Snatcher
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Ollie went out on a board, with a large bait, into Shark infested waters?
Yes !!!!!!!!
John
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My Australian fishing mentor Ollie had been on the phone the night before saying that the weather was looking favourable for fishing one of his favourite rock marks the next day. As arranged then Ollie picked me up at my daughters apartment at Freshwater and we were parking up "near" the mark for just after sunrise.
Now Ollie always goes on these trips well tackle laden so I offered to carry about half of the gear for him. He also asked me to don a spare pair of cleated boots that he had dug out for me. The yomp to the mark really had me well goosed I can tell you - especially wearing those cleated boots !!!!
We arrived at the climb down point to the mark when he casually said that the weatherman had got it wrong and that it was too dangerous to fish. Actually I was not too disappointed as the climb down looked very steep,especially with all of the gear we were carrying. While we (me) were having a breather before the one mile yomp back to the car Ollie spotted a Little Penguin swimming in the bay and pointed it out to me. Nice one Ollie,my first mainland Australian penguin.
We then headed off to Little Manly Point Park inside Sydney Harbour itself. This time we only parked about 200yds away from the mark and our fishing platform was a flat stone jetty. This is a picture of the mark and very nice it was too. You can clearly see the shark protected area for swimmers about 100 yds to our right. I had actually been swimming in it with my daughter and grandson just about a week earlier.
Ollie explained that our main quarry on this occasion would be kingfish but that salmon,bonito,jewfish and sharks were possible. With this in mind Ollie crumbed up some bread into the water and had us fishing light rigs with tiny hooks baited with small bits of pilchard. Livebaiting with yellowtail was again the method we would be using. Check out this picture of Ollie after yellowtail.
To be honest I do not know why I bothered as Ollie had 3 fish in the aerated bucket before I even had a bite.
We rigged up the heavier rods with 3oz sinkers on a running ledger with livebait on a 4/0 hook. It was then simply a case of casting out,setting back the drag to zero and waiting for some action. Nothing happened for about an hour then Ollie's line started shooting off. Once he struck into the fish all hell broke loose - "its a bronzie" he shouted. His bronze whaler shark then proceeded to give us a fine aerobatic display,what a scrap it gave him for about 10 minutes. Now came the tricky bit of landing and unhooking. Ollie handed the rod to me which I was well happy with. He then scrambled down the rocks to our right and I stayed on the jetty top trying to coax the shark to him. It was not happy and made one more dash for freedom before I could lead it to Ollie below. Ollie just got hold of the leader as the shark bit through the line and away it sped. Due to the mayhem this is the only picture I managed to get of the shark. We estimated it to be about 4 feet long. Nice one Ollie.
We were down to one livebait in the bucket so we concentrated on catching a few more whilst keeping a close eye on the big rods. Within minutes of catching that shark Ollie had another screaming run and stuck into it.
It was a salmon this time which gave a great account of itself. Ollie said that his freezer was full of salmon for shark bait so this fish was carefully released.
Ollie then caught a very good bream on his livebait but for some reason I never took a picture of that. Anyway the bream was also returned to the water. At last I had a run on my rod and struck into my very first bonito. They are very mackerel like and fight just as hard. It was not big as bonito go but it was a new species for me so I was well happy. This fish also was returned to fight another day.
All went quiet for a good while when the water just seemed to explode about 70 yds to our left with baitfish jumping everywhere. We had spinning rods set up for just this occasion so raced down and started hurling metal lures at the spot. No sooner had we cast out then the activity ceased and the predators,whatever they were had moved on.
We had just got back to our main rods when Ollie had a run and he struck into a bonito.
Now this fish was not destined to go back as Ollie decided to livebait with it to see if he could raise a shark on it.
We gave it another hour with no more action and by this time Ollies livebait had become a deadbait. It was decided to call it a day at this point to which I was quite happy as it was now uncomfortably hot on the exposed jetty where we were fishing.
What a great session it had been and what a superb coach I had in Ollie. My next report has me flying over to Western Australia fishing in the Indian Ocean.
John -
My main Australian fishing mentor on this trip,Ollie,picked me up at sunrise from my daughters apartment in Freshwater and off we headed to our fishing mark. This turned out to be some rock ledges north of Sydney. Access was fairly easy via a chain which had been installed by the local council.
Once down Ollie studied the waves for a few minutes and then said that it was too dangerous for me to fish due to the swell pattern. Note the holes that have been drilled in the rocks to accommodate fishing rods. I do not know if the council of a fishing club had done this. Also note Ollie's shark rod always at the ready !!!!
He told me that he would give it half an hour and then we would move on to somewhere inside the harbour. Ollie then donned his special "cleated trainers",baited up with pilchard and cast out. Within a couple of minutes he struck into a good bite and the fight was on. It was a kingfish which gave a very good account of itself.
As I was taking a picture of Ollie with his fish a large wave just came from nowhere and nearly swept Ollie off the rocks. Ollie thought the fish looked just undersize (65cm for kingfish in NSW) so carefully measured it. It was a fraction under so back it went to fight another day. Tide movement is very small in the Sydney area - just about 1.5m between HW and LW. The waves can be deadly though as I had just witnessed. Sadly an angler was swept off the rocks near here and drown during our stay. We packed up at this point and headed to Sydney Harbour.
Ironically our next venue was right outside Manly Aquarium. The plan was to catch yellowtail first on small hooks,baited with pilchard and then livebait with them for salmon,bonito,kingfish or whatever turned up. Ollie crumbed up some bread first to attract the baitfish in. This was our fishing spot,not bad at all but it was screaming hot. On Ollies advice I had bought a large hat similar to his. Not very stylish but great for keeping the sun off. Check out the safe swimming area inside the shark net and Manly ferry to the right.
Olliie was first in as usual with a yellowtail and popped it into a bucket of saltwater with a portable aerator helping to keep the fish alive. He quickly filled the bucket with yellowtail while I struggled to catch one. Ollie is simply a top angler and I was learning lots from him on every trip. Ollie had loaned me a spare rod and reel for livebaiting as my spinning outfit was unsuitable for this. Basically it was a sturdy spinning rod/reel loaded with 40lb mono. A 3oz running ledger and a 4/0 hook nicked into the yellowtail.
Ollie saw a couple of squid close in so started casting for them with his shrimp rig. Live squid being the top kingfish bait. After a few casts Ollie got snagged up and then snapped off. These shrimp lures cost $25 dollars a pop so he simply stripped off and dived in to try and find it. He never did get it but what a top bloke,a pleasure to fish with.
Another top tip Ollie gave me was to knock back the drag to virtually zero when doing this type of fishing as he had seen a few rods just simply fly into the harbour. This was to prove very useful for me at a later date. Nothing happened during the first hour so I decided to try and get at least one yellowtail so as not to totally blank. Yippee at last,check this out. LOL
True to form Ollie had all the action with two good runs before he eventually managed to hook up. It was a salmon,what a great fight with it jumping out of the water a few times. Ollie said that his freezer was full of salmon which he had kept for shark bait and did I want it. I did say that my sister-in law,who was with us on this trip,was keen on fish of all types. Ollie then cut off two great fillets. Job done.
Well what a great day out it had been. There are a lot of different techniques for us visiting UK anglers to learn when fishing in Australia and I had one of the best teachers. Sorry for the gap between the reports but I have been too busy enjoying mysef since coming back from Australia.
Did Ollie manage to get his shark ? Why was I glad that Ollie had advised me to back off my drag all the way ? To be continued. Hope you enjoyed this one.
John -
Probably see you around the Clash Jamie. We arrive sometime on the Friday afternoon - caravan no 5 on the top site overlooking the bay. More than welcome to pop in for a beer/cuppa
Have fished the event since it started but got no plans to fish it this year - I will be trying to tempt a big bass lure fishing from the shore.
I have total respect for these yakkers seeing some of the conditions they go out to fish in
John
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The main species I dearly wanted to catch on this Australian trip was a kingfish. Back in 2008 my then ozzie fishing mentor Chris Tyler tried his best to get me one. I did manage to hook one but got bust off. Sadly Chris quite unexpectedly passed away last year so I wanted to catch one in his memory.
On this trip out Ollie told me that he would try his hardest to get me one. We set out in Ollies tinny from Sydney North Harbour and rowed the short distance out to where we were hoping to catch some squid. Live squid is the optimum kingfish bait. We set up shrimp rigs on our rods and drifted close inshore by Forty Baskets Beach. Ollie really is a top angler and managed to get six squid to the boat. All I managed to catch was one !!!!!
The squid were carefully popped into a large bucket which had a portable aerator clamped to it. Ollie rowed us a bit further out and we tied up to a buoy. Ollie showed me how to rig up a live squid and we cast them out a short distance,hoping for some kingfish action.
While the kingfish rods were out we tried to catch some yellowtail,also to use as livebait for the kingfish. Ollie crumbed some bread into the water and soon a shoal of yellowtail were under the boat. We baited up some very small hooks with pilchard and dropped them over the side. True to form Ollie caught five and I caught one. These also went into the aerated bucket. I was well chuffed as the yellowtail was a new species for me.
After a wait of about an hour a kingfish finally grabbed Ollies squid. What a scrap it gave Ollie,making several good runs before I managed to net it for him. After a couple of photos the fish was carefully returned to fight another day.
The next two kingfish also fell to Ollies rod and these were also released. I was beginning to give up hope of getting my fish when a kingie eventually took my squid. The fish was not big but what a scrap it gave me on light gear. I had caught my kingfish and was well pleased. A quick photo and back it went.
Ollie suggested trying livebaiting with yellowtail next and no sooner had he cast out then a bonito grabbed it. Once again another great scrap. He kept this fish as he was going to use it for shark at a later date.
Before the end of the session he managed to catch another 3 bonito which he also kept for shark bait. For good measure he also caught two tailor which were returned. During this period I did not have a single bite !!!! Ollie is simply a magician.
Well what a great day it had been. Fishing in a great location with a top angler/mate and catching that elusive kingfish. On the way back in we seen a hammerhead shark being caught by another boat. It looked about four feet long and what problems they had trying to unhook it.
John -
My ozzie mate Ollie is a great fisherman and one of his aims this year is to catch a shark off the shore. With this in mind he picked me up at my daughters place in Freshwater and we headed off to Manly Lagoon to try and catch some mullet for livebait. We gave it about an hour without a fish but Ollie did manage to catch a duck !!!!! After this plan B came into operation - to buy some mackerel at the shop for his shark bait.
We parked up about the middle of Manly beach and started setting up our gear. I just had a spinning rod and intended to bottom fish using squid for bait. Ollie on the other hand set up his shark rod and using his surf board intended to paddle his bait out about 150m. Crazy guy.
This is a picture of Ollie's shark bait ready to go.
Here is a picture of Ollie with his surfboard. The guy in the background was fishing worm and picked up a few whiting.
I held Ollies rod and put the reel into free spool as he paddled the shark bait out. About 100m out he got overturned by a big wave but still managed to recover and paddled further out still. There were guys surfing about 100m either side of us. I was getting a bite every cast but could not manage a hook up so I dropped the hook size down from a 2/0 to a size 1 baitholder. This paid dividends as I managed to hook a bream on the next cast. A quick picture and back it went.
Ollie on the other hand was watching his rod with great anticipation,just waiting for that reel to go screaming off. It was getting dusk by this time and I hooked into a fish and it bit straight through my 15lb mono. Ollie reckoned it was probably a tailor biting me off and suggested I should use a 40lb mono trace. Ollie was spot on with what he said and after a couple of casts I did hook a small tailor,a new species for me so I was well chuffed.
During my 2008 Australian trip I had managed to get 20 species. This tailor now made it 21. Ollies had no runs on his shark bait so as it started to rain we decided to call it a day. On the fishing front it had been a poor trip but I did enjoy the crack with Ollie in great surroundings. About a week ago my daughter had said that the shark alarm had been sounded on Manly beach and that the swimmers had got out of the water but most of the surfers had just continued !!!!!
I have quite a few more reports to write up so hope to add one every week or two.
John -
I've tried John Malcolm Stephenson on Facebook to no avail but I've found a John Stephenson who has a friend called Elton Murphy? Could this be the one??
If so I'll send a let's be friends message.
Nope Iam John Malcolm Stephenson on Facebook Colin
John
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Walked from Shelley Beach up to North Head. This is the view of the northern beaches from the top. From left to right the beaches are - Manly,Freshwater,Curl Curl and Dee Why.
On the climb up chanced upon this Eastern Water Dragon on the path. Just had time to get this shot before he scarpered !!!
Seen this baby Water Dragon down by the beach munching on a grape
John
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The views over Perth were fantastic from Kings Park
Thinking about having a trip up Noosa way before we head back to the UK next month.
John
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A sunset I photographed at Geographe Bay (Aussie spelling)
John
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you been up the tower yet
It's on the shopping list Fred
John
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Manly beach 26 Feb 2012 Beach volleyball - what ball ??? LOL
So now we know the true purpose of your visit.
Ha ha,you got me sussed
Check out "Hogwarts",Manly,Sydney.
Went up to North Head,you get awesome views of the city from there !!!!
Stitched 5 images together for this one. No tripod,all hand held
Taking Joshua to his swimming lesson shortly - he has no fear of the water at all
John
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Flippin heck,what a welcome
Manly beach 26 Feb 2012 Beach volleyball - what ball ??? LOL
John
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Snatcher,
As a long time sufferer of skin cancer, and a British heritage, all I can see is a krispy critter. BE CAREFUL! Ohh, I suspect I'd do it all over again so while my advice is hollow (do as I say, not as I do) it is well founded in results.
Handsome family.
Phone
Yes putting plenty of factor 30 on and wearing a hat
Oh yes my daughter does resemble the milkman Taking plenty of photos whilst here. Was chuffed getting my first lightening shot here the other night. Took about 50 x 30 second exposures and only got two ground strikes. This was the best one.
Loving oz
John
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Just a quick update to let you know that Snatcher is having a great time here in oz. Singapore was fantastic.
Will post a couple of my oz photos on here now. This time if you want to follow my photographic adventure you can check it out on Facebook. I am John Malcolm Stephenson on there and my current Avatar is pictures of kangaroos Me with my first kingfish
I was here for my youngest grandsons first birthday which was great. Here is a picture of me,my daughter Amanda and Joshua on a Sydney beach
Any idea where this was ?
Was dead lucky to get this shot. Queen Mary 2 was only docked in Sydney Harbour for about 12 hours.
Due back in the UK early May
Kind regards
Snatcher
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Sunrise at Whitley Bay Table Rocks. The colours were nothing special but I did like the reflections
Well this may be the last post from me for a while as heading off to Singapore/Australia in 48 hours. I am sure I will be posting up a few pictures from this adventure when we return in May
Just weighed the cases and there is room for my camera tripod as well as a load of fishing gear. Try not to break anything while I am away
John
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Nice one Bobj
Will be checking out some ozzie sunsets again myself in a couple of weeks John
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Very nice pictures
John
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Words like stunning and amazing are often overused.
Not in this case.
Thanks Newt, that made my day
Try watching it on youtube in full screen
How about "awesome" as well. Very soothing,cheers for the link Newt. The first butterfly we saw looked a bit like a Ullyses butterfly. I seen a few in the Daintree Rainforest in Northern Queensland on our last trip over there.
John
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Glaring mistake Newt
The "nothing" in the middle of the map should say "millions of flies" !!!!! Been there got the T-shirt. John
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Nice one
:clap: John
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Took this shot looking south along Tynemouth Longsands. This picture is untouched in Photoshop apart from adding the text. The colours were great but they only lasted a couple of minutes. They call it the "golden hour" but that special light like I say,you just have minutes at times to capture those sunrise/sunset colours
John
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Had a poltergeist experience back in about 1970. I am pleased to say the wife (girlfriend then) witnessed it with me
From then on kept an open mind on such matters. !!!John
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:drunk: John
Australia 2012 Report 5
in Sea Fishing
Posted · Edited by Snatcher
We arrived at Perth Airport after a four hour flight from Sydney. The flight proved interesting,having to walk my grandson up and down the aisles for most of the time. At the airport we picked up our hire car and drove the 200k down to our holiday bungalow at Abbey Beach,Geographe Bay (yes that's the way it's spelt)
The bungalow was within sight of the beach and I was dying to get fishing. This being a family holiday though I had to be fair and limit my fishing to either early morning or evening sessions. The first morning I was down at sunrise and having no bait simply went through my lure collection with not one offer.
Noticed a guy fishing further up the beach so wandered that way to talk to him,hoping that he was a local and knew the score. It turned out that he was on holiday from Perth and was trying to catch herring using prawn for bait. He had not had a bite either. He did tell me that I could buy some fishing bait at the local petrol station though which I was quite relieved at as lures did not seem very effective here.
The next morning armed with sandworm,squid and prawns I walked the short distance down to the beach. I set up a simple running ledger rig and baited up a 2/0 baitholder hook with sandworm. First cast I got a bite but failed to connect. This kept happening every cast so thought it must be small fish and accordingly started dropping down in hook size. What was pleasant was being able to stand in the warm Indian Ocean up to my knees - a far call from the Whitley Bay sea temperatures !!
Eventually I did manage to capture one of the bait snafflers and it turned out to be a whiting. It was positively identified by a jogger who was going past at the time.
Well that was another new species for me so I was well happy. Had a few more bites but failed to hook up. On a couple of occasions whilst bringing in the bait had follows by what appeared to be garfish.
I packed up at this point as the heat was starting to get uncomfortable. They were having an unseasonable heatwave when we arrived with temperatures of 40 Deg C around noon. Far too hot for my baldy pom crust !!!! The bait went back into our fridge/freezer for the next session.
My next sunrise trip down to beach had me ledgering with worm and prawn on a size 2 hook. These baits were getting stripped bare in seconds so opted to try squid hoping it would last longer as it was tougher. Eventually I did manage to get two more whiting onto the beach. These were returned after a quick picture
At this point I saw a large black fin in the water just about 50yds out and was not sure if it was a shark or a dolphin. Seeing as how I was now wading thigh deep I decided to take a few steps backwards and in doing so nearly stood on a good sized stingray that had moved into the shallows behind me. The fishing went quiet at this point so it may have been a shark so decided to head back for breakfast.
Our last day at Abbey had me down on the beach again at sunrise and the first two casts had me catching two better sized whiting and I quickly returned them to the water.
A few minutes later my squid bait was taken by a much bigger fish which commenced to strip off my 15lb mono at a fairly quick rate. I managed to eventually stop its run and slowly started getting line back. I had a nasty feeling that this fish was a stingray and was not too keen on trying to unhook it single handed. A couple of minutes later I saw the fish for the first time and it was a fair sized stingray. As I was slowly walking backwards to beach it the hook pulled out much to my relief. I knew it would have been a new species but was quite happy with the outcome. My Australian encounters with stingrays were not finished with this lost fish though.
I rebaited with squid and cast out again to get an immediate hook up with a nice silver trevally which was followed by another on the next cast. I had caught some of these back in 2008 so it was not a new species for me but was quite happy catching them.
My next fish was a new species though,a nicely coloured flounder. A quick picture and back it went. I then caught his twin on the next cast. Well pleased with this little session I headed back for breakfast.
On the way back along the beach I noticed a large stingray swimming close in so managed to get a picture of it. Was it the one I lost ? I will never know.
My last night had me walking down onto the beach again just as the sun was setting and all of the locals seemed to be in the water splashing around and enjoying themselves.
I had intentionally not brought my fishing gear down and just wanted to watch the sun setting. What a fantastic sunset it proved to be.
Next morning had us driving back up the coast to Freemantle where we were to stay for 3 days before heading back to Sydney. I managed to buy some frozen squid and headed down to the local breakwater. Got talking to an Australian angler who was halfway through a bottle Jim Beam He was a bit incoherrent but the story appeared to be that he was catching puffer fish on Chicken Kiev. What a character !!!!
Anyway I started ledgering with squid and was catching a pufferfish every other cast. I was happy to get another new species but when they inflated into a spiny ball it proved difficult getting the hook out.
Well that was my Western Australian adventure over and it was most enjoyable with some new species for me. On getting back to Sydney we heard that there had just been a fatal shark attack on a diver near Abbey Beach where we had been staying. That made 4 fatal shark attacks in Western Australia in a 7 month period. Two divers and two surfers killed !!!
My next report has me back fishing in Sydney harbour again.
John