Sydney Harbour Pelagic Chase
January 2014
The CCFR's first outing for the year was something a little different, a trip down the freeway to fish Sydney Harbour. There was a big build up to this outing, with reports coming thick and fast of how good the fishing was on the harbour this year. We had 10 keen starters set to meet at the ramp at 6am. The gates are supposed to close at night and re-open at dawn or there about. Gates? What gates? Yep there are no gates, so there were already boats launching when John Roberts and I arrived at 5:45 and some trailers that looked like they had been there all night.
Now let me tell you the ramp at Roseville is very busy! There were boats coming in at a steady rate, so we launched straight away and caught up with Richard and Craig. There is limited space to tie up and wait so it was decided that we leave and the other guys would catch up. I texted them to let them know that we had left rather than clog up the ramp and pontoon waiting.
John and I headed up through the Spit and up Middle Harbour. There was a bit of surface action so we stopped and had a few casts. Nothing doing and a lot of boat traffic meant it was time to keep moving. We rounded Middle Head and made our way toward some of the marker buoys and wedding cakes. A few casts and nothing. A couple of wayward casts saw John and I connected to the buoys and there goes another fly!
Some of the marker buoys had that many boats on them that you'd be lucky to land a kingy if you hooked one.....all those anchor ropes must be Kingfish heaven!
We kept moving around looking for surface action. There was the odd swirl here and there for us to cast at but nothing came of them. We headed back into Middle Harbour and fished around the naval base for a while, but again saw nothing. I moved back to where we had seen the surface swirls on our way out and there were a number of boats catching slimy mackeral and yakkas. John hadn't caught either species so I thought I'd let him have a go and see if he could connect. Sadly nothing doing. Mal called us to say there were some salmon working near Darling Harbour, so I started the motor and we made the long haul up the harbour to see if we could tempt the salmon that Mal said weren't playing the game.
The trip up the Harbour was pretty good with very few boats out and about. It was quite spectacular driving the boat past the Opera House and then under the Harbour Bridge. We got to the front of Goat Island and could see fish on the surface. We tied on appropriately sized candies and cast at them. No go. Not even a follow. The fish kept going down as the boat traffic started to pick up. They disappeared again and we went searching for them behind Goat Island. They came up again and there were a couple of other boats fishing for them. One on fly and the other spinning. No one was hooking up despite fish surrounding the boats from time to time.
The other fly fishing boat then hooked up. I changed down to a size 8 sparklebait and cast it out. A few strips and a fish came flying with its back out of the water to devour it. “I'm on” was the shout as the fish did several cartwheels in attempt to dislodge the fly. Now one thing I have learnt over the years is not to put too much pressure on salmon when using a size 8 hook. Let's face it they don't have big barbs or large gapes so easy does it equals more landed fish!
A short but aerobatic fight saw the first fish of the day hit the landing net and in full view of the Harbour Bridge. John kindly took a snap of me with the fish and the full coat hanger in the background. Gotta love that view!
We got talking to the guys in the other boat and the words “Gummy Minnow” were uttered. Now I don't usually bring many flies to an outing *cough cough*, so I pulled out a dozen or so gummy minnows and John had one in his box so we were set. We followed the fish around for a while and John hooked up.... the line sung as it slid through the guides of his rod. A short fight and John had the fish near the surface when a loud “crack” was heard and his rod broke. The busted section sliding down and no doubt smacking the fish in the face.
The fish took off again and John did an awesome job of landing the fish on half a rod.
We followed the school as it moved around the bay and managed to land a few more fish each. Steve and Garry had joined us by this time but as we found when we first got there the fish were very fussy and fixated on the small bait affectionately known as eyes due to the fact that about all you can see of them in the water is their eyes. I whipped two gummies out and gave them to Steve and Garry to try. Unfortunately they ran out of time to get onto fish.
Now the trip up the Harbour wasn't too bad..... The trip back was a totally different story. The southerly wind had cut in as had the boat traffic. We passed everything from tall ships to naval ships and of course ferries! Those things throw out quite a swell. Mix the swell with the wind and it made for an uncomfortable and wet trip back to the ramp. It also meant we were late for lunch! No drama as I had the BBQ and the meat!!
We got back the ramp and it was rocking! Sooooo many boats. I think it took close to 40 mins to get out of the water. In the meantime Len and the boys had started the BBQ and got festivities underway. The stories of the day came thick and fast.
At least 2 broken rods for the day. A number of broken fly lines and of course lost flies. Fish tally – Col Breese managed a few bonito out of Middle Harbour, just off Balmoral. Garry Kent managed a small Kingfish. John and I managed 3 salmon each. Mal “dropped it” Holden managed to shake off two kingfish and a salmon for the morning.....Damn good effort that!
It was a fun day regardless of how the fishing was. It's always nice to get out on the harbour and enjoy something a little different. The Fairy Penguins and Dolphins were also a spectacular sight so close to a major city. Thanks to Col, Len, Mal, Richard, Craig, Steve and Garry for coming along and for the great conversation over lunch. By the way the steaks were excellent and something that might become a regular feature of club BBQs as they take next to no time to cook!
