[Peril]

What a cracker of a morning! Warm, sunny, negligible breeze and swell. Too good to catch fish you might think. In my case you'd be right

Eight yaks massed at Little Manly - Dave (sbd), Steve (MangoX), Simon (simond11), Dan (Hobie Fisherman), Rob (RobbieAUS), Dave (DaveyG), Lloyd (Sorry Lloyd - I'll fix this later), and me. Gatesy and JT launched from Shelly Beach for a decimal dozen.

We scattered early, with some of us trolling around North Head and up to Bluefish while the rest remained around the North Head area. I followed sbd (a fearsome pedaler) up to Bluefish to join up with Gatesy and JT, who had anchored, go the berley trail going and were into the slimeys. I continued trolling around, losing squid baits to pickers. Occasionally, a small scholl of salmon would surface but they were picky and would not stay up long. Sometimes they even moved too quickly for us.

Gatesy and JT started getting trevors and ended up with a nice haul. I think DaveyG managed some as well. Meanwhile a boat arrived that I recognised so I went over to say hello. Joe gave me a tip on jigging up slimeys - drop a slug straight to the bottom then jig it up. It worked first time for me so P2 was finally blooded.

My moment of the day came when I threw this first slimey into Joe's boat. Joe was on the phone and the fish hit him. Joe is 120+kg and Lebanese! I think I got away with it. Soon after I got another and also donated it to Joe.

Another salmon school came through and Dan managed to pull a ***** off its edge. He then returned to Little Manly.

Next thing I see Dave (sbd) hooked up on something solid. He had sent down a live slimey and was rewarded with a 69cm King!

Some more misses on the salmon and I decided to follow sbd back in, leaving Gatesy, JT and DaveyG still chasing salmon, with Rob a little way off trying to emulate sbd. Caught up with Simon near North Head and we continued together. Steve, who had spent much of the morning around Old Man's Hat came in shortly after. Simon got the pics of Dave's king.

It was a first class morning weatherwise and the fishing for some of the guys was good. Bit of a pattern here. P2 performed very well in excellent conditions. No hullslap, as reported on US websites. Also, while I notice the centre hatch against my thighs and calfs, it is not uncomfortable. I'm still at bit wary and working out where to place things but I manged to paddle about 12km and troll lure, troll with a paravane and cast lures so it was a good tryout.

Finally, a few pics from the day

 

[sam60]

good to hear the guys had some luck and you blooded P2....... well done on a day out with some of the bretheren :wink:

 

[YakAtak]

Well done blooding P2 Dave, and well done to the blokes who got some solid fish there. 8)

 

[Davey G]

A great turnout and a spectacular Sydney spring day - 26 degrees, light winds and 1m seas made for a pleasant day out.

As Dave has said most of us launched at Little Manly and paddled the 5ish km out through the Heads and north along the towering cliffs up to Bluefish Point. I took my time, trolling a couple of lures and flicking sp's around the washes with no luck until i turned the corner at Bluefish Point where I hooked up immediately to a slimey mackeral. At 35cm I though that he was far too large as a livebait so chucked him back, however sbd obviously proved that live slimeys are gun kingfish bait, no matter what size they are.

Another 4 or 5 slimeys followed before a few sweep then the trevally started gobbling my gulp sandworms. Jeez they put up a good fight on light gear. A massive salmon school just kept coming through the area, however not many hookups were made from all the combined yaks and stinkboats that were chasing them. At one stage JT and Gatesy were both casting at the same spot and got their lines tangled....a flurry of swearing followed as the salmon were smashing the surface only metres from the yaks.....funny stuff.

I hung around Bluefish Pt till around 11am then paddled back into the heads, dropped the baits and sp back down and I scored a nice squid and a couple more trevors....ended up with 6 nice trevally and a great squid. A good day out for me.

Thanks to all the guys who turned up.

A few piccies attached

 

[Davey G]

a few more pics

 

[hoit]

It looks as though it was a great day out there. The challenge is there for us Mexicans to arrange a similar flotilla. Now its Spring, hopefully a few of the soft Mangoes will venture out again.

Regards
Grant

 

[DGax65]

Great pictures. That looks like a beautiful spot for fishing. Even if you didn't catch anything, the view would still make it worth the paddle out. Can you always get in that close to the cliffs?

 

[Crikey]

Great to read the trip report. I had an early finish deadline so had to be off the water by 08:00. On the way back to Little Manly passed a guy anchored up at Quarantine Head, he was hammering good sized tailor on bait.

I am thinking about going out again on Thursday afternoon work permitting anyone interested in tagging along, wouldnt mind launching from Little Manly and seeing if there is anything moving out towards the Heads.

Question for the Hobie users on todays trip. Did any of your yaks take on an appreciable amount of water. My Sport always seems to take on some water today it was a something a little less than a litre. The amount it takes on seems to vary with sea conditions and wave heights. Until today have not had other Hobies out in the same conditions to compare ingress rates.

Cheers

Lloyd

 

[YakAtak]

Any comp entries guys?

 

[Hobie_Fisherman]

It was great to head out with so many yakkers today.
The only action for me came at Bluefish point were I scored several slimeys (on a Jackell lure) and managed a Salmon from one of the schools that surfaced (48cm to the fork).
Davey G spotted the school busting the surface (good eyes) and we both made a dash for them. By the time we got there they had gone under. They re- surfaced just behind me and I quickly flicked a plastic in the middle. It got smashed on the first turn. Davey G took off after them. A terrific fight with light gear with many surging runs to the bottom followed - I just love salmon, they really give you what for. I eventually hauled him aboard (without my net as I had dropped it overboard earlier that morning).
I headed home straight after as I was sick as a dog - sorry about the early exit guys, I wanted to get off the water as quick as possible. I wish I wish my stomach had held out a little longer to chase the school again and see Dave land a Kingy - that would have been a ride.
No pics as I didn't take my camera this time, took some quick snaps when I got home of the salmon.

 

[RedPhoenix]

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.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWVuaP64AAB7fgAASQIcAELwCFAA/7/8gMACmg1T0xBMgZJkyNMjEMYTE0GCMQyMJg1NqTRo0A0DQAAgPsDD+62ZZR3MccRzBV8tMFqgPJViXMU9jZiKHyJHoWOhaY0IwNXMf8OeCjebGC42mKDeFUyCddoOFNyOWjhODkhA6sUCc4IKILl7YWtmR9vkamVh4kQcwDnKJRzfgmwWFOoAOvlOwUbImNwXxyxVt0Un1dQFlYktQQhGgt7mFvdc0o1i8/4u5IpwoSC3NH9cA

 

[Hobie_Fisherman]

Great to read the trip report. I had an early finish deadline so had to be off the water by 08:00. On the way back to Little Manly passed a guy anchored up at Quarantine Head, he was hammering good sized tailor on bait.

I am thinking about going out again on Thursday afternoon work permitting anyone interested in tagging along, wouldnt mind launching from Little Manly and seeing if there is anything moving out towards the Heads.

Question for the Hobie users on todays trip. Did any of your yaks take on an appreciable amount of water. My Sport always seems to take on some water today it was a something a little less than a litre. The amount it takes on seems to vary with sea conditions and wave heights. Until today have not had other Hobies out in the same conditions to compare ingress rates.

Cheers

Lloyd

I had about the same - the most I've ever had. I did have the middle hatch off and had a dry bag with lures stuffed down there - the water gets in easy as I scooped water in to clean the fishs blood several times. I don't know where else it could get in? Did you have any hatches open? Did you have the bung at the back tightened? How do you get the water out of the hull? I use a sponge to soak up the water.

 

[Guy]

Well done, it must have been fantastic out there as it was glassy on Pittwater.
I hope I can join in soon once I get things set up
I used to fish against blokes who fished North Head off the rocks and some of the fish they pulled were awesome, did you see anyone fishing there today?

 

[simond11]

Hi all
Just some photos from the comp at Little Manly. What a fantastic day. Could not have asked for better weather.
I caught a couple of slimies. Put one on as a livebait on my Penn Senator 4/0. Reel screams...line cut. Hello!!! :shock:
Put piece of slimey on hook withh light sinker. Rod bends..reel screams..30lb braid breaks...what the????
That's half the fun.
Thanks to everyone involved today. Should do it more often.
Enjoy the pics.
Cheers

Simon

 

[simond11]

Hi all
Just some photos from the comp at Little Manly. What a fantastic day. Could not have asked for better weather.
I caught a couple of slimies. Put one on as a livebait on my Penn Senator 4/0. Reel screams...line cut. Hello!!! :shock:
Put piece of slimey on hook withh light sinker. Rod bends..reel screams..30lb braid breaks...what the????
That's half the fun.
Thanks to everyone involved today. Should do it more often.
Enjoy the pics.
Cheers

Simon

 

[MangoX]

Congrats Dave on the kingie !!
As for me ..

no fish to report

but it was my first paddle in Little Manly and it was a beautiful day..

I said I was going to buy some sea sickness pills....got home late of friday..
and thought "no wind, low swell....i'll be right" - wrong. Can paddle no dramas, but when I stop to rig up or bait..

Got to Bluefish point...then headed back to Old Mans Hat where all the stinkboats were...no much action there at all. Caught a big yakka...to big for my hook anyway, let him go. Then a small squid tagged along my ganged pillie. Quickly dropped him down....untouched :?

Trolled my rapala cd7 and SX40 gold and black colour...
caught 2 stinking pikes ?
a first for me, not sure of the name...i know they stunk :?

Anchored up, dropped some berley and caught 3 small trevs on diced pillies. Thousands of sweep showed up and it was all over. Amazing how they pinch your bait :shock:

Had a coffee fix around 10.30 on a beautiful beach...heaps of whitings around but not interested.

Saw the guys heading back and decided to join them..

Better luck next time..

 

[MangoX]

couple more pics

 

[Russ]

Gotta love the Spring time boy's well done to you all.

When does the replacement Yak come Gatesy ?

Also well done to Peril I hope P2 is all you expected her to be.

Fishing Russ

 

[Dodge]

Good to hear so many akffers got together in great conditions, pics in the various posts look terrific.

Nice to know the P2 is blooded now Dave, and Gatesy you have good memories of Hovinka and there will be other craft, I've had a few and all have their place in the memory bank

 

[Freak]

When i first saw the pic of "old man's hat" i first thought it was a precariously positioned SOT yak up there getting ready for an interesting launch.

Maybe it should be renamed OLD MANS YAK......