queensland Live Bait = Fish

[kmcrosby78]

Headed offshore on Wednesday with my son Liam, a niece and nephew, two brothers and my Dad (family day out!!). After a 3:30 alarm we headed off from Manly Harbour, through the Rous Channel and to the SPB. We were amazed how light it was at 4:15am and realised we could easily have gotten up an hour earlier ...... maybe next time. As @Drop Bearreported the bar was a bit lively but there was better than half tide on it so we picked our way through it and headed to the live bait grounds where we worked hard to put a few yakkas plus other assorted stuff into our buckets (no plumbed live bait tank yet - will be organising that!!!). Having secured our live bait we headed to an area we'd tried fishing a month or so ago and hoped that this time the current would allow us to get a bait down (last time it was roaring!!!). Dad had bought a larger parachute that we could use if needed but luckily for us the current was only around 1-2 knots.

We found some decent shows of fish on the sounder but unfortunately all but two of our yakkas had died enroute so myself and my brother dropped them down while Dad put a dead one down. On the first drift I hooked up to a good fish and after a good fight, up came an approx. 6-7kg amberjack (I think??? Originally I'd thought Samsonfish but I'm now thinking AJ) and the vibe on the boat was good. Unfortunately our other livie died (not hooked properly) so we now had to hope they would take dead baits.

I put on a whole Californian squid while the others tried whole dead yakkas - my squid was getting attention but they were only picking at it, until I managed to hook up when I was about to wind back up, thinking I'd be out of bait. We were very curious what it would be, and as I exclaimed it could be a pearlie I immediately remembered you should lift and wind with pearlies due to their soft mouths and no sooner had I had that thought and the fish was gone. Noooooooo!!!!!!!

We had many more drifts in the area with the sounder still looking very good but they weren't taking the dead baits so we looked around a few more marks, with just a couple of undersized squire hooked and then decided to call it a day as the wind was picking up and all three kids had been seasick (think I'll wait until Liam is a bit older and can actually fish offshore before taking him again).

Dad's boat has compartments with lids in each back corner that we are thinking about getting plumbed in to use as live bait tanks - they are long and thin and not real deep so I'll take some measurements and some photos and seek some opinions on their suitability.

Also had a morning out with the wife and our two boys on Thursday morning with a friend tagging along - had hoped to go chase winter whiting but the wind was stronger than expected so we opted to stay at the southern end of Green Island and caught an array of smaller stuff - tuskies, squire, tarwhine, etc and Liam caught about a 60cm green sea toadfish which is his biggest fish so far (his long shank hook was a bit mangled afterwards!!).

[ellicat]

Nice start ! Shame it didn't continue for you.

[Old Scaley]

Must have been a long day for the boys if they were seasick @kmcrosby78. At least you didn’t donut and you must have taken some good learnings for future offshore trips. 

When you put up the post about building a live bait tank I will have some comments about things Inlearnt when I had one built on my boat. There is not a lot of guidance on the internet so I wouldn’t be surprised if your topic became a popular search result.  Are you still putting one up about sunglasses because I have a few comments on that subject as well. Too much time on my hands, maybe.

[Simo68]

good old Fat Dog, nice post mate

[kmcrosby78]

They all had a fair bit of sleep Steve so not too much harm done, but don't think Liam will be lining up for a while. Dad spoke to a guy that can plumb the corner hatches in so I'll find out what I can and put something up. The sunglasses is a funny one as I looked at my current cheap glasses the other day and they are Category 3/UV 400 which is what you need. Seems incomprehandable that hey could be for only $5, so I probably need to get a better/more expensive pair to compare. Problem is that I'm tight and don't really want to spend $150-$200 to find out ….  

[ellicat]

51 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

don't really want to spend $150-$200 to find out

As a PE teacher you can claim them on tax.

[Drop Bear]

Nice one mate. Glad you had a good trip. It was fun to say hi while we were out there. That is a cracking boat.

Im looking forward to the live bait tank chat. I did my own one but messed it up a bit and need to fix it. 

I need to purchase a new pump and pickup from reel tackle.

Glad the kids got some sleep. 

[Simo68]

livies have been a real challenge for me this year, ive been around port and up to Mud (as im new to boating) - have an ok swing now on the cast net (from DB giving me multiple 4/10 for casts earlier on in the year), tried the sabiki rod (which I caught a squire on)!!, even one those little traps, all with poor results.  I have some great locations, as advised by multiple fishos, but returns are poor - perhaps getting only 3-4 before a good session so they dont last long - not sure anyone can give me advice, but would appreciate any if you think I can do better on locations around the port or technique?

 

Simon

[Drop Bear]

On 24/12/2018 at 5:33 PM, Simo68 said:

livies have been a real challenge for me this year, ive been around port and up to Mud (as im new to boating) - have an ok swing now on the cast net (from DB giving me multiple 4/10 for casts earlier on in the year), tried the sabiki rod (which I caught a squire on)!!, even one those little traps, all with poor results.  I have some great locations, as advised by multiple fishos, but returns are poor - perhaps getting only 3-4 before a good session so they dont last long - not sure anyone can give me advice, but would appreciate any if you think I can do better on locations around the port or technique?

 

Simon

Hey mate.

Bait jigs work well. I like to put a very small piece of squid on each hook. It helps a lot. 

Sound around the becons at the mouth of the river and keep an eye on the sounder for spots. If you see a school of bait drop the jig down and hopefully you can have a bit more luck. 

Its worth taking time to get them. I enjoy catching baits and happy to make it a large part of the trip. 

[Simo68]

cheers mate, will persevere, Tayt and I are going out on our first night mission tonight...one bloke said there are usually more bait fish around due to lights so will see how we go.  Noosa looked nice, im sure you tucked a few Sugapens in with your undies?

 

[Drop Bear]

On 26/12/2018 at 1:54 PM, Simo68 said:

cheers mate, will persevere, Tayt and I are going out on our first night mission tonight...one bloke said there are usually more bait fish around due to lights so will see how we go.  Noosa looked nice, im sure you tucked a few Sugapens in with your undies?

 

Yep I did have the sugar pens but I didn't use any. It was a family do and tricky to get a fish in for most of it. Pretty fun all the same. One day I will get a whiting on surface

[Simo68]

2019 challenge then for you, mine is first mangrove jack,,,and a dolly!!!!

[Drop Bear]

11 hours ago, Simo68 said:

2019 challenge then for you, mine is first mangrove jack,,,and a dolly!!!!

Doly is easy enough... he says after coming home empty handed last trip. 

Mangrove jack is a challenge. Live baiting at night in the estuary or kayak last few hours of run out with lures. 

[WAZA]

On 23/12/2018 at 6:19 PM, kmcrosby78 said:

Headed offshore on Wednesday with my son Liam, a niece and nephew, two brothers and my Dad (family day out!!). After a 3:30 alarm we headed off from Manly Harbour, through the Rous Channel and to the SPB. We were amazed how light it was at 4:15am and realised we could easily have gotten up an hour earlier ...... maybe next time. As @Drop Bearreported the bar was a bit lively but there was better than half tide on it so we picked our way through it and headed to the live bait grounds where we worked hard to put a few yakkas plus other assorted stuff into our buckets (no plumbed live bait tank yet - will be organising that!!!). Having secured our live bait we headed to an area we'd tried fishing a month or so ago and hoped that this time the current would allow us to get a bait down (last time it was roaring!!!). Dad had bought a larger parachute that we could use if needed but luckily for us the current was only around 1-2 knots.

We found some decent shows of fish on the sounder but unfortunately all but two of our yakkas had died enroute so myself and my brother dropped them down while Dad put a dead one down. On the first drift I hooked up to a good fish and after a good fight, up came an approx. 6-7kg amberjack (I think??? Originally I'd thought Samsonfish but I'm now thinking AJ) and the vibe on the boat was good. Unfortunately our other livie died (not hooked properly) so we now had to hope they would take dead baits.

I put on a whole Californian squid while the others tried whole dead yakkas - my squid was getting attention but they were only picking at it, until I managed to hook up when I was about to wind back up, thinking I'd be out of bait. We were very curious what it would be, and as I exclaimed it could be a pearlie I immediately remembered you should lift and wind with pearlies due to their soft mouths and no sooner had I had that thought and the fish was gone. Noooooooo!!!!!!!

We had many more drifts in the area with the sounder still looking very good but they weren't taking the dead baits so we looked around a few more marks, with just a couple of undersized squire hooked and then decided to call it a day as the wind was picking up and all three kids had been seasick (think I'll wait until Liam is a bit older and can actually fish offshore before taking him again).

Dad's boat has compartments with lids in each back corner that we are thinking about getting plumbed in to use as live bait tanks - they are long and thin and not real deep so I'll take some measurements and some photos and seek some opinions on their suitability.

Also had a morning out with the wife and our two boys on Thursday morning with a friend tagging along - had hoped to go chase winter whiting but the wind was stronger than expected so we opted to stay at the southern end of Green Island and caught an array of smaller stuff - tuskies, squire, tarwhine, etc and Liam caught about a 60cm green sea toadfish which is his biggest fish so far (his long shank hook was a bit mangled afterwards!!).

Great post 

Definitely get a plumbed live bait tank going asap , that’s my next project on my buster.

Cheers

Waz

[snatcher]

Most enjoyable read,well done.  Have fished around Manly myself a few times.  Love it around there.  Using yellowtails for livebait had salmon.bonito and kingfish off the shore.

Also fished  at Little Manly Point Park a few times.  On livebait my ozzie mate Ollie hooked into a decent size bronzie.  Managed this shot of it just before it bit him off. 

We head off to oz of 4 weeks today.  We will be staying at our daughters in Warriewood for 3 months.  Would be good to hook up with some of you guys

John

[Drop Bear]

14 hours ago, snatcher said:

Most enjoyable read,well done.  Have fished around Manly myself a few times.  Love it around there.  Using yellowtails for livebait had salmon.bonito and kingfish off the shore.

Nice one mate. However it might be a different Manly. There is one up here in Brisbane as well as the dodgy one in Sydney  haha

[snatcher]

2 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Nice one mate. However it might be a different Manly. There is one up here in Brisbane as well as the dodgy one in Sydney  haha

Its the dodgy Sydney one I was referring to Drop Bear My ozzie fisho mate was a great sport,do not think he possessed a pair of shoes either

Ollie was fearless,he targetted sharks off the shore a lot. Once we set up at dusk on Manly(Sydney) beach and Ollie paddled out a large  bait on his surfboard whilst I let off line on his shark rod. He overturned at one stage but managed to dive down,get his bait and remount his surfboard.  A total nutter.  Will add a few images from that session for you

http://

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No shark takers that evening but I managed a few bream and my very first tailor

http://

John

 

[Drop Bear]

On 10/01/2019 at 7:59 PM, snatcher said:

Will add a few images from that session for you

Awesome mate thanks. Nice bait.