Broken Bay Pelagics
January 2003
It was Saturday afternoon, exchanging phone calls with Big Bob and discussing the ins and outs of tomorrow’s outing. It was bloody hot about 45 degrees with a North Wester that would easily blow the top off a beer if you ventured out into it. The weather however was due to change overnight and guess what – not in our favour. Whilst the westerlies were going and the temperature was going to be in the mid to late twenties, it was the wind from the south that had us most concerned.
Sunday morning came around and looking out the front windows I noticed a distinct absence of wind. Excellent I thought as I wandered downstairs to ready myself for what I was hoping would be a good day with lot’s of hard fighting fish. The aim was to meet at the Woy Woy ramp at 7am and go out from there.
I arrived at the ramp at 06:50 and met up with John Humphries who was keen to get a start. The other guys started rolling up shortly there after, and Brownie and Woz were already at it around Ettalong. The wind was up a little from the SE and hopes of a nice calm day were starting to fade. Big Bob finally arrived at 07:30ish (7 am Bob time!) and we were set to go.
We all headed down to Ettalong to find Brownie, but were unable to see him and Woz turning the water to foam, so we decided to head out into Broken Bay.
The swell was up. The wind was up and the water was starting to get bumpy. We decided to go into Pittwater to see if there was any action in there and to get some protection from the wind. On the way Steve Tizard and I spotted some fish hitting the surface and went in pursuit of them. No hits, no takes and in no time the fish had disappeared. We kept a look out on our way into Pittwater, but alas, did not see them again.
We got into Pittwater and found it was just as lumpy as the wind had freshened and was blowing straight up the bay. Met up With Dean Hayes and Mick “Lefty” Munns who had been chasing Kings in around the moored boats. They saw them, they cast at ’em, but they didn’t hook into ’em.
We decided to have a look for ourselves and headed in amongst the boats. Steve and I saw one fish hit the surface, but that was it. We tried along the wharves and casting in around the big boats, but all we managed was a juvenile leatherjacket that Steve hooked on a clouser. Never seen one on fly…..
With nothing doing in Pittwater and no sign of fish we headed back up into the bay. We touched base with Dean and his crew again and they said they had caught some tailor to about 500grams near Patonga, so we headed in that direction. We saw birds working a patch of fish and all proceeded to that point. A few casts and not a hit. A change of fly to a smaller clouser and a move of the boat back to the school and a few casts….a few hits but no takes. I could see the fish follow the fly…they weren’t Tailor but salmon and something else that was too fast to get a good look at. Bonito perhaps? Another move and this time as we moved I had the fly in the water behind the boat and bang, something latched onto the fly. I held the line for a short time whilst I maneuvered the boat and the fish was off…Bugger!
Anyway we persisted for another 20 minutes and without a hook up between the 8 of us. The fish soon disappeared and we called it quits. We headed back to the calmness of Brisbane Waters and got a good soaking on the way back across the bay.
We met all the guys back at the ramp and swapped stories. They were all the same. Could see ’em, could cast at ’em, but buggered if we could hook ’em.
With the water temp up to about 23 degrees it won’t be long before the bay hots up….. We’ll be out there!!!
Sunday morning came around and looking out the front windows I noticed a distinct absence of wind. Excellent I thought as I wandered downstairs to ready myself for what I was hoping would be a good day with lot’s of hard fighting fish. The aim was to meet at the Woy Woy ramp at 7am and go out from there.
I arrived at the ramp at 06:50 and met up with John Humphries who was keen to get a start. The other guys started rolling up shortly there after, and Brownie and Woz were already at it around Ettalong. The wind was up a little from the SE and hopes of a nice calm day were starting to fade. Big Bob finally arrived at 07:30ish (7 am Bob time!) and we were set to go.
We all headed down to Ettalong to find Brownie, but were unable to see him and Woz turning the water to foam, so we decided to head out into Broken Bay.
The swell was up. The wind was up and the water was starting to get bumpy. We decided to go into Pittwater to see if there was any action in there and to get some protection from the wind. On the way Steve Tizard and I spotted some fish hitting the surface and went in pursuit of them. No hits, no takes and in no time the fish had disappeared. We kept a look out on our way into Pittwater, but alas, did not see them again.
We got into Pittwater and found it was just as lumpy as the wind had freshened and was blowing straight up the bay. Met up With Dean Hayes and Mick “Lefty” Munns who had been chasing Kings in around the moored boats. They saw them, they cast at ’em, but they didn’t hook into ’em.
We decided to have a look for ourselves and headed in amongst the boats. Steve and I saw one fish hit the surface, but that was it. We tried along the wharves and casting in around the big boats, but all we managed was a juvenile leatherjacket that Steve hooked on a clouser. Never seen one on fly…..
With nothing doing in Pittwater and no sign of fish we headed back up into the bay. We touched base with Dean and his crew again and they said they had caught some tailor to about 500grams near Patonga, so we headed in that direction. We saw birds working a patch of fish and all proceeded to that point. A few casts and not a hit. A change of fly to a smaller clouser and a move of the boat back to the school and a few casts….a few hits but no takes. I could see the fish follow the fly…they weren’t Tailor but salmon and something else that was too fast to get a good look at. Bonito perhaps? Another move and this time as we moved I had the fly in the water behind the boat and bang, something latched onto the fly. I held the line for a short time whilst I maneuvered the boat and the fish was off…Bugger!
Anyway we persisted for another 20 minutes and without a hook up between the 8 of us. The fish soon disappeared and we called it quits. We headed back to the calmness of Brisbane Waters and got a good soaking on the way back across the bay.
We met all the guys back at the ramp and swapped stories. They were all the same. Could see ’em, could cast at ’em, but buggered if we could hook ’em.
With the water temp up to about 23 degrees it won’t be long before the bay hots up….. We’ll be out there!!!