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Adventures on Moreton Island

blairv

By blairv
in Saltwater

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blairv Newbie

blairv

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Headed over to Moreton for a few days with the family for some relaxing and fishing. I was very excited being my first time there but the weather was conspiring against us with strong breezes and low temps - oh well just have to make the most of it.

All in all a great place and although the weather put a dampner on the fishing it was still agreat place. We stayed at Tangalooma over there which was pretty awesome despite some annoying neighbors who thought 2 am was a great time to go to bed :angry:

Now for the fishing stuff:

Beach Fishing

Not much of a chance unfortunately - wind was bad and the swell was messy - pretty hard to fish a big long spell so was pretty restricted to chucking some worms on the east coast around the resort...no good results really.

Up near north cape we saw some great shark action around schools of baitfish - a couple of big 6 footers rounding them up.

Rock Fishing

Had a couple of hour long sessions around Honeymoon Bay - one great and one terrible (bad wind and swell). The great session saw five fish in around 60 minutes with three keepers. Two Bream - one 27 and one 29 and a great big 35 cm Dart that was a real good fight off the rocks - most enjoyble and would love to go back there when the weather was better.

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Me hooked up on the rocks and the results below (notice the lovely weather behind me:

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Boat Fishing

Due to the crap weather (and no boat) any form of boat fishing was hard. We did manage one day out putting around on a resort tinnie and had a great time pulling up small pinkies. The daughter had a ball getting about 10 in a row as opposed to my solitary fish, unfortunately none of them were keepers.

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Jetty Fishing

Even though I had never been to Tanaglooma before I had heard many stories about the famed jetty. Well all I can say is it did not disappoint.

We all have great fun late in the day catching pike on plastics with around 10 caught per session. I filleted these for bait and decided to see what bites at night over ther. It was a load of fun and the closet you can come to game fishing from the shore I reckon.

The first night was fun with a couple of massive runs and two great little Hammerheads that fought way above their weight - 70 and 85 cms. I also got a huge run on a third hookup but got busted off - just fuelled the fire!

The 70 cm one is pictured below:

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The first night was so much fun that I went back for the second night full of hope for some more fun. I was not disappointed. This time most of the time was taken up by re-rigging after massive hits (I was only on 20lb braid and a 30lb Mono leader). One the forth run of the night I had something different - big and different....after a great 20 minute fight with me crapping myself I would get spooled I managed to get the big fish to the surface.

The first thing I saw was a huge mouth with my hook in the corner - after a little more of a tussle and pulling it into the light I recognised it as a massive cod - at least 10 kgs and 80 cms - maybe a ltlle more. Unfortunately there was no way in hell I would get it up to the deck so the line was cut and bacj it went. I headed home buzzing - a fight like that from shore is just plain fun :cheer:

So I went back again the next night. Same deal - lots of bust offs due to knot failure and time to change to a wire trace. Bingo! results first up and again. It was a massive fight (with a big crowd of Japanese Tourists watching). This guy stuck close to the bottom after some big runs but would also do some massive head shakes so I was keen to get this in and have a look.

30 minutes later I had him up and it's a new PB for me - biggest shore based fish!! A Shovelnose at least 150 cms long - probably closer to 180 cms. Again being a wharf no way to get him up so it was a close cutoff and he swum away. Thankns for the great battle. I have bits of it on video and will post it up when converted.

Again night four saw me back and this time a couple of massive runs and two feisty hammerheads - the biggest going a meter.

Now to go back there with a game rod an 80lb braid to even the odds.

So that's my trip over to Moreton - gotta say the weather made things a bit average but the fishing that was had was great and i cannot wait to go back.

Oh yeah - we had one fine day and I have to take a picture to capture actual sun: DSCF6214.JPG

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ellicat Grand Master

ellicat

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Haha. Blair, you seem to have the same Murphy's law when it comes to holidays and weather as I do :laugh: Glad it didn't stop the important parts like fishing though.

Did you claim a pilon on the jetty by carving your name for next time ?...sounds like a hoot off there :woohoo: . The cod would have been nice to table. You might have to invest in a cliff gaff ;)

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blairv Newbie

blairv

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Ellicat a cliff Gaff would have been very handy - I was hoping to get a rope around the Shovelnose but I still think he would have been too big to get up.

Yep next time back with the heavy rod and 80lb Braid - it's amazing how many big fish there are off that jetty.

The eastern beaches and rocks beckon as well when the weather gets a bit better

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Eug Newbie

Eug

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that jetty is one of my favourite places to fish. have caught some nice mangrove jacks, luderick, trevally, sweetlip and snapper there.

sounds like you had loads of fun and thanks for the report. while you are waiting with your big rod, just drop a line right into the pilons - you'd be surprised what's hiding right under you.

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blairv Newbie

blairv

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Eug

Fished a fair bit around the pylons but there is not much there anymore unfortunately. Lots and lots of little pickers - Trumpetfish and Garr mainly but not alot else.

They have stopped the food scraps etc there so I think that has chased alot of the fish away.

Interestingly enough though on the last night there a couple of small Tuna were landed and there were heaps of schools around there too.

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Keen-as-fisho Newbie

Keen-as-fisho

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I was there last month, didnt fish off the jetty but went and had a look at night. There were plenty of fish under the bait, there was one decent fish prob 60+cm lerking around, I reckon it was a jew. Did you have a read of all there bull sh!t rules about only using 20lb line and 2/0 hooks etc, etc ,etc what a load of poo.

Deffinetly a good spot though. I peddeled around it on the yak and had a few blistering runs using blades. Can't wait to go back.

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blairv Newbie

blairv

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Yep I saw the rules and pretty much stuck to them which is probably why I only caught tiddlers around the jetty.

I saw some big fish too and thought maybe I should chuck a livey in. Mind you the dolphins were fanging it around there so that may have chased the bigger fish off.

A guys I was chatting to was diving around there and saw a couple of big Cod and some great size Trevs.

Like you I cannot wait to go back...maybe a good AFO social trip me thinks

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  • 4 weeks later...
Angus Rookie

Angus

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blairv wrote:

Yep I saw the rules and pretty much stuck to them which is probably why I only caught tiddlers around the jetty.

I saw some big fish too and thought maybe I should chuck a livey in. Mind you the dolphins were fanging it around there so that may have chased the bigger fish off.

A guys I was chatting to was diving around there and saw a couple of big Cod and some great size Trevs.

Like you I cannot wait to go back...maybe a good AFO social trip me thinks

Big cod that live around jetties = a very smart cod I reckon.

Good on them though.

Mate awesome report.

Well done on the win!

Angus

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