere at present, but it is slowly picking up after a lack lustre winter, as tailor and salmon start to move in. Small schools of salmon particularly have been splintering off the main aggregation of fish that have held around north head, and a bit of surface action can now be found inside Quarrantine Pt amongst other places. Tailor have moved in even further, with schools around Middle Head, Clifton Gardens and closer toward town belting into gold bombers and 40gm metal slices. North Harbour and Dobroyd are also providing haven for some legal Reds, from 30 up to 45cm. The bigger fish seem to be reserved for unweighted baits on light line, though they aren’t too fussy, taking pilchards, hawesbury prawns and squid.

Pittwater has had an up and down few winter, but things are on the up. Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary charters is enjoying himself, particularly as he has tracked down a secret stash of Kingies, from 65 – 75cm. His last three charters have all resulted in similar size Kings for some very chuffed customers, with even bigger fish hooked up and dropped. Aside from these imprecisely positioned kings, Pitty has been offering up a bit of surface action mornings and evenings as separate schools of Salmon and Choppers take turns in balling up baitfish in the warming 17 degree waters. Small metal slices around 7gms cast from the edges of the schools are proving the best attack. For the more serene fisho, a bit of a drift off the sea plane landing area has been productive for a few small to mid sized flatties, as well as the odd flounder. Failing that, a few grunters are still about, and can be berleyed up off Stokes Pt and West Head.

08 08 06
Fishing has been a bit patchy during the last week, especially inshore where below fourteen degree waters have continued to be the go throughout both Sydney Harbour and Pittwater. This is the time of the year when water temperatures are always at their coldest in both these areas. The beaches are offering a bit of respite, with temps closer to 16 degrees and a few decent fish about. Offshore the water is slightly warmer, at least 16 degrees but often up to 18 and even warmer out over the shelf. Don’t forget, now is a great time to stock up on a bit of gear, so get down and check out the bargains in Fish Outta Water’s End Of Financial Year Shimano Stocktake Sale, on now!!

Fishing the harbour has been hard work in the last week, particularly closer to the heads, where lake clear water and massive temperature variants are making even catching baitfish hard at times. Water at the heads was 18.8 degrees during the week, though move 200 metres to Quarantine Pt and you will get only 16.8, and only 13.8 at the boat ramp at Roseville. The finicky Salmon at the heads have been a nightmare, sounding at the mearest hint of a boat approaching and neglecting all but the best presented lures. Thankfully they are dispersing slowly into the harbour proper, where small groups of individuals have begun to target larger baits. This is allowing a few to be picked up on the troll, as is happening with the Tailor. Rapala CD7’s and CD9’s, Gold Bombers and a range of similar lures have been doing the trick this week, with dawn and dusk accounting for most of the action. Up river things have been fishing a little better, even though the water is much colder, with the odd Bream inside Middle Harbour and a few more calling the Parra River home. The recent National Bream Circuit Grand Final on the Harbour last weekend testified to that, with fish over a kilo reasonably common. Mark Olsen snuck away with a nice fat fish of 1.38 kilos, to put him in fourth place on the ladder for this year. Great result! He even managed an Estuary Perch nearly 45cm long at Balmain. If only it counted! A couple of Jewies were also a noteable by catch during the competition. The bays west of the harbour bridge have been fishing better than the rest of the harbour in general, with a few decent Blackfish getting about, as well as the odd school of travelling Tailor and Trevally.
The Rocks and Beaches are still feeling slightly warmer than some of that harbour foreshore, if only the swell could hold off for a day or two here and there. Still, the fishing is holding up ok. Alex Bellissimo has been taking a few customers down for his guided fishing tours again this week, and as usual has been cleaning up. With Ken Waugh this week, a session on the pigs was to be had, and 8 fish just under the two kilo mark later both teacher and student were well satisfied! For something different, Al also reports now is the time to go hunting for a few Silver Drummer off the rocks. Don’t forget this Thursday Night 10th August @ 6.00pm at Fish Outta Water a free talk on fishing the local rocks and beaches will be given by Alex. This will be his last free talk so don’t miss out on this chance to learn from the best! The close beach gutters have also been fishing well when conditions allow, with Longy throwing up a few Bream from 600-800gms, as well as a mix of Tailor and Trevs for the lucky ones.

31 07 06
It must be more people taking advantage of the warmer weather, because it’s sure not the warmer water that is turning fish back on this week. From ‘Fin out wide to Flatties in close, from bream off the beach to blackfish in the harbour, the mixed bag of Sydney winter fishing has had a positive week. Trevally, Tailor and Salmon are also continuing to run in and around Sydney, and a few can be found off a couple of ocean headlands as well as in Pitty and the Harbour.
Last week, for the first time in almost a month, the arrival of some small to mid sized Yellowfin Tuna coincided with reasonable fishing conditions, and quite a few boats were able to get in on the action. Both cubing pilchards and trolling proved successful, with 7 and 8 inch pushers the pick of the lures. Fish around the 25kg mark were found the length and breadth of Sydney, from Terrigal in the north down past Browns, especially around bait schools. Closer in there is also a bit of bait about, and a keen eye is being kept on it by a few fat Salmon, when they can escape the dolphins.

Though colder water has had some impact, the beaches are still holding their own, as they generally do in winter, with schools of Tailor and a few Salmon moving up and down around headlands. Dee-Why and Curly have been figuring prominently, both for live baiters and the metal slice spin brigade. Sharks are also showing their winter prominence, with Queensy being a hotbed of late for small Bronzies. Off the stones the pigs and blackfish are still firing as well when conditions allow.

Harbour fishing continues to be a bit up and down, but a good variety of species still abound. If you are fishing for a feed, Leatherjacket are starting to swarm through the heads. Berleying up anywhere east of Quarrantine Point almost guarantees a thick pack of these tasty gear destroyers under your boat. When they can get up the appetite for a feed, a couple of Tailor are about, smashing into 7 and 9cm Rapalas or gold bombers trolled around the inside of middle head amongst other places. Des Toms managed to find a few this way for his customers last weekend, working around the heads. A couple of small Salmon also showed up in this warmer almost 17 degree water. Upstream things are massively cooler, with Watsons Bay starting the rot at a cooler 15.8 degrees, and upper middle harbour continuing the trend with Roseville Bridge a chilly 13.8 degrees! Needless to say the better fishing is in the warmer water. Trevally are also making a show, particularly on the edge of bait schools inside north harbour, where a bit of berley can put you onto some of these nice light tackle brawlers. Flatties have made a bit of a showing in north harbour.

For Pittwater, summer just can't come quickly enough. The Salmon are still around out the front of Broken Bay, but continue to be skittish, making hard work of targeting them. Inside Pittwater itself it is still mixed bag fishing, with a few fat Bream to 36cm doing the rounds. Berleying them up should also bring round a few Trev's, most of which are between 40 and 45 cm. The odd flounder has also been enticed by a strong berley trail when fishing from anchor.

24 07 06

On days when exploring the water has been feasible lately, the harbour has shown a bit of promise. Schools of fat winter Blackfish are on the chew in earnest. The local fresh weed levels are a bit low, but those more persistant anglers who are happy to travel have been raiding patches around the northern beaches to bolster supplies. Most patches of rocky harbour shoreline are holding fish to some extent, from upper middle harbour to quarantine point and around town towards Kirribilli. A few scattered reports of Tailor and Salmon are coming through from inside the harbour. Though the Salmon schools out the front of North Head are still active and fishable, a few fish have broken away from the pack, and trolling the more open parts of the harbour with Blue Mackerel Rapalas (CD-7’s or more favourably CD-9’s) is proving a pretty successful method of picking them up. The Tailor are also falling to similar methods, but as usual will also eat just about anything you throw near them, which should keep the bait soakers happy. Putting out a live yakka during the winter months often doesn’t have the same appeal as it does in summer, when the kings are on, but there are still a few delicately fleshed John Dory around in North Harbour more than willing to accept one. Drifting wide inside of Quarrantine Pt has offered up a couple of late, and the trend should continue at least till the water warms. The kelp grounds of North Harbour are still offering up a few squid as well, with the majority of them small new season jellybeans, but just enough big breeders to keep you interested.

Big swells are continuing to hamper the hunt for a feed off the beaches, and look to do so for a little while yet. Rock fishing has been almost off limits on some days with danger abounding and just a few small windows of pig fishing available, but the beaches are a lot safer and are still producing good fish. Sharks in particular, including some decent size whalers, have taken to the deeper gutters off Narrabeen, Queensy, Curly and more. Fresh tuna chunks are proving irresistible bait. Nathan Cefai has been pulling a few good size Tailor off Curly beach, one of which was a thumping 78cm. Ganged pillies and livies accounted for most of the fish. The extra stir of the last week or two should also help bring a few Jewies on, and the dropping of a big fish this week at a most upset anglers feet lends support to this theory as we head through the black moon.

The water temperature is sitting at 14.5 degrees in Pittwater on most days but for those that are willing to tough it out in cold; fish have been found and caught. First thing in the morning has seen schools of Salmon in Broken Bay. These hard fighting fish are starting to eat most small lures whilst trolling or cast-retrieving. The schools are getting a little harder to spot but the working birds are giving their position away. Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary Fishing Charters suggests the recent rains in Sydney should bring on a Pittwater jewie bite. Areas such as Coasters Retreat, Soldiers Point, Longnose Point or McCarrs Creek should see a decent model caught. The baits to use for jewfish on Pittwater are mullet, squid heads, pike or tailor. The stir up of Pittwater should also see some nice bream on the move and start to bite more freely.

Offshore fishing this week is not for the faint hearted. Everything bad is one way of putting it, with a continuation of Southerlies over 20kts and 4 metre swells, but on the odd few days you can get out, it’s worth having a shot – at least for a feed. Pan size Snapper are still meandering around the gravel grounds off Longy, belting into soft plastics or stuffing their face with squid baits, and a few Mowies have come a cropper the same way. Out a little deeper some flatties have also picked up the odd drifted pilly.

17 07 06

4.5 metre waves and 20 plus knot winds are not an anglers best friend, so it was no surprise to see few people fishing this week. The beaches went from flat to closed out, offshore had even bigger swell, and the harbour was pumping with thick waves pounding into the Heads and crunching over the reef at Dobby. To top it off night time temps are below 5 degrees, but there are still good fish about for the hardier breed.

Pittwater is one of the more protected waterways in Sydney, allowing fishing in most conditions, and thankfully there are a few fish around. Trevors have been the pick of the bunch, with schools responding well to berley trails around the mouth. Peeled unweighted prawns fed back into the trail have accounted for their share of fish this week. There are a couple of Tailor and Salmon exploring around Soldiers and Longnose Pts, but the real Salmon action is just out the front of Broken Bay, where there are still good surface schools. Unfortunately there are also plenty of Dolphins, and they’re making these fish a skittish bunch, but casting at the schools with small sea rock metal slices when they are feeding on the surface has proven effective most of the time. Small Bream are on the bite, and can be berleyed up from many of the usual haunts, including West Head and Longnose Point. Leatheries are also still on the prowl, as they have been for the last month or two, especially around weedy structure and deep reef. Peeled prawns have been the temptation for these white fleshed pan fryers. The big fish at this time of year are a little slower, but Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary Fishing Charters reckons about 40 more sleeps till the Kingy bite returns, based on their previous yearly habits.

The Harbour though is still struggling, and hasn’t lifted it’s game at all. Bream have held their position around the city wharves, moorings and structure, and there are a few good catches also being taken around the mouth of the Parramatta River. Soft plastic grubs and wrigglers jigged around the deeper structures are having success. The more open parts of the harbour such as middle head still have the occasional Trevor, and a few rogue Salmon have been trolled up in isolation, but the schools of Salmon out the front of the heads are still patchy and yet to make their presence really felt. At least there are a few thick tubby Tailor cruising around making a nuisance of themselves. Narada Taranto found this out practice casting gold bombers on his new overhead outfit this week. Just over an hours work provided 9 solid fish up to 2kg.

The Beaches and rocks have felt the brunt of some wild winter weather this week, but are still fishing consistently. Curly and Dee why have both continued to throw up some decent hauls of Bream off the beach, with a few Tailor and Salmon continuing to be interested in metal slices spun off the headlands. The real ledge fishing at present though continues to be the short, blisteringly sharp fight of the big black pigs. Alex Bellissimo (0408 283 616) has been running guided fishing lessons off the rocks and beaches, and getting stuck into plenty of nice fish for his customers. First he put Billy Plumber onto some nice niggers and pigs, with pigs to 1.5 kilos gorging on Abalone gut, before he put Steve Cultsar onto some nice fat Bream around the 900gm mark, massive 1.5 kilo niggers and up to 2.5 kilo Pigs. Prawns and Bread accounted for them. It seems if you want to improve your beach and rock fishing, Al is the man!

Finally we get to the ‘Fin, or lack of them as this weeks report reports. The big front that fought its way up the coast to us late last week, brought not just a few nice sized Yellowfin, but also some monster Bluefin round the 150-200kg mark, the likes of which we rarely see off Sydney any more, but alas. The weeks conditions have conspired to push this front well wide of us, so unless you have the means and the constitution to head hundreds of miles out, you won’t be seeing the blues for a little. Closer in there are a few ‘rat’ yellows, between Heatons and Browns, but they are patchy at best.

13 07 06

With the water and weather set to remain cold for the next month or two, and the fishing stuck in a slower mode, you could be forgiven for being tucked up in bed till the end of September. Many fisho’s will be, but they will also be missing out on a few of the different fishing experiences that are only available during these winter months. Salmon are starting to school up properly off the heads, Trevally hold sway in the estuaries, Yellowfin Tuna test reels and anglers offshore, and even the odd massive Blue Marlin has shown up! On top of that, the beaches are firing.

The Beaches are really the pick of Sydney’s fishing areas this week, as they have been for a while. Drummer up to three kilos continue to be taken on Ab Gut and Bread, from the washes off Queensy, Longy and most other headlands. Alex Bellissimo took customer Steve Darwin out for a drummer lesson, and both anglers were well rewarded, with fish to 2.5 kilos coming in off the Shelly Point washes. Small Salmon around 1 - 1.5kg are also about in sporadic numbers off the headlands and beaches, taking mostly Pillies. Paul Caravasso managed to get stuck into a few of these almost Salmon-Trout like fish, as well as bagging some good size tailor. The real reason for a big beach fish at the moment though could be thoughts of hooking up to one of the reasonable size Jewies that have popped up. There have been a few mid sized fish taken this week, up to 8 kilos, with Stripey Tuna and Mullet the two best enticers. Looking for bigger fish? Charlie Male hooked in to a nice night time Whaler shark off flatrock early this week. About 50 plus kilos and 7 foot long, the shark was finally bought to the rocks and gaffed, before the telescopic gaff over telescoped, and the 7 foot shark swam off with a seven foot gaff in it! Probably the best result.

The Harbour has been showing it’s various faces of late, from the 13.8 degree cold and muddy upper reaches to the clearer slightly warmer open parts, and the fishing is just as mixed. Andrew Parkes was responsible for the most unusual bit of fishing yours truly has ever seen the harbour produce late last week. While anchored at the centurion wreck just off quarantine, an oversize Tiger prawn took it upon itself to swim up into the live well at the back of the boat! Swift thinking and a quick whip with the net, and a beautiful 29cm Sydney Harbour Tiger Prawn became entrée. NICE WORK PARKSEY! There are a few fish around though. Salmon have poked their nose into the harbour this week, but not in any number yet, and there is therefore very little surface action inside North Head. The majority of the action is being provided by little Grunters, around the 30cm mark. Heavy berley trails set around Quarrantine Point bought plenty of them around during the week, but the last few days have seen a yellow sea of Chinamen jackets heading in that direction, so it may pay to try a few places of less structure with your unweighted prawn. There are still a few good Bream around town, especially Rose Bay way, and there has also been a showing of a couple of monster Bream around the Spit Bridge. There seems to be plenty of baitfish as well, including Yakkas and a few Slimes, and some massive Squid off Middle Head and inside North Harbour.

Pittwater is back down to 14 degrees, and the fish are back to feeling it. Pete Le Blang has found his fair share of Salmon moving around and about, but they are spending most of their time inside Broken Bay proper, and not venturing into Pittwater. They are a bit up and down as well, not always up feeding even though there is plenty of bait on the surface. When they have come up they are feeding hard however, and most plastics or metals have a shot a hooking up. The Hawkesbury is fishing reasonably There are a few Flatties on the chew, though they are fairly small. They can be found hanging out in the vicinity of a few tasty flounder, so if you find the flatties, have a drift of the area to see if you can’t uncover more. Small grunters are on structure around the bay and can be berleyed up, and using the same method around West Head should also bring in a few nice Bream.

Offshore is continuing to provide some awesome fishing, though at times also fairly patchy. The most exciting news of the week was the capture of a 200kg mid-winter Blue Marlin, out off the shelf out of Broken Bay. On a charter run for a few of the Yellowfin Tuna that have been showing up lately, Greg Joyes of Calmwater Charters was having a bit of a hard time getting his customers onto the fish. The bird action was inconclusive, and things were looking down, before the 8” pusher got nailed and the 50 wide started to scream! Down south, Browns has been a little slower on the fin. Fish around 30 kilos are coming in, but the numbers aren’t huge. A few of the reef drifts have been producing fish though, with Flatties, Mowies and Snapper in close, and the wider grounds producing Gemfish.

03 07 06
Well there’s plenty of cold water out there, especially after the recent fresh flush, causing the fishing to slow down considerably. Offshore conditions seem to be providing some respite, with a little remnant warmish water and temperatures hovering between 18 degrees. Inshore however is markedly different. The beach water temps are still the warmest of the waters close to shore, hovering around 17 near Barrenjoey, but as soon as you get around the corner and inside the mercury drops off the scale. Pittwater was measured at 13.5 degrees earlier this week, and the harbour struggles along, only reaching above 14.5 on sunny days.

So it is really no surprise then that the harbour is slow on the fishing front. Sluggish fish letharge around the place quite uninterested in eating. The decent Bream that are around in town are not exactly active. The deeper fish must be in water close to 10 degrees. Even the hardy and voracious trevally can’t bring themselves to get animated. Thankfully the schools of Salmon that are slowly arriving are starting to feed around the front of North Head. For now it seems they are feeding on very small fry, an inch or shorter, best targeted with white 7gm river to sea slices. While the schools are still on the point of north head it is best to work them into the harbour, where they will hang around much longer, though at present the large numbers of Dolphins and the odd whale in the harbour is occasionally putting the schools down.

Pittwater is almost an exact replica of the harbour at present, with the exception that the Salmon schools that are out the front near the 'Joey are feeding much more voraciously. Mark Olsen found his way out there during the week and had a ball throwing 2 and 3 inch plastics, with plenty of luck. Inside Pittwater however is a bit slower. For the desperado’s there is still the odd Bream around Taylors Point that can be berleyed up, and some Trevors spread sparsely throughout the bay. The water hasn’t put off the Squid though and there are some large ones around Tennis wharf.

There is some fish activity offshore including the continued presence of a few Yellowfin, and the odd Albacore. Fin around the 40-60kg mark are being taken from South East of Browns, mostly on skirts. Green and blue patterned Mcgoo pushers are guns at the moment. Live small Stripey Tuna (around 3kg) have also been a worthy temptation. For those keen to improve their Tuna fishing knowledge, Drop down to Fish Outta Water on Thursday night at 6.00pm for Scotty Mcgowans free talk - Tuna fishing on lures off sydney. Improve your chances of hooking up to big Yellowfin! Drinks and nibbles will be provided.

The beaches are still fishing pretty well, especially in comparison with our estuaries. Nice Black Drummer are still firing for the ledge brigade, getting stuck into Ab Gut and occasionally fresh bread. Salmon are off the front of most headlands, including at Curly and Dee Why, where they can be spun up with small metals or just baited, and Tailor have also shown their faces. Jewies have been about lately causing plenty of bust offs. They are not feeding consistently, but if you are persistent, the Jewfish are still there in decent size. Al Bellissimo of Bellissimo Guided Rock and Beach Fishing Tours (0408283616) managed a couple this week from 6 - 12 kilos off Dee Why, and Charlie Male also beached a nice fish just over the 6kg mark!

12 06 06
They frustrate everyone fishing for them, with their coral crunching teeth and love for destroying anything shiny, and few fisho’s are delighted now they’re inshore in numbers. It’s fortuitous that Leatherjackets skin peels so easily, and their delicate white flesh tastes so good, or they would be seen as more of a scourge than they already are. Thankfully the cold waters that triggered them to move into the estuaries have also heralded the arrival of some lovely Yellow torpedoes!
The arrival of a few Yellowfin Tuna in small schools is the talk of the town at the moment. This early on most of the fish are on the small side of medium, averaging around 30kg, but they’re not here alone. Ron Kovacs and a couple of mates can attest to that, after trolling up a massive Striped Tuna estimated to be over 15kg in a mixed bag hook up with a couple of 30kg Yellowfin, just off the shelf past the 12 mile. In hindsight the fish may well have nudged a few records, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and the photos still look good! A mcgoo 8” pusher in saurie pattern did the damage, as well as accounting for one of the ‘fin. The other ‘fin hit a blue squidgy bluewater soft plastic. Albacore have also been encountered, with decent schools of 15 – 20kg fish around bait schools on the edge of the shelf. Tuna are a tasty fish, and not just for us, so it’s no surprise there are also a few decent size sharks sniffing about for an opportunity on the outskirts of the schools.
The Harbours and Estuaries though are feeling the influx of thousands of leatherjackets, as Peter Zurita can attest after bagging a nice feed on a recent outing to North Harbour. That’s not to say that there’s nothing else about, only that for those looking to fish the Harbour, Broken Bay or Pittwater are going to have to fish areas other than prominent wrecks and reefs. Places like the valiant wreck off Barrenjoey for example, are now off limits to anything but these aquatic incisors, and the pattern is being played out across the board. If you are after something else, the best bet is to fish weed beds and drop offs, and at high tide the flats as well, as the majority of the Flathead and Bream being caught are coming from these areas. At least then you’ll be able to throw a few plastics around without losing one every cast to a million small bites! Pete Le Blang recommends looking for some of the decent size Tailor that currently stalk the washes off the front of Barrenjoey Head. Sending lightly weighted pillies into the edge of the wash area is a sure fire way to get your rod bent by a toothy silver flash.

The rocks and beaches fished well during most of the recent poor weather, for those willing to rug up and pick their times well. Overcast weather means many species can feed for much of the day without being easily seen, and that was the case early this week as well. Dr Warwick Harper found this out as an incredibly satisfied customer of Alex Bellissimo’s (0408 283 616) new customized rock and beach fishing lessons. After the two had made their way down to a nice looking patch of Manly gutter and ‘Doc’ had learnt some of the finer points of worm gathering and presentation, these freshest of fresh baits were set. The rain poured, and the wind blew snow from Thredbo, but the water is still quite warm and the fish were on the chew for the duo. Whiting to 37cm got stuck in at first, and then a few lovely plate sized Bream around 700 – 800gms also couldn’t resist such a well prepared morsel. The rocks are still throwing good Pigs up to almost 3kg, with the NE face of longy a hot spot. Abalone Gut and Cunji are doing the trick.

Fish Outta Water is putting on their patented Free Thursday night Fish N Tips nights once more. Each Thursday at 6.00pm a talk will be given by a local fishing guru, aimed at helping you improve your fishing in a specific area. This Thursday June 1st will be hosted by Hawkesbury/ Broken Bay Jewfish legend, Greg Joyes. Call 994 994 88 for further details or to make a reservation.

:29 05 06:

From massive Kings and fat Greenbacks to Blackfish and Bream, the slowly cooling waters of Sydney at present are providing an interesting mix for fisho’s. Even though at times the fishing can be patchy, when the fish are on the chew a session can be pretty frenetic still, Especially off the sand and the stones.

Night fishing is starting to get a little chilly, with the water feeling much warmer than the air at times, but the beaches action is well and truly making up for it. Pigs have been on the hunt off the ledges, for a little while now, and they are getting bigger as the temperature wanes. Fresh Prawns - peeled, Abalone Gut and bread are all doing the business off most headlands with decent wash. Smaller blackfish are also on the move in similar areas, though are preferring less wash. Greenbacks have been haunting the ledges as well, with some really massive fish schooling in close to the edge of the wash. 2kg plus fish are not uncommon, mostly taken on fresh pilly. Big Bream are all about, from the beach gutters to the rocky washes, feeding up as breeding urges take over. Pillies are taking a few, but the best bait seems to be fresh bottle squid.

Pittwater has been on the improve for a couple of weeks, with winter fish arriving slowly to keep the hoardes happy. Trevally are probably the most common, with schools responding to berley trails from The Joey and West Head to well inside Pittwater. Fresh peeled prawns have been accounting for a few, fed unweighted into the trail. Big Bream are also about, and they will tuck into the fresh prawns as well, though their numbers vary on a day to day basis. The big news however is the arrival of some seriously large Kings. Pete Le Blang had a couple of customers out during the week happily getting stuck into the Grunters and Bream, as well as a few of the live bait destroying Greenbacks that are schooling through, when at the back of the boat appeared a real freight train of at least 20kg. For twenty minutes the pulse rates of all on board continued to climb as the fish merrily made its way from bait to bait, first sniffing the live squid, then licking the yakka, then over to the next squid, then back to the first bait. Finally, after they could take it no more, an unweighted white stick bait was flicked into the water on 10kg line. Famous last actions I know, but for a real first, this huge King got the jitters and bolted. Not that landing a fish like that is probable amongst so much structure, but the rush of a hook up would have been worth its weight in gold. Remember, Fish Outta Water is putting on our patented Thursday night Fish N Tips nights - Free. Each Thursday at 6.00pm a talk will be given by a local fishing guru, aimed at helping you improve your fishing in a specific area. This thursday June 1st will be hosted by Hawkesbury/ Broken Bay Jewfish legend, Greg Joyes. Call us on 994 994 88 for further details or to make a reservation.

The same bottle squid that is so effective off the beaches is also working a treat on the Bream in the upper reaches of the Harbour. Massive fish over the 1.8 kilo mark, the likes of which the harbour rarely sees, are hiding in structure west of the city, and other stonker Bream have shown their face in upper middle harbour. Plastic flickers are successfully buckling rods using the smallest of insect imitations, but the real killers have been gulp turtleback worms and gulp 3” fry. In the main part of the harbour, as well as into north harbour, Tailor hold sway. Most of them down this close to the mouth are big fish, and they are staying deep, so sending livies down around Middle Head, Quarrantine Pt, Clifton Gardens, or other like area is a likely way to see your bucket filled. You may even find a Dory or two the same way, mostly from the calmer areas. Congratulations must go to Deb West for her lovely 80cm King last week off Neilsen Park. What a lovely way to christen the new live fibre rod Deb, well done.

:24 05 06:

Fishing in the cooler months has a distinctly different air to its warmer equivalent, and it’s not just the drop in temperature. Almost everything is different to some degree – different species arrive, they take different baits, and they feed in their own peculiar manner, and at slightly varied times and tides. It’s easy to get frustrated when you’ve been bagging out all summer, then suddenly it seems like a switch is thrown and there isn’t a fish in the sea, but a small change in thinking can get you back in the hunt.

The action off the stones illustrates this point nicely. The heady runs of solid Kings are replaced by the shorter though similarly intense smash and grab attempts of big black drummer. Though there are obviously nice Salmon and Tailor also about at this time of year, and those looking to entice a King or similar pelagic by putting a yakka out may find a few, the fact remains that there are plenty of other fish swimming at your feet at this time of year, and if you don’t try a few different methods, they’ll keep swimming. A few increasingly large ‘pigs’ are being taken out of the washes and holes from most headlands North and South, mostly on bread or Abalone gut, so there is no better time to give it a shot! Luderick are also about grazing on the rocks, but the average size is still pretty small.

The harbour is also experiencing this change of fishing style, with mixed bags pretty much the way of the day. Des Toms from Hook Em Cook Em Charters had a great weekend last, with over 100 fish boated. No doubt his customers were happy. Plenty of species are about, including a few nice sized Dory, some mid sized Trevors, Snapper varying from 25 to 45cm, massive Tailor, and even a few small Salmon. Most of these fish are spending time around the headlands and structure near the harbour mouth, with Tailor and Grunters about in decent number off quarantine pt, responding well to berley. Snapper are also about in this saltier stuff, from Dobroyd Reef to Sow and Pigs. Up river there have been stonker Bream, Flatties, and a couple of nice Jewies. The water temperature is quite variable at the moment, with water as cold as 17.7 degrees around Roseville while the mouth is closer to 19.5. This may encourage a bit more activity amongst the warmer downstream fish than in those up river, but that’s not to say there aren’t good fish on the chew all over. Kris Cameron landed a beautiful Jewy last weekend at the mouth of the Parramatta river. It wasn’t so much the fact that it was over a metre long, but that he caught it on an inch long soft plastic, on 6lb braid, with only a 5lb leader. 20 minutes of chasing in the tinnie though was well worth it in the end! A further 20 minutes of revival (after the obligatory snap shots) and the silver steam train slipped off to fight again another day.

Offshore fishing is a bit between things at the moment, with the slow Marlin season effectively over and the Yellowfin Tuna yet to hit with any vengeance, though there are some small fish from 20 – 30kg. Thankfully there are at least a few sharks about, Tigers especially, including a few of some size up around the 300 kilo mark. Closer in there are a few pelagic schools moving around off the beaches, including Bonnies around off the south beaches, frigates in small patches all over the place occasionally harrassed by some decent size Mack Tuna, and Stripe Tuna a bit wider nearer the 8 mile. There doesn't seem to be much surface action, but the birds are always a good guide when the fish are deep. There are even some Kings both off Longy and down south off coogee, but they are pretty finnicky in the fluctuating water temperatures. Bottom bashers are being plagued by Leatherjacket as is par for this time of year. Hoardes of Chinamen Leatheries are biting through everything they see in close waters off South Head, amongst other places.

Pittwater is still fishing slowly, but Broken Bay is faring a little better and The Hawkesbury a touch better still. The Bay is throwing up Tailor predominantly, mostly for those who get some live baits down deep. Yakkas will be enough - fish them around Lion Island or Flint and Steel. Jewies are still an occasional catch at the Flint as well, but the better Jewy fishing has been up river. From the rail bridge to the Vines, Berowra, Bar Pt and more, there are numbers of soapies in the system to supplement the lesser numbers of really nice sized Jews up to 10 kilos and more. There are a couple of Kings still around, but they can be hard to track down moving from Pitty to the Bay and back. Efforts to find them on areas of structure like the Valiant wreck and even the supermarket are useless anyway, as the Jackets have moved in. Blackfish however are Pittwaters friend, and some good size fish are cruising the heavily weeded rocks around Woody Pt, as well as the rock walls around Newport.

15 05 06

As I write, it finally rains, though not the cats and dogs we’re after. Still, a little flush is better than none, and will definitely spice up the estuaries a bit. Not only will the level of organic matter increase, but the salinity that has been sky high should return to a more reasonable level, and that will at least keep the Jewies happy.

The harbour should benefit nicely from this little fresh splash, and it is definitely primed to go. Mullet have spread throughout the harbour, enjoying the unseasonably warm water. The schools have split up a little and headed upstream, but it hasn’t put the larger predators off the scent. Monster Tailor are chowing into them at times, and of course, the dark shadowy shapes out on the back edge of these schools indicate that big Jewies are also on the hunt. Closer to the mouth the harbour is still very saline, and we will need a lot more rain to change that. Thankfully the Trevally don’t really care, and there’s plenty of these feisty light liners snaffling prawns off unweighted hooks. Set a berley trail in any of the more open areas of the harbour, from North Harbour to Sow and Pigs to Watsons Bay! Des Toms reports that the last time we had water this warm in autumn, the winter fishing was awesome, so expect the good snapper fishing that we've been enjoying to continue! There is still plenty of bait around too, though the yakkas have proved incredibly difficult to catch this week, with 10 fish sometimes taking over an hour to catch. Thankfully you don't need as many as if you were King fishing in summer unless the tailor are around, as the Dory that have settled in can be somewhat less aggressive than a paper bag. Plenty of good sized blackfish are in the harbour around the bays close to town. the rock walls around Balmain always prove a favourite. The schools of them are thick enough to berley up a freeding frenzy at the moment, and as blackies go they are massive, so get the weed out.

Off the stones things have been patchy, with enough blissful moments to keep everyone coming back for more. Off the front of Bluefish this week there have been schools of Tailor, Frigate Mackerel and Trevally, all being shadowed by some beautiful round torpedo like Mack Tuna. Some of the macks have been good sized too, around 7-8 kilos, providing a magic fight on medium stength line. Pigs are picking up in size, especially on the more northern ledges where they've had a smallish start to the season. The blackfish are following suit, though still a long way from the size of the ones inside the harbour.

Pittwater Pete has found the going a little up and down near home base this week, and once again has been forced to do half of his fishing up inside the hawkesbury river. Whilst there is the occasional King slowly moving into Pittwater and onto the wrecks, so are the leatheries, and getting through them to target the Kings can be a hit and miss affair. At this time of year it can often be more productive to hunt down a few Jewies, and there are a few about. Soapies are by far the most common, a few of which can be tempted into taking fresh hawkesbury prawns from around the mouth of Berowra waters and other similar areas. Big bream are also about in the same areas, and will take the same bait amongst others, but the real fishing is being done with livies and plenty of patience. Jewies from 10 - 15 kilos are being landed with some regularity a little up river of the road and rail bridges. Bar Pt Reef is fishing well, as are many of the deeper holes further up river, with live or fresh mullet the bait of choice right now. The rain we had will help turn the Jewy and bream fishing on, but might also activate the catfish, and bring an increacing number of eels. If you start catching catfish, move closer to the bank. If you start catching eels - just move! Try fishing the drift maybe, as there are a few small flounder around the front of barrenjoey, and flatties around Lion Island and towards box head.

:08 05 06:
May and June are often the months for real big Sydney Kings, and this year it looks no different. They love cruising the more open rock washes and ledges in search of a feed, without the intense competition of a million summer run ‘rats’ to spoil their day. Many lost hours, goosebumps and shivering may all come hand in hand with these fish, but the results are more than worth it. Just think of the emotion when that 20kg Hoodlum washes onto the rocks!

Remember if you are targeting these big Kings off the rocks, never ever forget your gaff! There probably won’t be too many of these fish in a lifetime, so the last thing you want to do is lose one at your feet after a long hard fight. Nathan, a Curly local and big fish rock fisher, suffered this early in the week just on dawn, after his cownyoung was destroyed by a rampaging King of at least the 20 mark. Upset doesn’t quite describe how he was feeling afterwards. The ledges are providing in more ways than one however, with pig fishers finding fish ranging from under a kilo to almost 3. Mark Fitzpatrick landed a few off Mona Vale fishing fresh prawns, while he watched the bloke next to him land some nice blackfish on cabbage. Spin fishers are having a ball as well, with Tailor, Salmon and some nice Trevs on the hunt around the washes and gutters, particularly at dawn and dusk.

How long do we have to wait for serious rain? What ever the answer - it isn’t fast enough. The water at the mouth of the harbour is so salty even the kings that are left are living upstream. In fact many fish are so far up river it won’t be long till they’re swimming in the drainpipes! Thankfully not all species are so averse, with a few predominantly ocean species, including Dory and Snapper, hunting around the heads, and the remnants of a few late summer pelagics yet to fully vacate. Watsons Leaping Bonito fit nicely into this latter category, and there are a few at the mouth of North Harbour still, poking around with the first of the Grunters that are arriving in numbers. A good berley trail and some fresh peeled prawn or whitebait is once again all you need for a days light sports fishing. The lack of fishing pressure is allowing good numbers and sizes of all these fish and more, as Narada Tarranto found to his delight recently. Dropping live Yakkas just off Old Mans Hat resulted in two fat Snapper around the 2kg mark and a monster breeder squid full of eggs for the “hippie”. Good Dory are also becoming a more regular catch in the same area. Upstream there are plenty of the more common species, including Flatties that seem to be spread out on the shallower sand and mud flats, where Flounder can be found with them at times. The same areas are also holding schools of whiting at high tide, and they’re proving kind of partial to the less usual fishing practise of using small poppers. There’s seriously nothing better than flicking tiny poppers on light line in water less than a metre deep and getting smashed, and these elbow slappers are aggressive and surprisingly strong! A few stud bream haunting the same areas are also finding the pop, pop, pop irresistible.

Pittwater on the other hand has been fishing slowly, with most of the 13 commercial operators who have not accepted the Sydney Harbour buy out scheme looking to Pitty to supplement their income. Most of the fishing in the area is being done up stream of the hawkesbury road and rail bridges. Pete Le Blang has taken a few customers up around these areas lately, hunting soapy Jewies, stud Bream and Flatties with a fair degree of success. Most of fish including the Jews have developed a taste for fresh prawns, with small squid a close second. The flatties will also scoff whitebait. Larger Jewies are also about, though much fewer in number. If you want to target one from amongst all the smaller fish be sure to use live bait, particularly squid, as this deters the smaller fish. Good places to start looking for action are around The Vines, Milson Island and the Bar Point Reef.

Offshore game has also been a little slow, as everyone waits out the gap between the beakies and the 'fin. Sharks are about as ever, as 'More Charisma' can attest to after boating a 175kg tiger shark over the weekend. There are still Marlin about, but they are finnicky, and while it's possible to raise the odd fish, hook ups are a completely different story. Bottom bashers are having more success, especially around Narrabeen and Long Reef, with good flatties, some small reds, and a mix of mowies. There is even the very odd good size Samson Fish smashing live yakkas if you look hard enough!

Stefan Hansson

:02 05 06:
The wind whipped at their ears, and the salty spray intermittently coated one or the other as they made their way out along the rocks. Every dip out of the sun hinted of a snow filled winter not so far away, but this place had produced many times before, and braving the conditions would likely be worth it. So starts the day of many a pig fisher.

If winter rock fisho’s are a hardy breed, those after black drummer may well be the hardiest. Often given away only by the lurid stench of abalone gut, and a craving for explosive action, these ledge legends are the ones most likely to be sporting a big smile when winter comes around. Well now is their time - the pigs are on, and there's some size to them too!

It's not just Drummer on the rocks though, there are a few fish on the chew. Tailor dominate the rough water around the edge of the wash, and a few Sambo’s play along to keep the sport fishers happy as the Kingfish bite wanes. Live yakkas or pilchard baits are both bagging their share of these fish. Bigger news though is the start of the yellowfin bream run off sydney. Some massive yellowbacks have been landed lately, up toward the 2kg mark, with plenty of fish over a kilo and the average around 750gms. Graeme and Nathan O'Donnell can vouch for that, after leaving a very quiet clontarf beach with nothing, they thought a shot a south curly may hold more joy, and nice was the reward. Two fish in a short period of time, one at 640gms and the other 1.08kg, put the smiles back on their faces. Strangely they are not keen at all on any fish baits, prefering squid baits as lightly weighted as possible. The bream are alternately running both the edges of the rocks and the closer beach gutters as they continue on their migration. Large shad tailed soft plastics are the pick if you are thinking of luring a few.
The unstable fishing conditions bought on by the changing seasons are almost at an end as far as the harbour goes, and now predominantly winter species dominate its waters. John Dory slowly but surely filter in, as they have for nearly three weeks now, even though the water is still 21 degrees. When the water is like this so late in the year it pays to look in the deepest areas, if possible with both structure and as much shade as can be found. Still water is also pretty crucial. Clifton Gardens, Reef Beach, Quarrantine pt, and many other areas that fit this bill are producing fish at the moment. Live small baitfish especially Yellowtail fished a little off the bottom will yield best results. A few massive Bream are also about, both Yellowfin and big 'blue noses'. Big squid are about as well, though the ones in the harbour at the moment are most likely end of cycle Squid that have spent their life so far in the harbour. The really big breeder squid are sitting on the close offshore Clontarf has been producing a few nice sized flatties, epsecially for those using soft plastics. Black and gold or silver squidgy fish in around 70-80mm are the ideal.
Pittwater has been a little slow unfortunately. Much of this is to do with commercial fishing pressure that has been displaced from Sydney Harbour. You can hardly blame the pros either for looking for another way to bring in the bucks - it is fisheries who must carry the can. After announcing that all efforts would be made to ensure that no pressure was diverted to other close estuaries or offshore, they then caved and have done NOTHING to this effect. If one is to ring fisheries and ask about this, the reply is a bit worrying. Apparently the minister "Ian Mcdonald" made these statements, and it has been up to fisheries to implement things as they see fit. The fisheries department insists that there is very little if any extra fishing pressure in pittwater, and that there are still plenty of fish about. I can only suggest that if you believe this not to be the case - please write to or ring fisheries. Otherwise they won't get the message, as Pete Le Blang - who is out on the water every day, has not seen them out in pittwater studying fish populations very often. If you are looking for something to throw a line for anyway, there are a few Bream around the place, but they can be on and off the bite very quickly as the water changes from 19 - 22 degrees in the course of a day. A few whiting also sneak around on the flats on high tide, including monsters over 40cm long, belting fresh beach and bloodworms. Congratulations must go to Pete and Lexy for landing Anna, a 3.8kg healthy baby girl, last week. Apparently she is just over legal length, so they're keeping her.

Stefan Hansson
Fish Outta Water

:17 04 06:
It can be a frustrating time fishing the change of season, with fish here one day, there the next, and nowhere to be seen the day after that. Winter fish are arriving to fill the gaps left by summer pelagics, but not quite fast enough to keep everyone happy. Thankfully, with the abolition of commercial fishing in the harbour, we will at least get to enjoy our first good mullet run in many a year. And with mullet come big Jewies……….

In North Harbour last year, about 25 tonnes of mullet were hauled at around this time, and this didn’t leave much about to keep any marauding Jewfish happy. Now we have mullet arriving again, and this time there is no hauling allowed. Imaginations start to run wild! Most of the mullet are good sized breeders too, around 1 – 2 foot long, and it won’t be long before the Jewies, Tailor, Sharks and other predators in the area get wind of them. That’s when the real feeding frenzy will start, and with any luck, harbour night fishing will come back into it’s own for a little while. Day fishing is a little patchy, with the fish hard to locate despite the fact they’re still keen for a feed in the over 22.5 degree water. Kings in particular are far less prolific than they were over summer, and look like staying that way till next spring, but schools of Tailor to a couple of kilograms, and the first signs of some massive Salmon, should be enough to keep a fighting fish on the line for the colder months. Des Toms has been fishing around Quarrantine Pt, where he is bagging out on some of these big Tailor using fresh pilchards for bait. Live Yakkas will also put you in with a shot. The Salmon that have arrived so far are spending their time around the bluffs of North and South Head, but the schools are not compact enough or high enough in the water to spin for them with any great success. Better luck has been had by those downrigging squid, which there are a few of about on the kelp beds. Bream are still about, with many holding in the upstream areas that they’ve occupied for the last few weeks. Bantry Bay has fished well for them of late, but much of the structure around town is also holding good fish.

Offshore fisho’s have suffered from some pretty abysmal conditions in the last few weeks, so not everyone has been able to spend as much time on the water as they would want, and the results show that. SGFC held it’s Easter Tournament last weekend, and though not as many fish were caught as was hoped, there were at least a couple of nice ones really wide out. The biggest Marlin caught was a 258kg Blue, taken onboard "XO", on 37kg line. The fish was hooked early afternoon, and not landed for another 11 hours! You gotta be feeling strong. The Tag and Release section was taken out by "MAKAIRA", which found two stripes in around 600 fathoms. A couple of good sharks were also boated, including a beautiful Mako over 400kg. In the non game fish category, "Gambit" boated a couple of Kings at 250pts each to beat off the Dolphin Fish challenge posed by FOW’s Andrew Thorpe. No Yellowfin were taken during the event. Bottom bashing has been quite successful offshore this week too, if you can get your bait down with all the current. Close in off Coogee, between the Wedding Cakes and the Leatherjacket schools, there are a few bloody big (and v. tasty) sand flatties. Live Yakkas are working a treat on ‘em. A little wider and there are some good Snapper slowly starting to exert their influence after all the recent wash. The Peak threw up a few for yours truly just before the weekend. Dollies are still on the traps, though starting to dwindle in numbers in close. Congratulations must go to young Mitch Thomas, who spent a day out and landed his first dolly ever over the weekend!

The beaches are following the same fishing pattern as everywhere else at the moment. That is, if you are johnny on the spot you'll hook into some decent fish. The odd decent King has even been taken, both live baiting and spinning gar, off the stones this week, though you will really have to put in the time and have a bit of luck to get any results. Tailor are probably the most common catch off many beaches this week, with some fat fish over 2kg chomping into live yakkas and fresh pillies, or just belting spun metals. Slowly slowly the Salmon are also starting to arrive, and they are just as happy to indulge you in the same manner.

Fishing Report
10 04 06
The huge swells that have punctuated the last week or so have stirred up all sorts of debris in the waters off Sydney. Weedy Sea Dragons were even found washed up with clumps of weed on a few of our more Northerly beaches. You can bet this extra stir hasn’t been missed by the fish, who love nothing more than chowing down on various marine organisms exposed in the aftermath. Colder waters are also slowly starting to take effect, with influxes of several cooler water species starting to occour.

So what’s the Harbour story? John Dory. At least that’s the most noteworthy of the catches taken in the last few days as the winter species arrive. Cheyne Sales took a big one out of North Harbour early in the week after it gobbed a live Yellowtail set a few metres off the bottom, and Des Toms of Hook’em Cook’em Charters has also managed a few over the last week or so. Although the churned water looks unpalatable, there are still good numbers of fish about all over the harbour, from the literally tonnes of baitfish, to massive amounts of Bream, and stacks of small to mid sized Flatties. Salinity must be a factor at present, as many fish seem to be congregating up river, both in Middle Harbour and around Lane Cove. Flicking soft plastics near the entrance of creeks in these upper reaches is showing promise, with a couple of big lizards taken a Roseville. If you’re short on plastics don’t forget Fish Outta Waters Shimano Moving Sale is still on, where you can pick up selected Squidgies for just $2.95, as well as Penn Reels for only $39.95 and much much more! Come see us @ 263 Condamine St, Manly Vale. Changes in the water temperatures during the day are also having some effect, with warmer afternoons encouraging more activity from the local big Bream. Steve Mrazek has been having a bit of fun feeding a massive Snapper off his jetty after it moved in to Middle Harbour a week or so ago. Size estimates range from 5-7kg, but regardless, it is big enough to ensure many a pylon wrapped or snapped line to whomever may chose to target it, and therefore is still happily mooching around!

Offshore fishing has been almost non existent for the past week, with conditions not exactly conducive, but the occasional window of opportunity did present itself. The FOW Full Boar took a spin out for the dollies just before the big swells arrived, and found plenty of them about. Close in, on the fisheries FAD off Dee Why and around that area, there have been heaps of small fish to about a kg all season, and that looks set to last another week at least. For the bigger fish, you will need to be out at least 12-15 miles before you can start looking for some of these deeper water trap markers. The further you go the bigger the fish as a general rule. All the stir of the last few week will also turn plenty of reef fish on, as all the food and debris that has been ripped up settles around them. Snapper are starting to arrive with the cooler currents, as are John Dory, and there are still a few good Morwong and Flatties about - if you can just avoid the leatheries.

The big swells are having other effects, such as what happened to Pete Le Blang early this week. Many reef fish are either simply swept off with the massive waves, or chose to look for more secure surrounds, and these are the times you catch unusual fish inside our estuaries. Pete's most recent catch, way up inside pittwater, was a Crimson Banded Morwong, holding with a couple of nice trevally just off Scotland Island. Very nice! Some good Bream are also about on much of the structure in Pitty, munching on fresh green prawns just like the trevally. The flatties that are about at the moment are mostly undersize, though if you persist around West Head you may be able to find a few just over. Pillies have been doing them cold.

Even Clifftop dwellers have had a hard time on the rocks this week, with most platforms simply off limits, and the beaches aren't much better, surging metres at a time, but as Easter approaches we look set for some much better conditions. Salmon have been about on and off for a little while off the rocks now, but numbers are beginning to bulge for the winter months, and good catches off both rock and beach looks set to continue. Surf poppers have working a treat, and with all the stir of late they look the gun method of bait presentation. Rig a double paternoster, and use a surf popper on one leader and a regular hook on the other. Pilchards, anchovies or whitebait will do the trick as bait, and will all just as easily put you in the running for a few of the nice sized Tailor that are cruising about. There will also be a couple of Snapper in close, looking for a feed amongst all the suspended debris.

03 04 06
An old rock fisho once said, “watch the waves my son”. How else do you think he became an old rock fisho? Surfers may flock from afar, bystanders may gaze in awe, but for all their natural beauty, big waves are far from a fishermans friend. Combine them with over 20kt winds, and - well, at least the fish have been happy with the break! On the bright side, the water is still surprisingly warm, and Snapper are starting to really come on! Funnily enough, the prevailing conditions are just what are required to stir them up and bring them in close!
Sydney Harbour Snapper of any size have been a prized commodity for many years. Though they are much sought after, targeting bump head reds is usually in vain. Even barely legal fish would get grown men excited. Well the times they are a changin’. The reduction in fishing pressure predicated by December’s dioxin report has things primed for a big Red resurgence! The last few months have seen a few fish up to 5kg landed, everywhere from Fort Denison to The Spit, and in recent weeks this trend seems to have expanded. 40cm plus reds, already with well defined bumps, have been popping up over gravel beds where recent years have yielded only small squire. Drifting with really lightly weighted pilchards has proved pretty effective, but the unquestioned method of attack is to berley from anchor back down the current over the fish, and float unweighted baits down the trail to the hungrily rising fish. Watsons Bay has thrown a few up, and they look fat and well fed too, though that’s hardly a surprise with the masses of baitfish about (though still no slimies). Kings are much harder to find. Many of the summer run ‘rats’ have disappeared already, leaving an few schools of mostly resident fish about, but many of these fish have also been gorging themselves recently on small crabs as they spawn on close offshore reefs, and it seems they may not have taken it upon themselves to return just yet. There are a few serious hoods around though, as Rob Jenkins can testify to after a recent fly session at ‘Sow ‘n Pigs’. Fish with necks so thick even Rob couldn’t have gotten his giant mits around them were following small epoxy flies less than an inch long, strip retrieved off the bottom of the reef. Now there’s a serious challenge! Failing that, there is still a good mix of fish to be found all over the harbour. Narada spent a couple of days on the water upstream of The Spit, and found the 22 degree water alive with action. A light bread berley took only minutes to attract sizeable quantities of Bream to the boat, whereby they spent a fearless afternoon smashing almost anything thrown at them, and frothing up the surface. A few Tailor also took the opportunity for a free feed, acting as aggressively as usual, but the tastiest news surely has to be the numbers of elbow slapping whiting that are putting on a show in the shallower waters of Middle Harbours many bays, including Bantry Bay. Live Nippers will catch you your bag, but the true test of an anglers guile is hooking one on plastics. Small lightly weighted hooks dragging small atomic paddle tails or slightly larger gulp worms are the current goods.
Rock and beach fishing haven't been the easiest of pastimes this week, with most days either off limits due to the swell, or clogged with weed, but the few days of good fishing has thrown up a few good fish. In particular, thick schools of hungry Tailor have been rampaging around the rocks off Curly, smashing livies, pillies and metals with relish.
Offshore fishing has had a reasonably unfriendly time of late as well. At least a few hardy souls still braved the waves, and were duly rewarded with a good mix of bottom dwellers and a few decent Dolphin Fish. Snapper grounds are becoming increacingly productive - or should i say, those areas of gravel not already swamped in hoardes of leatheries are fishing well for snapper. If you come across a grounds with leatheries on it, it may pay to move, because they won't. The other way of looking at it is that these leatheries (mostly chinamen) are one of the sweetest tasting fish in the sea, and incredibly easy to prepare and cook, so why not catch a few before looking for the more glamorous species! Remember to use black swivels, and not to touch your line with bait soaked fingers, or you will be forever re rigging! Flathead drifts are also firing, but you may have to stay reasonably close to shore - in about 40 to 50metres of water, or risk running into more Jackets.
Pittwater is a well protected waterway, rarely encountering much swell and often fishable in strong wind, which was a big bonus this week. Patches of bait, from smaller fish including Yakkas through to larger Frigates and Watsons Leaping Bonito, have been interesting the Kings quite a bit of late. Much of this bait is congregated over wrecks and structure inside the bay, and there are also a few decent size patches holding around the trap marker bouys both inside and out the front of Barrenjoey. The Kings however are not the most co-operative of pelagics at present, and seem to be feeding under duress. Whether they are being harrassed by sharks or other predators or are just not hungry is not clear, but although you can see plenty of fish on the sounder, sometimes it seems like the best method of catching them is to stick a big spike on the front of the downrigger bomb! A little strange, as the water is still well warm enough, from around 22.6 to 23.4 degrees. Pete Le Blang has been downrigging much of the structure around the place, and managed quite an interesting catch for this method when a nice 40cm Brown Groper inhaled his live squid bait early this week! There are a few other fish around Pitty, including Bream on structure around the upper reaches, and some decent Flatties on the drift. Be aware if you wish to drift fish Pittwater now however, as some areas have been closed to drift fisho's and netters due to Caulerpa Weed outbreaks, and that is one aquatic weed we don't need to see spread!
Stefan Hansson

26 03 06
What a week. After days and days of Southerly blow and chop and rain and cold, you would expect things to be slowing up a little and water temperatures would be starting to drop, but it seems this is not the case. In fact there have been fish such as Watsons Leaping Bonito caught in the harbour this week, and they rarely get further south than the much warmer waters of Pittwater. Offshore out at the wave rider off Dee Why earlier in the week there were even a couple of Fusaliers, a species better known to snorkelers at the Great Barrier Reef than to Sydney Fisho’s. What’ next, Spaniards? This global warming thing just might be working……
It’s not working for the Marlin though, with a pretty slow season continuing on its path to fewer fish. There are fish still around and on the chew, but with an average not much better than one fish per three boats recently, and plenty of rock and roll, it is not always worth the run. Most of the marlin tagged of late have been Stripes. Sharks are somewhat more abundant though, and they’ve got plenty of size to them too. James Thackereys 400+kg tiger caught a bit over a week ago is the highlight of them all, taken wide of Broken Bay, but there have been plenty of others, including huge whalers, responding to the chum trail. For those who are interested in the future of fishing offshore, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) has been prepared for the NSW Ocean Trap and Line Fishery. ‘The EIS incorporates a detailed description and risk assessment of the existing fishing activity, a draft fishery management strategy with proposed management controls, and an assessment of the likely biological, physical, economic and social impacts of implementing the draft fishery management strategy. The EIS will be available for public inspection at all coastal offices of the NSW Department of Primary Industries (formerly NSW Fisheries) during office hours from 23 March 2006.’ For those more interested in getting out for a few Dollies, well, they're there in decent size and number, if you can fight your way through the cyclone swell to get to the FADs! Some days have been pretty flat though, allowing a few boats out with good results for all, though before the big swells arrived there was heaps of current, running north at almost 6 knots and pulling the wave rider bouy almost underwater. When this is the case it is preferable if possible to find a piece of driftwood or other debris that is holding fish and flowing with the current, as you can continue to move along with it. Just don't forget that you can drift from Sydney Harbour to Broken Bay in no time if you're not careful!
Pitty has had a bad run lately, but the gradual increase in fortune continues. A school of Kings or two are cruising the bay, some just legal but also a few around the 70-75cm mark. It has been an afternoon bite for the last little while, and it seems this is still the best time, but a few fish have been taken in the early morning recently, tucking in to live yakkas used because the squid are so scarce. There's a school of Amberjack as well around the bay, big thick fish 60cm and up, giving all sorts of curry to anglers. Pittwater Pete Le Blang knows where to find 'em, and is having success with small live squid. Live yakkas are not as successful, but with the amount of live squid killing baitfish about, they have to be considered. Big Kings have also made a sly entrance into Pitty, at times this week smoking anglers mercilessly into the myriad of moorings and wrecks that dot the place. Good strong gear is essential for these fish, so don't forget the Fish Outta Water / Shimano - First Time Ever Moving Sale is on now! Bargains while stocks last include Tyrnos 30 Kingy stopping lever drag reels, reduced from $499 to just $296. Ugly Stik rods, not $89 or more, now from just $39. Penn Powerspin Reels with 5yr warranty from $39. Even piles of selected Squidgies - Wrigglers Shads and Fish, for just $2.95! Plus many more huge bargains from top suppliers available in store. Order online at www.fishouttawater.com.au, or drop in and see us @ 263 Condamine St, Manly Vale, and be geared up and ready for your next fish.
There is even plenty of big beach gear discounted, which is perfect 'cos you are going to need it if you want to get into a bit of the big fish action the beaches and rocks have been throwing up! Even though the enormous cyclone swell isn't helping much, and the 'Angel Ring' installations are looking even more timely, when you can get a line wet the rewards have been there for all to see. A couple of big Jews are still about, haunting the rough washes and rocky edges of most beaches north of the heads, and there are plenty of mid sized fish also taking the bait. The Charlie Male nightly fishing challenge continues, with quite a bit of action everywhere from Palmy to Curly to Queensy. He has been having a fair bit of success, managing to nail a second Jewy on the most recent mission, a nice fish of 7kg to go with his 8kg fish last week. Fresh squid was the offending bait, caught at his feet and fished in strips right away. The evenings and nights have also seen massive Tailor cruising off the rocks at Freshy, mixed in with a few thick Aussie Salmon, both of which are getting stuck into live yakkas, pillies, and slimy strips. Leaving your livey out under a float just on dawn is also putting pay to a few keeper Kings. Closer to North Head, Tom Bamforth has been spinning up a few good sized Bonnies on 30-50gm metals, the latest being a 65cm beauty from below the Shelly Beach carpark, but he suggests a bit of time and movement might be required to get your fish.
Finally we get to that for which we all hold out so much hope; the continuing recovery of Sydney Harbour. Many people will be aware already of how much of a blessing in disguise the dioxin scare has been to the recovery of Sydneys marine habitat. Now breeding areas are much more protected, especially seagrasses, and fish stocks are recovering well. All sorts of large fish have been hooked up by rec fishers over the last month or two, many more than would previously have been the case, and the recovery of heavily commercially targetted species such as Snapper has been nothing short of amazing. It is now possible to go out in the harbour and target seriously legal bump headed Snapper, and from more than one area. Watsons, South Head, Fort Denison and Middle Head are just some of the places throwing up these lovely red plateys. The abundance of baitfish has also led to a few other predators hanging around, often the type that effortlessly slice through the murk and bring fear to swimmers. Des Toms of Hook'em Cook'em Charters put one of his customers onto a nice 5-6 footer on 8 kilo line. Probably a whaler, though the few glimpses it gave in the hour and a half fight before it bit off wasn't enough to be conclusive. One thing that you can say for certain is they can fight! There are still a few Kings getting about as well, but you will need to find promising structure and berley hard, as many of the Kings that were around have left for more promising grounds. A crab sapwning offshore may well have encouraged the fish away from the estuaries, and now they're likely slowly starting to return, as a few kings stomachs recently inspected have shown to be full of 5 cent piece sized crab shells. Soft plastic fishers will also be revelling in the recent conditions, as there are some of the biggest bream you can find in the harbour at the moment, around the pylons of town especially. larger profiles are working well, representing the current crop of larger baitfish.
Stefan Hansson

21 03 06
It has been a weird weeks fishing this week, with the changing conditions having their effect. Seasonal fish behaviour means many of the warmer water species that we saw during summer are on the wane, particularly Frigates, Mack Tuna and Bonito, and a few colder water species are starting to arrive. Waters are still incredibly warm for this time of year however, with waters averaging 24 degrees offshore, and 25 in Pittwater, though these temps will drop quite rapidly in the next few weeks.

Fishing in the harbour at this time of the year is often patchy, and now is no exception, however there are a few unusual fish around that generally spend some time in Sydney at this time of year. Samsonfish in particular are about, though they are somewhat immature for a fish that grows to over 30 kilograms, with many less than 50cm long. Antonin Dvorjak has been drifting with live yakkas off Manly Beach with some success. The Quarrantine Point marker buoy also produces a few Samsons at this time of the year, particularly on squid baits, and some other interesting fish have come off the same mark, most notably Cobia. Though not particularly abundant, at least one of these ‘Cobes’ has been massive, over 5 feeet long and around 12 – 15kilos. Live Yellowtail is the prime bait for them. Jewfish have been a bit of a target fish of late in the harbour, and a few decent ones have been taken, though you must be prepared to wait out the fish! Alex Inwood and Cheyne Sales landed a couple of nice harbour Jews of around 10 - 12 lbs early in the week, after putting time, effort and lots of big berley pieces off the north end of Dobroyd Reef. Mullet fillets and live yakkas were the best of the baits. Mention should be made of the updated fisheries report on the dioxin levels of fish in the harbour, after broader testing was carried out to encompass a wider and more representitive range of species. Entitled 'Early Test Results Show Dioxin Levels lower in “Recreational” Fish Species' and published on 16 Mar 2006. It states:
'The NSW Government has announced that dioxin levels in pelagic species of fish in Sydney Harbour appear to be well below the elevated levels found in bream and prawns. A small number of preliminary test samples indicate that species of fish like Yellowtail and Trumpeter Whiting have much lower levels of dioxin. Early results from tests on a range of species in Port Jackson, east of the Bridge, including Yellowtail, Sand Whiting, Kingfish, Luderick and Trumpeter Whiting have levels below the 6 picograms per gram recommended by our expert panel. For example, all Trumpeter Whiting caught at Rose Bay was below 4.4 pg/g, while all Yellowtail at Balmoral was below 1.97 pg/g. These are, however, early samples only – about 10% of the current testing program - but the signs are hopeful. The dioxin problem in the Harbour comes from sediment in areas like Homebush Bay, a legacy of 100 years of industrial pollution by companies like Union Carbide. As a result, the dioxin levels are high in travelling “bottom feeders” like Bream, prawns and squid. For comparison, bream caught at Balmoral in the December round of tests averaged 14.7 pg/g, bream caught at Clifton Gardens averaged 25.5 pg/g. Bream caught further west, at Homebush Bay (which has been closed to commercial fishing since 1989) had an average reading of 95.6. These readings are well above the panel recommendation of 6 pg/g – and that’s why the Government closed the Harbour to commercial fishing in January. It is important to note, however, that one of the species of trevally tested at Chowder Bay in the latest round of tests had a dioxin reading of 9.3 pg/g so there is a need for some caution. This is great news for recreational fishermen, unfortunately, however, it is the “bottom feeders” that make up the vast bulk of the commercial catch so it can make no difference to the ban on commercial fishing in the Harbour. The highest result in the latest round of tests to be over the acceptable dioxin level was squid – another “bottom-feeder” and another commercial catch.'
Pittwater is once again fishing with some respectability, after several quite average months since almost all of the resident Kingies were taken. Warm waters are providing perfect conditions for a couple of summer migratory species, especially some great light tackle sportsfish, including Watsons Leaping Bontio and Frigate Mackerel. There are even the remnants of a few Mack Tuna crusing around. Most of these fish are right at the edge of the water, cruising around the rocky points, though they can be a bit hard to track down. Trolling lures, like little metals of about 20gms, is the best way to find a few. Kings are still about too, as the Kingfish King, Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary Charters, can testify to. Strangely some slightly different baits have been doing the trick of late, with live cuttlefish seemingly outfishing live Squid. Many of the Kings are rats, but there are a few real bruisers out there as well. Keiren Jones got absolutely smoked by a serious hoodlum off Stokes Point early in the week. Some good bream are also about, with fish up to 45cm feeding over the flats on high tide, and plenty of others around the moorings off Newport. Blackfish have also taking to grazing on weed off woody point.
The stones and beaches are still fishing pretty well, and seem to be throwing up more good sized fish than anywhere else. Jewies have been a particular target again, and Charlie Male came up trumps with a nice 8kg version taken on live squid off South Curly. Conditions have been a little hairy though, so it is great to see that "angel rings" have been finally installed on a few of the more heavily fished rock platforms. Flat Rock, between Harbord Diggers and Curly, has benefitted from one of these rings, and congratulations must go to ANSA, for there work in getting these installed through what are sometimes somewhat reticent councils. For the stones spin brigade, a few frigates have been smashing into slices off most points from Bluefish to Barrenjoey, and the odd King from 3 - 6 kilos has also gotten involved.

Stefan Hansson

13 03 06
Fishing conditions are the driving force behind fishing at the moment, with a good mix of wind, rain, swell and more wind putting a real dampener on things. Some remnant blue water still holds off the front of the heads, and water temperatures inside are high, but much of the migratory pelagic action has come off the bite. Cooler species are on the move as well, with the invasion of one of anglers most dreaded species, the Leatherjacket, everywhere from the 12 Mile to Balmoral Wharf. Thankfully, now is also one of the best big fish bite times in Sydney, and if you put in just a little bit more time and effort, the rewards will come!
Fishing on the beaches always has its really good days, and during the changes of season you often see the best of them. This time of year sees both cool and warm water fish off the headlands, with Frigates and Bonito mixing it up with Tailor off the stones. Bigger fish are also on the roam, with a few big Kings loving live baits at dawn and dusk, and a few big Jewies still haunting the beaches at night. Ian Winifred hooked up to one of these nice Jews on Dee Why beach, only to exasperatingly lose it in the wash at his feet, after a prolonged fight. Estimates on the fish conservatively place it around 15-18kg, but the action didn’t stop there, with a follow up run of line snapping stud bream up to 1.5 kilos on his light gear. Half pilchards did the trick, fished from about 10.30pm into some deep close gutters.
Offshore has been fishing pretty well in this in between time, but big swells and the continuation of the Port Stephens big fish big money shoot out meant very few boats have been out fishing. There are still a few decent marlin out there though, with occasional big blues in the hotter water off the shelf, as well as stripes around the 70 -90kg mark closer in, from Browns to The Peak. 8” Mcgoos in hellfire colours have accounted for a couple. News is not good for the bottom bashers though, with the aforementioned attack of the leatheries causing all sorts of grief around the reefs. The 12 mile has been so bad that just getting a bait to the bottom without losing all your terminal tackle is a chore in itself. Thankfully there is still a little bit of surface action, with the continued involvement of some slimy loving Dollies, averaging around 4kg, in the late season warm water that is still around 24 degrees!
Not to be outdone, Pittwater has thrown up a few notable catches during the week, with Kings in particular slowly filtering back in to the system. It can still be a little patchy, with a fair bit of water between the fish, but finally there are a few odd fish bigger than the 58cm rats. Chris Perry landed a couple of these rats, before being completely smoked by some sort of hoodlum, his almost completely locked drag still screaming in pain as the unstoppable freight train lived up to its name! Downrigging with live yakkas was the key to his success. Pete Le Blang, of Harbour and Estuary Charters, recommends West Head as the pick of the Kingy spots, but reiterates the call of patchy. Failing any good Kings, there is still some good mixed bag fishing to be had, with decent size Bream around most of the structure. Unweighted whitebait have been cleaning up, especially when fished into a light berley trail. Most of the surface action in the bays has stopped, but Morning Bay is experiencing a run of Blackfish over the weed beds, out as far as Woody Point. Flatties are also about on the shallower flats right at the tip of most of Pitty’s many bays, responding to decent size soft plastics. Squidgy fish and shads in pink, 4 inches or larger, have landed a couple of stonking fish in the 80 – 90cm breeder range, as they complete their second spawning for the year.

07 03 06

The end of summer passes us by, and earlier sunsets give us ever less time to wet a line, but don’t despair, now and for the next month or two is one of the hottest big fish bite times Sydney experiences. Big Kings and big Jews are the order of the day for those willing to both put in the hard yards, and have the patience to wait between fish. On top of this there are a few generally cooler water species on the move, including Tailor, mixed in with the remnants of a warm late fishy summer.

Offshore has been pretty up and down lately, and reports are fairly scarce, mostly due to poor and choppy fishing conditions, combined with much of the Sydney game fishing fraternity fishing the Interclub at Port Stephens. Not that that stopped a few of the more adventurous souls, and what rewards. Three separate instances of big Kings, including four over 20 kilograms, have been reported over the last few days. Areas from 6 to 12 miles wide have been gun producers, with both jigging and live baiting getting results. Look for bait concentrated on reefy pinnicles as the best indicator of where the big ones may be. The dumping grounds may well be the pick of the bunch. Plenty of Dollies are still about too, in the warmer than average waters off the front, and they’re pretty close. Cheyne Sales went exploring traps just off the front of Long Reef, and found heaps of small fish (in the 1-1.5kg range) in only 30-40 metres of water.

The beaches are fishing well now there are a few big fish to poke your stick at. Jewies in particular have been the order of the week, including Nathans fish on Monday morning of 17kg, taken just after daybreak on a live yakka from Curly Beach. Put in the yards and you will get rewarded! A few small Kings are also marauding the headlands around the show, but they are patchy to say the least. Tailor are the most abundant fish off the stones at the moment, mixed up with a few Salmon, and they’re getting stuck into small spun metal slices first thing in the morning, and Pilly baits during the day.

Tailor are also moving into the Harbour, and some of them are massive. Around Kirribilli and a few other areas there are schools of these toothy predators terrorising baitfish on the surface. Metal slices cast into the melee will almost always yield results, as will trolled Rapalas in blue or read head, around size 7 or 9. A couple of Kings are taking advantage of the Tailors sloppy eating habits, and can be found holding under the schools. Try downrigging under any of these Tailor schools with decent size live baits or fresh squid heads, and you may be fortunate enough to land a 10+ kegger. Off the front of South Head is also producing big Kingfish, with drifted livies accounting for fish up to 8kg, but the biggest news from the heads has been the blue water fish, including a 12 kilo cobia hooked up last sunday. And it's not just the cobia, amberjack and odd samson fish visiting during these months. The warm waters of the harbour are also encouraging rarely seen fish to make an entrance. Rob Heath of the parkway pirates fishing club weighed in a most unusal harbour catch, that of a 1.5 kilo dolphin fish, taken at the mouth of manly cove on a 5' mcgoo in a pink pillie pattern! Whether it is the warmth or the salt or the extra bait that brought it in, it is completely unheard of, but gives us plenty of hope for the future of Sydney Harbour fishing post commercial activity. A few other fish have benifited from the lack of netting, especially Snapper. Good sized reds are infesting gravel grounds all over the harbour, especially around the Spit, Clifton Gardens and Watsons Bay. Livies have been picking up most of the good ones, with Yakkas accounting for fish around 1-1.5kg. Quarrantine Pt is also worth a shot with the same in mind.

Pittwater has not had the same relief as the harbour, but it is still fishing to an acceptable level if you are willing to do the hard yards. Kings, though mostly rats, are still being taken from the mooring runs and wrecks on the eastern side of the bay. Down rigging live squid is, as always, the most likely of options if you are serious about getting some fish, but a few ideas from outside the square are getting results that stack up. Downrigging lures, particularly squid imitations such as the River2Sea Arrow Squid or the Yo-Zuri Squid (both bibbed type lures), has been devestatingly effective when squid are hard to find. On many occasions these lures are outfishing Yakkas! A big mix of fish are not around, but the odd big Flathead is also once again hanging around the front of West Head, as they embark on their second breeding run for the year. Drifted pillies should do the trick.

Stefan Hansson

Well it had to happen eventually, as the summer fishing season starts to slow, and all it took were a few stormy days and some southerlies. Yes, you guessed it, water temperatures are starting to drop. It is really not all that suprising given how hot it got this year, and the reduction in temperatures is so far more of a signal of what lies ahead than something which is having any real effect on the fish or fishing. Offshore fishing has been firing for those travelling wide enough, with 26.5 degree waters out around 400 fathoms, and plenty of bait and bird activity. Close in big Kings haunt the headlands, and Jewies roam the beaches, but the biggest news is still the recovery of the harbour!

Des Toms of Hook’em Cook’em Charters has been out on Sydney Harbour almost every day for many years now, and he can’t remember having caught more Bream consistently than he is now. Almost every spot that Des has fished lately has thrown up a few Bream, and many of them are of good size, over 35cm. Even though eating too many of them may be an issue, catching to many of them has never and will never be. The other major benefit of knowing the Bream are about in such good numbers is that it allows you to practice your soft plastic fishing with confidence. Little paddle tail grubs jigged around the moorings and wharves close to town have been cleaning up of late, and some of the fish are massive, nearing 2kg! Remember to up your leader for the bigger ones, as they’re destroying anything 12lb or under. Kings have been roaming the harbour since the start of summer, mostly concentrated on structure around the heads, but now they are starting to spread out a little more, and this week catches have been made up into the reaches of middle harbour. Deborah West picked up a couple of nice Kings at pickering point, while hunting out for a few snapper. After a short while with no luck on her weighted piece of chicken, she was tempted to move on, but a couple of dark shapes started to form out of the murk, in midwater. A quick removal of said sinker, and the now unweighted chicken piece was sent out to investigate. It didn’t take long before a nice 65cm King was in the kayak! Unfortunately a few Leatheries have started to move into the harbour as well, and they nothing more than stealing fresh Kingfish or Bream baits. The best news this week for the harbour though has been the trolling up of a 60cm Yellofin at the front of North Head, taken on a cd-7 rapala in blue mackerel pattern that was swum behind a kayak.

Offshore has been firing as well, especially if you can get wide enough. Andrew Thorpe has featured a few times in this column, and he has been out and about again, this time for those yellow, sickle finned, torpedoes of the deep. Conditions were pretty average as ‘reel fishing’, with AT and skipper Trev, cruised out toward 400 fathoms, but it was well worth it, as hordes of baitfish were balled up on the surface, signified by circling birds. Underneath, a school of Yellowfin Tuna were ripping into them. On the first pass a McGoo Mahi Madness in 9” was belted by a 15kg fish, before pass 2 yielded a double hook up and a 22 and 25 kilo fish were duly boated. I can tell you for certain that the 22kg model was a tasty fish! The day finished with five fish landed including one tagged and released, all in waters 400-500 fathoms deep, straight off Sydney. On the way back they lost contact with another good Marlin after 150-200 metres of line had been peeled off, but decided to continue in anyway as the 25 knot winds were combining with a decent groundswell to make fishing more than a little uncomfortable.

It seems as if there are still a few good Jewies haunting the gutters and ledges off our beaches. So much so, that a recent first time soft plastic fisho, throwing a large silver fox squidgy fish off Queensy Beach, hooked and landed a beautiful 9kg silver Jew on just his third cast. Very Very Happy Jan. Whiting are still playing with baits on most of the beaches, but they’re not huge. Salted pippies are doing themselves justice when it comes to tempting these sometimes timid feeders into biting.

Spinning from the stones has been pretty successful this week, with a mix of species from Mack Tuna to Salmon, Kings and Tailor, schooling off most of the accessible headlands. Putting out livies is also worth doing in the same areas, but gear up, ’cos there are some 15+ kilo Kings around smashing things up!

Pittwater is slowly becoming fishable again, with the 24-25 degree waters home to some moderate fish action. A mix of bluewater species including summer run ‘rat’ Kings, frigate mackerel, the odd Bonito and a couple of Mack Tuna, are providing sporadic bursts of surface activity, but unless your on the dime on time, you could easily miss it. Bait soaking is at the very least providing a nice feed, with some tasty Leatheries arriving off the inshore reefs. Bream are also on the chew, but many of the fish in the bays at the moment are short of legal. Long Nose Point has been the pick of the bunch.

Stefan Hansson

Fishing Report : 13- 02- 06
The Sydney fishing season is well and truly at it’s peak at the moment, with many species on the move looking for bait, more desirable water temperatures and breeding grounds. Everything from Snapper to Blue Marlin, Jewfish to Flatties, Cobia and more have made appearances around Sydney of late, often in good numbers. To top it off, now there is no commercial pressure on the fish stocks in Sydney Harbour, so there has been a huge increace in the abundance of fish such as Snapper.

Sydney Harbour, recreational fishing wise, is looking just about as good as it has for a long while, and things look set to get better. For the first time in many years, even the average punter has got a real chance of hooking a real beauty of a fish just by fishing off wharves or on shore! On February 10th 2005, fisheries announced the complete closure of Sydney Harbour to all commercial fishing, including gathering prawns for bait which was still allowed under the guidelines announced on January 24th. The full buy-out for active commercial fishers will be conducted so as to ensure the harbour closure does not lead to problems in other commercial fishing areas like the Hawkesbury and adjacent ocean fisheries due to a transfer of effort to those areas.

A fund of 5.8 million dollars has been allocated for the buy out of all commercial fishing licences within Sydney Harbour, as well as a research and education program to inform recreational fishers of the issues related to dioxins in Sydney Harbour. It hasn’t taken very long for the results to show, as species such as Snapper and Jewfish start to show up both in good size and almost unheard of numbers. Early in the week you couldn’t drop a live Yakka anywhere near the bottom at the yellow marker at quarantine without hooking at least a legal snapper, and more reports have come in indicating that a live squid won’t last too long at the Spit for similar reasons. Snapper of 2kg plus have been taken there lately. And as for the Jewfish, well just ask Matt Elkan, who went fishing strips of squid off an “unknown” wharf in the harbour just before the full moon. The result?, a 12 plus kilo Jewfish! Nice work if you can get it. Des Toms of Hook’em Cok’em Charters has also had a good week, with fish including Samsons, Cobia, and Kings all providing great sportsfishing action for his customers. Some of the Kings are getting pretty big too, with fish a metre plus cruising around busting tackle left right and centre. From up as far as the mouth of Lane Cove river, where Mark Fitzpatrick landed a King of just over 60cm, to the Wedding Cake Markers, Clifton Gardens, Middle Head, Neilsen Park, ‘Sow and Pigs’, Quarrantine Point, Spit Bridge….. well you get the picture.

Live Yakkas are having to suffice given the dearth of Squid at times, but they are well and truly holding their own. Rob Jenkins lost three massive fish to the sharp edge of ‘Sow and Pigs’ reef after they slammed the Yakkas he had out, after landing a few smaller ones. Strangely they weren’t taking flies, even baitfish profiles. Trolling for Kings has also been paying off, with North Head proper firing. 5” Mcgoo skirts in Dynamite and Lumo have been cleaning up, and even a few Mack Tuna have come in using the same techniques in the same spot this week. Try running the lures around 6-8knots for best results.

The action is not restricted to the bigger fish though, with plenty of Bream about for the plastic flickers as evidenced by the Aus Open Bream competition held last weekend out of Drummoyne. Some of the more notable catches included the 1.59kg fish for eventual winner Greg Lee, forming part of an over 5kg bag which clinched the event on the last day. Kris Cameron also landed a nice fish of 1.46kg, the second biggest. Slim baitfish profiles and insect and grub imitations were the best of the plastics.

Fishing offshore has been going gangbusters, with water temperatures sporadically passing 27 degrees off the shelf North East off Sydney. Though closer in things seem to have cooled of a little, and readings of 24.5 are more the norm, higher temperatures have been found out around the 500 fathom mark, and some big Blue Marlin have accompanied it. Fish up to an estimated 300kg have been draining line from spools like it really wasn’t there, though a few good size fish have been landed, including over the weekend when a nice Blue of 166kg was weighed in at SGFC. Unfortunately there has been some pretty rough weather and big swells, preventing smaller boats from getting out very far. Closer in, a few striped marlin around 80kg have been tagged from around bait schools and structures both inside and outside the shelf, particularly around The Peak and Browns Mountain.

The immature Black Marlin that were abundant recently are now less so, though there is still the occasional fish around 30 – 40kg being found inside 10 miles. Bottom Bashers have been having some fun closer in, as Cheyne Sales and his ‘scratchy’ uncle Ray found out to their delight. Three hours spend drifting with mixed fresh and live baits over some likely patches near the ‘Trag Grounds’ resulted in four of the best eating fish in the sea. First, a Jewy of about 5kg munched into some fresh Squid, then a King of the same size took interest in a live Yakka. Not long after and a Pilly bait was scoffed by a ravenous 60cm Flatty, before, lo and behold a beautiful frying pan size Pearl Perch took the bait. Almost a perfect day!

Thankfully it may not be too long before Pittwater is able to offer a few nice days again itself. Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary Charters reports a few fish have started to filter in to the bay, including a couple of Kings from out the front, though the majority are still ‘rats’. A few good bream are about on much of the structure in Pittwater, co-habited by leatheries that have started to move in off the close offshore reefs. There are not just the pickers though, with a couple of notable fish caught of late, including Joe Kennedys second Jewfish in two weekends (the first from the harbour). Jewfish are a not overly common catch in Pitty, and to top it off it was a great eating size fish too of about 5kg. The other was a Cobia of 12kg, found at the Pittwater mouth after it scoffed a live Squid. Drift fishing is still an issue in Pittwater, due to the spreading patches of Caulerpa weed, however there are some good sized flatties to be fished for, as well as the odd flounder, and less desirables including banjo sharks, fiddler rays and other bottom ooglies, so try using oily fish baits with heaps of berley, and fish at anchor. It may not be as effective as the drift, but it’s a lot better for the fishery!

Finally to the Beaches, which have fired up during the last few weeks with the influx of beautifully warm and often blue and Kingy infested water. Combine this with a few migrating Jewfish, some bumper Salmon, and a few choppers, and you should be able to keep everyone happy for a little while yet. There are no shortage of whiting either, for the lighter line class fisho’s. Suprisingly this week, the big Kings seem to have been haunting the beaches more so than the headlands. Narrabeen Beach, near the entrance to the lake, threw up a 10.5 kilo Kingfish to the happiest little Jewfish squid strip fisherman this year! Jewies are still firing as well, from Narra as well as several other beaches including North Steyne. Mullet fillets and live Yakkas have done most of the damage.
So nows the time. It doesn’t get any better!

Fishing Report
06 02 06
It’s funny how many fisho’s used to swim before they became fisho’s. Landing shark after shark after shark in places where you have in the past willingly dared to swim can be sobering, especially when the sharks are two and three metres long. A combination of water temperature, baitfish and breeding urges has brought Whaler, Hammerhead and Tiger Sharks (and many other less dangerous species including Port Jacksons) toward Sydney in big numbers. Two years ago when conditions were similar a number of shark incidents were reported, particularly in Sydney Harbour, including a swimmer bitten at Athol Wharf by a small whaler and an eight man kayak nailed by a big whaler on the Parramatta river. This year is looking even sharkier, a fact to which anyone fishing around the quarantine pt yellow marker buoy can confirm, as they lose half of what they hook up to mysterious monsters beneath. Strangely, after hearing all this, a group of swimmers decided it is a good time of the year for a swim from Little Manly around North Head. They must have really enjoyed being shadowed by that most unpredictable and rather large Tiger Shark though, because they were all out of the water before they got out of North Harbour.
It’s not just sharks in the harbour though, with the absence of commercial fishing allowing congregations of baitfish, including Yaks, Garies and Slimes - which in turn keeps the Kings, Trevally, Bonito, Salmon, Tailor et al in the harbour chasing them. Des Toms of Hook’em Cook’em Charters reports if you can get through all the sharks it is still well worth fishing most of the channel markers in the harbour, as there are good numbers of Kings in varying sizes spread around the place. Last Monday saw the first of this years Samson Fish as well. The FOW ‘Full Boar’ went for a run early in the week, with those on board experiencing one of their best harbour fishing days for quite a while. About 20 legal Kings, an 89cm Flatty, and a few big Bonito nearing 60cm, were all bought to the boat during the day. The Kings really seem to have infiltrated the harbour, with some big fish being landed. Andrew Parkes can attest to that, after he landed and released an 8.5kg King taken on fresh squid this week. There are also a few Jewies poking about in the harbour at the moment, mostly schoolies but just enough of good size to make it worth a night time hunt.
The major Jewfish action however is on the beaches, as the fish move up the coast on their annual run. The last few weeks have seen increasing numbers of fish caught, including some big fellas close to 20kg, from quite a few beaches especially from those with a lagoon/lake entrance. Nth Queensy and Narrabeen have been firing, but catches have also come off Curly, Newport and more, mostly at night. Fresh Mullet strips or live baits are the go. The beaches have also had their fair share of shark action at night, so don’t be surprised to find your bait belting out to sea at a million miles an hour, attached to a big whaler! Daytime pelagic fishing off the stones is proving pretty productive at the moment as well. Huge Kings around the 25 and 26kg mark have been picked up round Avalon, and a good size fish of almost 15kg was landed off Flatrock at Sth Curly by a pretty chuffed Korean, after it smashed a live yakka. The same spot also yielded some big Salmon almost 70cm for Patrick Isuguerra, fishing livies on first light.
Pittwater also has a couple of Salmon in that same size range, predominantly around Longnose Pt, but there is not a whole lot else to write home about once again. Joel and a couple of mates took on the challenge recently, and managed a few squid and flounder, both at West Wead, but then ran into the sharks again. This time they were Port Jacksons mostly, with a few shovelnoses, carpeting the sea floor off Mackerel Beach, but there were still enough of them to force a move off the green waters toward a more amber coloured liquid. In fact the only fishing action of any note that Pittwater seems to be experiencing right now is from the occasional surface appearance of some Mack Tuna, but to say it is patchy would be polite.
The opposite can be said for fishing offshore, where screaming Tiagra 50 wides have been the order of the day! Andrew Thorpe went wide to about 500 fathoms on ‘Reel Fishing’ to find water that the Raymarine finder registered as an almost unbelievable 28.8 degrees, and schools of bait that looked enticing. Then, B A N G, a 50w full of 24kg fired off, Thorpie harnessed himself in, and a massive Blue estimated at almost 300kg emptied the line so quickly you could have fried an egg on the bare spool once it was done. This heart starter was followed with another hook up, this time to a Blue of 150-160kg, on stand up 37kg gear. 40 minutes of work though, and the hooks pulled. A few other boats were out for the SGFC pointscore last weekend, including ‘Gambit’, which tagged and released a 90kg Blue. Many of the boats normally out off Sydney were up at the Lake Maquarie tournament, where the ‘Champion Angler’ tag was taken out by ‘Black Petes’ James Thackerey, with a haul that included a Grand Slam taken off Newcastle. Always a nice trip if you can land a Black, Blue and Stripe in the one day! Congratulations. Back in Sydney, Dollies are about on most of the FADs and markers, including the wave rider, but you had better beat the crowds! In general the wider you go the better the fish in any case so it may be worth exploring for the bigger fish.

30-01-06
Well the NorEasters have arrived as promised, and the waters they are a warmin’once more. Travelling North East out of Broken Bay, Andrew Thorpe found water temps of 26.5 degrees when he got out into 125 fathoms. Add to that Pittwater’s daytime high of 27.5, and even Bantry Bays 25.5, and you’ll come up with some pretty active fish! Some nice blue water of around 24-25 degrees has also held up out the front around Long Reef and Sydney Heads, bringing into the harbour plenty of Kings, big and small, as well as Bonnies, Frigates, bait and more. In fact the water is so nice that it’s a bit suprising there aren’t more amberjack or cobia coming through it. It’s a good time of year to keep any of your dangly bits out of the water though, ‘cos there are definitely plenty of sharks about!
A quick fish off the beaches or the stones will ram home just how sharky everything is right now. There are plenty of whalers, mostly bronzies from a couple of feet to a couple of metres, cruising in the deeper gutters, stealing baits and generally causing trouble. A few Hammerhead have also been cruising off rock platforms from Longy to Bluefish and further, and there have been occasional sightings of big ones on the surface this week. Josh Rae and a couple of mates went out in his 13 footer to dive off Long Reef, and found plenty of nice fishy blue water - but just as he was about to submerge himself, a rather large fin cruised by the side of the boat! A curious hammerhead about 2’ longer than the boat (that would make it about 3m) had come over on the surface to investigate. Suffice to say the party chose another dive site. Thankfully there are also good numbers of fish about, off the rocks particularly with Bonito and Kings schooling about. The Bonnies are taking slices of about 20gms, and occasionally plastics like 6” slugs, which are also a favourite of the Kings. Live yakkas, poppers, spun gar, and fresh squid strips are also all pulling a few kingies.
There were 70 boats offshore last weekend for the Botany Bay GFC 2 day competition, won by Bart Portillo on Reel Smoker (champ angler and boat) who tagged and released three blacks. It was a slow day for many of the other competitors though, with a few dollies, including another of 12kg for ‘Thorpie’ found under a solitary hovering angel bird. A ‘McGoo Dolphin Fish’ was the offending lure. One boat, ‘Blue Murder’ was on a 200kg plus Mako for a few hours before snapping after half an hour of ‘sunset’, showing there are a few sharks wide as well. Ron Kovacs also landed his first Marlin for the year, found on the shelf off Terrigal. It was caught on a 50w spooled with 24Kg, with the lure a 12" ‘Evil’ pusher, aboard ‘Khatabundah’ with Captain Phil. A fight of almost an hour ensued, before it was bought to the boat and tagged, though unfortunately it did not revive enough to release, and duly weighed in at 148.8Kg at Broken Bay Game Fishing Club.
Thankfully the harbour is firing, and with plenty of bait, and no commercial fishing for a while, this looks well set to continue. There are good schools of Kings marauding the harbour, many of them rats, though a few much bigger. Des
Toms of Hook’em Cook’em charters reports most of the marker buoys and structure in the main part of the harbour have been producing to some degree, on fresh squid strips or live yakkas. Everyone seems to be getting fish, which is good news. Be very aware that the legal length of Kings is 60cm, as fisheries have been enforcing it strictly lately with fines and gear confiscations all in their power. Several boats were caught with Kingfish of 57 and 58 cm at the yellow marker off Quarrantine last weekend, and all were fined. There are plenty of bigger fish around anyway so there is really no need to take the small ones. ‘Sow and Pigs’ particularly is producing a few of the larger specimens, with live baits the go. Most of the known bait grounds are full at this time of year. Plenty of Bream are also around, now they’re not being trapped, which is great news for plastic flickers, or those that aspire to be! Now is the time to get out there and practice different techniques, with populations of good size fish spread throughout the harbour, especially around wharves, boats and floating pontoons.
Unfortunately Pittwater is still a troubled water, with very little big fish action still, as it has been for two months. The arrival of a few small frigate mackerel and stripey tuna spiked hopes for a while but there has been no follow up, and the schools that have arrived are small patchy and unpredictable. There are at least a few flatties, especially around West Head, but the bigger ones are taking drifted pillies out around Lion Island. A few bream are also about, responding to berley trails set around the inside of West Head.

23 01 06
A quick look at the wind forecast for this week will bring more than a small smile to the face of many Sydney anglers, especially after recent days of southerlies almost blew all our warm water back away from the coast. This week we’ve got five days in a row of Nor-Easters, peaking at 15kts in the afternoons. Now the 24 and 25 degree waters just north off the shelf will have a serious chance to blow onshore, and bring with it loads more baitfish and pelagics! And it will even be comfortable in the mornings to get out and take advantage! Not that things are anywhere near bad at the moment, with multiple beaky hook ups, big kings, reel screaming sharks and bluewater bonnies, all around to make your day.
The harbour could really do with another burst of these bluewater fish, as recent heavy use by Rec and Pro fishers alike over the holidays have put a noticeable dent into resident stocks. Bonito and Frigate Mackerel are likely to be the most noteable arrivals this week, with a few Bonnies in the harbour already and plenty more out the front just waiting for the right conditions to push the warm water in. Old Mans Hat has been firing during the week, as spinning from the stones starts to take off. 25 – 40gm slices in sliver or white have been braining the Bonnies, with frigates preferring smaller slices 7-14gm. Tom Bamforth has been doing pretty well spinning off Bluefish, and has taken to tossing the Frigates back out as liveys. The result is all sorts of sharky madness, with speed machine makos, hammerheads, and plenty of whalers about. The most recent, probably a decent size whaler, stripped 100lb wire from the inside of it’s nylon coating and ripped it through the crimp. A couple of good Kings are still about the harbour too, having somehow escaped the thousands of proverbial nooses over the summer, but they are quite well spread. From way up inside Middle Harbour, to the bays around Town including Rose and Rushcutters, there are fish from 50cm to 90cm, and even bigger for the lucky few! Some 15 plus kilo steam trains have been found around the Heads. Live squid or slimies are the go for the bigger ones. In the more protected bays around town, amongst the wharves and moorings, there have been some good Bream smashing plastics. Narada Taranto found 3” gulp minnows and shads to be the goods, especially smelt in the clearer waters, and pumpkinseed in the dirty stuff upriver from the bridge. A few decent Flatties have also taken a liking to the said same gulps, flicked over the flats around the mouth of Lane Cove River.
Pittwater on the other hand, has only just finally seen a glimpse of the blue stuff, and things are on the up. The well publicised lack of Kings is no longer stopping anglers from their enjoyment, as some boiling surface schools of Stripey Tuna have entered the fray. Fish of about 50-60cm are balling up whitebait and anything else they can find and devouring them, providing spectacular action! A few rat Kings are even holding with the schools! Mark Fitzpatrick got caught out on the water without a rod earlier this week, only to have fish bust up around him for half an hour, taking whichever sandwich meat he had handy to throw. BBQ chicken didn’t last a second in the middle of the mosh, but then there was no hook in it, was there Mark! Lesson one: ALWAYS carry a rod onboard. Rob Roberts managed to do the right thing and landed a few after good fights on light gear. For the plastic flickers, there are Bream are about on structure throughout Pitty, but not in huge numbers as yet. Some more baitfish arriving in the bluewater should encourage a few more to join up though over the next week or so. Drifting in Pittwater is becoming an issue at the moment, as even though there are a few flatties around, there is also an increasing amount of Caulpera Weed. Though the primary cause of this weed spread is not drift fishing, it does have some impact, and it can only help if everyone does their part.
But this week it is the best, last. Offshore fishing has been going off. Beakies are hooking up close and wide, including Blues over 200kg off the shelf, Stripes all over including on closer grounds such as the Peak, and Blacks within a kilometre of shore. 8 and 9 inch Mcgoo pushers have been doing the trick on the Blues and stripes, while the little blacks are preferring little 5” pushers or live baits. Andrew Thorpe trolled up a dolly of 15kg in about 85 fathoms just ten minutes into the morning, before a Mcgoo Hellfire on the long corner took six hits during the day. The first took 300-400m of line in seconds, but managed to spit the hooks after it got everyones heart pumping. The other five must have been drinking, because even though they had swipe after swipe at the lures, just bashing them a lot of the time, they couldn’t get their gobs over them. One in particular kept missing the lure outright, and another bill wrapped itself badly before untangling the leader and slipping away. A frustrating but never the less exciting day out! There are also a few size Yellowfin still cruising about out wide, even if they are patchy, but bigger news is the seeming arrival of a small run of bait sized Yellows closer to shore. A few wild stories have done the rounds, one of which hasn a couple of them inside the harbour, but without confirmation it sounds somewhat dubious. There is at least confirmation of a 4kg jellybean fin jigged up from the wave rider buoy off Longy.
That should be enough to fire a few people up!

17 01 06
Standing on North Head earlier this week was one of the most enjoyable exercises a Sydney angler could have. Cobalt blue water was at last seriously at our doorstep, and had begun to ebb into the harbour. Bonito, Frigate Mackerel, and even a few Cobia followed this 24 degree water in, and things looked grand! But it must have something to do with all the heat, because every time we get hot blue water sparkling at our doorstep it storms for days. This time we have three days of Southerly to contend with, which as usual threatens to blow it all away again. Only time will tell, but there is plenty of warm water this year, not just the odd lick of current, so we may yet luck out for a bit longer. Regardless, those predatory fish are here now and should stay as long as the copious amounts of baitfish do.
As you would expect with hot water so close to shore, offshore fishing has been going off this week. Blue, Black and Striped Marlin have all been tagged, and some massive Dollies caught on the wider FADs. A journey out to The Peak went off for Martin Devlin, as he hooked up to then tagged 2 nice Stripes that were holding on bait in the area. Trolled 8” skirts did the trick. The SGFC boat ‘Wahoo’ scored a few points to start the season off, with a 130kg Blue tagged out off the shelf. The offending lure was a 9” green and blue skirted McGoo. The blacks around have been quite close to shore, holding around any bait bought in by the warmer water. Scott McGowan reports that a few decent fish were taken on 5” skirts just off the mouth of Botany Bay early in the week, and there have been a couple investigating live slimies drifted around Longy. Ron Kovacs went north and wide last weekend with Steve Johnson, looking for the really warm water. They found stuff almost 25 degrees, and lo and behold, they also found some massive Dollies. One weighing in at 17kg could possibly take the mantle as unluckiest fish to ever live. After busting the line on a FAD, it found itself tangled around it, still connected to the lure. Half an hours casting to it resulted in another hook up, and another bust off, but it was still on the FAD. Half an hour more, and finally it took another lure. This time it was brought to the boat, but the first gaff strike passed through the fish and grasped only thin air! Then the second missed entirely……. At last, the third, and this time the piscatorial OJ Simpson had played his last hand. Not a bad fish that. Closer in the smaller Dollies are now firmly on the FADs, and plenty of fish around 2kg have been landed on live Slimies.
Unfortunately Pittwater is once again the only place suffering a lack of fish, and, as has been reported extensively of late, it seems this is mostly man made. Pete Le Blang of Harbour and Estuary Charters has managed to find a few fish for his customers of late, but the 3.7 tonnes of Kingfish that went to market in December have left a massive dent. There are a few rats left if you’re lucky enough to stumble upon them, but most of the action is as it was last week, in the warmer blue water off the front of The ‘Joey. Some of the close wrecks are worth investigation with a fresh squid strip or two, or try jigging around any gathered baitfish with mid sized (100gm) white jigs. Inside Pitty there are a few fish, including Tailor, Bream, and Flathead and Flounder on the drift. Most of this action is concentrated on the mouth, around West Head and Barrenjoey.
The beaches have been warming up a little this week, and the fish are enjoying it. Some tasty Whiting are starting to fire up, especially in the close gutters, but the major action is from Sharks. ‘Doc” Harper landed a few Bronzies off Manly early in the week, and there have been a few big hammerheads as well. Tom Bamforth hooked up to a 2.5m Hammerhead off Bluefish Pt, after it slammed a live Frigate, and brought it to the surface just long enough to get a decent look, before being chomped off.
After last years flop of a season, the Harbour is enjoying another belter, or at least the beginnings of it! Hot blue water is sneaking in, and predators abound. Bluefish Pt has had Bonito for at least a week now, and now there are a few moving in to the harbour. They go well with the schools of Salmon and Tailor that are still working off both sides of Middle Head. Cheyne Sales manged to pick up a massive Salmon of almost 4kg on a live Yakka, as he fished just on dawn on the Balmoral side of Middle Head. He also managed a few rat kings off the Quarrantine Marker buoy on fresh cuttlefish. Scotty Mcneill tried out his new boat at the same marker, but with live Squid, for three Kings to 85cm, and some major bust off’s. Not surprising, as there are some monster Kings around. Two 15kg models were caught at the mouth of North Harbour during the week. But the big Kings won’t be here forever, so what are you doing?

09-01-06
What a week! The blue water has finally arrived off the coast in full splendour; with deep blue water off most of the beaches, and a nice 20 metre wide lick the colour of a well kept swimming pool running along just off the headlands stacked with baitfish. And there are predators holding around them already, including Kingies and a few small Black beakies. Hopefully the wind will calm down and we can get out there and at them.
All of this blue water is having zero effect on Pittwater however, with predators more than scarce. In the immortal words of Pete Le Blang from Harbour and Estuary Fishing Charters, there is nothin’. Apparently the pros are still working it hard though, and that must mean there are fish around of one type or another. There have been Salmon occasionally busting up around Stokes Pt, but they are skittish, boat shy, and only occasionally hitting lures. Try small metal slices or 6” blue stickbaits. Tailor about 45cm long are also about, though hard to pick up unless you’re Johnny on the spot when they surface. Thankfully there are at least a few flathead around the mouth Pittwater, off West Head. Drifting with Whitebait or Pilchards is the key. A few smallish Flounder are about with them. The one good piece of news, is that plenty of Squid are to be found on the weed beds this week, mostly due to the fact that there are still no Kings. For Kingfish, you really need to exit Pittwaters sheltered waters and head around to Barrenjoey Pt. A few fish have been coaxed into taking rapalas and small skirts in the close washes off the point, and others have fallen to live squid set a bit further out. Those of the ‘Average Anglers’ who went as far as ‘hole in the wall’ at Avalon during their last competition over the weekend did pretty well, with four nice Kings coming in.
The harbour has fared a little better, but has also not been hugely impacted from the blue currents just offshore. At least there are a few good kings around, and this season there is some decent size to them too. Live and fresh Squid are both working a treat, as are live Yakkas. Drop any of these baits down around the Wedding Cake Markers and you should see a bit of success. There are a few squid around, but they seem patchy. When you happen upon a school you can bag out, but there may be a bit of wait time. Live Yakkas, especially larger ones, are doing particularly well around North Head and the Yellow marker buoy off Quarrantine Pt, where there are a few really good sized Kings over a metre long. Bluefish is also producing some big fish. Salmon and Tailor are around on the surface still, not really having moved from around Middle Head near Clifton Gardens as well as Balmoral. The fish are pretty boat shy, but early mornings still see them feeding actively. Stick baits and small metals have been the most successful lures, with the occasional fish hitting live squid baits. A few whiting have also come in over the last week, with Middle Harbour the hotspot. Fish as large as 35 and 38cm were taken, the former from Bantry, the latter, Pickering Point. Live Nippers or fresh worms are the prime ingredient. Stacks of small Flatties are about on the drifts inside the harbour, with most the fish just over legal length. The inside of Quarrantine Pt has seen plenty of them, where there are also a few small but legal Reds.
Now that the blue water has arrived for real, things are hotting up offshore. Close in, there is a stack of baitfish, including Yakkas, pencil Slimies, and surprisingly, a few baby bonito around 10cm long. All of the bait is feeding on the surface in massive schools. You may think that all of this bait would create a bit of a predatorial feeding frenzy, but the pelagics don’t seem to be balling it up at all. The Kings particularly are preferring to hold on the closer reefs and wrecks, from North Head to Barrenjoey. At least a few small black marlin have been hooked up, close to shore near the bait. Small skirted lures around 5” are the go for them, though they are a bit finicky. Dolphin Fish are also about, both in small schools near the bait, and on a few of the various trap markers and buoys around the 10 mile mark. The wave rider has seen it’s first very skittish dollies of the season already.
Out wider there are a few Striped Marlin about, some of good size, around the shelf and inside Browns.

02 – 01 - 06
The Marlin season opens, the dollies start to show their faces, and Kings over a metre long haunt the close reefs this week. It’s pretty fortunate that there is some offshore action too, given the lack of anything serious elsewhere. Pittwater is still stuck in its green water rut without any predatory fish to speak of, and the harbour is totally up and down depending on the day. Westerly winds seem to be the killer, blowing any warm surface water out off the shelf and not allowing the blue water currents to get too close to our coast.
A few Striped Marlin have been landed over the last week or so to coincide with the start of the beaky season. Regular Fish Outta Water customer Ajay headed out around Browns early in the week for a bit of action, landing four fish from 70 - 90kg. All were taken on smaller pushers 5 and 6 inches long, with green/blue patterns enjoying the most success. Closer in a few miles inside the continental shelf there were also quite a few stripes seen free jumping around schools of bait. Dolphin Fish action is still a little slow, with some solitary bulls occasionally found out wide around current lines and the first of the smaller Dollies sporadically arriving. The small dollies though have only been seen investigating berley trails off Long Reef, and they are not yet thick enough to be found holding on any of the FADs or trap marker buoys. Another week or two and we might see them there. A few rat Kings have been spotted again schooling up about a mile off a few of the northern beaches, generally well sign posted with birds aplenty onto them. Trolling has been pretty effective for them, especially using high speed pushers. Bigger Kings have also been trolled up, however the biggest fish seem to be holding deeper on wrecks and reef structure off North Head and Long Reef, they are responding well to big live baits.
The Harbour is once more a bit up and down, after showing signs of a renaissance just before Christmas. There are good days, when Kings can be found on the surface and Salmon and Tailor boil through baitfish all over the place, but the many days of heavy harbour boat traffic have put the fish down and they are now incredibly spooky. The kings that are still on the bite can be found on many harbour structures, especially the Wedding Cake markers and the yellow marker buoy off Quarrantine. Funnily enough, fresh Squid strips are doing better than live squid at present. Downrigging however has proved fruitless this week, with many an angler towing a live squid around the harbour all day for nought other than the occasional horse Salmon. There are plenty of Squid around, probably due to this lack of rapacious predators. Flathead are also about the place in numbers, with some larger ones moving in to breed about now. Remember to release as many flatties over 70cm as you possibly can at this time, as they are mostly breeding females.
Finally to Pittwater, and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that someone is punishing Pitty for having it too good over winter and spring. There is hardly a Kingy to be found, starkly contrasting with a month or so ago, when Kingfish were being landed hand over fist. The fishing has been almost entirely limited to Bream, Flathead and Flounder, which thankfully are about in reasonable quantity. There is some blue water, which has been filtering in to Broken Bay and Brisbane Waters, but so far not into the mouth of Pittwater. Good signs are about though, with plenty of surface action on tide lines around Stokes Point early in the week. The majority of the action is from Salmon, but it suggests there are Kings not too far away!

Previous Sydney Beaches Fishing Reports....

January - December 2005
January - December 2004

FISHING REPORT BY
STEFAN HANSSON / DARREN THOMAS
FISH OUTTA WATER TACKLE STORE
SYDNEY

Sydney Harbour King


Anzac Bluefin


Autumn Amberjack


Naradas King


Lindas 42cm Whiting


Darren Thomas (Southern Calamari)

FISH OUTTA WATER
263 Condamine st. Manly Vale
or check them out online at
www.fishing.net.au

Matt Elkan and Friends (Yellowfin Tuna)

Midwinter Pittwater Kingfish

FISH OUTTA WATER
263 Condamine st. Manly Vale
or check them out online at
www.fishing.net.au


Sydney Yellowfin