# NSW Green Cape 3rd - 4th July looking for new ground



## Slacker (Mar 19, 2009)

I headed down to Cape Green with Booyah on the weekend looking to explore some new fishing grounds. I arrived Friday afternoon at about 3:30 with the view to get in a quick session before dark. After quickly setting up camp I did a quick look around for the most likely launch spot and found a short path down to the small beach area in the bay. 
The path down was a little steep so I packed light to quickly get underway. Once on the water I threw out a 5" nuclear chicken as I peddled my way out of the bay and within 50 meters of the beach I was on to my first fish of the trip, a nice fat salmon of around 2 lbs. Not a bad start&#8230;

After releasing him to join his mates schooling under the yak I continued on out of the bay. Within another couple of minutes I was on again, this time to my surprise a fairly sizable slimy mackerel had latched on to my soft plastic&#8230; Typical, only one light weight rod on board and a perfect live bait, reluctantly I sent him back with a view to snagging him or one of his mates the next morning when I was better prepared&#8230;
Once out of the bay I set up on a drift in about 40 foot of water and with ten minutes had my first snapper of the trip that measured around 45 cm. This trip was starting well. I spent the next 30 minutes drifting around for a few more smallish reds and another slimy mackerel all of which were released for another day.

Saturday morning saw us up fairly early and after a bit of portage had our yaks up and ready to go on the beach. The wind had picked up overnight but the area outside the bay was some what sheltered from the worst of it. We did a number of drifts but unfortunately the fishing was no where near as hot as the previous evening. Although we picked up the occasional rubbish fish here and there along with a few keepers things remained pretty quiet for most of the day. Late in the afternoon I headed back over to the same ground that I had fished the previous evening and with in no time I was rewarded with a nice 55cm snapper. The bite remained rather hot for the next 15 minutes but only one decent snapper came up. I also manage to miss out on a very large squid that had latched on to a live bait sitting out back, unfortunately every time it got near the yak it would let go&#8230;










On Sunday the winds had eased so we decided to troll down to Green Cape about 6 kms south with a view to hopefully pick up a tuna on the way. About half way down we were confronted with an enormous explosion in the water with my first instinct being that maybe we had accidently ventured into some naval artillery range. Turns out the explosion was actually the aftermath of a very large humpback whale breaching. It did a further two explosive launches from the water crashing down only about 100 m in front of us. An absolutely awesome sight from water level. Unfortunately a couple of noisy stink boats showed up at that point sending the whale down and killing of any more aerial antics.










We continued our troll south when suddenly the lighter of my rods trailing a 5" nuclear chicken went off. I picked it up and felt slight weight and took it for either a Snook or Pike as it was coming to the yak rather effortlessly. Id just told Booyah that it didn't seem too big as there was no real fight to speak of when all of a sudden I think the fish saw the yak and it was off to NZ. After gaining and loosing line for about 10 minutes I finally got colour. What I had mistakenly taken for a Snook had turned out to be a nice skipjack tuna. Great fun on a 1500 Diawa reel loaded with 8lb braid. Needless to say I was pretty stoked with the fight it provided.










After reaching Green Cape we drifted and trolled our way back up to Bittangabee with very little action on the way back despite lots of likely looking arches on the sounder on the way.

Booyah on the troll in front of Pulpit Rocks, a popular land based game fishing spot. The water drops to over 80 feet just off the rocks









Once back in the bay we were greeted by the sight of a pod of 15 or so dolphins hunting in the shallows at the launch site. The were having a great time herding the schools of salmon up against the beach and provided us with a great finish to the trip. We sat there and watched them for a good 20 minutes.










Overall I would have to rate Bittangabee as a fantastic area to camp and fish. It offers plenty of variety of fish species not to mention the potential to see whales, dolphins and seals up close. The bay itself offered a great launching area with absolutely no swell to contend with. The launch site necessitated a bit of work to get the kayaks down to the water level but it is well worth the effort. While we were there we only fished south of the bay but there was plenty of likely looking water to the north that we didn't get time to explore. I dare say there will be a return trip sometime in the near future.

A big thanks to Booyah for suggesting the site, a worthwhile destination


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## shiznic (May 14, 2008)

Thanks for sharing loved the photos and a great read to go with them, got to watch those whales sneaky buggers for there size.


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## Booyah (Apr 26, 2009)

Nice write-up shayne, i was hoping you would save me the effort but with the forum name of 'Slacker' i wasnt quite sure!

Yep brilliant place to visit, the bay in which you launch from is extremly well protected and would enable you to get out in most conditions. The water was also amazinly clear, you could see the bottom in 40ft+ of water. Between the seals, whales and dolphins it was pretty much like spending a day in nature documentry and the paddle down the coast to light house is really scenic.

Possibly the only downside is the depth of the water, quickly droping from 40ft..to 80ft..to 200ft, can make it a little difficult to use plastics..but live baits and jigging on the other hand hmmm yes next time gadget.

On the fishing front Slacker smoked me, i did ended up catch a few snapper but only 1 was a keeper. Awesome trip anyhow, well worth a return adventure.


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## butterfingers (Aug 21, 2009)

Sounds like a fun trip at this time of year I'd be glad the stinkboats scared off the whales or I'll be paddling the other way  Really like your outback set up is it in the rigged section? I'm still thinking of getting one as I'll be living on the goldy by the end of the year and for the comps I reckon it would be the way to go.


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## FishWhisperer (Mar 5, 2009)

Um...great read...Could anything else of happened to make it a better day........??? I ma thinking dumb and dumber oil boys, thats about it. 

Great to see the travel was worth it....Well done.


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## blueyak (Jan 20, 2009)

Good report guys it looks like great coastline. Well done on the stripey Shayne.


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## Slacker (Mar 19, 2009)

blueyak said:


> Good report guys it looks like great coastline. Well done on the stripey Shayne


G'day Stewie,

thanks mate, they go great guns on light gear... I can see why you keep downsizing...



butterfingers said:


> Sounds like a fun trip at this time of year I'd be glad the stinkboats scared off the whales or I'll be paddling the other way  Really like your outback set up is it in the rigged section? I'm still thinking of getting one as I'll be living on the goldy by the end of the year and for the comps I reckon it would be the way to go.


Howdy Butters,
For some reason I've never felt threatened when whales have passed by.. although the first time I watched one breach (interestingly enough, it was when I was fishing with Booyah for the first time) I do remember thinking I wouldn't like it to do it near the yak. On that trip we had a humpback whale and her calf pass about 20 meters from us. They seem like such gentle majestic creatures, not scary at all..

Unfortunately I don't have my Outback in the rigged kayak section, in fact I don't even think I have any photos of it fully rigged. Most of the mods I have done were pinched from others that had posted their pics in the rigged yak section anyway. Best advice is to look at as many images of rigged yaks as you can and select the ones you think you might need. 
Feel free to PM me when you get your Outback and I can run through what I think has worked for me
Cheers
Shayne


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Great reporting fellas and what a magic part of the world  Shayne that is a really good nannygai compared to the ones I've caught around Depot 8)


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## Slacker (Mar 19, 2009)

Squidder said:


> Great reporting fellas and what a magic part of the world  Shayne that is a really good nannygai compared to the ones I've caught around Depot 8)


Thanks mate, I caught a few but the others were much smaller, I think I hit a school of them..

Its a great place to fish, it has a rugged untainted feel about it...

Its a pity you couldn't join us, hope your car hunting paid off

cheers

SH


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Slacker said:


> Squidder said:
> 
> 
> > Great reporting fellas and what a magic part of the world  Shayne that is a really good nannygai compared to the ones I've caught around Depot 8)
> ...


I reckon the smaller nannies are still great eating if you don't mind dealing with smaller fish. I was thinking about you guys while car hunting on the weekend, which was pretty :? Hopefully not too long before I find the right one.


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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

Boys - great report, fabulous pics. Really cheered up my dreary work day in Sydney.

Thanks!


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Stunning - and I love the tri fecta shot on the yak !


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## Bruyaka (Nov 12, 2009)

Welldone .I know its a great location to fish and camp . I was there with my quest just after easter but couldn't drag my self away from the LBG fishing off the stones until the last day. I launched in Twofold near the chip mill and was followed and teased by a school of large kings off and on for a couple of hours . Thanhs for the report and great photos . Cheers


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