Fishing Pittwater Saturday. The morning was still so I went after bream as it was high tide . Two nice bream in two hours plus plenty of small reds to keep me entertained . I was using 1000 reel , 6 lb leader , 4 lb braid and 2 kg rod . The jig head was 1/12 oz with 2.5″ gulp shrimp in new penny colour . I decided to fish deep , 6 -7 metres as the water was dirty from the rain .
I went out in the afternoon at 4.30 just to try for a jewfish . After about an hour with nothing I hooked this small Jewie which was exciting . Then along came a school of bait fish followed by some rat kings so I threw the 5 ” soft plastic at them and hooked up a rat kingside which gave me a lot of fight . That was the day . The last two were caught on a 5″ Berkeley gulp jerk shad in pearl white , 3/0 hook and 1/4 oz jig head . I fished in 10-12 metres water amongst the moored boats .enjoy the photos . Videos to come later .
Second day fishing we went to try new spots . So over to the other side of the lake to coal point and drift the reef bed towards Toronto .
After two long drifts we had nothing so we went over to green point . It was a rising tide now so we drifted along the bank and we were casting towards the rising shore . Finally one fish in the boat and then another strike with a big flathead that took the drag on a long run . She somehow got off .
Late afternoon we went out again and now it was a falling tide . The three of us bagged 8 flathead and one big 40 cm bream . The gear we used was 2500 reel , 8 lb braid and 10 lb leader . A 3/0 hook with 5″ soft plastic , 1/4 oz jig head . One used a 2/0 hook with 1/4 oz jig head and 3 ” clear jerk shad . The other colours were pearl white and pink . One of the flathead was a big girl at 64 cm so a nice photo and back she went .
Like anywhere you have to find spots according to the tide . Rising tide hit the flats or the drop offs near the flats . Falling tide hit the drop offs or deeper water near drop offs . This is where they will be .
If you are fishing Flats then hit them on the last of the run up and first of the run out . Other times mostly a waste of time.
This morning I took our next door neighbours grand son fishing , to teach him the finer points of soft plastic fishing for flathead .
The wind was blowing again so a tough lesson , and into the fast running water channel we went .
casting against the wind and bringing the lure back with the tide and drifting fast was a hard first session for him . As luck would have it he landed the first fish in the boat . And it was his first on a soft plastic . See the photo . So he caught it , cleaned it and ate it for dinner . You can’t get better than that for a 13 year old . Great to see things go right occasionally .
We caught two more and that was the story for the day . I have to go back to Sydney for a day .
Had the opportunity to go out for a couple of hours this afternoon , mainly to fuel the boat for tomorrow , but who can pass up a fish when on the wind was blowing and I had half an hour before low tide so I thought I would fish a 5″ soft plastic for a jewie . Give it an hour I said to myself . Just on dead low I hooked a nice school Jewish in Pittwater . It was amongst the boats in some deep water . No other bites at all . So off I went to get out of the wind . I drifted the northern side of Scotland island and I hooked the biggest whiting I have seen in Pittwater . It was 43 cm . I counted it even though I hooked it in the belly . Then I hooked a small baby snapper on the 5″ soft plastic as I drifted over a drop off . Not a bad two hours fishing ! There is a video on each of the catches below . All fish were released . There are plenty of fish at the moment . Flathead , bream , snapper , kingies, etc . Use my tips and you will catch them in Pittwater .
Fishing on Sunday . High tide was 8.12 am so I fished from 7 am till 10 am .weather was perfect , overcast and no wind .It took till my 6 th different spot before I caught anything decent other than a couple of small reddies . On the 6 th spot I caught 4 flathead in a row ,from 9.15 to 9.45 and then they stopped . One 44 cm is now in the freezer for later. Another 30 cm , 38 cm and a big girl 64 cm all went back . Once you find a flathead often there are others around especially if there is a big girl there . Remember if you catch one over 60 cm put it back as they breed all the others for us . The spot I caught them on was fishing towards the rocky shore . I started out at 35 ft and drifted towards the shore which went up to 14 ft. So you can see that this was a sloping drop off from shore to deep . The fish were sitting on the slope waiting to attack anything that came from the shore , as it was a run out tide now .All of them were caught with the 5 ” soft plastic ,pearl glow colour, 8 lb leader ,6 lb braid , and 2500 reel . I used this as I was hoping for a kingie to come along .The lesson here though is to keep moving spots if you are not getting anything. Don’t leave it for more than 15 or 20 minutes before moving and when you do hit a spot that works , note the tide because at another part of the tide it may not work .use your sounder to get the lay of the bottom and depths .
One boat caught a small jewie which he threw back , good to see in Pittwater , near Scotland island . He was using bait .Another young fisho in Pittwater was lure fishing for bream with 4 lb leader and a 90 cm flathead grabbed the fish . After what seemed like an hour he boated the big girl and then let it go . Well done to him .
No birds working this morning to find kingies .