resent trip north to South West Rocks

User avatar
cheaterparts
Rank: Premium Member
Rank: Premium Member
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:56 pm
Location: Cranbourne
Has liked: 4 times
Likes received: 140 times

resent trip north to South West Rocks

Post by cheaterparts » Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:28 pm

6 of us headed north for a week leaving late good Friday and arriving at South West Rocks Saturday after noon for our annual trip there ( my 4th time )
After getting set up in the house and rigging done for the morning it was off to bed for a well earned sleep

Image
some flash glass at the house we rented for the week

Image
the rigging table and a nightly chore to be ready to fish the next morning

Sunday morning
3.30 am alarm to be on the water before light ( to beat the boats to the bait grounds ) bait was easy enough to find only Yakkas - slimmies were not playing the game
The water however was very dirty with the resent rains - we all trolled livies and kept them out of trouble and none of us troubled the scorers
So day 1 no fish back to the house to re rig and hope the day would improve tomorrow

Image
back up the ramp - no fish today

Monday
was a mirror of the day before dirty water and no fish even with bait easy to find - over the nights re rigging a new plan was worked out - off to Coffs Harbour in the morning

Image
trailers full of kayaks

Tuesday
the hour and 20 run up to Coffs Harbour launching at Diggers Beach ( an easy little surf break ) but bait was proving hard to find - moving out to Mc Auleys reef ( wide ) I found a bait ball on one bommie - this had it's own problems with a breeze at lease 10 knot and maybe more blowing me off this bommie quite quickly but with a few runs back got 2 Yakkas - these were live baited on Mackerel rigs ( wire and stinger hooks ) with quite a bit of trolling I seamed to be keeping them out of trouble
moving in closer to shore and on Mc Auleys reef ( close ) I found that a couple of the others had baits taken by small reef sharks - chatting to Mozza and saying that nothing was taking any interest in my bait he said why not try a run in closer
So only a 100 meters or so off the front of the rock and in about 8 to 12 meters that happy Zing of a reel going off - a bit of a fight and the gaff was in a 107 cm Cobia - a great little fish to slide in the fish hatch and finally a result to give the scorers something to do

Image
107 cm Cobia @ Diggers Beach Coffs Habour - fun to catch and great to eat

Wednesday
back out the front of SWR the water had cleared and on the bait grounds at 11 fathom reef we found some bait balls when dropping the Sabiki though all hell broke loose these were leaping Bonito ( how to stuff a sabiki in one easy lesson ) they straightened hooks - broke hooks in half and made a tangled mess of the sabiki rigs but we did get enough for a feed - I landing 3 myself adding to the 6 the other guys got
Leejo hooked something that he could only make out had blue and yellow in it before busting off 30 lb braid - the line went down the side on the line roller on the bail arm which of cause cut the line - no one caught anything else that day

Image
Eoin did his magic with the Bonito - not sure what he marinated that fish in but it was perfect on steamed rice and some Japanese sprinkles
the dish both looked and tasted amazing

Thursday
it rained over night so there was a dirty line of water through Trial Bay but out the front was till clean - this worked it's way along pushing us further south to stay out of it by about 9.30 it was down past the bins and the only one to hook up to anything was Chenski who had the leader bust before sighting the fish - stumps came early due to the dirty water

Image
Mozza ( Stealth fisha 500 )and Eoin ( fisha 460 ) heading out the front from the dirty water inside trail bay

Friday
only 2 of us Leejo and Myself headed out friday - but somewhere different , we headed for Scotts Head about 45 min north from SWR this is a surf launch and the waves were probably around a meter so we watched from the look out for a while and worked out there was a deeper channel though the break - as it was we both got out easy enough but bait was again a problem , we met up with another kayaker ( a Local ) and he was also find bait to be a problem and we were on the right areas that normally hold bait
time for dead bait rigs - Leejo had 2 slimmies from the day before so rigged them to troll I had Pillies so rigged one side with pilly and the other with a HB - to pilly did the damage with that happy reel zing this time a small ( 86 cm ) long tail tuna and a little time later a small hammerhead shark
we pulled the pin around 11 am as we had to pack for an early start for the way home Saturday
coming back though the surf was again easy enough -

Image
Launch at Scotts head has a deeper channel about 100-150 meters out from the rocks ans away from the main bunch of surfers

Image
my profisha 525 and leejos 575 @ Scotts Head read to head out

Image
Leejo packed up everything stowed ready for the run in through the surf

Image
86 cm long tail Tuna caught @ Scotts head but back at the South West Rocks ramp and cleaning table to rip some fillets off it

so that was our trip not many caught but still a great rip - roll on next year
Last edited by cheaterparts on Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
My kayak PBs
Gummy shark 128 Cm - Elephant fish 85 Cm - Snapper 91 Cm - KG Whiting 49 Cm - Flathead 55 Cm - Garfish 47 Cm - Silver Trevally 40 Cm - Long Tail Tuna 86 Cm - snook 64 Cm - Couta 71 Cm - Sth Calamari 44 Cm hood - Cobia 117 cm


Cheater

purple5ive
Rank: Premium Member
Rank: Premium Member
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:59 pm
Has liked: 567 times
Likes received: 1011 times

Re: resent trip north to South West Rocks

Post by purple5ive » Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:37 pm

That's an effort and a half mate. Well dine on tbe captures and thanks for sharing.

Lightningx
Bluefin
Bluefin
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2014 4:21 pm
Has liked: 72 times
Likes received: 976 times

Re: resent trip north to South West Rocks

Post by Lightningx » Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:50 pm

Nice report mate.
Well done :thumbsup:

smile0784
Rank: Premium Member
Rank: Premium Member
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:16 pm
Has liked: 39 times
Likes received: 356 times

Re: resent trip north to South West Rocks

Post by smile0784 » Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:55 pm

Sound like a slow trip but still got a few.
Well done mate
Great report

Texas
Rank: Premium Member
Rank: Premium Member
Joined: Tue Jun 17, 2014 10:41 am
Location: Hoppers Crossing
Has liked: 221 times
Likes received: 460 times

Re: resent trip north to South West Rocks

Post by Texas » Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:58 pm

Great report cheater, sorry about the fish
Cheers Gra

DougieK
Rank: Premium Member
Rank: Premium Member
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 3:19 pm
Location: Glen Waverley
Has liked: 30 times
Likes received: 612 times

Re: resent trip north to South West Rocks

Post by DougieK » Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:33 pm

107cm Cobia... freaking awesome.
Chasing LBG and sharing a love for the Martial Arts, everywhere, all the time.


LBG Season 2023/4 :

Kingfish : 61

Nude up
Rank: Kingfish
Rank: Kingfish
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 5:08 pm
Location: Bellarine peninsula
Has liked: 333 times
Likes received: 569 times

Re: resent trip north to South West Rocks

Post by Nude up » Thu Apr 12, 2018 7:48 am

Sounds like a great trip I think the fish your mate lost was possibly a rainbow runner. Ripper cobia.

User avatar
cheaterparts
Rank: Premium Member
Rank: Premium Member
Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2011 5:56 pm
Location: Cranbourne
Has liked: 4 times
Likes received: 140 times

Re: resent trip north to South West Rocks

Post by cheaterparts » Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:33 am

I've added some pics to the first post
My kayak PBs
Gummy shark 128 Cm - Elephant fish 85 Cm - Snapper 91 Cm - KG Whiting 49 Cm - Flathead 55 Cm - Garfish 47 Cm - Silver Trevally 40 Cm - Long Tail Tuna 86 Cm - snook 64 Cm - Couta 71 Cm - Sth Calamari 44 Cm hood - Cobia 117 cm


Cheater

Nude up
Rank: Kingfish
Rank: Kingfish
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 5:08 pm
Location: Bellarine peninsula
Has liked: 333 times
Likes received: 569 times

Re: resent trip north to South West Rocks

Post by Nude up » Sat Apr 14, 2018 9:45 am

Great pics cheers

Lightningx
Bluefin
Bluefin
Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2014 4:21 pm
Has liked: 72 times
Likes received: 976 times

Re: resent trip north to South West Rocks

Post by Lightningx » Sat Apr 14, 2018 4:14 pm

Couldn’t see the pics when I first read the report.
Great pics. That bonito dish looks tasty :thumbsup:

Post Reply

Return to “Kayak Fishing”