queensland Hervey Bay, Wathumba to Rooneys

[thriller]

Just arrived home after 5 days of fishing from Wathumba Creek, Fraser Island.

This was my first fishing trip to Hervey Bay. I fished with a few mates

who had fished from Wathumba several times before.

I was expecting masses of schools and birds working all over the place!

No surface action to be seen Bay side.

Trolled for hours on end, managed 1 school of Mackerel and 2 Spanish Mackerel over the Art Grounds.

The wind was up 20-30 knts N/W for the first 3 days and then they shifted S/E 15/20,

So we decided to try the shallows for Golden Trevs. After many hours of searching we

managed to spot several schools and single Goldens roaming in the shallows,

(soo exciting!) Not knowing what to cast at them, we tried Poppers.

That seemed to get their attention but no strikes still very fun!

So off to Rooneys to Troll for that elusive Marlin or anything big really.

Trolled around Rooneys along the drop offs etc,

when the skirted lure got hit once then smashed by a 2.5m+ juvenile black Marlin!!!

What an Amazing sight! The Marlin lept from the water with the Lure in it's mouth.

Sadly, yet some how amusing the line was slack and the fish swam off with the lure hanging from its mouth.

My poor mate had lost his first and only Marlin.

I put it down to drag being too tight and leader not long enough...

we wound the line in to find it chaffed through, well up the line above the swivel.

Not sure if it was from the tail or from the Bill whack.

I hadn't seen a grown man throw a tantrum like a 5 year old before! LMAO

Manage to hit the creek a few times to escape the wind.

Managed several Cod, Bream and Tarpon.

Looking forward to going there again.

[Old Scaley]

Hey Thriller, just got back from there myself. Were you camped on the western side of the inlet (where the track comes across from the beach)? Me and 3 mates were on the other side, which is only accessible by boat. We were the only ones there so you would have seen us - a pretty distinctive looking 23 foot longboat and a 4.75m blue fin tinnie.

The wind was a bastard for outside. We had plans of hitting the reefs off Rooneys as well, but only snuck out the front for a short troll on Friday arvo. One spaniard was all we got there, but I had a ball fishing around the campsite - lots of rat bream, a couple of horse bream to 39cm, some great whiting, flathead and small trevs, one queenie. Saw some big tiger sharks chasing rays in the shallows around the creek mouth, lots of turtles and other sea life. It is truly a great place. This is the second trip there and both times we have been denied the Rooneys visit cos of the wind. Next time!

Steve

[thriller]

Nice to see another member out and about!

We were camped on the left of the two camp sites, you would have seen us dragging

our boats through the shallows after spending too much time up the creek chasing

Cod. :laugh: So many rays up that creek, almost stepped on a few :ohmy:

It really is a great spot!

That 23 foot long aluminium boat sure is distinctive!

How long did it take to motor up to Wathumba by boat?

Cheers MJ.

[Old Scaley]

Yea, we did see a couple of boats heading up the creek and wondered how they would go getting back on the falling tide :laugh: Also wondered what they might be chasing, so good to hear there are cod up there - is there anything that area doesn't have?

Took us about an hour and a half to get there, leaving Urangan at 6am on Friday with only a light northerly. Took about 2 and half to get back on Tuesday morning with a moderate swell, rain squalls and changeable winds (went from NW to SE during the trip). The longboat just cuts across the top, but the blue fin was struggling a bit. Got pretty wet, but it was the first fresh water shower for a few days so not too bad. Passed some boys heading out on a charter - don't think they had the best weather for it, but were making up for it with lashings of early morning beers.

[tugger]

marlin and mackerel sounds like a good trip looking forward to chasing a few of them myself soon

mark