I had the pleasure of being joined by Flyfishing guide and writer Paul Brunn of the USA. A nicer guy and finer angler is hard to meet. Under tough Sotherly winds of up to 30knots and the odd rainy squall Paul managed to enjoy a great day of Sydney flyfishing. It is with Pauls kind permission I reproduced the article from the Jackson Hole Post newspaper.
I will let Pauls wonderful writing paint the picture.





OUTDOORS
Paul Bruun
Jan. 5, 2005
Downtown fly fishing Sydney style
with pix of Sydney Harbor opera house
The Statute of Liberty, Little Mermaid, Sydney Opera House, Arizona
Memorial and Golden Gate Bridge are all famous harbor landmarks. But when
it was a few days before Christmas I'd much rather be enjoying Pacific
breezes in the Southern Hemisphere and fly casting for yellowtail kingfish
within sight of the fluttering roof line of that famous Australian structure.
And that's exactly what prominent Sydney Internet web designer Stuart
Tremain had been promising since we met a year ago. Now we were driving
through the darkness toward a New South Wales waterfront park and boat
ramp. There we met Justin Duggan who specializes in fly fishing Sydney
Harbor and the Pittwater area a few miles north. It was 6:30 a.m. and the
morning business commute was beginning. We were aboard Justin's five
meter Quintrex aluminum skiff and powering toward the Sydney Harbour
Bridge and Opera House area.
"Keep an eye out for diving gulls and terns and breaking fish," the affable 32-
year-old captain suggested as he carefully avoided various sized rowing
shells, speedy ferry boats, tugs with tankers, sailboats and a never ending
string of sightseeing craft.
"It's the holidays and there are lots more boats around than on a usual
Monday morning," Justin explained, suddenly pausing to examine and
photograph a bulky Australian fur seal dozing on a rocking channel marker.
Justin has been exposing local and visiting long roders to the wonders of
downtown fly fishing for the past seven years. Prior to that he was an animal
handler at the Taragona Zoo and continues as a musician in the evenings.
Despite being a busy shipping, sightseeing and recreational waterway, Sydney
Harbor is a breathtaking location to explore. Houses, apartment units,
offices, naval installations, beaches, parks and marinas are chiseled into
Hawkesbury River sandstone hillsides along with bridges, historic residences,
a fortress prison and long abandoned WW II cannon emplacements.
Despite our early a.m. optimism, Justin predicted that we were facing a
challenging day. Wind and weather changes were in process. A substantial
swell was rolling into the exposed outer harbor. "We're not going to be able to
fish a lot of water today because it's just too rough and it'll get worse before
we're through," he added. Despite the challenges, my day in this fabulous
area was one of the best fishing educations ever.
To be sure he wasn't missing activity elsewhere Justin frequently updated
himself via phone and radio reports from other light tackle guides. "Most of
us get along well around here," he laughed. "Even fly rod guys get on okay
with those using bait and artificials." Tackle didn't matter, however, for
nobody was catching much.
Schools of torpedo shaped yellowtail kingfish roam the harbor year around.
Virtually identical to the California or Pacific yellowtail of Baja and California,
these fish reach sizes over 100 pounds in New Zealand. They don't seem to
grow as large in southern portions of Australia. Landing fish to 15 pound
range on fly are practical in the conditions Dustin fishes. There are larger
kingies around but being successful with the big boys requires much heavier
tackle and lots of luck. The area is littered with snags, rocks and assorted
structure that kingfish seek immediately when hooked.
Justin began a systematic inspection of various channel marking structures,
points, reefs and drop-offs surrounding channels and flats. In addition to the
kingies were were on the lookout for Australian salmon (also known as
kahawai in New Zealand) and tailor (the same as a U. S. bluefish). To appeal to
this variety of species, Justin rigged several rods. I was impressed with a
peek into the 17-ft. skiff's totally enclosed locking rod compartment. An
impressive collection of brand new Sage Xi2 saltwater fly rods from 7 to 12
weights carried a variety of floating, intermediate and sinking lines on
popular Felty Australian reels.
On most days Stuart Tremain toils at his main job of designing, organizing
and upgrading clever web sites for a variety of Australian and international
clients. But nothing separates Stuart from his fishing. And since Justin and
his Sydney Flyfishing Tours (sydneyflyfishing.com.au) is a special client,
Stuart was actually working because both men are always updating their
digital picture files for future site improvements.
Throughout the day we were treated to dozens of surface blowups by
feeding fish moving quickly after large bait schools. Rough water made
following these schools and establishing consistency to their movement
impossible.
Most of the surface action was created by the speedy Australian salmon
that favored very small baits. To interest them Justin rigged an unweighted
size 8 Gummy Minnow streamer on very light 12 lb. tippet and a 7 wgt. Sage
Xi2 with a 40-ft. clear intermediate shooting head. When not in use, the rod
stood by with its previously stretched running line in a rigid stripping basket
canister.
Kingies respond happily to noisy surface lures but the rough conditions
weren't practical for poppers. Instead Justin utilized a 10 wgt. with 30 feet
of Cortland lead core shooting head and a bright chartreuse and white
synthetic streamer.
I enjoyed our guide's insights and suggestions about retrieves. He's studied
his quarry's habits thoroughly and recommended an immediate long, smooth
strip for the salmon, beginning the instant the fly hit the water. "They don't
like a herky jerky retrieve so make it uninterrupted."
The opposite was true for the kingies. "Let the lead core sink the fly to
about 20 or more feet and make a very fast and snappy retrieve. Just as
the streamer comes into view, give the rod an upward sweep and stop
abruptly. Often they follow the streamer and then gulp it when it hovers just
below the surface," he explained.
We were fishing a mooring area of cruisers and sailboats where several small
skiffs were bottom fishing with squid baits. We witnessed several hookups
but the kingies snagged their adversaries on the mooring anchors quickly and
only one was landed.
"Today calls for extreme tactics," Justin grinned, as he retrieved a package
of frozen chum which he sliced and mixed with saltwater. "If this doesn't
work, we're going in!" he announced. It wasn't too long before we saw several
of the speedy kingies zing under the boat. The depth finder indicated a ball of
baitfish had joined our shadow.
"Using chum calls for yet another set of tactics," Justin said. He switched
my fly to a small white Polar Fiber Minnow pattern, which I let sink and then
retrieved very slowly.
"With only 12-lb. test leader, don't apply a lot of sudden rod pressure. That
alarms the fish and makes them rush for a snag. Instead, work them slowly
and firmly to the surface," he added.
I'm known to be heavy handed, even with a fly so I wondered if I could follow
these finesse instructions.
I didn't have long to wait. As my streamer was settling a kingie grabbed it. I
made a gentle strip strike and began easing the fish. After about 8 or 9
minutes I was very proud of my delicate moves. "This guy is as good as in the
boat, Justin," I bragged.
With that, the fish fell off!
I re-rigged quickly to catch the marauders present and soon had another
strike. This time, I couldn't practice my finesse. The fish zoomed right into a
mooring anchor and it was all over!
I'd had a glorious day learning about fly fishing in the Southern Hemisphere.
Justin promised a return engagement with his and Stuart's harbor pets.
Sydney Harbour took on an added attraction when I learned that only recently
the waterway enforcement agency banned the operation of personal
watercraft. I knew I liked that place.