Sydney Rock/Beach

SYD ROCK & BEACH Alex Bellissimo

alex@bellissimocharters.com.au

We are always looking for the best sea and weather conditions whenever we go fishing, and thankfully in spring there are often more stable days to your liking. Spring and autumn generally have the most stable weather conditions on average (but not always)! consumer of a variety of weeds, and their favourite is green weed, which grows mostly above the tide line. The only way these fish can get a feed is to scrape a bit off on a high tide submerged ledge or wait in a white water wash when the weed is deposited into the ocean after a wave has ripped some off from the rock ledge or boulder. When these bits of weed wash into the ocean, they are quickly spotted by 55cm or even larger. There have been some reports of fish up to that size, although most have been in the 1.3-2.2kg size range, which is the optimum size for eating quality. Big luderick up to 1.3kg are

A beautiful blue groper caught by the author. It was released after a few photos. The author prefers the smaller ones for a feed.

October can bring the arrival of some migratory species, especially after mid-October. However, this can vary from year to year as fish species – especially the migrating species – don’t run by the calendar. Water temperature, food sources and nutrient levels can determine if, for example, that the kings will turn up earlier or if the whiting run starts in October rather than November.

Now let’s look at what’s biting at the moment, and what we can likely expect in the weeks ahead.

ROCK FISHING

The green weed is flourishing on most ocean rocks, thanks to the daytime temperatures being not too hot, and the water temp in the shallow ponds not too cold. You will notice a green carpet of cabbage weed in a lot of areas.

It’s well known that rock blackfish are a high the waiting hungry rock blackfish, luderick, rock cale and so forth.

Cabbage weed is a good bait for rock blackfish and luderick. You can fish a float rig and set the float stopper or slide the fixed float at variable depths according to how deep the area is. For example, if the rock spot you are fishing is roughly 2m deep, set the float stopper at 1.5-1.7m. Berley up with cabbage weed as well. I have a YouTube video where I caught a nice rock blackfish and luderick fishing with cabbage weed baits. Other fish were caught the more conventional way, with peeled prawn baits and bread berley. This demonstrates the value of bringing a variety of baits when fishing for the pugnacious species, just in case the results are no so good on the weed baits.

This month there should be some stud pigs up to bream up to 1.3kg have been caught off the rocks of late. The month there will be even larger fish on offer. For the rock blackfish and groper, I recommend that you fish Barrenjoey Head, North Whale, Long

Ali Seraidar with a nice tailor. These fish are out of season but there are some turning up on the surf beaches well after dark.

also in the mix.

Some big groper are being caught as well, including a blue groper of 78cm and another of 68cm taken in recent weeks. Red crabs caught in the red weed are amongst the best baits. The crabs that you see under the cracks above the high tide mark are also great to use. A few smaller brown groper heading towards 60cm have been caught as well.

On my guiding/fishing trips I have a policy that the 70cm+ groper are to be released. This is a small part that I can play to contribute to stocks lasting for longer periods. Big blue groper over about 8-9kg are probably 20+ years old.

Trevally and snapper are often found together in the same areas, with a few bream thrown in when you’re fishing the sudsy white water off the rocks. When using berley it can get quite expensive if you’re using pilchard cubes, as you would need a substantial amount throughout the outing. For this reason, I recommend adding bread into the mix. It is cheaper, adds as a ‘fill’ and volume, and it’s about 70% of the total amount of burley. This enables you to berley up frequently, every couple of minutes or so. Trevally to 0.8kg, snapper to 0.9kg and Robert Pedini was astonished to catch this 78cm blue groper. His first one was a 40cm brown, and he thought that was great until he caught this monster. He released it to fight another day.

Reef and Bluefish. For the snapper, trevally and bream, try North Whale, Bangally Head, and Bluefish’s eastern front.

BEACH FISHING

Fishing for Aussie salmon and tailor you may need to fish after dark. They’re still available off the beach throughout the day but are more prolific after dark. Having a pair of surf booties will make it more comfortable standing on the cool sand after dark. The biggest salmon caught lately have been around 3.5kg, providing anglers with a lot of fun. Interestingly, we are also seeing some really small salmon, just 600-700g. It is quite unusual to see salmon this small on this part of the coast. If you go to the far south coast its way more common to catch small salmon from 0.5-1.5kg. I hope this is not going to be a regular occurrence!

There are some tailor around but they seem to be biting well after dark. They’re just above the small chopper size up to 42cm. In my opinion, that’s the best size for the plate. Fishing the traditional 3-hook gangs in the 3/0 to 4/0 size (which is generally suitable for a 150-170mm size pilchard) is working well, as usual. Replacing the gang hooks with a single hook can work fine as well – although there’s a chance that a tailor may end up biting you off with its razor-sharp teeth. The advantage with having a single hook is when you have bream or trevally biting your half pilchard, you have a much better chance of hooking them on your 2/0 hook. For the salmon it works well, and you don’t have to be so concerned about getting bitten off. Salmon have a padded mouth, which will not damage your line as badly as a tailor’s teeth will.

A few big tarwhine up to 40cm are available for the early season whiting anglers. The vast majority