Sydney Rock

SYD ROCK & BEACH Alex Bellissimo

alex@bellissimocharters.com.au In Sydney we have had one of the wettest summer/ autumn periods we’ve seen for a long time. The brown water flowing out of the estuaries lasts for a long time as the fresh water run-off continues up to several weeks after the rain has stopped.

The positive side for us anglers is that the nutrients feed the plankton and tiny fish, boosting the food chain in our estuaries, inshore and offshore. Below are the reports of what’s happening along our Sydney northern suburbs.

ROCK FISHING

The current direction and swell direction can determine the water clarity at your local spot, and the stage of tide may also have a bearing on how discoloured the water is. If I’m targeting pelagics like kings, I prefer to fish the clearer water as these sight feeders prefer less fresh, discoloured water than species like mulloway (jewfish). True, I have Nathan Ye with a stud whiting caught on beach worms. This species can be targeted in pretty rough seas or near flat surf conditions.

Sebastian Su with a nice king. Fishing the deeper easterly exposed headlands can produce better kingfish and pelagic action. The water clarity is normally clearer.

caught kings in dirty water before, but clearer water is better.

Kings to 80cm have been landed by anglers and clients lately, with both lures and bait getting good results. The Shore Spartan Break Through 140mm and 7” Bait Junkie Jerk Shad are two of the artificials that have been catching kings of late. The old reliable sea gar also works well, but they’re pretty expensive nowadays as the human population demands have risen for this delicious fish. The downside of using sea gars for bait is that there are a lot of other species that love them as well. Tailor are be increasing in size and numbers, so using hardbody lures may be a better choice than the gars. Another good option for the kings is a live yellowtail lightly weighted and suspended under a float with the float stopper set between 2-6m deep, depending on the water depth. Try Bluefish point, Flat Rock South Curl Curl, and North Curl Curl for pelagics and kings.

Luderick have been around in relatively good numbers. You can get some pretty good results off the ocean rocks fishing Collaroys Long Reef off the ledge known as Snapper Ledge. If you’re fishing Long Reef, remember to bring in your own bait (cabbage or hair weed) because it’s illegal to take any bait from this area.

Further north at Narrabeen Gutters near Turimetta Beach, and further south at Flat Rock south Curl Curl has some luderick as well.

Rock blackfish, also known as black drummer or pigs, are not normally on anglers’ minds yet. Groper are also regarded as a wintertime species. Anglers prefer to fish for them when the water temperature cools down and the days are substantially colder. They are a residential species which can be caught all year round in Sydney. Rock blackfish to 2.4kg and groper to about 7-8kg have been landed in recent times. Red crabs are the best bait for the groper, and peeled prawns, cunjevoi and cabbage weed baits are best for the pigs.

Bream are in good numbers as well. Some massive fish are being caught, with the average being from 28-35cm. Crab segments and half pilchards are amongst the better baits. The crabs can withstand the attack of species you may not want to catch, like sweep and mados, which are in absolute plague proportions. Still, you may want to consider keeping sweep, as they are pretty good on the plate. I am seeing more and more anglers, especially from the ethnic communities, catching and keeping sweep. These fish have a white flesh and they’re in big numbers (up to 0.5kg+), Craig Mcenvoy has caught a lot of beach mulloway. This beautiful 18-20kg fish was caught on a DUO Fangshad 140mm shallow runner minnow.

so getting a feed would take mere minutes, especially at the deeper rock spots.

BEACH FISHING

The tailor are migrating and we’ve been seeing good catches off the ocean beaches of late. There is still that mix of small chopper/ tailor from 30-35cm being caught, especially before dark. If you fish after dark, the tailor increase in size to the larger 40-50cm+ fish. Tailor have very sharp teeth, and when they attack a smaller fish like whiting, mullet or yellowtail the tailor will chop it in half and may or may not eat the rest of the fish. It creates a natural berley, floating to the bottom and attracting scavengers like bream and flathead, so you can expect to catch those species as well.

The most common way to fish for tailor is with ganged pilchards. Ganged hooks are a trail of three hooks in a line. The best ganged hooks to use are the ones with swivels in between the hooks. The top hook has a swivel at the bottom of the curve of the hook. Then another swivel at the bottom of the second hook