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Nov 30th 2009

Hi all, we have been having some great fishing since the last report with heaps of nice size Jewfish and Kingfish.

The Jewfish have been taking squid pieces down the Hawkesbury around Juno, Flint and Steel and the Eleanor Bluff area with the shell beds in between Eleanor Bluff and Juno Point in about 30ft of water being the best spot for fish to 10kg. We caught 3 Jewfish around the 10kg mark in 1 week during the day after fishing for other fish first. But the same week I had an afternoon charter and thought we would get Jewfish for sure and we didn’t. So you can never be sure with fishing. Lately we have been getting heaps of under sized Jewfish with the odd keeper up to 70cm one week then the next week we only get the 1 or 2 fish but they are from 5 to 10kg so they are still about.

Kingfish in Pittwater have come on in the last 2 weeks with fish from 50cm to 1m (10kg) being caught on the same day. Stokes Point to Taylors Point or around Longnose Point has been the best spots. They are on the surface most days popping up here and there and very lure shy. We have caught a few on plastics but most have been caught on the downriggers with live squid. They are all very fat and healthy fish as there is heaps of baitfish in Pittwater and down the Hawkesbury. All the fish we have been catching are full of them.

We haven’t had any trouble getting squid lately with West Head, The Basin and Palmy Wharf being the best spots. No big ones but perfect live bait size. The Kingfish are starting to take yakkas now but for a while there they wouldn’t touch them so we were only getting squid which are a lot harder to get than the yakkas.

If you are going to chase Kingfish in Pittwater go during the week as the weekends are packed out with over 20 boats chasing them.

There is heaps of Flathead around at the moment. This time of year they’re a sure thing on plastics. Juno shallows, Patonga, Croppy Head, Hungry Beach and Whitehorse Beach down the Hawkesbury have been the best spots. Try a few spots as they seem to be at one place one day then another the next. We have even caught a few jewfish on the plastics too while fishing for Flathead.

Brisbane Waters has still been a little slow on the Flathead but it shouldn’t be long before they turn up in numbers around Lobster Beach as they do every year.

Tailor to 40cm and Salmon to 4kg have been fun to catch on lures with the tailor still around but the Salmon have moved on. The Tailor are in Pittwater and the Hawkesbury with Pittwater having the bigger ones and the Hawkesbury having only throw backs. Salmon were around Lion island everyday for about 6 weeks. They didn’t miss a day it was great and they were taking small metals and soft plastics. There was even the odd 60cm tailor mixed in with the Salmon.

Blue swimmer crabs are back on the list with 15 being our best day of late and some are huge. I usually put my traps out between Juno and Croppy Head or at the mouth of Mooney Creek but anywhere in the river will do.

So the fishing charters lately have mostly been; live bait first (yakkas and squid), then chasing Kingfish around before filling the esky with Flathead, then down the river for a Jewfish or 2, then we pick up the crab traps on the way home and chase any surface action in between all this. But we have caught a few Bream and Trevally around Lion Island in a burley trail with peeled prawns some days as well.

I would like to say a big thanks to Huett Marine at Cowan for their very professional and fast service with my new motor. I have had the Evenrude Etec 200HP installed on my boat and although it uses a little more petrol than my old Yamaha 200HP HPDI it does go a lot faster. I wanted a 4 stroke but they are 50kg heavier than the 2 strokes so I had no choice really.

Pictures tell a thousand words so I will put up some photos of the bigger fish that we have caught lately.

Ron Osman - Captain, Estuary Fishing Tours

Sept 22nd 2009

Hi guys, I know it’s been a long time since I have put in a report. Sorry about that I have been slack.

Top of the news this time is - GOOD Jewfish around at the moment. If you’re looking for a good chance of getting that one over 20kg come out with us NOW! Just last week we got a 22kg model from Juno Pt and a 12kg one from near there. Both Jewfish were caught on cut squid baits.

If you want to see the footage of the 22kg one my customers have put it on Youtube. Here it is 'click here'.

It doesn’t start until the fish is at the boat but still worth watching. Please don’t laugh at my gaffing effort as the gaff had a big burr on the tip that I didn’t know until later. I think my kids had been mucking around with it but it is all fixed now ready for the next one.

Both Jewfish were taken in the middle of the day and we only fished for them for about one hour and they were caught in the first 15 minutes of getting there. So if you were to spend a day chasing them I’m sure you would get them. A few places to try on the run in tide would be Juno Pt, both bridges, The Vines, Barr Point and the mouth of Mooney Creek. Some run out spots are Flint and Steel, Gunya Pt, the shell beds between Juno and Eleanor Bluff, the wreck at Wobby Beach, both bridges and The Vines. Go to all these spots in a day and spend one hour at each and I am sure you would get some or pick one spot and sit there all day for a chance. I would go for the first option. Take heaps of fresh squid as I have caught 90% of my Jews on squid. Plus take livies and dead baits like yakkas, tailor and pike. I usually run 4 rods with 2 squid, a livie and a butter flied dead bait. Some people run 6 or even 8 rods but 4 is plenty if I do put out more it’s usually 2 small bream rods with squid or prawns for the smaller fish and I keep these lines close to the boat and the big lines out the back to stop tangles and to get the small lines out of the way fast once we get a big one on.

Kingies have been around all winter in Pittwater but it is only now that they are getting easy to catch. We have got them to 75cm over winter but now a lot of smaller ones (60cm) are turning up. Best spots are the various wrecks in Pittwater with Clareville and Scotland Island the best. Towlers Bay has had them feeding on the surface some mornings and taking lures but these are only the smaller fish.

Small squid are getting easier to find now with the Basin the best. During winter all we could get were real big squid which make great calamari rings. If you fish Pittwater and can’t catch Kingfish or Squid or don’t know where the wrecks are come out on a charter and I will show you all the good squid spots and a heap of wrecks that you can fish for years. Most people that know where they are keep them a guarded secret so they aren’t going to tell you unless you’re a good friend of theirs.

Salmon and Tailor schools have been great fun over the last month. The Tailor haven’t been on the surface much but are taking metal slices around the washers at Big and Little Box, Lion Island and Barrenjoey. We have caught Tailor to 50cm and one bit us off at the boat that must have been 60cm. I thought it was a Salmon until we saw it.

Salmon have been at the same places as the Tailor but have been on the surface most days. They just pop up here and there and if you can cast into the school you get one every 3 to 5 casts. Most have been in the 2.5 to 3kg range but one went 4kg.

Flatties only had a couple of weeks off during winter. We caught them all the way through on plastics with a bad day getting 3 keepers an hour and a good day getting 10. Not bad for winter and they should pick up even more now the waters up to 17’ and rising.

The Hawkesbury has been the best for Flatties with Croppy Head to Juno, Patonga Creek to half way to Lion Island and Little Pittwater to White Horse Beach has been the best spots.

In Brisbane Waters Lobster Beach has been quiet but we have got some from the Rip Bridge and around Paddy’s Channel, mostly towards the Gosford end.

You can just use the cheap plastics for flatties but if you use the Gulps you will get the odd Jewie, Bream or Whiting as well. I use the 3 inch shrimps and the 4 inch minnows and I don’t have a favourite colour, they all work just as good as each other for flatties. Try to get the biggest Jig head with smallest hook possible. The extra weight helps to get it down there when fishing deep and when it’s shallower you get a faster retrieve. I use a 10grm jig head with a short shanked 2/0 hook. Flatties on plastics in summer is a sure thing and is better than baits as you cover a lot more ground than dragging a bait along the bottom.

Bream and Trevally have been the main catches during winter. I usually tell the customers what we have been catching lately and ask them what they want to catch but most of the time I get the same response – “I don’t care as long as we catch fish.” So it’s off to Lion island to fish a burly trail for Bream, Trevally, Leather Jackets, Tailor and lots of small rubbish fish. Good fun on light gear and during winter you are almost guaranteed a feed. Peeled prawns are the best but the small peckers make light work of them. Squid and cubes of Tuna are good too and last a bit longer than prawns. Remember burley is a must. Bream to 40cm, Trevally to 42cm, Leather Jackets to 45cm and Pike are there along with the odd Port Jackson to test you out. Lion Island is usually the best but big and little box, west head and Barrenjoey are good at times too.

Good Blackfish in Brisbane Waters and Pittwater but not many down the Hawkesbury. We got them to 38cm in Brisbane Waters with heaps of small ones and up to 42cm in Pittwater with not many small ones at all.

I have just started putting the crab traps (witches hats) out in the Hawkesbury again for blue swimmers in the last 3 weeks, with the best day 10 keepers and the worst 2. Some are huge and some are tiny or in jenny (pregnant) and must go back, pretty good crabbing for this time of year. I reckon we are in for a good season with the water only just starting to warm up now, hopefully we can get 20 plus a day like the last 2 summers.

It is to easy just drop them off on your way out and pick them up on the way back. When you put them out put them in a straight line. It makes them easier to see for other boaties coming along and if you get back and they are all over the place you know someone has raided them. I catch a few people every now and then, mostly hire boats on weekends and tell them nicely to put out their own traps.

Funny story of the month; we were fishing Juno Pt for Jews and got a huge Port Jackson Shark on a squid bait and it swallowed the hook right down it’s throat so we cut the line took a few photos and threw it back. No more than 3 minutes later one of the other lines goes off and it’s the same PJ and when we pull him in he coughs up the other hook. He must have been pretty hungry.

Lastly just a reminder about the Jewies, get out there now or come out with us. If you want to land that big one now is the time!

Ron Osman - Captain, Estuary Fishing Tours

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Feb 11th 2009

Hi all the fishing has been great lately excluding crabs with only a few big ones about. We had a quiet couple of weeks on the flatties but they are back now in force and with Kingfish, jewies and Squid also on the menu it’s a great time for fishing.

We have been catching kingfish in Pittwater to 91cm (6.8kg) and for 2 weeks straight there was a school of rats at Palm Beach drop off. On the first few days they were hitting the surface up till 10am. We were chasing them around with light rods and soft plastics for a bit of fun with all the other boats. The bigger ones have been up around Stokes Point, Clairville and Scottland Island. We have caught some great Kingies recently 87cm, a few at 85cm and plenty over 75cm with lots of rats as well with most fish taking live squid but a few on yakkas. The 91cm one took a yakka.

Speaking of squid we have been having the best squidding I have ever seen. In the last three weeks most days we are getting over 20 an hour and some are huge. Last Monday we got about 15 small to medium ones in about an hour after getting yakkas then we headed down to chase kings and we were straight into them. We landed a 79cm and a 75cm and got busted off by four more big ones and also caught a few rats. We were using a squid on each downrigger as they wouldn’t touch the yakkas. Eventually we ran out of squid so we ducked up to Careal Bay as it was close by to get some more squid and had 6 huge squid in 10minutes. We then went back to where the kings where and put down two of these huge squid but I think the kings were scared of them they were that big. So my customers took home a great feed of Calamari and Kingfish at the end of the day.

The water temp at Barrenjoey has been 16.5° and up in Pittwater it is 22.5° to 24° and at Davistown it has been 27°. Weird hey but it hasn’t put the fish off thank goodness.

Heaps of Taylor around Pittwater, the Hawkesbury and Broken Bay lately with mostly choppers to just over legal. We did get into a good school at Stokes Point in Pittwater one day with fish up 48cm and one that bit us off at the boat that must have been 55cm, absolutely huge Taylor for around there.

We have been getting plenty of Flathead in Brisbane Waters but the Hawkesbury River has been a little slow. Lobster Beach to Ettalong is the best spot and we never miss lately with most days seeing 5 to 10 keepers and hour on soft plastics. Just drift around flicking your plastics at any drop off or hole you can see and you will definitely get a few. We caught and released an 82cm one last week after taking a few photos but most have been from 40 to 55cm.

Jewies have been around lately too. We have caught them to 5kg with heaps of throw backs but no huge ones lately. We lost a big one at Flint and Steel a few weeks ago. We had a huge live squid on a two 9/0 hook rig that were brand new out of the box set just off the bottom with the drag set tight and it took off for about 50m then stopped and had a few head shakes. We got a bit of line back a few more head shakes and then he spat it out. We got the squid back whole but munched up with the hooks still in it. How do they do that I know if someone put a hook in my mouth and gave it a pull it would definitely catch something. Oh well next time we will get him. That is just Jewie fishing I suppose. The big ones are out there you just have to put in the time have good bait and make sure your tackle is up to scratch.

There has been a few Bonito and Salmon around too lately but not in schools. We have caught a couple of Bonito on the downriggers and we have got the Salmon from West Head while trolling small rapallas for tailor. We even got a 60cm Amberjack from Scottland Island on a Yakka.

Plenty of sharks around in the Hawkesbury. Mostly small Hammerheads but we did get a 4ft Bronze Whaler at Flint and Steel while fishing for Jewfish.

Frigate Mackerel turned up for 2 days then went again. They were around the Basin in Pittwater and along West Head.

So fishing is great, get out there for a feed or some fun.

Ron Osman - Captain, Estuary Fishing Tours

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Fishing Report 21st Dec 2008

Hi everyone. Just after my last report I had regular customers; Emin, Alex and one of their friends on board. It was a top day. We filled the esky with flathead and a couple of kingies and still had a couple of hours to go. I mentioned that there had been a few big jewies caught lately (the week before during the Hawkesbury Classic) so how about we give it a go. Everyone agreed so we sat at Juno Point. There was a few hours of the run in tide left and we put out my usual baits; a half squid, a whole squid, a live whatever (this time a yakka) and a big butter flied bait (this time a pike).

We were there 10min when the butterflied pike rod starts screaming line off and Alex is straight on to it. First I’m thinking big ray. Then it stops running and Alex cranks the handle of the reel a couple of times and then it gives a few big head shakes and takes another big run and I said “definite jew and it’s a big one”. After another few shorter runs and heaps more head shakes with Alex running around the boat and me getting everything out of the way we had him under the boat. The water was very dirty and we couldn’t see it until it was about 1 meter under the water and then we see a big silver flash and he is off again for his last run before being back at the boat again. I gaff him straight into the boat and onto the floor. There was yelling, hooting and backslapping all around.

My scales only went up to 20kg and it pulled them down easy. Alex stopped at a bait shop on the way home and it went 47lb (21.3kg) cleaned. The guy said probably 54lb (24.5kg) with guts and scales. Alex has the head in his freezer and is going to get it taxidermed. The huge cutlets he got of it will feed his family for ages.

We sat there for another hour for no more hits then called it a day picking up a few blue swimmers in the crab traps on the way home. Great fish, great day, great company! We have caught jewies since but somehow they just don’t compare.

Anyway in other fishy news there are heaps of rat kings in Pittwater at the moment and I mean heaps. We are still catching a few over 80cm but some days we just can’t escape the small ones. The smaller rats are schooling on the surface some mornings and even up until 10am. So we get the bream rods out with stick baits and have a bit of fun with them. The best spots for kings have been the Clareville and Scotland Island wrecks, Longnose Point and the Palm Beach drop off.

Squid have been an easy catch most days with 4 to 10 an hour. Some have been huge others tiny. Best spot by far is West Head followed by Palm Beach Wharf and Currawong Beach.

Flatties have slowed down a bit because the water temp was up to 22° a few weeks ago when we were getting heaps of them and then it dropped down to 19° over night and is now only 20.5°. It is amazing what a couple of degrees do to fish. We are still catching up to five keepers an hour most days and everyone loves flattie fillets. The best spot for flatties have been Little Pittwater in the Hawkesbury and Lobster Beach in Brisbane Waters. We even got a 40cm Bream while flicking plastics for flatties at Little Pittwater.

The flattie heads work well as bait for the crab traps. Crabs (Blue Swimmers) have been really funny lately with one day getting twelve the next day two, then the next day ten. This time last year we were getting twenty plus everyday in our witches hats. Remember no witches hats allowed in Brisbane Waters, only the Hawkesbury and Pittwater.

There have been a few schools of tailor in Pittwater and Broken Bay. The schools are either all big ones or all small ones. So you just have to be lucky to come across a school of bigger fish.

That’s about it I think. We haven’t fished for bream or anything else. Days lately have been catching yakkas and squid, then chasing kings in Pittwater, followed by flicking plastics for flatties down the Hawkesbury or Brisbane Waters and sometimes a bit of a jewie fish if there is enough fish in the esky for everyone. On the way home we pick up the crab traps for any bonus blue swimmers.

My first couple of weeks of January are nearly full but I still have plenty of days available after that so if you’re keen to come out give us a call or send us an email.

Lastly my family and I would like to wish everyone and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year.

Ron Osman - Captain, Estuary Fishing Tours

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Fishing Report 18th Nov 2008

Hi guys. The Kingies are back in Pittwater with some days seeing us catch over 10 Kingfish up to 76cm. Squid have been so easy to catch with the best day 12 squid and 10 yakkas caught at West Head in 45min. The squid have only been small but the Kingies seem to love them. Best spot for the Kings has been Longnose Point and the wrecks near Clairville. We got busted off by a monster just yesterday and got lots of small ones. We didn’t get to see the big one but by the amount of line he took I reckon he would have been near the meter mark.

The best day on the water was 2 weeks ago with 10 Kingfish caught but only 6 keepers with the biggest 76cm, cappuccino from Captain Cappuccino in the middle of Pittwater and fish and chips for lunch from Patonga. Then down to chase Jewies, no Jewfish but we caught a 1.4m hairtail at Wobby.

We have been getting a few Jewies on soft plastics down the Hawkesbury while flicking for Flatties. Flathead have been to 50cm and the Jewies to 60cm with a couple of bigger ones caught on fresh squid while at anchor at Wobby. The biggest Jew was 82cm (4.5kg). Real big tides at the moment and it took me 3 goes to get the anchor to stick at Wobby because we had the wind blowing with the tide. In the end I went in a bit shallower than I usually fish just to hold anchor.

Last weekend was busy on the water with the Hawkesbury Classic on (over 600 competitors). There was over 20 boats at Flint and Steel at 6.15am and 20 at Juno the rest of the day but there was still plenty of fish around for everyone. Talking to a fisheries officer down there he said big Jewies came in from Gunya and Juno and smaller ones from Wobby and the bridges. I wanted to fish Juno but with 20 boats already there we went to Wobby instead.

Schools of Salmon have all but disappeared with only Box Head having schools but not everyday. There is Tailor mixed in with them too.

Bream and Trevally are still around Lion Island and West Head but the best spot has been Little Box. A bit of burly and peeled prawns floated down the trail is the best bet. We have caught Bream to 36cm and Trevally to 38cm at all these places. We even got a few at West Head on the live bait lines.

Flatties are everywhere at the moment with Little Pittwater and Juno shallows the best in the Hawkesbury and Gosford end of Paddys Channel in Brisbane Waters. Flathead to 45cm are the norm but every now and then you get a bigger one or even a few Jewies.

So if your keen to come out with us the days lately have consisted of catching Yakkas and Squid then chasing Kingies for a few hours then flicking plastics for Flatties and Jew or fishing a burley trail for Bream and Trevally or even a bait fish for Jewies down the Hawkesbury.

If you are after more fishing reports I have joined a fishing forum called www.smellsfishy.com.au and I post the odd report on there along with all the other members on the site. So if you’re a fisho or just like to read about fishing you can join up and put up a post if you go fishing.

Ron Osman - Captain, Estuary Fishing Tours

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Fishing Report 25th Sept 2008

Hi all sorry for the late report. I have been a bit of a slacker on it but there hasn’t been much to report until the last few weeks. Before now it was very quiet. We even had a couple of those no fish days but not anymore. The fishing has picked up a lot.

Lion Island has been producing bream, trevally, tailor, leatherjackets, pike and salmon in a burly trail. The trevally are there one day and gone the next but the rest of the mixed bag are usually there everyday. The bream have been in the 30 – 35cm size, with the Trevally 28 – 38cm and very thick at times. We had schools of salmon at Box Head everyday for a week then a storm came through and they went missing for about a week but now they are back strong as ever and 1.5 to 2.5kg in size. We got into bigger ones at Middle Head and they were 3kg and much better fighters and acrobats.

Pittwater has been quiet on the kingy front but they shouldn’t be too far away with the water warming up at the speed it is. We have caught loads of tailor at the Basin trolling rapallas with some going 45cm – not a bad tailor. I haven’t chased kingfish down Pittwater for a few weeks now but I am down there next week after them so I hope they have come in and are ready to play.

We have been chasing luderick (blackfish) a lot lately as they are a winter fish and we have had mixed results where we only get a few one day and clean up the next. We caught 8 in a couple of hours one day and 7 were over 40cm with the biggest 44cm. The next day we only got 4 but one was 46cm and 1.7kg. That is the biggest blackfish I have had on my boat and I have only caught them that big myself when fishing off the rocks for them. We did drop a lot of fish and the ones we got put a great fight on the light blackfish gear and I hope they stay around for a while. The spot we got the big ones was Juno Point on the run out tide and also Croppy Head in the Hawkesbury.

Palm Beach Wharf in Pittwater has had heaps under it and we usually get a couple before leaving if that is where I pick my customers up. You just have to time it right in between the ferries and if you fish Saturday or Sunday morning the first ferry isn’t until 9am so you get a few hours of fishing in before they come and scare them off. The wharf next to it has them too but not as many. These fish are in the 35 – 40cm range and are right underneath the wharf so getting them out is great fun.

Brisbane Waters has blackfish too with the best spots Rileys Island and around Davistown and Woy Woy and these fish are in the 30 – 38cm range but there are the odd bigger ones. Flatties are on the come back and starting to take soft plastics at Lobster Beach, Hardies Bay and Ettalong. They are not big only about 30 – 50cm but still a welcome catch and should only get more active as the water warms up.

I have tried for Jewies a couple of times with no results until now. My last trip down to the road bridges we caught a small  keeper at 47cm but we only fished for them for a couple of hours at the end of the day. Talking to my trawler mate he said one of the mesh netters had a 30kg+ Jewie get out of his net at Gunya Point just last week so there is at least one Jewie out there. There was a 3.5kg one caught at the Rip Bridge last weekend. So it looks like they are starting to come back.

Coming out of Pittwater with customers on board a few weeks ago there was a humpback and it’s calf playing near Lion Island. So we pulled up the mandatory 300m away (which is still pretty close to an animal that big) and the mother breached 3 or 4 times and was rolling over and waving at us too with the calf not far behind. Then later in the day they were off Patonga just laying on the surface sunbaking. We got it all on video and photos and it was unreal and my customers were very happy and we hadn’t even started fishing yet.

They were defiantly humpbacks and it was only a week before the baby turned up in Pittwater and I hope he wasn’t the same one….poor little fella. I can’t believe the National Parks and Wildlife saying they were being humane, from what I’ve heard they should be jailed for the way they handled that situation. I had a mate down there when they killed it and he said it was kicking like crazy on the beach before they put a tent over it and killed it. They dragged it up on the beach still very much alive by the tail put a tent over it then injected it with whatever. My mate (who is friendly with Greenpeace) said it took about 30min and the whole time it was kicking and making heaps of noise, not very humane to me. Sorry to end this report on a sad note but I just had to get that off my chest.

Ron Osman, Captain - Estuary Fishing Tours

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Fishing Report 10th July 2008

Hi all, after a short holiday I am back fishing again and some days have been good and some bad. We caught Hairtail down Jerusalem Bay in Cowan Creek to 4 ½ foot but dropped a 6 footer right next to the boat on the first night down there. The first night we caught a total of 4 and the second night which was about three days later we caught 3 then the third and fourth nights which was only last week we got none but no one down there was getting any so I didn’t feel so bad. I have my own rig set up for Hairtail but people use all sorts of rigs from gang knots to single hooks but nearly everyone uses Pillies for bait and burly. I will put up a photo of the rig I use and you can give it a go if you’re down that way fishing for them.

I have joined a fishing chat room called smellsfishy.com.au and joined them on their Hairtail social. There wasn’t many Hairtail weighted in but it was a great time down there and everybody had fun. It was very nice to meet and chat to other fishos. Check out the website if you like it is very informative with not as many members as other sites so you know who you are talking to and if you post a really good fishing report you won’t have 100 people there the next day.

I have been catching a few Kingys down Pittwater mostly at one wreck but also around Scotland Island. They aren’t’ big fish with the biggest only 75cm and we are still catching rats of about 60cm which is surprising for this time of year because you usually only get the bigger ones in winter but not as many.

They are taking live Slimy Mackerel or live Squid but don’t seem to be interested in the Yakkas and I have been trialling my new Shark Downrigger Bomb from Flybridge.com.au which has been catching most of the fish. They look fantastic in the water and attract the fish a lot better than a piece of dull lead.

Squid are hard to find some days but some of the squid are huge. One of my customers Michael came out with his dad Neil and had never caught a squid before and he landed a monster (see photo). We could only get one small one for live bait and he was eaten by a 60cm Kingy at Scotland Island. Then we only had Yakkas left and they weren’t interested in them so we went fishing elsewhere.

We are still getting a few Jewfish at the Rip Bridge on soft plastics but they are only throw backs and up to 55cm but still a Jewie with the odd big Flattie thrown in. We go through a few plastics there because of all the Leather Jackets taking chunks out of them. Go with the Gulps if you are going to give it a go with a 3/8 jig head to get you down to the 30-50 ft they are at.

Blue swimmers are still around surprisingly we are getting about 8-10 a day but no real big ones. They are only just legal but with 8 of them you get a good feed. The spots I put my traps in down the Hawkesbury are in between the road and rail bridge, Mooney Creek mouth or between Juno Point and Croppy Head and no one place has been better than the other. Lion Island has been hot and cold as well with some days not even a bite and other days full of Bream, Trevally, Leather Jackets, Tailor and Pike. Burly is a must and the best bait has been big peeled Hawkesbury prawns. The pelagic fish have been very quiet and we have only seen small schools of Salmon and Tailor in Broken Bay and only a few times. There aren’t even many birds flying around except for around the trawlers.

We have been doing a bit of Black fishing lately and Brisbane Waters has been the best. We have caught them to 38cm at Lobster Beach, Rileys Island, The Rip and Paddys Channel but I have been catching more of the banks at Davistown on my days off. A lot of people haven’t fished for them before and are always keen to try different styles of fishing.

We have been catching a few Flatties on soft plastics in Patonga Creek and in Brisbane Waters but they are no where near as thick as in summer. But they are my favourite eating fish and always welcome in the esky.

If you are keen to come out I have knocked $100 off the price of a mid week charter for winter. So if you have 6 people it will only be $80 each and although it is cold there are still plenty of fish to be caught and there aren’t many boats out even on the weekends which is great.

Ron Osman, Captain - Estuary Fishing Tours

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Fishing Report 23rd May 2008

Hi guys. Firstly I would like to welcome my new sponsor ‘FlyBridge’ who have put some gear on my boat including  my new walker downriggers to replace my old Scotty ones, some soft plastics, one of their Fastnets and some Seadeck along with a few other bits and pieces that they import. You can check out all there products at www.flybridge.com.au and if you ring 02 43538723 and talk to Nathan he will help you out. These guys are the importers so you won’t get it cheaper anywhere else. I will let you all know how these products work in the next fishing report as I have only just got them.

The Flybridge Showroom is located at Tuggerah on the Central Coast but they will post anything to anywhere in Australia.

The winter fish are certainly here and the summer fish like Flathead and Kingfish are getting harder to find inside. The most reliable fishing is at Lion Island or around the headlands like Middle Head, West Head, Barrenjoey Head and from Big Box to Little Box. With heaps of Trevally to 38cm, Bream to 35cm, Tailor to 45cm, Leather Jackets to 40cm and the occasional Salmon. We fish with a good burly trail, a small running sinker and number 1 hook (a lot smaller if targeting Leather Jackets) and drift it down the burly trail stopping to check for bites every 10 feet or so. Some days the Trevally has been very thick and we have had to move spots to try and find the Bream. But the Trevally fight hard and everyone likes catching them. If they are bled straight away and filleted they are good to eat. For bait peeled prawns are the best but we also use small Squid strips and salted Mackerel cubes which are good for Bream, Tailor and Jackets but the Trevally prefer the prawns but they must be peeled.

My burly consists of chook pellets, wheat (soaked in water overnight), tuna oil, fish mince and plenty of water. Mix until it’s like wet concrete and freeze in ice cream containers. Drop them in your burly pot and it slowly defrosts and you have a constant trail going out the back of the boat. All the Bream we catch have the wheat in their stomach and the Trevally has the very fine bits of chook pellets in theirs. The northern side of Lion Island is the best for this type of fishing. Just motor out until you see the drop off (18ft-32ft) and anchor just on top of it, but beware this place eats anchors.

We have had a few good days on the Jewies but hey have been far and few between. I had one bloke hire the whole boat to himself and we spent the whole day flicking plastics around. First stop the Rip Bridge on the Orange Grove side just drifting around jigging plastics up and down off the bottom in about 35ft of water. I could even see the Jewies on the sounder. Between 6.15am and 9.30am we got 5 keepers (biggest 75cm), 5 or 6 throwbacks and got smoked by 2 big ones and there were a few big Tailor there too. The rest of the day we spent flicking for some Flatties at Hardies Bay, Pretty Beach and Ettalong. It was a great day and it had been a long time since I had caught a Jewie on a plastic and light gear. It was fun to say the least. Ryan my customer said he had never had a better days fishing.

The Blackfish are around but not in numbers in Brisbane Waters we have only fished for them a couple of times and the ones we are getting are close to 40cm so they are good fish. The best spots have been from Half Tide Rocks to Little Box Head and you can get good weed at Avoca Lagoon.

There have been a few schools of Tailor in Broken Bay and we always get some trolling bibbed lures. Hopefully the schools of Salmon wont be too far away now the water is dropping.

Just this week has seen the Blue Swimmers come back strong with 4 in 1 witches hat. The best spot is in between the road and rail bridges but they shouldn’t be around too long with the water cooling.

Don’t forget the Hairtail down Cowan Creek. They should start to come around at the end of the month or when the water gets down to 16º. Last year they were around for a while but for 2 weeks after a lot of rain the water temp was 12 º and there was heaps of them with over 50 boats (yes 50) chasing them in Jeruselum Bay nearly every night even during the week. Make sure you take your warm clothes as it is freezing down there.

So for the next few months it will be Bream, Trevally, Leather Jackets, Blackfish, Tailor, Salmon, Jewfish, Hairtail and the odd Kingfish on the menu.

Ron Osman, Captain - Estuary Fishing Tours

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Fishing Report 21st Mar 2008

Hi all,   since the last report we have had some of the best days fishing I have had for a long time.

The Kingfish are back in Pittwater around all the wrecks down there but the best spots have been West Head (if there isn’t too much boat traffic) and Barrenjoey Head. We have caught them to 5kg (90cm) and some days we have caught over 20 fish but most of them have been throw backs with just a few keepers. We have even been catching a few Amberjack to 68cm and Sampson Fish to 50cm and even seen a massive Tuna smashing Garfish at West Head. Most days they will take live Yellowtail but they do prefer live Squid and they have been easy to get latterly with 9 in 1 hour our best day. Best spots for Squid are just inside Pittwater on the western shore from West Head to Mackerel Beach and over at Palm Beach as well. If you are having trouble catching Squid buy a Yamashita 2grm Squid Jig they are by far the best jig I have come across. I don’t bother with all the other jigs in my tackle box anymore they cost $18 but are worth every cent and you don’t loose many if you are careful. We have also caught the odd Bonito and huge Tailor while down rigging live Squid and Yellowtail for Kingfish.

We also had a good week on the Jewfish at Flint and Steel in the Hawkesbury River but they were gone by the weekend so most people missed out. During the week there were only 2 or 3 boats there a day and everyone was catching them. Most were 50-70cm but there were a few just over 1 meter and they were taking fresh squid and live Yellowtail. The best day was the Tuesday with over 20 fish caught, there were that many we were throwing them back under 60cm and we also caught some massive Flathead there too with 92c, the biggest one. It was just after all the rain we had so I would say that was the reason they were there eating all the bait that got flushed out by the fresh water. We were catching Kingfish in the early morning then going to Flint and Steel and catching Jewfish and huge Flathead mid morning. Fishing doesn’t get much better than that.

We have been catching a few sharks lately too with a 6ft Hammerhead the biggest taken at Lion Island and there have been plenty of those pesky green toads around as well, biting of hooks, one day at Flint and Steel we went through about 15 hooks.

The Kingfish are still there everyday now but the Jewfish have gone quiet with only a few being caught now and mostly down the river at the Bridges and down Mooney Creek in a few of the deep holes there.

The Flathead have gone a bit quiet in Brisbane Waters but we still manage a few on soft plastics when ever we try. Most are just keepers up to 50cm.

Bream are everywhere at the moment, around Lion Island, Broken Bay and the headlands with a good burly trail and peeled prawns or up in the oyster racks in Brisbane Waters and Mooney Creek with Pink Nippers and Cockles. The bigger ones are around the headlands and we have caught them to 41cm but most are 30 – 38cm.

Frigate Mackerel haven’t had much of a show at Broken Bay this year with only small schools popping up here and there and you have to be lucky enough to be there when they surface to get some. Even the Slimy Mackerel are gone now after only being around for about 3 weeks.

Blue swimmers have gone quiet with only about 3 or 4 a day in our witches hats now and we even caught a few nice mud crabs after the rains we had (don’t they make a mess of a witches hat).

That’s about all I can think of at the moment but I will put up plenty of photos as pictures tell a thousand words.

See our photo page for new additions.

Ron Osman, Captain - Estuary Fishing Tours

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Fishing Report 4th Feb 2008           

Hi all, sorry for the late report but I have been flat out over the xmas holidays and are only just starting to get a few days off. Before the report I have the catch statistics of the professional fisherman from the Hawkesbury and Pittwater region off the Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries) through freedom of information. I have never said a bad word against the pros because I didn’t know how much they caught but now I know it shocks me to think this is still going on week in week out and surely it can’t go on for to many more years before the Hawkesbury is totally out of fish. Anyway to the numbers and this includes Mesh netters which account for most of the fish and also Trappers, Trawlers and Beach Haulers with the Beach Haulers catching the majority of the mullet.

This if for the 2006 – 07 financial year, 24,200kg of bream (and at an average of 1/2kg per bream that’s 50,000 Bream being taken out in one year and that’s not including the small ones they feed to the pelicans or the dead ones they throw back.

Whiting is 15,000kg, Mulloway (Jewfish) is 5,200kg, Flathead 1,400kg, Trevally 4,700kg and the big one Mullet which is 230,000kg (no I didn’t write too many zeros on the Mullet that’s the number), then there is Blue Swimmers 1400kg and Mud crabs 1,250kg to my surprise there were only 260kg of Kingfish and there was also 700kg of Flounder.

I have only listed the bread and butter fish that I mostly fish for but if you want the full list I will happily send them to you if you email me and I have the last 5 years results if you want them. I hope the trawlers will still talk to me because it’s not them that take the most fish, out of a full days trawling they are lucky if they catch 10 fish they only trawl for Squid and Prawns and if they didn’t I would have big trouble getting the fresh bait used for my charters.

The number of pros in the river has increased since they have been kicked out of Sydney Harbour by a lot, you can tell by the amount of traps around now and they come from the Hawkesbury, Pittwater and Brisbane Water and there are a lot more coming from Sydney and putting there boats in by trailer at Mooney in the Hawkesbury or Bayview in Pittwater and mostly work of a night time so they don’t get abused by fishos who are just trying to catch a feed.

Apparently Sydney Harbour hasn’t fished this good for 20 years since they got rid of them and I wish they would find dioxins in the Hawkesbury so they would ban them from there too. When the fishing license first got brought in the government bought out a few trawlers licenses from the Hawkesbury River and the next day the trawler owners went and bought a license from the old bloke down the road who hadn’t used his license for years and made a very nice profit, about $50,000 so I am led to believe, if the government did there homework first they would have bought out the licenses not being used first for a lot less money, anyway that’s my rant for this month now to the fishing report.

Finally some surface action in Broken Bay with schools of Tailor and smaller schools of Frigate Mackerel and Bonito smashing baitfish you just have to move around and find them and wait for them to pop up. Some days they are at the box and sometimes at Flint and Steel or right up in Pittwater near Scotland Island and other days been in front of Lion Island. 7 gram Gillies baitfish lures are the best I have come across, they are small but still weigh enough to get a good cast on them with 9lb line.

Flatties are a very reliable feed this time of year with the sand banks in front of Lobster Beach being the best place to get some and we have caught them up to 80cm there all on soft plastics but if it’s a terrible day weather wise so is the Flathead fishing usually drifting in front of Patonga with bait will catch a good feed of Flatties too if you are down the Hawkesbury. Use Whitebait for bait because there is plenty of baitfish around at the moment. Bream and Whiting have been great one week and quiet the next and I don’t know why we are using the same baits and fishing the same spots with Hardies Bay one of the most consistent but the Little Beach on the eastern side of Patonga has been producing some Whiting to 42cm on Pink Nippers and Tube Worms with a few Bream and Flatties chucked in.

Blue Swimmers are still around with most days getting 6 to 10 in our traps and if your lucky a muddy down the Hawkesbury but I haven’t targeted them in Brisbane Waters for a long time.

Jewies are still a bit quiet but we usually catch a few when we target them but they are only about 2-3kg and taking fresh Squid or Slimy Mackerel fillets and the best spot has been down Mooney Creek or the road bridge at Mooney. We had a good 2 weeks on the Jew at the Rip Bridge in Brisbane Waters where they were there every day at the top of the tide for about an hour. We got them every day we were there on fresh squid but they were only 40-60cm but everyone was still happy and once the word was out there were lots of boats there for the tide turn.

Kingies are still very disappointing down in Pittwater and Broken Bay. We have caught them but not in numbers and mostly throw backs, bait hasn’t been a problem with plenty of Squid and Slimy Mackerel around West Head but the Kings have been quiet even around all the wrecks down in Pittwater which I am finding more of every time I am down there but it still isn’t helping. Maybe next week they will turn up because they are outside on the 40m reefs and we have had our best ones come from West Head, Barrenjoey or the Box so it might just be a late season for them. The Frigate Mackerel are at Terrigal Haven too, but be prepared to fish shoulder to shoulder with everyone else and watch out for the Divers.

Ron Osman, Captain - Estuary Fishing Tours

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