Personal Best Bream On SX40

This has been the 3rd consecutive day I've been to Iron Cove's drain. After such a great success on boxing day, I asked Rocky out for a session as it's been sometime since I've fished with him. He came along with his housemate, Leong who has never fished before. We set off from StMike for IC only to be met by a windy bay and choppy water. Thought it would be a crap outing and it certainly was not any good compared to the 2 previous days. I went with the SX40 in 306 and within a few casts later, I got a big take but a so-so fight of a 34cm whiting which was a pb for hardbody lure.

The wind certainly turns off the fishes when I sometimes do register a few pussy hits on the SX. Rocky tried with his SX as well without success. He then went with GULPS and got a bream and even a silver biddy which was his first! He gladly passed the rod which has the biddy to Leong so that he too could experience what fishing was all about. He did try with soft plastics only to be ravaged by the bloody puffers.

We then went for lunch at the nearby Subway along parra road. Bloody black girl behind the counter was like day-dreaming all the time while serving me! I asked for sweet onion chicken terriyaki so obviously must give me sweet onion sauce right? So when she asked what sauce I want I said sweet onion, then suddenly she took a bottle with red colour sauce and it was sweet chilli! Not only that, I wanted just the 6inch sub she gave me the footlong and my voucher was only free for a 6inch and I ended up paying the other 6inch at full price! Fucking hell! All the time you can see her eyeball looking either outside the shop or somehow staring at the fucking ceiling! Customer service my ass! Want to day dream go home and stare at your own fucking ceiling lah!#&%

After the lunch, we continue luring at Hen and Chicken bay. By then, the tide was quite low. There was like a family there fishing with baits and lure as well. I tried using the gulp sandworm only to get it raped in the 1st casts! Damn it! Expensive man! Got sick of getting raped, I switched to my favourite SX again and at my flattie spot, I registered a good hit but failed to hookup. So I stopped the lure and gave it a really long pause and continue with a super duper slow retrieve. The fish took it hardon this time and my reel started screaming. It was a good few runs and up came a long awaited big bream of 35cm. I was really happy to get a good size bream on that SX.

When we were about to call it quits, Leong suddenly had a hookup! He was actually using a half bm and still managed to get a small flattie! Well done man! He's no longer a soft plastic lure virgin! Not bad for a 1st timer somemore.

While we packed up, I realised the ang moh family pack the fishes they caught there! OMG, not only we're concerned about the dioxins in harbour but that place really stinks when it's low tide. I can't imagine why people are so gutsy but it's their choice anyway.

Ronald

Xmas & Boxing Day Breaming

Haven't been blogging for quite sometime due to the holidays. Shit, my thesis is f%&ked! Anyway, still managed to squeeze some luring session in between. On xmas day, St Mike has the usual Xmas lunch. This year, something shitty happened. I went out with Father to get the food on eve. Bloody dodgey stmikey idiots ate the lettuces and a turkey the night before the lunch. Father came flustered looking for me while I was in the TV room playing Wii with Jeff. He told me what happened and I was fuming mad. No choice but to rush down to Coles with him YET AGAIN to replace the stolen food. 1st time in history this kind of shit happens to stmike's annual xmas luncheon! Luckily coles was still open late despite most of the shops in xmas eve closes extremely early.

Just before the luncheon, I thought of giving Iron Cove's drain a try for like an hour. Since it was raining like mad the day before, it might be worth casting a line. Reached there with quite an overcast day and a slight wind. Casting the sandworm was not that ideal but still made do with it. I was registering hits like mad. The theory of fishing near a drain after a big downpour seems quite promising. With the time limitation and my crap hookup skills, I only managed just under 10 breams, many of them undersize and no worthy fight.



Went back in time for the luncheon and it was a good feed. Joe came over to cook fried rice for us which was awesome. I gave him my big mama flattie I caught the other day and he was over the moon.

On boxing day, I thought of relinquishing the performance and gave the drain another go. This time round I was gonna be there for longer. Since I was low on the worm supply and the drain being renownly snaggy, I opted it to be an SX40 day. And lo and behold, it is definitely a BREAM lure. This particular 3+ hours session got me like heaps of bream hits and hookups that I was dropping jaw. All 3 of my SX40 colours were thrown in there and got smack equally hardout. But 306 proves to be the winner.

Colour 308 aka S.A. Tennessee Shad

Colour 309 aka Tweed River Golden Perch

My favourite battle-scarred 306

Colour 306 aka Sydney Harbour Guppy



Sx40 is definitely a rock-n-roll hardbody lure for breams. I really love using them as they swim pretty sexy and being only a 4cm lure, it sure makes these aggressive predators attack the lure hardout. This was indeed a bloody sensational luring session to date.

Ronald

Jeff's Date With Swifty

The day before there was a buyer coming in to have a look at Swifty. Chen listed the boat in eBay with a "Buy-it-now" and that buyer hit it before inspection. We thought he's definitely going to buy it but this bloody asshole russian (we speculated he's russian because of the accent) came and fiddle around with the motor. We did a demo of flushing for him and he simply rev'ed it indiscriminately! In the end after mucking it around, he offered Chen $200 less than the listed price. Chen almost accepted it but I told him don't give in. I felt it was a good choice as he was saying shits about the motor having to service it. After he left, we felt he really fucked up the motor and it gave some stuttering moments. Being paranoid, Chen said we need to take it out for a spin to confirm it's alright. Of course I agreed and we made sure our other team member who's contributed to this boat funding had a date with it before selling off.

As Chen had to work at 12, we arranged to leave around 4am. In the end, we're always never on target. Reached tunks park around 5+ which the 1st light was just about to brighten up. Jeff learnt a little on launching too which is good if Chen has to train deckies when I leave.. *sob *sob.. Off we go with a little trolling down inside middle harbour for another ZERO! Another bloody drama occurred when I lost my scissors! Bloody hell, why I must always lose something while on swifty??!!

It was quite choppy on the way out of Balmoral. That was how my stupidity of placing my scissors on the dashboard caused the scissors to slid off when swifty cops a chop. Took a little longer to reach the cake than usual because of this rough ride. As it was a weekend, the cake already had a few boats there. But we still managed to anchor at our favourite spot. As Chen had bought me a new ET combo from BigW, I was eager to try it out. The rod is a 5'6" shimano similar to my lost one. The reel is a little crappy though but I was surprised how well the drag performed! I loaded the new reel with a previous owned 6lb fireline and it was magnificent detecting bites on such light line. I wonder what'll happen if a kingfish took off with it, yikes, I wouldn't wanna imagine. Had a ball catching fish on the new rod and reel but was somehow irritated at only getting SLIMEYS!!! They are still everywhere! Only managed 4 breams that day and kept 3 for a feed. The breams were there but I just couldn't find a way to get past the slimeys. Jeff had a ball too with the slimeys, it was his first time fighting this crazy fish which likes to swim in circles and getting tangled with anchor rope. I must admit I wasn't feeling sportingly that day which might have slightly offended my team-mates on what would be rated as actually a good trip with wonderful sea conditions. Sorry guys! Bloody slimeys in anchor rope doesn't help keep me cool!

After getting quite sick of slimeys and no biggies on Chen's bottom rig, we pulled the pin slightly earlier and left to get Chen to work on time. He was really feeling knackered even for just a 3 hours session. Boating in the wee hours sure gets into your mind. But that's his passion, his hardcore enthusiasm sure beats the dullness we face in everyday life. True blue team stmike spirit, hooyah! He did however got his personal best flathead at 61cm on cubing which was a surprised catch considering the bait didn't even had a chance to hit the bottom! Congrats bro!



Back at stmike, me and Jeff was tasked to clean up the boat while Chen left for work. We give a quick wash up and left the catches till the night for cleaning. Asked Maurice out for a maccas lunch before heading back for a quick knockout. We cleaned the fishes late at night till after 12! Took a video and a pic as well.

Luckily the motor was alright, it achieved the morning's objective and during flushing it didn't have the stuttering effects anymore. Chen's pretty firm with the offer in his next listing I'm sure. Will be really sad to see Swifty go.

Ronald

Bream Lure Catch Flatheads??

Sydney has been raining for just a few days with a cold front. Seeing that has been the case, I took the opportunity to go for a quick flick. Maurice had earlier asked me if I was interested to go see the Carols at Domain but it wasn't my cup-of-tea and so I suggested maybe meeting them up for dinner after my session.

Went off to Iron Cove and reached there with a slight south-easterly breeze which made luring very comfortable. First up I rigged a camo sandworm only to be ravaged by small critters within a matter of few casts. Then, decided to give the gary glitter squidgie I just bought from kmart sale. I have always been using berkley and really neglected some of the squidgy's brand I have in my tackle bag. Few casts later with the gary glitter I scored a small flattie on it.

Continued a few more casts with it before switching to SX40 which I hope to de-virginise it. This new colour (308) which Chen helped me get from Villawood was tested to see if it's indeed a bream catcher. At around the 'jewfish' spot I got a small take and thought it'll be a flattie with almost dead weight in the beginning only to have it start running near the surface. Not much fun with this 27cm bream but at least the lure was de-virginised.

Then, seeing my other SX hasn't caught a bream yet, I snap on the colour 309. As I continue moving down to the drain, there was a sudden bump on the lure. I gave a gentle strike and it became an initial dead weight as well. To my surprise, this colour caught another flattie! But it was quite a big one. Luckily the lure was just pinned on the side lip and the fish only ran when it was near the bank. What a letdown fight by this 50cm dusky.

Seems like this colour attracts flatties?! As I moved nearer to the drain, it was becoming risky territory. Suddenly on a cast I got it snagged quite farout! I thought this is it, my fishing outing these days are really becoming crap! I tried flicking it out but it wouldn't respond and had the thought of using my new tackleback retriever. But I persisted and the flick did managed to bring the lure out. I said that's it and changed to soft plastic. Rigged up a new worm and moved to the adjacent part of the drain seeing that there was a homie baiting nearby. Having watched the tournament bream fishing dvds made me copycat their style. I became gungho and tried casting directly next to the floating debris catchment device. I always snag near the device when I slow roll it. This time round I used the tournament style and give lots of consistent twitches. Funnily a small bream slammed the lure hard-on and jumped like mad on the surface! It was a bloody small but fat bream.

Then the wind came at me face-on and I moved to the spot where the homie had left. The previous worm had been shredded and so I changed to the 3rd one. Soon, I got a few bites and feeling confident, I striked and it was on. Not a good fight and only a slightly bigger bream that still looks undersize to me.

A few more casts at the drain and it sure was firing with a few big pulls and I missed! Then, as expected, a snag happened and this time round I realised it was near a float. Must have been from that homie or someone else. I thought the time was late and feeling hungry, I left to grab a feed from my favourite nasi campur store as the boys abandoned me because of the carols late start.

Ronald

Another And Double Disastrous Day

Chen had earlier suggested a boat trip this week and I thought with much work done for my thesis now, I thought why not and picked a day that was not so windy and the sea condition being stable. So I made a sms to Jialiang and he gladly obliged. But when the day gets nearer, Chen had to pull out last minute because of his work schedule. Without our skipper, me and Jialiang went out anyway with Swifty. After prepping swifty such as getting petrol the night before and charging the car battery with a supercheap wall charger, I was feeling a little confident taking Swifty out.

This time round, the high tide wasn't in the morning. But Jialiang still opted to go for a morning session instead because he feels that the fishes won't bite during the day. So we left around 7 for tunks park. The tide was going out but the ramp still looks alright to launch. Off we go at a slow speed of 4 knots obeying the zone.

As we went out of middle harbour and onto middle head, the sea was getting a little choppy. Was contemplating to look for any salmon school around north head but couldn't spot any with our naked eye and so opted the usual Wedding Cakes to try our luck for kingfish as there were reports. This time round without Chen, I had to make berley. Whilst Jialiang was skippering swifty, I made the berley along the way. The stew was perfect and once we reached the cakes, I prep the berley pot. Soon after, Jialiang was catching breams after breams. He is really the master of striking fishes. I tried for yellowtails 1st for our baits.

The action was hot, and so is the catch highlights of the day. On my surecatch outfit, I rigged a slab of yellowtail and bottom bash it. Couple of baits as usual would be raped by unknown stealers. Once I had a take but lost the hookup while reeling in. Then, had a take and I decided to let the rod bent more before I gave a hard yank. This time round, the fish had no chance and the weight was massive! Up came from the shadows and Jialiang yelled out a freaking huge flattie! Soon after, his rod buckled and we had a double hookup! But unfortunately his was a Banjo ray and the weight was massive as well. It was mayhem at that time, because I ended up netting the fish myself and proceeded quickly to unfree the net and passed it to him. He released the ray while I kept the flattie. It was a good 74cm flathead.

Another big congrats to Jialiang as he also managed to get a baby Cobia whilst cubing. We were unsure what exactly that specie was because it also looks like a Remora. But it was confirmed to be cobia as remora has suction cup. This is indeed a rare catch in Sydney harbour.

The place was firing and till about mid-day, the bites slowed down. Jialiang had probably caught over his bag limit of breams plus many misses and both of us truly enjoyed that morning. We shifted to Sow and Pigs reef only to be harrassed by Sweeps. They were really quick to steal our baits even before my weight touches the bottom. We got sick of it and felt really tired so decided to pull the plug.



There were actually a few scary dramas when we wanted to start the motor to move off. The motor gave a few "tiak" sounds but didn't really wanted to start. After a little bit of adjusting the connectors, it gave a huge sigh of relief. Then the most disastrous thing happen. I must have been so tired that I must have left my rods on my car roof and left tunks park! When I drove out and about to hit miller road, there were some aussie guys shouting to us and I thought they were harrassing us. Actually I reckon they were warning us there was something on the roof. When we hit the Gore Hill freeway going towards the harbour bridge, I suddenly heard clanking sound behind when I sped up at 80km/h. Jialiang heard it too and told me to pull up along the freeway to check if I lost something in the boat. We went out and check and everything was there. Till then, i still haven't realised my rods were not in the car as well as in the boat. I thought I've always put it inside my car. When back at StMikes, I tried to search for it but wasn't there and I thought Jialiang accidentally took it. I called him the next day to help me check but it wasn't in his car. Then it started to sink in that the sound I heard must have been my rods and reels felling on the freeway!!! Shit.. I can't say anymore... The pain is hard to bear. I've lost my hands and legs in fishing. They were cheapo outfits but still, I'm very comfortable with them and still mourning the loss... *sob*

Sad Ronald

Disastrous Outing

Went to a new place and give luring a try at Putney. 1st stop was this place called putney park and it was a fine looking stretch that could see the main parramatta river clearly. The thing about this place is that the park has a big playground with challenging play equipments and barbeque pits and tables and chairs. I went over to the bank and could see clearly it was a sandy bottom. Anyway, gave the sandworm the go first and 1st cast I got bites already. Persisted with the bites but just couldn't hookup until one point I dropped a smallish whiting before the worm was totally eaten up by toads. Moved to a funny looking structure and started casting like those tournament anglers, hehe. Instantly I got a hookup on a small bream using the 2inch watermelon hawg. Threw back the fish and continue with a pseed grub near the main-event tentage. Felt some solid bites on my fireline crystal and instantly strike. This fish gave quite a nice fight but was only a 26cm bream.

Took a pic of this great looking stretch but turns out that fishing here isn't that spectacular. But a good spot for picnic and family gathering that's for sure.

Looking at my watch, I thought it was already half hour into the running out tide. Quickly got back into the car and manouvre my way to the nearby Morrison Bay park. Found a nearby street parking spot and got to the water stretch in a jiffy. It's quite a small little bay with a rather huge canal running into the bay. There was a cricket ground just behind the spot and a rather quiet bicycle track. Began casting a small Mojo grub near the drain and instantly I could feel bites. Not long later I scored a 45cm flattie which was pretty good stuff.

Soon after, I continued hammering near the drain mouth. I got a few smallish flatties with one very particular hookup that the hook got lodged on the fish body! It was so small around the size of my small plier! Poor little fellow I quickly remove the hook gently and sent it off.

One good thing about this drain is that as compared to other drains I've fished before, this one is not that snaggy, though there were a few scary occurrances.

Soon the Mojo plastic was badly damaged from the flatties constant biting and thrashing and I moved onto a new piece of the sandworm. Still within the vicinity I kept getting flatties, but it was getting bigger and bigger. Eventually I scored another good size at 46cm.

Thereafter, the bites and hookup slows down. I was still discontented not scoring a bream at this fishy place. So I continued with a newly rigged pseed bm only to get it snagged on the first cast! Then, the most stupidiest thing eventuate. I gave hardbody lure a go and tied on my beloved pinkie. I tried casting away from the previous snagged area and it was fine in the 1st 2 casts. On the 3rd cast, I don't know why I try to cast around the snagged area in the mindset that using a bib lure probably won't snag whatever is in the bottom. But to my shock, it did snag and it was pretty far out! So I pulled out my lure retriever Tackleback and tried to use it. Last time it managed to save Chen's 2 SX40 and I thought it was a great little tool. But this time round, the snag was further than Chen's. The first few times of retrieving didn't work and so I persisted by twitching my main line. The tackleback sink in further and soon, it was snagged as well! Argh! I tried to yank it out with force thinking that it's ok with the strong line it had been attached. Alas, the strong line broke and in desperation, I yank the lure out from my fireline and it broke the leader. I lost both the lure and retriever. My beloved pinkie R.I.P. I was devastated, because this pinkie caught many good fish and it even had its bib repaired when I accidentally broke it once. That's fishing man...

Ronald

Team StMikes Slimey Day

Took more time to compile these videos (new flash player) of our recent trip taking "Swifty" out. I'll let it cover the blog. Hope Jeff won't spew when he watches the vids. Hehe..



Initially once we got out of middle harbour, the conditions were windy and choppy. I even told Chen this could be a shitty trip. Once we were there, the bad conditions suddenly changed within 30 mins or so to flat sea and hardly any winds!



I was glad the boys were very happy about this trip. Phil commented it was the best trip ever. But I reckon we were short on time there because I had to attend a X'mas lunch or we would just catch them non-stop which was fun on light tackle. They were just there not wanting to move. I feel that if we fish another technique, we could get the bigger predators that were underneath them, not forgetting the splashes they created while terrorising the bait school. Oh, and I forgot that they eat metals and flies, should have a go at these methods! Argh...

Total tally: 20 x Slimey Mackerals, 2 x Yellowfin Breams, 3 x Silver Trevallies.

Ronald

Work Sucks, Fishing Sucks More

I've to admit I'm under a considerable stress with my thesis writeup and the pressure to finish before the deadline. To give credit to my supervisor too for he is trying to help me but at the same time there's pressure to do experiments which I'm hating for it to take place as I'm really not confident that it'll work. And I thought fishing is supposed to relieve stress but seems like I haven't had any good session lately with many lost hookups and crappy weather.

Went to Wolli Creek on Sunday for a quick session seeming that Nancy's dinner kinda put me off. Quickly took my luring SBO and weapon out. The wind was blowing quite strong but sort of behind me. Nonetheless, seeing the water was kinda low, I gave the new SX40 a try and lo and behold, it caught a flattie on the 1st cast. It has properly been devirginise. But to think of it in a scary way, SX40 and flatties can't really mix, I've had instance when the other SX was swallowed almost fully in and they are renowned to slice the thin leader when they struggle.

I respray the SX with a new coat of stimulate for a few more casts without anything. I continue moving further downstream from the spot I caught the flattie with almost zero bites. Seeing that I was gonna be there for just a short while, I opted to use the camo sandworm and try back at the flattie spot. Couple of casts later got a crazy take and the fish went balistic doing somersaults on the water surface, it was funny. Up came just a small little bream which I was surprised it really struggle hardout.

Guess when everytime I write my blog it's always about fishy pics so I thought just take a shot of this Wolli Creek just about to sunset and it was almost 8pm already!

By then, I had almost wanted to leave as I was holding my piss! The constant excuses of "ONE LAST CAST" (or casts). It was after a few more one-last-casts that I got a similar size small bream on the worm before I called quits when Phillip phoned me.

Left the place hastily to give my bladder a relieve and met up with the guys back at college for a Karaoke session later on.

Darryl (singaporean guy I met in fishingkaki) came from Port Macquarie and gave me a call to fish the next morning. I obliged and asked Justin along too. We went Iron Cove in the morning for a lousy session too, though the conditions were all perfect. I got a few flatties nothing much to brag about though had my first IC pinkie snapper on a bloodworm grub on the 1st cast.

Cannot afford to slack off from the work now, gotta do as much but not forgetting some sessions to be squeezed in as well. Hopefully..

Ronald

Beer, Tackles and Shit Fishing

The other day Phil suddenly bought a case of Cascade Premium Light and stash it in my room! He had told me before he sort of like this beer and I didn't realised he would buy a whole case! I've also just got a new case of TED last week and now there's 2 cases of beer in my room! That's what I call a Hostel room!

What we have made up for in the blokey environment, we lack the ladies department. WTF?! I guess thesis is my part-time girlfriend now, how pathetic! Enough of this shit talk. There was another Compleat Angler X'mas sale on thursday and so with the stuffs that we're after stored in our brain, me and Chen did the "kiasu" thing and went there before they open shop. Got meself a dvd (can't fish so have to "settle" ownself itch). Also another Ecogear SX-40F lure in colour 309 and a soft plastic spinner blade for bass fishing. Plus other cheapie lures. Still, end up coming out of the shop 30 bucks poorer.

Chen did the most damage to his wallet, getting a $100 Shimano Rack Raider rod, one SX40 and one SX48 lure, Yamashita squid jig and some other cheapies. He also got his mate to get from another compleat store at Villawood the sx colour 306 lure that I've been having the most success.

After watching the AFC dvd, I was itching for a lure. The wind forecast wasn't very good but I thought might as well go since I'll be tied onto my experiment lab work next week. Once there, it was indeed windy. Tried a smelt bm 1st and was difficult to feel the line. The wind was getting stronger and I was getting pissier. Did however managed one small bream but the wind was too much for me and got frustrated and left.

Feeling dejected and didn't wanna give up, made a switch to a place I haven't been fishing for a long time. Got there and the wind was still messy and always changing directions! I made a few cast with goldie but it was just shit. Even one angler I spotted got irritated and didn't stay long. I made another final switch and went to this spot I thought will let the wind blow from behind me. It was kinda blowing from behind but I just made do with it. Though the surface was choppy, there were still mullets jumping in this relatively shallow sandflat. Tried with 2inch grubs only to have it raped by puffers! Made a change to SX40 and got rewarded with a legal whiting on 1st cast! Stupid camera played on me again and could only take a video shot. Then, after a few casts later, I got a good fight from a just legal flattie.

The water was fast shallowing out. I thought it's about time to call it off when I got another hit. Surprisingly it's a super duper small Silver Biddy and it's biddy number 5 for me! Haha..

Good sx40, it has caught almost all the common estuary species.

Ronald