G’day lads,

With constant strong winds and rough seas offshore, getting out wide has been a tough call recently. On Wednesday a weather window appeared so Darryl, Sean and myself launched the Carolyn Jane from Roseville ramp in Sydney Harbour around 8.00AM. After loading up on live bait we passed through the Heads in search of a fish or two.

First stop, the Colours. This shallow inshore reef is only 30 metres deep, but has been very productive since Christmas for smaller kingfish, with jigging being the best method:

As the water has cooled it has become somewhat unpredictable fishwise, but being so close to the Harbour it’s always worth a quick stop. The kings were there in plenty, but all sub legal. After releasing seven or eight we headed south to the Peak, looking for some bigger specimens. That reef was also quiet, although Sean scored a just legal king on a 250 gram knife jig.

With reports of tuna about we made the call to run for Browns Mountain, 21.5nm ESE off South Head. Out wide the current was perfect for a deep drop, just 0.5 knots from the south. We rigged up the big electric and sent two pilchard heads on circle hooks to the bottom, 480 metres below. After 90 minutes without a strike I was wondering where our luck had gone. Then the VHF crackled into life. Adam from Ambition Charters letting us know about a red hot albacore bite some four miles north of the Mountain. Pulling up just behind Ambition’s stern we only had 20 minutes available to produce the goods, due to various crew commitments made for the evening. Down went the jigs and bang, a triple hook up.

With three nice albacore in the chiller bags the day had been saved at the bell. Thanks, Adam!

Yesterday was the next opportunity to get wide. We headed straight for Browns, aware of Vic’s sensational capture of a 62.5 kilo big eye tuna the day before, fishing from Al McGlashan’s Strikezone. The fight was filmed for Al’s show on channel 44, keep an eye out for that one:

Once over the Mountain we got a burley trail going, and set live baits.  We jigged the thermocline 100 metres down, knowing that at this time of year the albies spend most of the day holding at that depth. Radio traffic from some frustrated anglers told of kegger yellowfin chasing sauris on the thousand fathom line, but no-one could get a hook up on either cubes or lures. After an hour or two it was beginning to feel like a rehash of last week. So we rigged the double handled manual in a high bracket for easy winding, fitted the electric reel and sent some bonito strips to the bottom using 4-pound sinkers with both outfits. That turned the trick. First aboard was a greeneye shark, then two nice gemfish, followed by a good blue-eye around 13 kilos and then the fish of the day, a bass groper which went 19 kilos on the digital scale.

We were able to wind up the manual deepwater reel (sinker and rig only) using a power drill on a custom fitting on the centre point of the handle, which saved a lot of time, although a flat drill battery meant muscles had to finish the job.

A battery eliminator arriving soon should fix that problem. With the albacore last week, Vic’s great big eye on Monday, yellowfin out on the temp break and reports of southern bluefin moving north, we are in for a blinder of a tuna season off Sydney this year – if the weather plays its part. Cheers,

Andrew Hestelow