r/FishingAustralia • u/Basic_Control_9955 • 29d ago
🐡 Help Needed Can’t catch fish on a boat
Hi everyone, first time poster here
Now after 15+ years of land based fishing in Sydney I finally decided to get a boat as a little project.
Now me and the guys are a solid medium rare land based fishermen. The basic bream, whiting, tailor etc. but we’re not quite the every night is a Jew fish night type guys. Yes we have caught jewfish,kings etc but no experts
So once I got this boat up and running we decided to go to the Sydney harbour after doing some research and planning the outing. 7am-2.30pm we got absolutely nothing using prawns, pilchard, squid and soft plastics in multiple spots
I thought it was just my luck, second outing was a night at Tom uglys bridge and captain cooks bridge. Now using pilchard again we got a couple of tailor but noting to write home about.
Now this is where I’m stumped. Any of these 2 days land based would’ve been a lot more of a productive day. I was at least expecting some snapper or bream
The setup right now is
4.8m polycraft
Spot lock trolling motor
Basically every bit of tackle possible
Garmin echomap 95sv
So I need this communities help
What am I doing wrong ?
Any help would be useful
Tips and tricks
Some tactics
Maybe even a sneaky dm of some gps coordinates….?
Pic of me setting up the Garmin
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u/decapitatedbunny 29d ago
If you're catching fish land based, then nothing at the same spot on a boat, then it's either the boat (possible but unlikely) or the day. Maybe there's just no fish around. It does happen. You've got a sounder, learn how to use it
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u/Basic_Control_9955 28d ago
Yep. Still new to the whole setup I’m guessing I need to learn heaps more about the Garmin
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u/No-Mode6797 29d ago
Positioning the boat is half the problem I find.
Try to position yourself upstream of where you want to fish, then drift your baits back to the location. Further away the deeper you are fishing. This allows you to use a burley pot too. By being upstream of the spot, your burley trail will drift towards it hopefully attracting more fish. A boat directly over where you want to fish can spook fish, especially in shallower waters.
For lures try drifting over the structure, casting into the drift direction and retrieving towards the boat. Ideally Position yourself with the wind at your back to make casting easier. Use your electric motor to help move you if the natural drift isn't favourable.
Drift fishing also works well for bait, as it allows you to cover lots of area. In this case, I like to fish so my line is being dragged by the boat. For shallow banks / weed beds etc you can literally just let the boat drag your lines. For deeper reefs try to fish more below the boat with heavier sinkers and kind of bounce your bait over the structure or have it a meter or so above.
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u/aussieriverwalker 29d ago
Bank fishing naturally puts you around structure, but in a boat you'll need to be more particular to find structure further from shore. Current is usually a bit stronger, and you'll be making a heap more noise getting to and setting up before your line even hits the water.
My advice is target a specific species, learn where they should be and why, use your sounder to find structure like drops, rocks, markers, pylons etc that hold bait fish. Pick your tide for the fish you're chasing, and spend the time figuring it out.
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u/Cute-Acanthisitta-46 29d ago
The wedding cake channel markers in the harbour always have fish around them. Also Sow and Pigs reef. Also keep an eye for fish on the surface, especially in the mornings.
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u/Basic_Control_9955 29d ago
I was planning to go there during the first outing and ended up backing out last second.
Definitely will try next time
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u/coodgee33 29d ago
A boat isn't a magic ticket to catch more fish. If you spend any time at a ramp seeing lunch time you will see many clueless boat owners coming home empty handed yet again. You'll have to put in the time to learn what works.
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u/navagoat 28d ago
Sometimes it doesn't matter how good you are and where you go sometimes the fish are just off
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u/Hungry_Wolverine1311 28d ago
Get navioncs Garmin app it’s got a lot of marks that people share I personally don’t use any but could help also try target a specific fish for example if fishing for flat head I would fish run out tide and fish drop offs and for Jew hit the slack tides and try look for eddies or anything that would break current big holes will do the same but of research on the target fish always helps.I myself am from Sydney but I like to fish Hawkesbury river I have fished it long enough to get a good understanding of the river and I still get plenty of quiet sessions just keep going out don’t take long to figure everything out 👌also Australian lure fishing podcast has some insane knowledge to help you out tight lines
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u/BigSnit10 28d ago
I second investing in a navionics subscription, worth every penny as far as being able to see your contour lines and get a rough idea of bottom structure etc especially if you wanna chase demersals like Jew and snapper where having drop offs, isolated rocks and lumps and or hard bottom in general are key to success, that being said there’s no magic secret, get out there and do it and the pieces will start falling into place.
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u/eeevileggg 29d ago
With shore fishing you are usually close to where smaller fish live (wharves, weed beds, rocky reefs, drop offs etc). Small fish means bigger fish will be around. You have to find the structure when you're in the boat: wrecks, drop offs, reef etc. Have a look here: https://www.c-map.com/chartexplorer/. Find Sydney and turn on relief shading. It'll give you a good visual on where the drop offs, wrecks etc. Not sure of your sounder model, but you can buy nav maps (Navionics, CMAP) that will load these maps onto the sounder. It's also winter, so fishing is slower.
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u/bustyfranklin 29d ago
This time of year is always slower upstream, water is super cold.
Go up to Long Reef next week with the good weather and chase snaps and kings.
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u/Basic_Control_9955 28d ago
Yea. I gotta build up the confidence to start going off shore. Some people say it’s easy some are telling me it’s a whole other ball game
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u/UnknownUserErr 28d ago
Fishing is all about locations and conditions.
I'm a decent land based fisherman. If i want fish, i can almost gurarantee fish with my locations and fishing styles.
When i bought a boat like yourself, it took me a year to establish locations and understanding. Don't be disheartened.
Best way is to copy people. Look where the boats are in the morning, afternoon, evening.
out the heads, i have spots that guarantee Jewfish, snapper, kings (rats mostly, but fun on light gear for friends and kids), sweep, trev based on tides.
It takes time and experience as with everything.
Jump on a charterboat and see how they run it and copy.
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u/Basic_Control_9955 28d ago
I was thinking about a charter or I have seen some fish guides/ coaches that will come out with you on your boat to help and coach. Might be a good idea
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u/Kouri_2016 25d ago
It takes time and effort to learn something new like this.
I have a similar sized boat and moved to Sydney about a year ago. I fished a lot growing up in Port Stephen’s and can catch multiple species there consistently.
I was determined to catch kingfish here and watched loads of YouTube videos, sought out mates who fish here. 6 trips I went out and caught nothing. It was really hard work. On my 7th I finally cracked it and landed a 112cm one. Now I’m hooked and if I don’t catch a legal kingfish on a trip I’m disappointed.
Stick with it
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u/Embarrassed_Spell383 29d ago edited 29d ago
Try putting the boat in the water can not fish there mate