# Port Hacking this Saturday.....a couple of options



## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

Anyone keen for a yak/fish this Saturday am? It's been a few weeks (TOO LONG) since I've been out so I'm keen to get out..

I was thinking my side of town for those that haven't been over this way.

At this stage I'm thinking of a launch at either Grays Point or Burraneer Bay.

Grays Point Option - Launch at Swallow Rock Reserve and fish the quiet river section of the upper Port Hacking River for flatties, whiting, bream and the chance of an Estuary Perch or Jewfish around the wier at Audley... shallow popper fishing, trolling, flicking lures or drifting/casting soft plastics are all on offer.. its a nice paddle, very protected from the wind and (hopefully!) some good fish..

Burraneer Bay Option - The more open deeper section of the Port. Launch at Dolans Bay or Water Street boat ramp and paddle up the bay trolling around the moored boats and around the sandflats / dropoffs. Kingfish, salmon, tailor are on offer here. A short paddle across to the sandflats and pumping some nippers for drifting the channel / sandflats for flathead, whiting and bream. Also popper fishing and casting/trolling small lures is on offer over the weedbeds and shallows.

Location will depend on whether the wind is blowing.

Let me know if you're keen and your preferred option.


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## JT (May 25, 2006)

What time on and off the water are you thinking about Dave?

JT


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## FishinDan (Jul 3, 2006)

Davey - Hope you have a good trip. Haven't fished the Hacking properly in many many years! Having grown up fishing there, there were so many good places we used to fish...

Some of the ones I remember, I've thrown into this picture for you. Not sure if it's still the same, but ya never know... (This is mainly bait fishing as I never used to fish SP's there when growing up - Except a Mr Twister occassionally, but we wont go there)

The areas are as follows:-

*Yellow* - Mackeral, Tailor, Kingies, Snapper, Bream, Luderick, etc - Trolling small HB's should get you the Tailor, Snapper & Bream. If you can bait jig up some slimeys (or small handline with bread/pillie bait), then troll them around the headlands live with a 8/0 hook through it's nose. There's some MONSTER fish around there... Live squid trolled around is also deadly

*Green *- Flatties, Bream, Jewies - Using yabbies pumped from the red area works very well here on the Flatties & Bream. Live mullet kicking around on the edge of the channel works for Jewies. SP's cast around the rocks would tempt the Bream.

*Red* - Yabbies are everywhere here. Pumping yabbies at low tide, removing their claw, and fishing them live on an incoming tide is a killer for big whiting. Also the prolific Soldier Crabs make awesome bait for the whiting as well. Remove the claw on these also seemed to help with the Whiting. Bream will take both of these baits with gusto as well. Big Flatties will thump the yabbies without blinking too. Live poddies will get the biggest Flatties

*Grey* - Whiting and Flathead are your main stay here. Use the same baits as for Red section

*Pink* - Squire, Bream, Jewies, Kingies - Have caught all of these in this spot at one time or another. Find the deep holes in the main channel, and fish into them. Live bait always fished the best here. Mullet was the standard, but slimeys also work well. Fresh squid strips works very well here for the Squire/Bream as does fresh mullet fillet strips.

Any dead baits you use, make sure they are FRESH! Fresh baits is what keeps catching the fish in hard fished waters. I used to run up to the fresh seafood market near the 711 in Cronulla to get baits. Either the night before (and stored in fridge) or on the morning.

Good luck, and hope some of this helps a little.


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Dan , your a top fella for doing that map , as a port fisherman its much appreciated, did you ever fish the top end of hacking around swallow rock or the weir, and how do you think poppers would go around darook park and down to the baths for whiting, i would love to catch some whiting on poppers,


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## FishinDan (Jul 3, 2006)

I was at a wedding at Darook Park the other weekend (When you were all at Barlings). We were up on the top of the grassed hill to the east of the actual beach. Directly below the clifftop there, there was a massive expanse of flats with weed, rock, little holes, etc. If you were going to be throwing poppers, that's probably were I would be focussing.

Also over the flats at Mainbar on top of the yabby beds there. Look for weed/rock patches, and throw up behind them. That way as you bloop it back, it will go over the top of them, and any fish in the vicinity would have heard it coming. Bait fish coming out of weed beds dont last long normally :wink:


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

OK, weather permitting (ie if it's not blowing a gale) my plan now is to launch at Dolans Bay ramp around 6.30 and troll/cast a few lures around the head of the bay. I've caught a few kingfish here and there's also thumper flatties over the sandbanks.

AS it will be semi-low tide I'm then going to pump some nippers and drift the shallows casting poppers/sp's and dragging a nipper along with the drift, hoping for some big whiting and flatties.

I'll work my way down to the head of South West arm and fish the flats and dropoffs across there and across to Lilli Pilli. This is a regular tailor spot and again theres the chance of some good flathead. At the dropoff near Lilli Pilli there's often bait schools getting slammed by bigger stuff, so hopefully that will be the case tomorrow.

Planned launch at 6.30am at Dolans Bay Boat Ramp (Wallys Wharf) which is at the end of Port Hacking Road, CAringbah/ Lilli Pilli. I'll need to be off the water around 10-10.30 at the latest.

Fishin Dan, yes all the other spots still work pretty well (your nipper spot on the map was a bit off) but the spots I'm hitting tomorrow (although its a pretty busy part of the waterway) still produce some good fish.


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