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Rigs for livies off Stokes Hill Wharf


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G'day All

Up here visiting my son who moved up a while ago and I'm trying to land a fish or two with him while I'm here. Went to Stokes Hill today and managed to get some livies.... but no luck with anything munching them. 
 

Just wondering what the preferred rig is off the wharf.... and if any area on the wharf is better than others.  Got snagged a few times close in to the wharf a bit further along the wharf from the fishing platform). 
 

Would love to get a decent fish with him... (you know... father & son bonding and all that...😉).

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

Cheers

 

Robbo

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I had a pretty good time up there in July 2019, check my yarn in the interstate fishing reports titled "first time darwin landbased", went up September that year and smashed it again, pretty much all my fish were on SPs. Best spot for me was along the fenced part of the main wharf, seaward side which looks back towards the restaurant/start of the jetty, on the outgoing tide late night to early morning was best for me, you can see where I mean in the pics.

Met up with the dude who grabbed my barra again the second time I was up there and he kept getting smoked on pretty heavy gear night after night with livies rigged on a single 3/0 or 4/0 on about a metre of 60lb to a swivel with a decent (2 or 3oz) ball sinker on the main line which he'd drop to the bottom then lift off the bottom just a bit more than the trace length to try and avoid the endless snags down there. Managed some nice cod, golden snapper, queenies and tarpon too, the epic bust offs were my favourite though 😂

A livie drifted out under a balloon when the conditions are right can be good too I was told.

I suspect this would work anywhere along the wharf, I saw good fish caught all over just go between the pylons if you want any chance of stopping the resident monsters. The locals told me the place for big barra and Jew is up right next to where the no fishing line starts, same rig and method as above but also a 2nd line lobbed 10 to 20m out, no snags down that way but there's a deeper channel for the ships. Same deal all along there really. 

Is a killer jetty and being able to drive up, park and fish basically out of your car is awesome. Should be plenty here to get you onto something decent, make sure you let us know how you go.

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@Robbbo there are some monster fish in and around that wharf. Do yourself a favour and grab dinner at the eatery at the end one evening. Grab a table on the edge (sea side, looking back towards Palmerston) with lights directly under you. As the sun sets all manner of fish will come up and feed on the baitfish that are attracted (to both the light and the food scraps). If your lucky, you will get a glimpse of some of the monsters that inhabit the area.

In terms of rigs, everything @Wert said holds true.

Best of luck.

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Great stuff Territory Lad, I'll get out there for a meal for sure... and check the fish out.

Just wondering about the rigs, couldn't quite work out whether we're talking about a normal running sinker rig or paternoster type rig?

Looking forward to getting out there again.... don't want to leave until I've at least got one decent fish from there.

Also, is any particular tide better fishing than another?  I know it's a bloody long way down to the waterline when it's low though!
 

Thanks again.

 

Cheers 🍻 

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Amazing place to visit and fish. I didn't manage anything too big when I was there but saw the locals get a few big ones including a black jew fishing heavy handlines with a ball sinker straight to the hook.

The rocks at the entrance to Stokes Hill Wharf are also worth a fish. I got some big diamond scale mullet fishing floating bread as well as longtom and had a school of golden trevally swim past but couldn't get a bait to them in time.

 

Don't forget to take a casting outfit with small metals or plastics to cast to the queenfish that bust up bait on the surface

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1 hour ago, Kelvin said:

Amazing place to visit and fish. I didn't manage anything too big when I was there but saw the locals get a few big ones including a black jew fishing heavy handlines with a ball sinker straight to the hook.

The rocks at the entrance to Stokes Hill Wharf are also worth a fish. I got some big diamond scale mullet fishing floating bread as well as longtom and had a school of golden trevally swim past but couldn't get a bait to them in time.

 

Don't forget to take a casting outfit with small metals or plastics to cast to the queenfish that bust up bait on the surface

Thanks Kelvin, will do. The rocks sound good for the saltwater fly gear I brought with me... just but not too keen on getting too close to the water!  Haven't seen any bust ups yet, but will have the gear ready for when it happens :)  If I can get my son onto a fish then I can relax a bit. Thanks for the advice. Cheers 🍻 

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5 hours ago, Robbbo said:

Great stuff Territory Lad, I'll get out there for a meal for sure... and check the fish out.

Just wondering about the rigs, couldn't quite work out whether we're talking about a normal running sinker rig or paternoster type rig?

Looking forward to getting out there again.... don't want to leave until I've at least got one decent fish from there.

Also, is any particular tide better fishing than another?  I know it's a bloody long way down to the waterline when it's low though!
 

Thanks again.

 

Cheers 🍻 

Regular old running sinker, keeping it simple gives the big boys less chance of hanging you up. I did best on the second part of the outgoing but I saw fish landed during all stages.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks fellas. There was a fair bit of skull dragging and a huge amount of luck. Both fish went for the pylons (the trevally in particular) and it was just a case of what was gonna happen first - the line breaking/hook pulling or the fish bricking us.  The 40lb leader in both cases was so shredded, I'm surprised it held together. Got both fish within about 10 minutes of each other. Stopped fishing after that as we had enough to share between a few families.  I brought the saltwater fly rod up too.... but wouldn't stand a chance on the wharf... it'll stay in the car for now! Cheers 🍻 

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