queensland Noosa reefs

[daveylad]

Id just spent half and hour typing this thread then the bloody power went out and lost everything so this is a short version

Met Dhess over Noosa Bar first time no problems close reefs no bites then to North reef on the way found some great bait signs so after messing around on North Reef for zilch went and checked out the bait, Did okay caught livies and from them Snapper and Bonito, aslo Parrott fish and more snapper just over the size, found some great marks. had a dolphin with us for hours didnt afffect the fishing back through Noosa Bar Dom did great for first timer on it. Cant wait for the Spaniards to return it will be great in this area as its only a short distance to travel.

[daveylad]

Another one

[daveylad]

One snap

[tugger]

good to see ya got a few close spots locally dave it saves driving all over the big pond to try and get a feed. those reefs will hold mackerel come summer time

[yoyo]

good job dave

[daveylad]

Tried the Bonito out tonight I reckon its almost as good as the spotted macs will go well with a curry sauce, It was great catching the live ones on one of those bait lines Tugg pulling in 3 at a time and all good sizes too. Have to get a packet of ballons now Mark.

[Bri The Pom]

Nice size Bonito Davey.

[dhess]

What else can I add.

The original plan was to launch at Mooloolaba and head to the Barwon Banks or Caloundra Wide wind direction dependent. Rocked up to the ramp only to find a fairly stiff SW'erly breeze blowing. Didn't fancy pounding back 50km into 15knots on the way home so we made the call to head up to Noosa and have a crack up there.

We probably had more trouble getting from the boat ramp to the bar in the dark than crossing it. Whilst ridiculously shallow it is no issue providing you stay committed and stay on the plane. Coming back we crossed on the very tail end of a the runout of what was a very low tide. It was less than 0.5m in the deepest section but stayed on the plane and no worries.

Had a bit of a look around at Sunshine Reef. OK shows but not a lot happening apart from me dropping a very solid snapper. I didn't see it but by the characteristic headshakes and the way it went am calling it 4kg+.

It was blowing 10-15knots but not getting any worse so we made the call to go up to North Reef. All I can say is wow. Fanatastic area. Found awesome ground before we even got to the generic mark out of a book. Massive bait balls.

Its a shame we didn't get to hit it earlier in the morning as we missed the peak bite but still pieced together a respectable feed. There was an abundance of quality livies. Giant sized yakka's and slimy mackerel. This place is going to go off in a few months time.

Other than the dolphin the highlight of the day was Dave getting smoked by AJ's or Kingies whilst jigging up more livies. Allways fun.

Awesome to fish with you as usual Dave and hopefully give North Reef another crack in some nicer weather. The wind which was 15knots at times against the current made for sloppy, choppy crap that wasn't the easiest to fish in. At times drift speed was a bit ridiculous despite using a sea anchor.

PS Dave's bonito was a ripper. The biggest I have seen. It took an XL slimy mackerel.

[snapsnap]

BONITO are great crab bait too! got a few crackers the other night with the frames

[AZZA]

Hi Dave great work fishing side, I will need to come up and tag along as I think towing to sunshine coast with a short boat ride will be better than the 50k run I do now

[daveylad]

next time we are going out I'll let you know Aaron we are taking my boat out next, all accounts this area is a top spot in summer for big pelagics looking on the sounder the bait around was the biggest balls and columns I've seen and the ones I pulled up were all about 20cm or more.

[dhess]

Hey Dave,

Next time we head out in your boat we should try to get your transducer setup for better deep water performance otherwise it will end up in frustration if the bait has even slightly moved.

All it might need is a wedge to make it face slightly forward or to be moved or lowered. Not sure what you have at the moment but an upgrade might be needed. Next time you are at the boat have a look at the transducer and see if there is any writing on it and snap a few pics of the transducer and where it is mounted.

Dom

[daveylad]

I'll post one today on an Electonics thread Dom. I think it will be okay the manual says its okay for 100metre and you can change to a lesser freqency

[dhess]

Marine electronics manufacturers are notorious for overstating the capabilities of their products. Up to 100m means it will read the bottom if you are stationary with no suspended rubbish in the water.

Setting down to a lower frequency won't help as you lose a lot of definition. 50kHz or 83kHz don't come into their own until you are in really deep water like 200m+. 200kHZ is perefect for around 50m. I went through all of this with my last unit.