# Balmoral 080907



## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

PaulB & I got down to Balmoral just after 0500 and were greeted by the traditional downpour. Didn't last long though, and we were on the water soon after 0530. We headed over to near the Naval wharf (dodging snipers) where there was lots of activity on the sounders, and I quickly caught a trevally (31cm), and a number of XOS yakkas (~35cm). We hung around there for half an hour or so, then headed out to the reef off Middle Head.

Fairly big swell and no activity on the sounder soon had us heading for a mooring back round near Balmoral, where we berleyed up for Australia. I got another trev on squid, a few more yakkas and a nice squid (22cm mantle) on a gulp 4" minnow in watermelon pearl. The gulp was taking all kinds of things - yakkas(!), small snapper, a tailor (undersize) and the squid. Changed to a pink gulp, not a touch. I had a fresh yakka fillet out, and heard the baitrunner go off, then had a pretty spirited battle with what turned out to be a shovelnose ray (1m est). Got her (no claspers) in for a quick snap then sent her on her way (are these edible? :wink: ).

We moved off the mooring and drifted around where we saw some minor bird action, but no fish action. JT finally roused himself from his slumbers and joined us around 0930. We all headed over to Grotto Pt to try the washes over there. I trolled along the point for zip, but came upon a pod of dolphins off the beach (are these edible?). There would have been 12 of them, playing in the swell and slapping the water with their tails (fish herding?). They swam in closer to check me out - fabulous. Very difficult to get a decent photo in the swell though.

Headed back through the washes for a couple of tailor (kept one), to find a slightly disconsolate JT... He was having mirage drive issues (not the reason for his disconsolation) as well, and decided to head back to B. Paul and I took the scenic route back, picking up a few pike around the northern end of B. Bacon and egg rolls concluded a pleasant morning.


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## MangoX (Feb 18, 2006)

Great report and pics guys

nice to see the dolphins come in so close...

those shovelnose are just as ugly as the banjo sharks... :? 
not too sure on their eating qualities...


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Well done Dave. Can't wait to read the cause of John's disconsolation.

PM me for dolphin recipes


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## Flump (Apr 17, 2006)

Great report Dave, you got the Dolphin photo I couldn't get the day before  , I just wasn't quick enough with the point and press. Sounds like a very fishy trip out there with plenty of action   .
Cheers.......Nick


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## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

Great Report Nick,

Sounds like a good variety of fish.


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## JT (May 25, 2006)

Hit Balmoral at about 8:30. Fought my way through the usual pack of people fascinated by the yak and the mirage drive and launched. Today was going to be a big day. I had spent the evening prior blending the buggery out of a new batch of burley (yes I do have access to the blender again 8) ). A new recipe I was trying. Headed out past the boats and spotted a couple of yaks in the distance. A blue one and a double at that. Must be Paul I thought. Peddled on over and had a chat. Seemed the fellas had been burleying for a good 2 hours with little to no result. Didn't bode too well I thought. Had a chat to Silent But Deadly who had bought in a mixed bag of sea creatures over the morning. We all decided to head over to the Grotto Point over the other side of the bay under the light house and focus on the wash. I was dragging a Gulp Alive 5 inch Shad. Once the point was reached I started tossing a Halco twisty 15 gram into the wash. The weather was a little testy at this point with the swell at a good meter plus and some really choppy waves. Suddenly the twisty hooks up and a 35 cm tailor is subsequently given a personalised guided tour of the '06 Hobie Outback and my hook-removing-pliers.

The wind by this point was at about 15 knots. Suddenly the rod with the Gulp Alive buckles over and the the reel starts spinning. Such was the pressure that I actually had difficulty getting it out of the rod holder. A 10 minute scrap kicks off. Every meter I take the fish seems to take 3. I hear Kraley in the back of my head shouting "don't horse it man, don't horse it"! from a previous Balmoral outing and so I take it easy. The fish goes straight down and sits on the bottom but suddenly I am making ground when BAM! it's gone. I must say that that was very disappointing  . There's your disconsolation for you.

Mirage drive making odd noises and so decided to head back to the relative calmness of the bay in the hope that it didn't fail leaving me in crappy seas far from land having to use that paddle thingy. Anchored up off the Naval base and burleyed something rotten with some squid on the hook. Nought. Moved into the bay and burleyed for New Zealand (go the All Blacks). To my amazement I hooked an octopus on the Gulp Shad I had hanging over the side!

Called it quits at about 11:30. Had a chat to Dave and Paul and inspected the mirage drive to find a pin had worked its way out of a key piece of the drive. Many thanks to On The Edge (Paul) at Sailing Scene for the usual great customer service. Fixed in 5 mins.

Nice to be out there and nice to bump into a couple of fellow AKFFers.

JT


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## deano (Nov 26, 2006)

Nice going guys.

I ate one of those shovelnose rays in Queensland a few years ago and it was pretty good (it was maybe 65cm long). Some people refer to it a shovelnose shark, and that is what the flesh tastes like - flake. Definitely recommend it.


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## lazydays (Aug 30, 2005)

_came upon a pod of dolphins off the beach (are these edible?)._

Bit like a cross between koala bear and dugong, best done with a squeeze of lemon.


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

I reckon koala with lemon would be great for those winter sniffles.

Anyone got a decent dolphin rig (I'm not allowed to use a longline apparently)?


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## JT (May 25, 2006)

redphoenix said:


> Slowish day guys. Tough luck on the missed fish JT. I'd probably barrack for a kingie too - though it could have been a whopper flathead maybe?
> 
> Red.


Thanks Red. Twas a King I'd wager. A brute of a thing that actually pulled me side ways for the first 30 seconds until I could get the rod out and rudder working. There was water lapping over the side of the Outback for the first 20 secs or so as I went sideways and couldn't get the rod out. Then I settled in to a cracker session of give and take with the drag set quite mildly as I set about tiring the fish. High on adrenalin with expectations I procceded to play the beast. Then in an instant it was gone after about 10 minutes  . Gone I tell you  . Gone just like that  . 10 pound foreline and 19 pound leader. Cut on the rocks I'd say. They say that the attraction of fishing is the continual prospect of catching something but I have to tell you that I sat there for 5 minutes using the F word and feeling very unhappy. Next time.........oh yes next time.......

JT


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Nice day out guys,
I believe the shovel nose is a member of the shark family and very edible. I'll dig up a fishing book tonight and find out for sure.

Cheers dave


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