NAGG
25-05-2008, 09:01 PM
Hi all .....
With what was looking like a fairly good day ..... I decided to leave Ausfish alone this morning & go have a fish
A quick phone call to my mate Paul to see if he was interested ..... DONE! ..... had us on the water around 10.30am
Rather than fishing the productive radioactive waste dump ( Cooks River), I decided on looking for some Oyster crunching numbers:P Off to my favorite racks in Woolooware bay ( home of my PB). With a making tide , I was feeling pretty confident ....... however after an hour or so without a touch , I'm scratching my head .... What to do , What to do ?:-/
Woolooware bay is littered with abandoned racks , rails & posts ( makes places like Monduran look like a cow paddock) ...... Its very shallow in most parts <1M & is fringed with mangroves & oyster encrusted boulders ........ With the tide up , we agreed that a little exploring was called for
maneuvering through the old post & rails on the leccy27527 ... had us in the fringing mangroves & casting into some pretty hairy country ( oyster covered mangrove roots & rocks) ...... It wasn't too long before I landed a nice bream on a 3" Atomic prong27528 ..... & then another , both pulled out of the mangrove roots ...... Not bad I'm thinking! ........ Pauls casting away using various gulp minnows , but not even getting a touch ! ........ we get a bit of a sunshower & everything goes calm! ...... hmmm, me thinking time to play Russian roulette ( I've decided to break out the long wand) ..... Its been while so I make a few practice casts before I pick my target (a gap between a snag & a mangrove tree) ...... 2 or 6 false casts .... & I'm there! ...... The Olive wooly bugger slowly sinks into about 2 foot of water & its smashed ........ The 4 wt Sage loads up with the fish running to open water27529 ,,,,, what a lucky break! ....... not too long & a nice bream is netted ( my first on fly) ....... I'm doing the jump for joy! ..... Some pics & a measure27531 , my day has been made! ...... Paul persists!!!!
About 5 mins later ..... I'm on again ! ..... This time the fish runs for the cover of the mangroves , but I managed to turn it before it shredded the 10lb FC tippet ...... Yippee No 227532 ...... & Paul persists!
With the tide starting to fall we decide to move to a little bay around the corner ....... I have never seen so many flatones do the bolt ( 3 feet of water & quite clear) ........ Nothing was really happening though .... & besides nearly stranding the Hornet in mud .... we headed over to the entrance area to what looked like big rocks that are just covered with Oysters ( Actually they are leases) ...... As we move into this shallow rock strewn area , we notice big bow waves scattering over what looks like about 1 foot of water :-/ they were huge bream:o We tried poppers as everything else would snag up ...... but we couldn't get within 30M of them .. As we moved around ( nearly crashing into some old rails) we managed to get a nice natural drift along what seems to be a man made rock wall that is around 1 foot below the surface. Its here that we see several very very big bream:P ..... BIG BLUE NOSE jobs that were well into the 45cm + zone! ..... We had some casts but they were too spooky
We continued to move around this area ..... & I manage a couple more 30cm bream & several flatones ( 40-45cm) ... on an SX40 ...... & Paul persists!
With the tide getting pretty low ..... it was getting difficult fish effectively .. but I was attracted to these natural oyster covered rock shoals that were exposed & surrounded by only 1-2 feet of water ....... As we drift along , I pick up another couple of flatones (30-35cm) on a prong ....... drifting along avoiding old posts that seemed to be everywhere I make a backhanded cast towards a rock shoal ..... between a gap in another rock shoal ........ TAP TAP , pause TAP TAP ...... I hit it! a couple winds & I'm thinking a better flatone (no dramas) , then it explodes :o "HOLY CRAP!" ... Paul yells! This thing has its back out of the water ..... It's ripping line from the Certate as if its in free spool ..... & runs straight under the only standing rail in the immediate area ...... SHITE! the line breaks ( 10 M of braid is stuffed) ........ I wont guess the size but it certainly may have been the biggest bream I have seen ......... & It certainly made me look second rate!
With that out of the way ...... & I couldn't be bothered with tying on a new leader ..... It was coffee & quits time!
WHAT A PLACE ....... It was hard work on the leccy , but I cant wait to get back there on a bigger tide ( maybe anchor , so as not to spook the fish) & pepper the area with SPs & HBs ........ There were some crackers in that last 1 Hectare area around the shoals
Gotta love those Oyster munchin bluenose bream8-)
Cheers
Nagg
With what was looking like a fairly good day ..... I decided to leave Ausfish alone this morning & go have a fish
A quick phone call to my mate Paul to see if he was interested ..... DONE! ..... had us on the water around 10.30am
Rather than fishing the productive radioactive waste dump ( Cooks River), I decided on looking for some Oyster crunching numbers:P Off to my favorite racks in Woolooware bay ( home of my PB). With a making tide , I was feeling pretty confident ....... however after an hour or so without a touch , I'm scratching my head .... What to do , What to do ?:-/
Woolooware bay is littered with abandoned racks , rails & posts ( makes places like Monduran look like a cow paddock) ...... Its very shallow in most parts <1M & is fringed with mangroves & oyster encrusted boulders ........ With the tide up , we agreed that a little exploring was called for
maneuvering through the old post & rails on the leccy27527 ... had us in the fringing mangroves & casting into some pretty hairy country ( oyster covered mangrove roots & rocks) ...... It wasn't too long before I landed a nice bream on a 3" Atomic prong27528 ..... & then another , both pulled out of the mangrove roots ...... Not bad I'm thinking! ........ Pauls casting away using various gulp minnows , but not even getting a touch ! ........ we get a bit of a sunshower & everything goes calm! ...... hmmm, me thinking time to play Russian roulette ( I've decided to break out the long wand) ..... Its been while so I make a few practice casts before I pick my target (a gap between a snag & a mangrove tree) ...... 2 or 6 false casts .... & I'm there! ...... The Olive wooly bugger slowly sinks into about 2 foot of water & its smashed ........ The 4 wt Sage loads up with the fish running to open water27529 ,,,,, what a lucky break! ....... not too long & a nice bream is netted ( my first on fly) ....... I'm doing the jump for joy! ..... Some pics & a measure27531 , my day has been made! ...... Paul persists!!!!
About 5 mins later ..... I'm on again ! ..... This time the fish runs for the cover of the mangroves , but I managed to turn it before it shredded the 10lb FC tippet ...... Yippee No 227532 ...... & Paul persists!
With the tide starting to fall we decide to move to a little bay around the corner ....... I have never seen so many flatones do the bolt ( 3 feet of water & quite clear) ........ Nothing was really happening though .... & besides nearly stranding the Hornet in mud .... we headed over to the entrance area to what looked like big rocks that are just covered with Oysters ( Actually they are leases) ...... As we move into this shallow rock strewn area , we notice big bow waves scattering over what looks like about 1 foot of water :-/ they were huge bream:o We tried poppers as everything else would snag up ...... but we couldn't get within 30M of them .. As we moved around ( nearly crashing into some old rails) we managed to get a nice natural drift along what seems to be a man made rock wall that is around 1 foot below the surface. Its here that we see several very very big bream:P ..... BIG BLUE NOSE jobs that were well into the 45cm + zone! ..... We had some casts but they were too spooky
We continued to move around this area ..... & I manage a couple more 30cm bream & several flatones ( 40-45cm) ... on an SX40 ...... & Paul persists!
With the tide getting pretty low ..... it was getting difficult fish effectively .. but I was attracted to these natural oyster covered rock shoals that were exposed & surrounded by only 1-2 feet of water ....... As we drift along , I pick up another couple of flatones (30-35cm) on a prong ....... drifting along avoiding old posts that seemed to be everywhere I make a backhanded cast towards a rock shoal ..... between a gap in another rock shoal ........ TAP TAP , pause TAP TAP ...... I hit it! a couple winds & I'm thinking a better flatone (no dramas) , then it explodes :o "HOLY CRAP!" ... Paul yells! This thing has its back out of the water ..... It's ripping line from the Certate as if its in free spool ..... & runs straight under the only standing rail in the immediate area ...... SHITE! the line breaks ( 10 M of braid is stuffed) ........ I wont guess the size but it certainly may have been the biggest bream I have seen ......... & It certainly made me look second rate!
With that out of the way ...... & I couldn't be bothered with tying on a new leader ..... It was coffee & quits time!
WHAT A PLACE ....... It was hard work on the leccy , but I cant wait to get back there on a bigger tide ( maybe anchor , so as not to spook the fish) & pepper the area with SPs & HBs ........ There were some crackers in that last 1 Hectare area around the shoals
Gotta love those Oyster munchin bluenose bream8-)
Cheers
Nagg