SOO Preview - Pin fishing report

[marty]

Although I am not fishing the SOO, I have just spent 3 days fishing the Pin region during the Flathead Classic and thought I would share some info that might help those that do not know the area. A week is a long time in fishing and conditions may change, so hopefully this is still relevant for this weekend.

Firstly, the "snot" weed that was thick through throughout the Pin (and Broadwater) for the last month has improved dramatically. Although it is still around, and does foul your lures, it is now bearable and you can catch fish in those areas again. The snot weed is still visible on top of the existing shallow weed beds, but it is no longer suspended throughout the water column. We had very large tides for the Classic and I believe this helped to move the weed out to sea, so hopefully it does not get worse as the tides get smaller. You have to clear any weed from lures as you will not catch fish if they are even slightly fouled with weed.

A problem we had during the Classic, which I believe was due to the large tides, was the wall of dirty water that would fill the main channels on around mid tide. This would all but shut down the fishing and we had to move around (usually closer to the Pin bar) to find clean water again, and subsequently find fish. This dirty water seemed to be worse on the run out tide, but that may have been due to the dredge working in the Jacobs Well channel (although I heard it was also a problem north of Crusoe Island too). Keep in mind if you are not in green clean water you may have to move to get a better bite. Of course I was fishing with lures for Flathead, and those fishing with bait for other species may not have the same problem.

There are a number of green zones in the Pin region, and Queensland Boating and Fisheries do regular patrols, so make sure you know where they are. Swan Bay and the lagoon at the southern entrance of Cobby Cobby passage are the two main ones (believe it or not, but only half of that lagoon is a green zone). Another law you may not be aware of is the water directly east of the mouth of Swan Bay is considered the bar so the PFD rules apply for those in boats under 4.8m.

The Pin region is a maze of channels and sandbars, and if you do not know the area you will surely meet ones of those sandbars reasonably quickly. Buy a Beacon to Beacon directory, or navigation chart and study it so you have a bit of an idea of where you are going.

As for fishing spots...well there are many. I am not going to list my favourite spots here because I have worked hard to find these, but what I will suggest is to study maps and satellite images and select some likely spots from there. The best website for satellite images is www.nearmap.com. It has images from the last couple of years, with the most recent being a couple of months ago. The images are mostly taken at low tide, so they show detail of all the sand banks and weed beds. The Pin has many islands so it is not hard to find a bank that will be protected in the wind if it blows up.

My preferred Pin fish is Flathead, and there are plenty up there. Even though there were several thousand caught this weekend just gone in the Classic, they should be ready to bite again by Friday. If you are targetting them fish the obvious spots of weedbed edges and draining creeks/sandbanks during a dropping tide and you should not miss. There are plenty of big Flathead in the Pin, and while a large number will be near the bar due to breeding season, there will be plenty others scattered thoughout the whole system. There were also a large number of Mulloway caught in the Classic, so if they are your target find some deep water with plenty of current and fish the slack parts of the tide. The area around the Pin Bar is the obvious spot to fish here.

Good luck to all fishing the SOO, and go the blues!

Marty

[youngy]

Thanks Marty, that's a lot of good advice there mate but what about us poor old whiting fisherman, where are we going to find a fish. cheers wayne

[marty]

Thanks Marty, that's a lot of good advice there mate but what about us poor old whiting fisherman, where are we going to find a fish. cheers wayne

Not that you need any help to find Whiting, but do you really want me to list the better Whiting spots at the PIn???

[Angus]

Cheers Marty!

Not to late to enter Marty the blues could use some numbers

Angus

[Orca]

Thanks Marty, that's a lot of good advice there mate but what about us poor old whiting fisherman, where are we going to find a fish. cheers wayne

Not that you need any help to find Whiting, but do you really want me to list the better Whiting spots at the PIn???

]\No need to list the locations Marty..just the GPS waypoints will do just fine thanks! lol

[youngy]

You never know Marty if i can't find one i might need them, i know if i was staying with the boys at Jacobs Well i wouldn't be going much more than 500 meters from the ramp to to the best whiting spot at the Pin in my opinion.

Sorry Mike, i have never heard a whiting fisherman talk about GPS marks, its normally the house with the red roof or the one with the 3 big palm trees in it.

Very technical stuff like that, i think it's an age thing, cheers wayne

[Guest]

Enjoyed the read Marty

Cheers

Darren

[Orca]

You never know Marty if i can't find one i might need them, i know if i was staying with the boys at Jacobs Well i wouldn't be going much more than 500 meters from the ramp to to the best whiting spot at the Pin in my opinion.

Sorry Mike, i have never heard a whiting fisherman talk about GPS marks, its normally the house with the red roof or the one with the 3 big palm trees in it.

Very technical stuff like that, i think it's an age thing, cheers wayne

Unfortunately thats very true Wayne so you are just gonna have to tell me which red roofed house mate! lol

[marty]

Not to late to enter Marty the blues could use some numbers

I will give you my wife's mobile number and you can explain to her why I will be away for a 2nd consecutive weekend fishing. If only I had sent her to Hawaii like Youngy did with his wife!

[Dusky]

Thanks for the heads up Marty, I'll be trying my hardest to give the blues a good showing but as Angus said we could do with a few more blues anglers. :S :S

Cheers

[youngy]

You know me Marty, nothing interferes with my fishing, i pick her up from the airport right after the Comp finishes on Sunday.

Now all i have to do is work out how to get the house tidy while i am away fishing all this week, cheers wayne