Thank You… Now Let’s Get To Work

Words Dr Marjorie O’Neill, Member for Coogee

Vic Torious

A huge thank you to our community that has supported me in being re-elected to be your local member for Coogee. I am humbled by the overwhelming support and I feel the weight of responsibility to deliver on what we have committed to. I am fully focused on putting our community here in the East above all else.

We have made a commitment to ensure we work to fix our public transport in our area, starting with bringing back direct buses through to the CBD and Circular Quay. We are also committed to establishing a taskforce to work through the key findings from the public transport upper house inquiry that we were able to commission last year.

We will work through the failures of privatisation, including bus driver shortages, and implement plans to ensure we are attracting and retaining bus drivers to work in our area. After years of cuts to essential services, we will work to restore funding and the faith of the community in public health and education.

I will always fight for quality essential health services at our most important health institution, the Prince of Wales Hospital, located right in the middle of our electorate. Our team will also, as committed, start planning to identify a site for a new public high school east of the Sydney CBD.

We are currently working with our local councils to ensure that we can promptly deliver on our commitment to install 19 new electric vehicle chargers across the Eastern Suburbs. We know that these chargers are a practical way that we can support our local community in transitioning to electric vehicles, and we can all play our part in achieving net zero and taking the electorate off the grid.

We will ensure our beautiful natural environment here in Coogee, and more broadly across the state, is placed at the centre of decision making. We all cherish the local character, heritage, flora and fauna that surrounds us here in the East, the best place in the world to live, work and enjoy recreation.

I am committed to ensuring that politics is done differently and that I continue to be accessible to our community. I will continue to engage with you; to hear from you and listen to your concerns regarding the things that matter to us.

I look forward to continuing to talk with everyone from around our local area and continuing to provide you with information, ideas and updates via this very column in The Beast. It’s a privilege to be able to reach out about the things that matter every month of the year!

I encourage you to sign up to our community newsletter that goes out once a week and lets you know where I’ll be holding my regular mobile offices and listening posts in accessible locations outside of office hours. The weekly newsletter also includes information about what’s on in the East and among our community so you can stay up to date with free events that are happening in our area, as well as keeping abreast of any changes and proposals from our councils, as well as our state and federal government.

If you or anyone you know ever needs support or help, please do not hesitate to contact me via my electorate office. I am honoured to be re-elected to serve you and I am here to help, no matter how big or small the problem.

The Pelagic Pilgrimage

Much like that tan you spent all holidays procuring, Sydney’s summer is now all but a distant memory as the seasons roll steadily on into winter. Although my bank account is enjoying the much needed relief from tri-weekly jerry can runs to the petrol station and surprise trips to the tackle store, I can’t help but miss the epic season of fishing we had in the harbour this past summer.

It is around the same time of year that Sydney’s beaches and bars are inundated by swarms of tourists that the underwater world experiences a somewhat similar phenomenon, a ‘pelagic pilgrimage’ of sorts. Much like the warm weather that allures tourists in the thousands, it is the warm water bearing Eastern Australian Current that is responsible for attracting these fish by jump-starting an ecological chain of events as it torrents down the coast during summer. The early season sees millions of baitfish flush into the harbour along with the warmer water which coaxes a smorgasbord of hungry pelagics in after them. Vast numbers of Watson’s leaping bonito, mack tuna, frigate mackerel, Australian salmon, tailor, kingfish and Australian bonito patrol the harbour in a state of frenzy as they gorge on the baitfish banquet. On top of this list of fish species is another breed of creature that reaps perhaps the greatest benefits from this aquatic event - the fisherman (or fisherwoman, if you like). Slotting firmly into this class of creature myself, I had a fair crack at the harbour fishing despite spending the majority of summer searching for fish away from the city and its crowds.

For a period of over three months the fish were hard up on the surface, and I spent most of my sessions buzzing around the harbour in my tinny chasing the abundant bust-ups. I found that small metals fished at a fast-paced, constant retrieve were the most productive lures on the smaller pelagics like the bonnies, Watson’s, macks and frigates. A few stints of larger tailor came through the harbour throughout the season and small stickbaits, as well as larger soft plastics, proved their undoing. The kingfish however, despite nearly always being among the bust-ups (or at least nearby), were very difficult to outsmart. On multiple occasions, packs of bigger kingfish would follow in a hooked bonito, intrigued by the commotion of the struggling fish, but very rarely was I able to actually convert the sighted king into a hook-up by throwing in a second lure. The majority of kings I did catch fell to ultra light 8lb leaders and smaller 3-5 inch plastics, which necessitated careful rod work, especially around structure.

A technique that is particularly useful and often neglected when fighting kings close to structure is easing the pressure right off the fish when hooked instead of manically pumping and winding. The fish seem to stay somewhat relaxed and you are then able to lead them out to safer waters before fighting them up to the boat. As always, fresh stripped squid was the most productive bait on the kings overall, leading to the most fish, and the biggest.

Despite enjoying a decent run on the kings myself, it was interesting to hear from local Sydney Harbour fishing guru Craig McGill from Fishabout Charters. He said that this summer was the worst season he has had on the kings in years. He also said that he had witnessed the most ‘sharkings’ (when a shark eats or partially eats a hooked fish) as well as shark captures in his time. Coming from someone who has such a depth of knowledge and experience on the harbour chasing these fish, I found it interesting and slightly worrying to hear, but nevertheless I was still able to get enough of a taste to satisfy my kingfishitis.

If you’ve made it this far, cheers for reading and tight lines. For those who didn’t make it this far, the fishing Gods will deal with you accordingly.