Harbour Topwater
So two weeks ago Fitz and I braved a nasty slop at Long Reef, and launched our matching mini boats directly into the ocean:
Challenge accepted and overcome - but results disappointing. The water was murky green and cold. No kingfish marked on the sounder, and no other boats out there. The only fish caught was a leather jacket – off the downrigger! Fitz not happy:
Had a good time, and learned a lot about beach launch and retrieve. But it was obvious the action was happening somewhere else. Very fortunate to have a helpful teenage crew who monitor online fishing pages and keep me in the loop – even during school term, when they can only fish on weekends. Here’s a typical pic from the ever helpful Xavier:
So when good friend Warwick D suggested a Harbour-only run on his Halverson 32 ‘Indigo’, I couldn’t say yes fast enough:
Beautiful boat, very comfortable, but the canopy over the rear deck makes casting hard. I took an old but gold Heddon Zara Puppy and a couple of micro poppers a supplier sent me to try:
They worked:
Warwick said his fresh tailor dinner was delicious that night. Next trip was a solo run in the mini boat:
The salmon were going completely nuts at South Head. This time, I used an expensive popper - one my young crew recommended:
The salmon loved the lure but the hooks didn’t handle the pressure too well:
I switched to our 10 gram jigs and, as usual, they worked great. At $44 dollars for 10 jigs - INCLUDING DELIVERY - you’d be crazy not to have a set on board:
With tailor and salmon sorted, I was keen for some rolled gold action. Out again a couple of days later where all the action was happening - smack dab in the central Harbour just east of the Bridge. Exactly where Xavier’s pic showed they were. Kings rolling on the surface and hitting poppers hard:
The kings were keepers too - although I let them go:
It’s been a fantastic couple of weeks. Get out there and into them if you can, lads? Gear down the line size, to make it a challenge Gear up the rod length, to maximise casting distance And Take a set of our 10 gram jigs, to maximise results Thanks for reading
Andrew Hestelow
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