Gold Coast Shark Action?

[Death Ray]

Hi All,

I have just signed up to this site. It looks good, I have been looking for a fishing site with more of a local focus than the main forums on Fishnet etc... No critism intended.

I have been fishing the Gold Coast for the last 25 years or so, but have only in the last couple of years turned to shark fishing (or should I say shark trying). To date I have only landed one small Hammerhead Shark from behind Hope Island. And I mean small. I mainly fish the canals, rivers and creeks as they tend to be quiter. At night the canals on the Gold Coast have lots of surface action, and I often wonder who are the culprits.

I would really appreciate any tips out there that would increase my strike rate. I am catching lots of large catfish, stingrays and even larger pike eels. I have also started berleying, and would appreciate tips on cost friendly burley tips also. I am using large live mullet or mullet fillets for bait mostly. I used a slab of stingray over Xmas and picked up a 2.5kg Estuary Cod on that. My first legal size cod, which was a bonus. I am using 7/O circle hooks, 80lb nylon coated traces with 80lb mono leaders down to 30lb braid main line. Is this setup too heavy? I hear of people fishing quite heavy and still doing OK!

All the best for the weekend.

Andrew

[ellicat]

Doesn't sound too heavy to me. Bait sounds right too. Are you getting any hits ? Maybe moving your bait off the bottom may help. Try using a paternoster rig.

There are heaps of threads on this topic. Search in Community/Forum/Fishing/Sharking.

Also look in the hints and tips section.

Here's one such thread -
/>http://www.australianfishing.com.au/fish-information/hints-and-tips/how-to-catch-bull-sharks-river-whalers.html

[Feral]

Rig sounds fine, sounds like you need to tsrget your locations better, are you fishing deep enough water? Usually holes or deep spots work well.

[Angus]

From what i hear about the Gold Coast canals etc your well and truly on the right track. In fact using live baits etc im surprised you have no suceeded.

Its going to get quiet soon for Sharkies in the canals with winter coming on.

But if you use those methods all summer the only thing stopping sucess (so far) must be luck

Or as Feral says maybe deeper water. I haev heard the mouth of the Coomera is a good spot. But those canals around hope island i thought would have been gold!

Angus

[Angus]

By the way mate, welcome to the site!

Angus

[Death Ray]

Hi all and thanks for the replies.

I went and had a go on Saturday night, but things were very quite. I was talking to a friend on Saturday and he said he always uses a balloon to keep the baits about a metre from the surface. Is it best to have the baits on the surface or on the bottom?

All the best.

Andrew

[Terry H]

Just out of curiosity, what is the water you are fishing? You have to fish some sort of structure to increase your chance of getting a shark. A river/canal mouth or junction would be a good place to start.

As for the rig, I know Matt and Chris (werewolf and killemaul) use a running sinker and a float to keep the baits up off the bottom. This is because further up the river there is a plentiful supply of crabs, and keeping dead bait on the bottom results in it getting demolished by crabs. I can’t remember if the live bait went off as well (that was fished on the bottom), but the other suspended baits worked. I personally like to fish the bottom.

The rig is certainly not too heavy. I would even run with a heavier trace. If you are after 4 footers you’ll probably find you get bitten off a few times.

Keep one of those eels next time and try rigging part of that up as bait.

I wouldn’t worry about berley, it’s unnecessary in my opinion.

[Angus]

Yeah if your having problems with crabs id use a float. Might keep it away from the rays a little as well.

As to whether it will produce more sharks......

From all the reports i read it seems much of a muchness. Sometimes its the floated bait thats goes off sometimes not.

I think if you either have a lively bait thats kicking, or a dead bait with enough scent, the shark will find it where ever it sits in the water column.

Do you get many hits? Do you allow the shark to run a bit before setting the hooks?

Angus