Back in the game on the Sunny Coast

[yoyo]

First post here, back in the fishing game for something a bit different...

Was a mad keen fisho as a kid but gave it away to get smashed and chase skirt... :silly:

Heading up to my junior stomping ground around the Coolum area, always used to fish for bream and dart along the beaches and rocks. Have just bought some new equip, including a 12' surf spinning combo and also a 6' baitcaster combo to do something i never did as a kid - throw around some lures and osft plastics...

SO..... i was thinking about hitting point arkwright with some poppers and seeing what's aggressive around there..........:fishing:

Anyone been fishing around this area much recently and got any tips on what's biting and where?

thanks guys

Yox2

[adri4n]

let me be the first to welcome you on to the forum. There are lots of friendly and knowledgeable people on the site. Great to see that you've decided to get back in the game. Plastics seems fun but i'll never know as I'm still hopeless with them . I'm currently overseas so I can't help you with any good spots now but I'm sure someone will chip in soon...

[kriso]

havent fished there myself mate but welcome to site hope to see some killer sunny coast reports from ya

[Terry H]

was up at Mooloolaba today. Met another yakker out there, trolled various lures down and up that beach just south of mooloolaba river, didn't see any birds working anywhere, left at 9:30-10am

Apparently earlier in the week between 7-8am birds have been working pretty fierce (according to the yakker I met) but yeah, diddily squat today.

[tomca]

I'm off to Caloundra for a few days with an offshore trip tomorrow. Hopefully I can give some useful input when I get back. CIW did well for me the other day so i hope my good luck continues. But donuts are Ok in such a nice spot.

Have a good new year all!

[Nitris]

Welcome tgo the site man. You wil have a great time here and there is a lot of knowledge on offer... If u havent already id recommend getting some ecogear sx40 lures.. There not as cheep as they are small but man they do the trick... if u know there is pike arround use some decent leader as they will bite u off so quick and u will loose ur lure costing arround $15 to $20.. so i guess arround 30lb leader if there is pike arround but i usually use 8lb leader.. Best bream lure ever. They only weight 2.5g or something like that so casting them with wind is tricky. :fishing:

[Angus]

Hey mate and welcome to the site.

Based on a few of Terry and Lee's captures a bit further south there is not reason (especially in this weather) you could not score a goldy or GT popping from the rocks. Also a technique prob not overly used there so give it a shot.

Beach fishing is still good around there. My dad grew up in Peregian and I still go up there for a fish quite often. If you access the beach at Pitta Street (still a good surf break as well) and head about 300-400m south there are always good gutters running along there. Still enough eugaries and beach worms around to not have to buy bait either.

Common catches include as you would well know im sure: whiting, bream, dart, flatties and the odd trev (usually silvers but my unclde has pulled a great goldy from there).

Once again welcome mate and hope you enjoy the site.

And nothing wrong with boozing and chasing skirt. Its all about balance

Angus

[yoyo]

Thanks guys....

Like i said i bought a little ulgly stick baitcaster combo coz as a kid i always wanted one but they were super exxy back then. Fishing gear is so cheap these days it seems ?!???

Maybe i just have more money.... :laugh:

As far as lures go i got two poppers that looked like they might do a job - a SureCatch PopTiger 90mm and also a River2Sea BubblePop 65.

I also bought a bag of Berkley Gulp Sandworm Softies to give a shot. When i stopped fishing years ago, soft plastics like this were only in their infancy, but from what i read in mags lately, they have really come along and are a highly successful/viable option.

I've NEVER caught a fish on a lure !! Even the one marlin a got off Noosa years back was on a live Bonito...:side: those were the days....:fishing:

This is a bit of a side topic, but what's the go with these Gel Spun lines ? They didnt exist when i was a kid..... Seems to me they're primarily for lure fishing as they have super low memory...? Almost behave sort of like a light braid....?

I even had to re-teach myself to cast a baitcaster yesterday arvo :lol: Puck it's been a while........

[Angus]

I said Puck You miss cant you spell. Hahahaha. Go Jonah.

Mate those poppers sound like they will do the trick as long the line poundage and stiffness of rod allows you to get them a decent way.

Also try them in the rivers in the early morning for trevs and other surface feeders. In shallower water its not unknown for flatties to take poppers either.

The same set up (and poppers) can also serve you in freshwater. It sometimes take sa bit to get a salty to go freshwater for a day, but I have seen many converts since this site was established!

Locally you have Lake MacDonald, Baroon Pocket Dam not to mentioned wild fish in the freshwater reaches of the local rivers.

Mate those GULP sandworms are great in the surf. All species that would take a real sandworm my wife and I caught on our honeymoon on GULP. It was great fun flicking them into gutters on light gear.

If the gutters are there you dont need to cast far either, the fish are sometimes right at your feet!

Cheers.

Angus

[yoyo]

I was flicking the 90mm popper down at the regatta stretch of bris rvr late yesterday and sending it about 25-30m pretty easily......

I was reading recently about massive marauding threadfin in the bne rvr so am keen to get smashed by a few of those at some point, they're quick puckers !!:silly:

Angus wat kind of rig should i use for the gulp worms in the surf ? Just a "as if it was a real bait" kind of rig, with either a drop sinker or a sinker above swivel with about a metre of leader or something ?

You wouldnt use a running sinker with these, woud you..?

[Angus]

yoyo wrote:

I was flicking the 90mm popper down at the regatta stretch of bris rvr late yesterday and sending it about 25-30m pretty easily......

I was reading recently about massive marauding threadfin in the bne rvr so am keen to get smashed by a few of those at some point, they're quick puckers !!:silly:

Angus wat kind of rig should i use for the gulp worms in the surf ? Just a "as if it was a real bait" kind of rig, with either a drop sinker or a sinker above swivel with about a metre of leader or something ?

You wouldnt use a running sinker with these, woud you..?

I have used them with both jig heads (ideally if the weather is awesome) and fish them like conventional plastics.

Or I have also used a typical whiting rig: Long shank hook, swivel, smallish (as small as I can get away with) rig. Even with this rig though I do a slow but slightly jerky retrieve to give the worm some action. I find this helps massively.

Angus

[kriso]

i remember Jeff f put up a video in a thread that showed a way of using these, will hunt around and see if i can find a link for ya

[yoyo]

Caught my first fish on a lure !

Used a Berkley Gulp SP Worm on a typical whiting rig and nabbed a small Dart out of the surf.

Really impressed with the SP's, plenty of bites right from the first cast...

Tried throwing some poppers around of Point Arkwright yesterday morning, sea was ok and not too windy.

Not much going on, but session was cut short when i tangled up my baitcaster somethin' shocking (rookie mistake!) and then took a while to get my lure back off the rocks....

Pulled out the surf rod after that but then lost another rig on the rocks and got jack of it by then, was getting a bit late in the morning anyway...

Have seen some decent size bream out patroling the sand bars right inbetween the flags at coolum beach, cheeky puckers!

even being so brazen as to be feeding on the surface a bit in the middle of the afternoon in full sunshine! (the bream, not me.... )

[nadders]

i was considering going to point arkwright yesterday morning arrived a bit too late though. I went for an arvo session at marcoola beach instead, pulled in a shovelnose then headed back for NYE celebrations.

Good work on your first lure fish though

[benno573]

point arkwright is a funny place to fish. sometimes it goes off, sometimes it doesn't. there is usually no in between.

i would suggest trying out the rocks off kings beach at caloundra, i often catch queenies and trevs there on slugs (they will definitely take a popper as well) and have caught mackeral there too. also worth an early morning try around the rock walls at the mouth of the mooloolah river, again, mostly trevs with the odd queenie or tailor thrown in.

i would highly recommend adding some slugs to your lure arsenal. they are cheap and easy to work and if the fish are there they are every bit as effective as anything else. get a range of sizes from 10g - 60g and try a few different sizes on the day, even hungry dart will take a small slug and hard! :woohoo: vary your speed of retreive until work find what is working, often letting it sink for a few seconds can help as well.

i rate the halco twisties especially in gold colour, but they all work on their day.

good luck!