# Balmoral Sunday 4th May



## paulb (Nov 12, 2006)

After waking early and finding an excuse not to go out in the predawn breeze, the kids & I got to Balmoral in time for the return of the fishing fleet & just in time for the BBQ - thanks Paul & The Sailing Scene. The weather warmed up and the girls got restless for a fish off the kayak, I hadn't expected them to be so keen and didn't have any bait with me. Johnny came to rescue with a goldy, glittery, pheromone impregnated soft plastic, that looked something like a cross between a catfish and a sprat - that plus some fresh prawns in case the sp failed. 
Out to the markers off the naval base for a slow drift - hooked a tiny tailor and two tiny flatheads - they all managed to shake themselves free, just prior to getting to the side of the yak. Tried a whole prawn - didn't attract much attention.
This time Kezza came to the rescue with a hot tip courtesy of a nearby boatie - float a small fillet of pillie totally unweighted on a small hook and be anchored at the time. So after tying up to the back of Kezza's yak and sharing his last two pilchards with me the fun began - hits straight away and hook ups shortly afterwards. Managed to convert the one pillie into three hard fighting little slimies. JT came along shortly afterwards with a load of pillies and I managed to convert them to another three slimies.
The girls had a ball - it was their job to look after the caught fish (once the hooks were out). I've no idea what they were doing, but I suspect between bathing the slimies in fresh saltwater water from a nearby rag, and feeding them the occasional pilchard, they were well looked after in their final minutes.
It was interesting how specific the fishing had to be - I had a slightly larger fillet of pillie on at one time - no hits. As soon as I started to drift off the anchor - the hits dropped off again.
Anyway the slimies made devine sashimi and my two little carnivores amazed me by devouring two fillets worth of raw fish. Some more fillets were fried with onions and the rest have been salted down for use as bait in the future.


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## Southerly (Apr 20, 2007)

Hi Paul,

My daughter was also lined up to fish but a miserable head cold put paid to that so I launched a little late at daybreak into a reasonably stiff and cold sou'wester. I headed out to the cans and drifted squid strips around, I saw the crew trolling around but did not see them with any fish at that point in time. With zero action I decided to stock the freezer with some more squid so headed inshore for a bit of sqidding. They were pretty quiet and probably flighty as most were caught at the end of a 30 mtr cast. With three fresh squid sharing an ice pack in the bucket I headed to the morings to try for trevally with a bit of berly. I put down a big squid strip on the heavy rod (20lb braid), floated a yakka strip and cast a SP on the 6lb outfit. The squid got slammed by something decent but did not hook up, it distorted the rod holder and busted the anti-reverse lever on the certate hyper so it was bigger than your average picker. I rebaited and set the strip again. A little while later the squid goes off again, this time I hook up. A spirited fight (but not legal kingy sort of fight) had me hoping for a samson or decent red, however a rat king about 50cm showed up and was released to grow up a bit. About 15 mins later I checked and resent the heavy rod again and it immediately went off and another rat king came to the yak for release. After that I was cold and tired and Paulys bacon and egg rolls were calling. So I hit the beach.

There ended up being a heap of yaks on the beach with the B&E rolls going great. I think everyone caught at least something. A big thanks to Pauly for the bacon and eggs and chance to meet a few of the regularls such as Keza and Bazoo for the first time. The following was also spotted on the front deck of johnnys yak.









David


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

What a great day down at Balmoral today , and thanks to Paulie and Barnsie and Kurley of Sailing Scene for organising a great little get together, the weather after a very cold start was lovely and warm , with an early cooling breeze and sun and clear clean water and great company . There is no doubt about it , the people on this kayak forum are the warmest most friendly happy group of people you would ever wish to meet  , except for Barnsie who stole my walking stick :shock: :shock: that i am temporatrily sporting, to do the sailing briefing . The bacon and egg sambos were superb and the talk animated and friendly with much laughter and good humour. Not very many fish were caught , and this was dissapointing as there were about 20 or so kayakers out there trying their hearts out , i would have loved to see someone bring in a good hoodlum. SBD got a nice flounder close to the beach , and he really earned it , as i dont know anyone that fishes harder than Dave , Kraley was taking home his bait to cook , and apparently it wasnt too good , not a sioux chef Ken . After mornings like this , one can only say that the sport of kayak fishing is going the right way with the right people ,. thanks all who were there for a wonderful morning , and Johnny, thanks for the explination and help with your place names on your reports , its all very clear now :lol: :lol:


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Thanks Paulie and Co for organising a great day out and a special thanks to everyone that made my son max feel so welcome after his caring father had just told him to paddle back to the beach when he started to feel a bit sick.
It was a bit cold at the start and max and i headed off to the bait grounds to get some yakkas in the tube. I got half a dozen before my hand line was broken by something a bit to big. Max had a bigger bait down but failed to hook anything, he complained about his reel (mine) a few times before i took a look and found the line wound under the spool and we all know what happens next..... i even said to him 'i must be really careful i don't drop any parts'. It sunk very slowly but i could get max to go in after it.
I then put down a livie and started to head towards middlehead, in less than 100 meters the rod was bouncing and i retrieved a yakka head. This happen a couple more times and that was the end of my yakka action.
Max started to feel sick so i sent him back to the beach, we had radios so he called be every 5 mins...... dad i'm around the corner.....dad i'm at the beach......dad shall i put my kayak with the others.....dad shall i take the radio....dad i have and egg sandwich.......dad they call me mini keza......dad where are you ?

Meanwhile dad had dropped the anchor and some burley and was catching trevally, a couple of 29.5cm models, the rest under.
Also cot a couple of slimies.

Headed back in as the rest of my family arrived. After a snack and chat i thought i would take the kids out again but they had all gone for a swim, so i headed out and go as close as i could to a boat that was hauling in slimies. i was just getting huge yak so after chat with the guys on the boat i removed my split shot, dropped down a hook size and caught about 8 big slimies.

A great day out, great to meet more of the crew and see the familiars to.

cheers


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## karnage (Jan 18, 2006)

dissapointed i missed this , looked like it was a nice day out there and a good time had by all.


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

It was a yakathon - Johnny beat me by a nose to Balmoral, and people and yaks just kept arriving. Beautiful crisp morning, with just a breath of breeze. I'd left my brain in San Francisco, so it took me a while to set up - Johnny kindly donated one of his hand crafted flies to me before heading out (picture to follow Johnny). Josh (5th) arrived as I was stuffing around and got out there before me, but I ended up on the water just after first light.

A quick troll past the naval wharf snared a nice tailor (around 46cm) and to placate the wife I did a few more runs with a tailor each time. I kept the first 3, and did a couple more passes for 2 more (released). I thought it prudent to decamp to the demilitarised zone after this, and went off to not catch any squid for a bit. After achieving this, I headed out to the starboard marker off Middle Head to try for a king (or a trevally, or anything).

Fish were showing around MH, but weren't interested in my offerings. There was more breeze around the head, and it became apparent that tying off to the marker would be uncomfortable, so I threw some plastics for jack, then retreated to the sheltered side of the head. Johnny and Marty were terrorising the local tiny snapper population, and I joined them briefly before resolving to find another marker and berley up for some trevs.

Mchale had made it plain to the later arrivals that their presence was a threat to national security, so I settled for a mooring close to the beach. Set up a trail and enticed a nice flounder (37 cm) then was forced to drink coffee with Ken on the big boat. Soon the wafting scent of B&E rolls became irresistible, and it was time to indulge. A flotilla of yaks were pulled up on the beach, with a number of interested onlookers asking questions.

A fine breakfast concluded a lovely morning, some BS was spun, then I had to rejoin the grind. Onya Sailing Scene for a excellent event. I took home 3 tailor & said flounder.


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

sounds like a great morning gents, and good to hear that the weather, company and bacon and egg rolls were all first class..

Again, I was a no-show due to family commitments. Grrrrrrrr. :twisted:

mmmmmmmm bacon and egg rolls....... :lol:


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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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## johnny (Aug 12, 2007)

3/5/8 lesbionic dreams of johnny in the playboy mansion interrupted by having to go to North Harbour
5.30am launch
Meet Southerly at Dobroyd-Haemarroyd
Choppy
Cold wind in face more pleasant than warm wind from back
Tunes slip into my head-olde englishe sea shanties
Sing Sir Walter Raleigh's classic"bird's eye fish fingers"
Then Blackbeard's "Spongebob Squarepants"
Then fish to Dvorak-you know how he goes-"da da da da-da-da da da da da da-da da ..da da da da da eeeh..da-da eeeh"

Southerly teaches grasshopper how to get trevors...we catch 1,247 micro snapper

On way back,we meet Demis the Manace with 1958 clinker row boat-jigging with $1.29 handline
We admire his crinkle edged spanokopita"Ah,I have a tool for making that"and he pulls his false teeth
We admire his doughnuts but leave before he can show us his tool for that

That night restless-big day tomorrow
Meeting superstars

5am launch
Wearing roadkill to keep warm
5th November arrives in repainted Partridge Family bus ,then SBD
SBD puts us onto tailor at McHale's
Hey,there's Kraley,,,Marty75,,,Southerly,,O.T.E...
I'm in heaven
I ask Marty how does he go to the toilet-he assures me his new snakeskins are waterproof and will hold everything in
Smell brekkie 300 metres out
Hey Paulb,Keza,Barnsie...The mighty Bazzoo!
Barnsie boasts saving for lay by for Christmas on $3 "reduced" ryobie K mart line with deposit from mum
Speachless-lovely
Trimaran hobie race
Thick sausages not ponce ones
7 keepers
Massive thankyou to Sailing Scene,Hobie
johnny


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

he he he he he Johnny you wordsmith you he he he he , i tried to get a photo of you in that sheep coat you had on , but it kept moving and munching grass no wonder you were warm :shock: , should that jacket ever fall pregnant ,. i would love one of the lambs :lol:


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## tugboat (Nov 15, 2006)

It was a great day to be out... I was all set...    then had to pull out at the last minute due to other commitments I forgot about in my excitement in getting out with the AKFF crew. The boss reminded me a few days before Sunday  
Looks like everyone had a great morning and good to see the fish are about.


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## fisherdan (Apr 17, 2007)

What a great day out Guys! Sorry I could not get there Pauly.

Great work Kezza! Don't encourage Max to much or he'll lose interest! Make him want it, and all your gear!

Nice Flounder Dave, lemon and butter?

Ken, which side do you fish off that contraption??

Who's that in the hot pants on the beach??


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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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QlpoOTFBWSZTWaYKiRkAABFfgAAQQAUAALQoEAAv598QIAB1Faaj0yj0QPSB6mQiZNT1PU0ZBpoeUaGNAIaWZjiJ+OjZ1SwrIlvSAU1JHYIlXRw4mApynuYs+7o969kfipCxiHy0hKh3ZhUahGcw1iWIyEkxKV8Asaw7U55Jq6fi7kinChIUwVEjIA==


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

ken said some thing like "rolls royce doesn't race" as he drifted past me on the yak. :lol:


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Leigh , Ken showed a lot of early form , but that was before he got on the boat , he was in fact the favourite for the event due in part to his naughtygirl experiance :shock: , Oh sorry , i think i misspelt that word i meant nautical , however , he did fade early i n the piece , and that was when the start gun went , i think one would say , his arse was in fact handed to him on a platter , and in fact he failed to finish , but took his defeat like a true sailor and just broke down crying . :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Pauly (Jun 28, 2006)

What a cracker of a morning!







Turned up at 5:30 to a fleet of Kayaks all rigging up outside the Balmoral Baths, a little chilly in the SW breeze but got set up quickly and we were on the water at 6....








Pedaling around to the Naval Base I met Johnny and Josh telling me the tailor were schooling and i was about to hook up on my cd-7 "qantas" and within seconds a 35cm tailor was on, landed and released.... a promising start to the morning!
With reports over the past week of trevally around I made the call to tie up to a mooring just off the naval base and start to berley up, I had Phil and Carly raft up and casting a 3" Atomik clear plastic with sparkles through it landed me a 32cm Trev which became Lunch....








And a small snapper...







Both Phil and Carly landed tiny snapper and acouple of flatties using squid strips but no more trevally. 
We were politely asked to vacate the Naval Waters by the Naval Patrol Boat and with the breeze quite cold we decided to go for a troll back to the beach to see if Barnsey needed a hand with the bbq...








With Barnsey busy rigging Islands Phil Jumped on bbq duties (Cheers Phil ;-) ) and with in half a hour the fleet was landed back on the beach and hungrily feasting on Bacon and egg rolls!


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## Pauly (Jun 28, 2006)

With the morning fishing winding down it was time to get the Islands on the water and Kraley was the first to get going taking our demo for a "extended test drive  " cutting some impressive hot laps around the moorings (Bazz you've got some serious competition!)








Barnsey gave a quick briefing with the aid of Bazzos walking stick and some wet sand as a drawing board, and the fleet was off!








There was some tight racing amongst the sharp end of the field and everyone came back in smiling..
It was great to see everyone out there, On final count for the day we had 22 Fishing Yaks and 10 Island so a good turn out for the morning!








I can see this becoming a regular event and we'll be looking to have the next bash coming into summer... Stay tuned!


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## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

On The Edge said:


> We were politely asked to vacate the Naval Waters by the Naval Patrol Boat


"Politely" was it? That would be a first.

Looks like a good time was had, sorry I missed it. Will definitely come next year.


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## Pauly (Jun 28, 2006)

A couple more photos....
domn8r with his first fish for the day a nice Tailor ~








Here's Johnny ~







and his catch~









onemorecast said:


> On The Edge said:
> 
> 
> > We were politely asked to vacate the Naval Waters by the Naval Patrol Boat
> ...


The patrol boat was there more to move on the 2 stink boaters that had pulled up inside naval waters, he did come over and pay me a visit asking if I realised i was tied up to a naval mooring :? I was told if I stayed outside of the line between the moorings we were ok.








Carly's bite size snapper


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## Marty75 (Oct 23, 2007)

Here's my report guys,

Yeah it was a cracker of a morning last Sunday at Balmoral. It was my first time fishing there and I arrived at 05:30, met a few new faces from AKFF and launched at 06:00. It was a cold morning but my new Sharkskin pants and a loaned Hobie spray jacket from Paulie made made it a lot more comfortable and toasty. I can recommend them both for the upcoming winter. I paddled out and noticed Johhny fishing just off the front of the naval base in his familiar orange Revo (same as mine  ) He mentioned that the tailor were on and that he was having success with small soft plastics. I changed to a 3" lime Gulp power minnow and my first cast resulted in a 25cm pinkie. A couple of casts later and I was onto a nice 34cm tailor. Having fished the Parramatta River lately it was nice to catch some edible fish for a change and the tailor was quickly bled and in my cooler bag.










Others were catching tailor all around me but it wasn't long before they went off the bite. My soft plastic was still intact and had accounted for a couple more small pinkies. Johnny and I pedaled down what he called Sesame Street  and came across SBD and 5th of November fishing out further. I caught my first stinky pike which inhaled my jig head and mangled the soft plastic beyond recognition. No more success for me so decided to pedal back to shore where a welcome BBQ kindly provided by Sailing Scene awaited.



















The bacon and egg roll hit the spot and it was great to catch up with some of the gathered AKFFers before the Adventure Island race kicked off. The gathered Hobie throng attracted a lot of attention from passers by (Hobie's always seem to) and it wasn't long before the AI's took off at a frantic pace.










Johnny and I as well as Paulie and a couple of others decided to have another crack at fishing and it was a really nice day to be on the water. The wind had died down and so had the fishing. There were schools of slimey mackerel around which loved soft plastics and small trolled HB's and I caught 3 of them before calling it a day. The tailor tasted great freshly cooked that night - lightly dusted fillets fried in olive oil, one of the slimey fried fillets not so great, but the other 2 sets of slimey fillets were awesome in the smoker.










Thanks again to Paulie and the Sailing Scene team for organising a great day out and I'm looking forward to fishing Balmoral again.

Marty


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## Guest (May 7, 2008)

Paulb and the kids enjoying a fantastic morning









SBD and his ripper little flounder - catch of the day I reckon









Marty75 with Johnny in the background - it was a tailor-fest right at that moment.









This is pretty typical of the tailor being caught









One of a couple of races we had on the islands. Shame about the lack of wind... thank heavens for pedal power.

A few more photos and my write up here:
http://yakabout.com.au/home/content/view/381/54/

Great to meet everyone there and put faces to the names. There's a really strong social element among the sydney AKFF members and I had a lot of fun participating. Kudos to Pauly, Barnsie, Curly & co for putting on such a great day. Even the weather played nice


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## Cuda (Sep 18, 2006)

Looks like you all had a great day folks  Would have loved to have been there to meet some of the superstars of AKFF, as per the wordsmith Johnny's usual enjoyable post  Good to finally see a pic of Bazz too - now there's an old salt :lol: ;-)


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Cuda said:


> Looks like you all had a great day folks , Good to finally see a pic of Bazz too - now there's an old salt :lol: ;-)


Your very right there Mark , and you may note the way hes leaning on that paddle , as Barnsie had stolen my walking stick that is currently replacing a torn achilles tendon , its just as well Barnsie is such a good bloke , or i would have given him such a slap . :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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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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## Pauly (Jun 28, 2006)

redphoenix said:


> bazzoo said:
> 
> 
> > Your very right there Mark , and you may note the way hes leaning on that paddle , as Barnsie had stolen my walking stick that is currently replacing a torn achilles tendon , its just as well Barnsie is such a good bloke , or i would have given him such a slap . :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
> ...


Bazz is the injured one..... however Barnsey did have a small stack last night on the VF1000


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

On The Edge said:


> redphoenix said:
> 
> 
> > bazzoo said:
> ...


Bazz is the injured one..... however Barnsey did have a small stack last night

Gee Paulie , imagine how many stacks he'll have AFTER he takes the training wheels off, what a KLUTZ


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