Come for the mackerel, stay for the mahi
Up to Crowdy Head last Wednesday, super fired up after getting some top reports. Here’s Northern Beaches Fisho on Instagram:
Next morning two of our regular crew arrived, one from Forster and one from Swansea. Loading the gear into the boat in the pre-dawn dark and Murray says, ‘that doesn’t look right’:
The joy of boating! I’ve had no end of trouble with the trailer purchased last October and will be posting a full review to the Facebook page:
to warn others not to make the mistake I did. But early Thursday morning we just needed to get down to the boat ramp. Thankfully, Harley at Harrington Mechanical Services came through with flying colours. Drove over there with three wheels on the trailer:
Harley replaced the bearing for $70 including parts and labour! Down to the ramp and out on the water by 8.30AM. Not too worried at the late start because, two weeks ago at Coffs Harbour, the mackerel were on the bite right through the day.
Our usual technique – which has worked very well, in this spot – is to moor up on a pinnacle at the Curphey Shoals. Then, get the burley going, and fish live baits under balloons and unweighted pilchards on light wire into the trail.
But as we came off the plane, I saw the murky green of the water and that the current was running strongly from the south. After 90 minutes we hadn’t turned a reel so, the ninety minute rule kicked in. This is something that has worked very well for us over the years. If no action after ninety minutes, change spots and, the target species. We headed out to the Waverider buoy in perfect conditions. Murray dropped down a live bait and hooked up this 80cm mahi:
I broke out one of our mini poppers and the dollies went ballistic. The bite was so hot that, if one hooked up and then threw the popper another one would grab it as it landed. I had a couple of strikes just leaving the popper sitting on top of the water! A fantastic session:
Should mention our new lip gripper tool was super handy for the undersized models. The older I get the more I realise what a great fishing resource we have, here in Australia. And how wrong it is, to let fish that you’re going to return, smash and bash themselves on a hard deck before they go back over the side. Securing their head with the lip grippers and putting them on shock absorbent deck matting makes all the difference. This little fellow made the cut:
This lip gripper is no longer stocked.
A lot of them were just under or just over legal. Trying to find some bigger models I put a garfish on a Head Start and downrigged around the buoy with the bait set 15 metres down. Stacks of strikes but mostly small:
Back to the boat ramp early with an esky full of prime eating fish and everybody happy.
Forecast fantastic for Friday but I didn’t have anyone to join me. Out on a solo session and back to the Shoals where the water colour had cleared up considerably. Anchored on a bump showing lots of bait and put a live slimey mackerel out under a balloon. Strikes came thick and fast but I wasn’t able to video the fight, only the results:
Snapper bait requirement covered. These two 7-8 kilo jobs gave me a solid workout:
Last day and our friends Rod and Christine arrived. One of the good things about the house we rented at Crowdy Head is that there’s plenty of room to park good size trailer boats behind it. Parking on the street can be a real pain:
Send me an email if you want to inquire? The owner is a client and friend. Back out to the wave rider on a picture perfect day and started out with our 40 gram jigs:
Rod and Christine – and their three dogs – fished next to us. They’re strictly flyfishers. That’s the buoy in the background:
The only way to get past the swarming just legals was to break out the downrigger. That produced some keepers – but not huge. This one went 80cm:
With the fish box full we headed back in late morning. Crowdy? What a great place. Because everything’s so close to the ramp I used 24 litres of fuel in two days. If you’re taking the bride and/or the kids that means you can get out at dawn, and back in late morning, to spend the rest of the day with the family. Everyone’s happy. Didn’t find the longtail tuna I wanted! But we caught some good fish and were blessed with the best weather possible. Back up again soon and thanks for reading
Andrew Hestelow
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