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That evening it was dinner at John’s place and an early night as I was to be up and at it by 5am. As a bit of a bonus John had organised a fishing trip with the top Sydney guide, Justin Duggan.
It was just daylight when Justin motored his boat into the bay where we were waiting. It was G’Days and handshakes as it had been a while since I had last spent some time with Justin.

Within a few minutes we were on the first marker and as we arrived, kingfish were already on the surface chasing each other around the base of the marker. We caught and lost fish on boppers within the first few minutes. As the sun came up so the fish went down.

The pick-up point near Mosman and the bloody coffee shop was closed!

Justin into a popper caught kingfish right up close to the buoy

Show them a Chartreuse Clouser and they are anyone’s!

During the early part of the morning we lost a popper in a fish and would you believe, about a half an hour or so later it was sitting on the surface with this Kingfish actually playing with it. He slashed at it a number of times before taking it and disappearing into the depths.

When the Kings went down we changed to sinking lines and Chartreuse Clousers and the action was on again. In all we caught seven Kings for the morning and we would have caught more if it was not for a huge shark that crashed on the surface some 100 feet away. The second time it did this we saw its tail and believe me it was huge, at a guess it was a big Bronze Whaler. Obviously Kingfish was on the menu for breakfast.

I was thinking of asking Justin how long we were going to be there. With a fish like that under us, which I am sure was larger than our boat, it made me think, what if I hooked another King and it wanted it? Just a thought, but we survived. The Kingfish average around the 5 to 10 pound mark and upwards of twenty pound when the big schools come in. Fly fishing with #8 outfits is hard work but a lot of fun and highly recommended if you can get down this way.

The Kingfish populations in and around Sydney have increased in numbers since commercial fishing was banned in the bay a few years back and what is amazing is the quality of this now major sport fishery. You can contact Justin via his website: www.sydneyflyfishing.com.au Believe me, it is worth it if you spend a day or two with him.

Monday night was the session at the Sydney Fly Rodders’ club rooms. David Harrigan from Mustad Australia came to give some support and was also called onto say a few words, which he did with gusto.

Because we had to vacate the rooms around 9:30-10:00pm, I just had time to do a quick slide show and tie a couple of flies. But just the same, we got the message across. You kind of know this when they keep asking, ‘where can I get this stuff? I do know that the club is switching hook brands to Mustad for their fly tying schools and this is being sorted out as I write. Good Stuff!

In closing I would like to thank the Sydney Fly Rodders for their friendship and hospitality, especially to John Vacarro, what a host!

Cheers,
Mick Hall