Sydney Harbour Fishing Report – Issue 9

Hi everyone,welcome to the first of my reports on what is happening in and around the Sydney fishing scene.

I guess I should introduce myself and give you a brief background about my fishing.

My name is Mick Collins and I have an extreme passion for fishing, more to the point, lure fishing.

I have been working as a guide with Fishabout Tours since June 2001. Our prime target species is the Yellowtail Kingfish, regularly caught on a variety of lures and bait they are a great sportfish with the ability to test anglers and their tackle to the limit. We also target a host of other species, including Jewfish, Australian Salmon, Bonito, Tailor, Bream and Flathead to name a few.

For the last three years I have been enjoying a mix of guiding and also working at Otto’s Tackle World Drummoyne. It’s a great way to keep my finger on the pulse of the local fishing scene in the store and also getting out on the water catching fish.

I have been a regular tournament competitor on the ABT (Australian Bream and Bass Tournaments) scene and have been fortunate enough to have wins in both categories.

The highlite of my tournament career so far, was winning a Bass event at Borumba Dam, Queensland. First prize was an all expenses paid trip to Clear Lake California to compete in a two day tournament fishing for Largemouth Bass.

I finished fifteenth in a strong local field of over one hundred and fifty anglers and had an absolute ball.

As I mentioned, I really enjoy lure fishing. I enjoy doing it, teaching people about it, and talking about it… you could say I’m addicted to fishing and loving it.

Sydney Harbour has been fishing extremely well this season with regular catches of good size Kings. The two most productive methods have been casting six and nine inch Slapsticks (stick baits) in clear and white colours at channel markers and any type of vertical or reef structure. Typically fish these on 3/8th to 1/2 ounce jigheads, letting the lures get almost to the bottom then aggresively ripping them with a stop-start retrieve back to the boat. Ten to a dozen casts at each target will let you know if the fish are there. If they don’t take the lure, they will usually follow it back in.

If lures fail to produce, Squid or small livebaits such as Slimey Mackeral or Yellowtail (Yacka’s) fished around the same structures should to the trick.

I should also mention trolling at this point. While you will catch the odd King trolling in the Harbour, they will commonly be smaller than their lure and bait eating brethren. Some good lures to try are the Rapala CD series from seven to eleven centimetres. In my opinion the metalic bibs on these lures throw out plenty of flash which attracts fish from further afield than most other lures will. The new X-Raps are also an excellent choice.

Available in both shallow and deep diving models, these lures will catch a host of species including Australian Salmon, Bonito and Tailor. If the water is warm enough, Frigate Mackerel, Mack Tuna and large Slimey Mackeral will also get in on the act.

The above mentioned Slapsticks are also a great trolling lure. Rigged unweighted on an offset worm hook,they silently troll on the surface with a great tail action.

Rocky headlands, bommies and reefs are great places to look for fish while trolling. Some of my regular spots include Dobroyd Bommie; care must be taken in big swell here though, Middle Head to Clifton Gardens can be productive as well. Head over to Rose Bay and continue your run all the way down to South Head. Again, I must mention to watch the swell in this area. If you consider conditions to be safe you can try the ocean side of South Head and down to The Gap. I will turn around here and head back to the outer wash zone of North Head. From here down to Quarantine Bay and back to Dobroyd Bommie, this should see you catch a few fish at the very least.

Places to find your bait generally consist of shallow kelp beds anywhere from the Harbour Bridge to the heads. I find a small amount of berley while slowly drifting these areas and casting squid jigs a great way to load up the bait tank. Check the berley trail often for Yacka’s or Slimey’s, when they turn up, drop anchor and have your bait jigs ready.

One great tip for squidding is not to stay in an area for more than a few minutes. If you aren’t catching or seeing following squid, you should move. You may only have to move a short distance, say twenty to thirty metres, and you will be covering new water. Thoroughly cover the kelp beds with your jigs, if you don’t catch or see squid following, move again. If you have squid following but not taking the jigs, try downsizing or scenting them. Ultrabite in spray or Gel form will usually do the trick.

On the tournament side of things, I finished 8th in a seventy two boat field on Sydney Harbour on Sunday 14th Feb.

After recent heavy downpours the water upstream was the colour of hot chocolate.

I had most success using small rattling hard bodied lures, slowly retrieved around shallow flats areas on the early high tide and moving to rocky points as the tide was running out. Rattling Fat Raps and 6cm suspending X-Raps allowed the Bream to track the lures in the dirty water.

My secondary technique involved fishing two inch Slam worms in pumpkinseed colour around any vertical structure with en eddy or current break behind it. Regular application of Ultrabite Gel helped the Bream find the lure.

Landing over twenty legal size (25cm fork length) Bream in the seven hour session, I slowly but surely had a nice five fish limit of just over 3.00kg. While not a huge bag is was good enough for a top ten finish in tough conditions.

The winning weight was 3.9kg.

Well guys, there’s a bit of info on what’s been happening around the Harbour lately. Get out there and have a shot and you never know what can happen.

Good fishing to all. I will catch up in my next report.

Mick Collins.

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