# Long Reef Wall 4/2



## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Sydney turned on a pearler this morning. Swell less than half a metre, no chop, just the hint of a breeze. Phantom, PaulB, Flump and I launched at first light and headed for the mark. Sounder was reading a steady 0.0m - transducer in the process of lifting. Bugger. Should have put some water in to try get it working but decided to go without it.

Chucked on a Bombora trolling fly (slimy pattern) and a Rapala redhead CD 9. Paddled to the mark. Arrived to see two other yakkers close by but moving off. As I was pulling in the Rapala, Paul called to me to say I was on. I was. Had a nice little fight with a fish that quickly showed itself to be a pelagic but which I couldn't identify until the 10lb line and 1.5kg of drag had finally worn it down. Bonito! My first ever and a healthy specimen at 45cm. Who's having seared bonito fillets for dinner tonight?

Changed to a 1/6oz nitro bullet jig with 1/0 hook and gulp 5" jerk shad in, what else but, nuclear chicken. Also tossed out a squid jig to see if any squid would commit suicide. Cast and retrieved the sp without being sure how deep it was going and not really knowing what was on the bottom - just trusting the mark.

One of the other yakkers morphed into Phil Welsh (yakman), who was out with his brother Paul. They had a load of yakkas and were downrigging in search of kings. Nothing to that point. We had a bit of a yarn and Phil moved on. Thanks for the offer of a livie mate.

A bit later I had left the casting rod in the rod holder while I was doing something to the other rod. A fish kindly jumped on. This was the first serious fish that I'd had on my baitcasting outfit and it was a real pleasure to use. Such a sweet drag on the Daiwa Procaster. Eventually a snapper appeared at the surface. 38cm - just right for the plate. That's the missus' dinner (doesn't like her fish rare).

After that it was very quiet. I pulled the pin at 8:30, with the other guys still out there doing battle with an assortment of reef ooglies.

Really getting into this inshore fishing now, having a bit of success. Still got to get a king, but I think I might try north head for that as I think I know how to catch squid there (Long Reef Aquatic Reserve makes squidding difficult).

Finally, a really big thanks to Bombora for the fly. That kind of sharing is unbelievable. All of you guys who took one at the Christmas drinks have a responsibility to post reports.


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## Flump (Apr 17, 2006)

As Peril has said conditions this morning were perfect for yak fishing off shore. I was a bit slow setting up and ended up chasing everyone out to the mark. On the way out I picked up a large pike on a CD7 in mackeral, which was a bit too big for a Kingie snack, so back it went.

I had a load of baby squid so started bottom bashing and soon came up with a thumb nail sized red rock cod, closely followed by a wrasse. Noticed some fish flashing just below the yak so dropped a squid strip down about 2 to 3 metres and was soon into a Sweep (a first for me  ). Ended up with five Sweep in about 15 minutes, then they figured out what was happening and disappeared :twisted: .

Went back to bottom bashing and came up with more thumb sized red rock cod, some larger wrasse and a couple of weird brown fish with a white vertical stripe on them around 25 to 30cm (no idea what they were :!: ).

All in all a great moring on the water, although I didn't get into anything bigger than the Sweep. Forgot the camera so no photo's today 

Cheers..........Nick


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## paulb (Nov 12, 2006)

Another day in paradise, caught some nicely coloured Wrasse and a less attractive Seargent Baker. Had lots of small bites, on the frozen squid I was using, but not many hook ups - in hindsite I could have used a smaller hook and smaller slither of squid.
I took a couple of photo's and caught the moment that Peril's Bonito hooked up (see what can happen when your back is turned 
:lol: 
Thanks everyone for making it a great morning.


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## kingfisher111 (Jun 13, 2006)

Sounds like a top morning was had guys. Perfect timing Paulb with Perils hookup. Steve.


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## aleg75 (Dec 20, 2005)

Great report guys! sounds like a top morning on the water!


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## Crikey (Oct 30, 2005)

Hi guys,

Sounds like a great morning on the water. The photos of the oily calm were great. Congrats on the bonnie Dave don't you just love the way that they go on light gear.

I had toyed with the idea of joining the trip this morning then discounted it as I had a few things to do round the house, I woke up at 0300 and thought again before dismissing it, wish I had made the effort now.

Dave I would suggest that if you are starting to get results at Long Reef you may be better off refining the skills up there, the Harbour is absolutely manic at the moment so unless you are up for a weekday trip to North Head I would give it a second thought.

I will be keepeing an eye out for the next Long Reef trip.


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Gee you blokes had great conditions to day [total contrast to GC with 20kts SE blowing], and nice to take home a feed and test the new reel Dave.

paulb if you have not done so in the past, cut a fillet off sergeant baker for bait its a snapper producer...when things are quiet we always fillet any fish to get a fresh bait


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## wigg (Jan 6, 2007)

Hey Peril

Good to see you got scales.
I wish I could have made it this morning.
I used to fish Long Reef alot out of my boat.
You will get better results there than North Head.
Long Reef has certain conditions that it will fish better in than others.
WIll you be fishing next weekend?
Let me know.

Cheers

Wigg


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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.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWYSTIhwAABHXgEASQAUAhhAAN+/fICAAcFAAAAABqmynlN6qPInqNNqY9KMoEgolXjbrEbqKeZvzvAoxhR26W9Dtl8Ezzvmn5sU5TGLzAsPouLaxLaJklQnEVJgo+AQ49pk9WTV2j+LuSKcKEhCSZEOA


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## Jeffo (Sep 10, 2006)

nice work guys, conditions looked perfect & some nice results.

Cheers
Jeffo


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

wigg said:


> Hey Peril
> 
> Good to see you got scales.
> I wish I could have made it this morning.
> ...


Wigg, will be fishing Sunday morning again. Am really keen to learn about getting livies around Long Reef because I really don't know where to start.

Is Sunday a possibility for you?


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## Russ (Feb 24, 2006)

Well done boy's what a great day for a fish.

Flump I think that fish with the stripes is called a Star gazer

Then again Ive been wrong before.

 fishing Russ


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

GREAT conditions!! Sydney has finally turned on a nice day with some warm water and light winds. Hooray!

Great results there Dave and a good turnout. Unfortunately I'm still mid-renovations on our house so fishing time's been fairly limited at the moment, but hope to get out with you again soon.


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## JT (May 25, 2006)

Great day and a very handsome Snapper Dave. Well done. Looks like conditions were idyllic.

Tell us about the rig you were using Peril when you got the Snapper? They can be crafty old buggers the reds even when they are hungry.

My results were more akin to Paul's and Ken's. One baby tailor as a result on an hour on the Lane Cove River 

Beautiful afternoon to be out and the lowest tide I have seen for a long time. Nice trip. well done again.

JT


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

well done guys,

looks like a good morning out on the water there


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

JT said:


> Tell us about the rig you were using Peril when you got the Snapper? They can be crafty old buggers the reds even when they are hungry.


Both my snapper over the past two weeks have ome in similar manner. Common points are:

* standard sp rig - 10lb braid/gelspun, 15lb fluoro leader of at least 1m, jig tied with perfection loop, Gulp 5" jerk shad in nuclear chicken pattern;

* cast and retrieve method being employed, but rod was placed in rod holder to attend to something else;

* fish well and truly hooked and taking line by the time I got the rod back in my hands.

Differences:

* jighead - one a 1/4oz ball head, the other a 1/6oz bullet head;

* one was on the bottom, the other in mid water.

Gotta ask myself if I'm working the plastic so badly that the fish will only take them when I'm not! Don't be afraid to pause and let them hook themselves


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

the kingfish I caught off clovelly last week also took my soft plastic while the rod was unattended in the front holder!!!

might be a new technique! lazy mans fishing.. :wink:


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## Y-Knot (Sep 26, 2006)

bloody lovely looking Snapper Peril...


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Gatesy said:


> Dave
> 
> No one can be critical of your methods when your catching fish. Once again good work and nice results.
> 
> ...


Thanks Mate.

Well done on your bonnies and king too (but they don't count  )

Re the table, I had an excellent opportunity to compare last night, with the snapper and bonnie.

Snapper was steamed (actually boiled) in the wok and covered with a mix of peanut oil, shallots, ginger, sesame oil and light soy. This recipe is fantastic for any quality white fleshed fish and for presentation is particularly suited to deep bodied fish like bream and snapper. Turned out fine as usual.

I filleted the bonnie into four pieces, removing the cavity bones and the pin bones along the centre line, along with a fair bit of the dark flesh surrounding those bones. Fish had been bled on capture and kept in an insulated bag, without cooling, but it was in the fridge by 9:30. When filleted, I thought the flesh was soft so was unsure how it would turn out. Heated the bbq plate till it was smoking. Seared on skin side for about 5 minutes (would recommend 3 mins) then one minute on the other side. This left some of the fillets just cooked and others with a line of pink.

The result. Three children preferred the snapper. Angie preferred the bonito, on which she sprinkled some light soy. I enjoyed both. The bonito had that quality of rare steak, only tenderer, that seared tuna also has. Absolutely no reservations about eating another.

BTW, we're having bonito salad with the leftovers tonight - we only ate one of the four fillets. Stuff the kids


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## wigg (Jan 6, 2007)

yep I am keen.
start early finish early.
I normally use fresh squid or pillies.
there is a bait reef they call Black road but I have never been there.

Keep in touch.


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## wigg (Jan 6, 2007)

I can do Sunday as long as we fish early 
does that suit?


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

OK, lets shoot for 5:30 Sunday again, unless the weather doesn't play. Will try to find out about "black road"

EDIT: Black road is the ocean waters adjacent to North Narrabeen beach. Need to find something a bit closer


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## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

Go the nuclear chicken!

Great results and another great report, cant wait to meet you crazy men from Sydney... Pretty keen to get some decent saltwater hours on my Quest with some seasoned advice. ( Thanks for chat by the way Dave ).


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## Clarkos (Oct 11, 2006)

Great report Dave. Lovely conditions. pity we don't get more of them.

I too had a little trip on the LCR Sunday night. Started about 7pm and caught one huge breamski. Must have gone all of 15cm.


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