queensland Dart aplenty on Moreton Island

[FishOclock]

Just a report on a recent fish over on Moreton Island.

Location: Moreton Island Eastern Beach - Northern End.

Species: Dart -

Quantity: plenty.

Headed over to Moreton with the family about 4 wks ago, for a long W/end.

Didnt camp this time, had to rough it it a Villa at Tangalooma.

So at the crack of dawn I tip toed out of the villa, didnt want to wake the young one she is a keen little fisho as well & wouuld be in the ute in a flash give her half a chance, But not at 4.30am shes only 4.

Had to wake up my mate a few villas down, he was still crashed after one two many the night before. finally got him up & off we go.

Traveled accross middle track & headed north to were I fouund a decent gutter the day before.

What a great morning, No wind, flat sea, then we were treated to a bueatiful Sunrise.

Just as the sun popped its head over the horizon it was like someone turned on the fish switch, It was FishOclock time. for the next hour it was just one Dart after the other. with the odd ray & shovel inbetween.

The next two mornings were not as flash as the first - but still great fun.

The rest of the days were spent fishing with the family on the Western side, either south of Tangalooma or up north near Bulwer.

My daughter caught her first flathead of the sand - she was so excited. ( see photo )

If only we had the boat, at one point up near bulwer the bay was exploding, with the surface at boiling point - Tuna of some type I think. I raced up to the ute & changed to a metal slug & tried & tried but could not quite get it out far enough for a hit. fell short each time by only about 10ft or so thought I was in for a big one - Not To Be. ( see Photo - walked out as far as we could to try & get closer )

Anyway a great trip to Moreton had by all & plenty of fish caught aswell. :cheer:

Happy Fishing,

Ps. hope the photos come up.

Dean

[FishOclock]

Photo - Dart on Moreton Island: :-)

[FishOclock]

Photo - Moreton Island Sunrise

[FishOclock]

Photo - Casting slugs to Tuna - Could not get any closer.

[FishOclock]

Photo - Moreton Island - Daughters first flathed - On a cheapo rod, Time to get her a new one now.

[Joel Eadie]

nice fish mate

are they all over 30cm?

[Do$tylz]

Good report mate. And great to hear your young one is into fishing as well. That last picture is gold.

After my last trip to Straddie with Angus, I really do rate fresh dart. Fantastic to eat and a whole lot of fun on light estuary set ups.

[FishOclock]

Joel Eadie wrote:

nice fish mate

are they all over 30cm?

Yeh, all over the 300mm measure, board was cut to 300mm to give me an easy measure guide.

The large one down the bottom measured 455mm ( see photo in the esky - tight squeeze ) :side:

[FishOclock]

Tight squeeze 455mm - Dart

[crazywalrus]

love the picture of your daughter and the flatty. She will have lasting memeories of this. I love to get the boys out with me. Blood them young on fishing and I would say you will always have a willing fishing partner.

[Davo_Dinkum]

nice 1 on your daughter ,getting the flatty .

good stuff

some nice dart there ,not a bad feed .

[qbkami]

looks like someone got hungry and bit off two of the darts head :laugh:

wd mate got a bucket full of dart!

grats on your daughter's first flatty catch

[dassa]

Good report mate there good fun to catch,a mate of mine was up here 2years ago from melbourne and couldn't belive how hard the little buggers go and good to see your little one enjoying her self the smile tells it all

cheers dassa

[Damien2Rad]

If I get bored or bag out on tailor when beach fishing, I always swap my spool over to something a little bit lighter and chuck small flesh baits out for dart. Love them on light gear, and I reckon they're pretty damn tasty when fresh.

[wesfish]

great report! quality dart that big bugger, and congrats to your daughter for a great first flatty :woohoo:

[tugger]

great catch of dart they do go hard in the surf and i would like to see what happened if you hooked 1 of those tuna while you were up to your neck in water :woohoo:

[mick fillet]

good size dart there mate. nice one sounds like a great weekend.

mick

[Angus]

Good work mate. I also rate fresh dart. Bugger the critics

I have just moved this to the correct report section...

Angus

[katfish]

great story, great pix, & yes good chewin, the humble dart. fun on sml chrome lures too.

my simple dart recipe. always bleed, gut,& gill your dart, before putting on ice. scale the little buggers & place a knob of fresh ginger in gut cavity, wrap in foil, place on hot coals(or barbie), about 6min each side(depending on size). serve with s & p. & a lemon wedge. bon apitite. cheers

[katfish]

p.s. dont forget to wash this down with cool refreshment of choice, & then another. cheers

[benno573]

hey mate,

how did you go for finding pippies on the island mate?

what bait worked on the dart on the morning>?

some stonkers there for sure and good on the little chick with the flattie!!!!!

[FishOclock]

benno573 wrote:

hey mate,

how did you go for finding pippies on the island mate?

what bait worked on the dart on the morning>?

some stonkers there for sure and good on the little chick with the flattie!!!!!

We we over there about the 2nd week in arpil -

Bugger all pippies about - Did the pippie dance quite a few times - no luck.

We only tried North of Middle Rd, so no report South of here.

Bait that was working that day on the dart was small pieces of squid & some stinky old prawns. Had other baits out Pilly on gangs, bonito fillet & only peckers on these.

Would have like a little more variety in the fish - Ah at least we got some... :-)

[ellicat]

FishOclock wrote:

Photo - Dart on Moreton Island: :-)

I'd like to know how you caught the ones that didn't have a head ? :side:

[reelchippy]

Nice bit of wood mate

[hooked_on_trout]

Are these Dart any good to eat?

I mean your obviously going to eat them, are they like Taylor?

Looks like they would be fun on light plastics.

Cheers

[FishOclock]

We find Dart Great to eat fresh. Havent had fresh Tailor for ages.

I need to get out during the cooler months more.

We coked a few smaller ones just on the BBQ. wrapped in foil with a few slices of lemon inside & on the out side - Taste great - Careful not to cook it too long & dry it out - approx 5 min per side. Like all fish no good when dry.....

The others we went to the effet of filleting them & we had a pre mix bag of seasoning with bread crumbs. The kids absolutly love them, barley a crumb left.

Anyway thats my opinion, each to there own,,,

[jeff f]

they are up there when smoked too