# NSW 3/8/2014 - Sydney Northside



## avayak (May 23, 2007)

The relentless Westerlies gave us a break on Sunday afternoon so I took up MrX's offer to go for an afternoon fish at Longie.








I usually fish midweek pre work sessions, launching in the wee hours when it's dark n cold. So it felt a bit strange setting up in daylight and wearing a tee shirt instead of the thermals.

First thing I noticed peddling out were the birds going nuts. Great flocks of gulls and Fluttering Shearwaters picking baitfish off the surface. Heart thumping away I pedalled towards them while rigging a 15gram metal. Across the other side of the bird field there were some high splashes that looked promising. I fired cast after cast but the lure always returned empty. The same thing has happened over the last couple of weeks. Baitfish galore and a lack of predators. Perhaps there are fussy salmon or the fish are just stuffed full.









We split up to prospect the reef. Tom went South to the point, Paul headed to the wall and I checked the deeper Northern marks. After 2 hours of jigging I checked in with the rest of the boys, nothing.
With the afternoon getting on I thought the best hope was to meet up with the guys and try Tom's snapper spot with the falling light. Paul made me an offer I couldn't refuse, a cuttlefish tentacle that was still sucking to my fingers. The world's best bait.
As the sun sank below the clouds Paul started hooking up. First up was an amberjack.
Soon the cuttlefish effect started working for me too!








For some reason I kept catching amberjack even in different locations.








All the while Paul's rod was developing a permanent bend. I'll let him show you. :shock:
On the way in the birds started to raft up to sleep the night.








The afternoon session mirrored my usual morning trips so I tried a few last casts for snapper unil it was dark enough to land.


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## Wrassemagnet (Oct 17, 2007)

Haha waiting for it to be dark enough to land - that last photo looks just so wrong with the sun over the land. By the way anything caught with cuttle is cheating and doesn't count dudes (jealous much).


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## paulb (Nov 12, 2006)

Funny how a day goes

- Started off dragging plastics and trying to lure something out from under the birds - no joy.

- Did a trade with an Albatros - it gave me a fresh cuttle and I gave it a tentacle as a reward.

- Nothing on the surface, but dropping the cuttle to the bottom & the first cuttle strip was converted into an Amberjack - only small, but enough for a meal.

- Next came a procession of small kings.....

Then along came dinner

View attachment 1


Then hooked into something very heavy - no headshakes, so at first I was hoping it was an xos king. After no runs I was beginning to think it was a foul hooked king that I was dragging sideways, but when it came to the surface, I was most surprised to see this.....



These things are built like a tank, really thick and heavy. A couple of happy snaps later and it was released.

Heading back in just after sunset and my Mirage shaft snapped, so had to revert to a paddle - fortunately no wind and a following swell made the journey quite easy.

Paddled through some enormous flocks of Terns on the way back - felt like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock. Again some huge schools of micro bait in the shallows, so hopefully the bait will hang around and attract bigger predators.


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## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

You nailed it there, Garry.

Good to get out on the water again, and early arvo mid-winter launch was comfortable. It's a bugger that the fish didn't up until the temps dropped and the low sun disappeared behind the clouds. Feet were numb standing at the cleaning table scaling snapper in the dark.

Paul's Groper is best looking fish I've seen. Absolutely stunning. Wanted to give it a Ronnie Coote, except I understand the girls turn into boys when they turn blue.


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## SharkNett (Feb 20, 2006)

At least someone has been out getting into it. Study commitments have kept me home bound. 
Friend got a groper a few weeks ago when we were fishing out of Botany in the stinker. Guts were blown on bringing it up so we it went into the esky. Apparently it was a bit tough when cooked the same day, but after 24hours in the fridge the next serve was pretty good. Very light flavour.


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## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

"Beauty" and "The Beast"


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Well for a trip that didn't go to plan, you still managed to get some fish on the table. 
Getting dark instead of light just seems so wrong.


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Fab fish ...two gropes in two days off north side Sydney when you count Matt's brown job ! Is that unusual ? The blues one are spectacular - except for the dental work. They (western Blue Groper) are totally protected here in SA Gulf waters and in backstairs passage and Investigator Straight.


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