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October and November Fishing.


Smithy

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Full Day With Todd

November 19th, 2011

Todd booked this one in for his work blokes as well. We started off trolling and as I was setting one of the skirts it got hit. I didn't think anything of it but once it came back in for one of the yellowtail kingfish hookups a bit later on it had the telltale scrape marks of mackerel teeth. We got a few kings around the 50cm size, one lot being a triple hookup. Another boat trolling there had picked up a couple of yellowfin tuna but it was still a bit slow. We went and jigged some live bait but they were a bit slow and we were the third boat to hit up that spot for the morning. With livies in the tank we headed off to chase AJs and yellowtail kings. First livie deployed met with instant success but then the hook pulled. The rat kings played the game a bit but otherwise it was quiet. Eventually one of the guys hooked a good aj, snapping one of my soft plastics rods in the process. When lunch was called I decided to go for a troll. No wahoo, mahi mahi or yellowfin for us. This time last year they were biting well. We found more bait shows and dropped down for more ajs and kings but they had lock jaw. They must have known it was a weekend as they bit pretty well through the week.

Half Day Morning With Andy

November 18th, 2011

Andy was back again. This time his good luck deserted him. He had the chance to come through with the goods again when on the first pass trolling we hooked something big that took a good 200m of 15kg line on its first run. He survived the 2nd and third runs and it all looked good as it was only 20m or so from the boat when the hook pulled. I still don't know what it was as if it was a big king or aj it had heaps of opportunity to brick us and it had massive tail beats that transmitted up the rod but we got a bit of flesh back on one of the hooks from a jaw hinge or something. Just bad luck. We hooked the mandatory few rat kings on all the high spots so we went reef fishing. Brendon is now the lucky one and on the floater he went on to catch a nice big grass emperor, a nice brown maori cod and the biggest morwong I have seen in the flesh that would have been 6kg or so. A couple of moses perch and couple more brown maori cod filled out the box.

Full Day With Adrian

November 17th, 2011

Adrian and Declan were on this trip. We started off trolling and first lap we had a nice spanish. 2nd or third lap and a surprise cobia jumped on. Punctuated in between were rat king bites every time we marked fish up high.

We headed off and jigged live bait in a couple of spots. It was tough going but we got enough. At the aj/king spot the fish were on. We got dusted more than we caught, even on the 80lb jigging outfits. The big boys had come out to play. We ended up with a rosy jobfish, a green jobfish and a couple of legal ajs but we only kept one and let a couple go along with numerous rat kings. We had a troll for a wahoo but they still aren't on.

Full Day With Yasu

November 15th, 2011

Yasu booked this one in for a couple of his Japanese jigging clients. They came armed with heaps of rods so I had to put a fair few of mine in the car. We started off jigging bait whilst they had a jig to get their eye in. Sure enough he hooked, fought and landed a cobia with a few more following it up. That was a great start even if the livies were hard to source. We tried another spot while they jigged. It was still tough going but I was happy with what we had so off we went. At the aj/kingy spot they were on the job and Yaus's clients had a ball racking up the species with a dogtooth tuna about 3.0kg a similar size green jobfish a few keeper ajs and one legal size kingfish to go with the numerous little ones.

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They also got wasted a few times by big fish. Some were pretty fast and some were cut off so some wahoo must have hit us or sharks and maybe some big gts. The sharks may have been hitting hooked up fish too. It was interesting to watch the way they jig, the equipment they use and the knots they tied. We had a quick troll to see if we could get a yellowfin or wahoo but no joy once again. With the northerly freshening we headed in.

Half Day Afternoon With Carlo

November 13th, 2011

Carlo booked this one in. We shouldn't have headed out in the freshening NE seabreeze but the people were up from Brisbane and locked in. It was pretty choppy but we got to the area. We anchored and fished where I had been in the morning but the main thing biting were undersize red emperor up to a respectable 47cm or so. Most stuff was undersize here but the lady did end up with a good size moses perch which is one thing I had been getting in this area. The ace up my sleeve was the dusk soft plastics session where I had been going great. The only thing is this afternoon was a couple of days after the full moon and in the 18-20knots of NE wind it made things near on impossible. Anyway it was the first arvo snapper session where we had missed out since I started fishing for them on the 9/10/11. Some moons had been quiet but on the lead up to the big moons we had some great fishing with up to 6 big snapper landed and 6 lost in a session.

Half Day Morning With Justin

November 13th, 2011

Justin had booked this one in with a crew from Toowoomba. We started off reef fishing and it took a few spots to get into them. Little red emperor were the main catch with a few just under the legal 55cm limit. It was hard work sitting through all the small fish to find the quality but we ended up with a venus tusk fish, a couple of good size morwong, a couple of good grassies and a nice brown maori cod.

Full Day With Dave

November 12th, 2011

Once again it looked like the fish knew it was a weekend at a spot I had caught them through the week. First livie down after jigging a tank full was a smash up. A bit later Dave hooked something good on a livie as well but after we all took a turn on it up popped a 5' long whaler shark. Once again there were a few rat kings but the big fish alluded us. On the troll we ended up with a rainbow runner and a short while later we took a screaming strike that dumped a couple of hundred metres of line with Dave on the rod but this fish was too good for us spitting the hook. The skirt had a fairly big trim so it was the second wahoo we had lost for the week and a good one at that. Still tough going and am waiting for the summer fish to turn up.

Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba With Richard

November 10th, 2011

Richard was visiting from England and wanted to shout his father in law out. I knew the afternoon seabreeze would be brisk but I was confident we would get some fish after the recent fishing we had been doing. We ended up hooking four or five good snapper but a couple were too good for us and we only landed two. One for Richard and one for Jason. We also got into a couple of schools of rat kings. With a couple of them looking a bit green around the gills we headed in a slight bit early but happy with a couple of good quality fish.

Full Day With Rick

November 9th, 2011

Rick was back again. I elected for a 10am late start for a full day so we could take in an arvo snapper session on the soft plastics as they had been going so well. We started off jigging bait but having marked a big fish sitting on top of the bait twice I decided to rig up a marlin live bait rit and get it out there. The third time I marked this fish we got the bite and as I came up tight on the circle hook it went around the front of the boat. I tried to get the boat around in reverse but she couldn't get around fast enough on the single screw so it was out around the front and hand the rod back. With no jumps, blinding speed and the top tail lobe breaking the surface on its big runs it was a good size wahoo for sure. After a while the hook pulled and a small nick on the leader confirmed its identity but it never bit us off. We headed to the aj/kingy spot and had a troll for another one but it didn't happen but I had sounded out the fish and where they were holding by trolling. They didn't come thick and fast and they were hard work but the boys put a few in the esky, the 72cm rosy jobfish by Rick was the stand out. He got two of them and we also ended up with two legal ajs, a yellowfin tuna on the soft plastics which was a good fight and a nice surprise as well as numerous rat kings and bust ups. A couple were clean snips or soft plastics tails bitten in half so there were wahoo there, they just wouldn't bite whilst trolling. With the sun low on the horizon we headed back in to where the snapper were. Well they were on the job and the boys landed 6, missed a few and also played with the rat kings a few times.

Half Day Afternoon With Alex

November 6th, 2011

Alex had booked this one in as a game charter. The only thing is all the gamefish are running late this year. We got off to a good start hooking a yellowfin tuna on the first pass. Subsequent passes were quiet so we ran to the FAD to look for a mahi mahi. We trolled all the likely places but it wasn't happening so with the sun low in the sky we headed back in to try for snapper. Well the snapper were chewing on the build up to the full moon. We hooked heaps and landed 6 breaking one of my soft plastics rods in the process. Intersperced were schools of rat kings keeping the boys honest. One of the snapper had leader coming out of its gob and 30cm of braid that looked like mine. It must have been from a previous afternoon but it wasn't slowing it up as it was feeding again. It was a pretty hot little session on nice size fish up to 71cm.

Half Day Morning With Neil

November 6th, 2011

Neil was back again to use up his credit from a previous trip cut short by bad weather. It was tough going being near the full moon and fishing daylight bank hours. We chipped away and ended up with a couple of nice grassy emperor on the floaters, a venus tusk fish and one of the good size moses perch we have been catching in close lately.

Full Day With Trevor

November 5th, 2011

Trev had booked this one ages ago. I used to work with him on the council back home. I opted for a late start once again so we could get in an afternoon snapper session. We collected live bait then headed to the aj/kingy spot to spin soft plastics. It was a bit rough so I opted to anchor here and it took a bit to get on them. The crew did well in the conditions with a few legal ajs like this.

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And kings like this.

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In between were a few bust ups and at times the schools of rat kings would come up and we would get a few of them. We tried trolling as well and every pass on the minnows we would hook a rat king but no wahoo, mahi mahi or yellowfin wanted to play the game. Once the sun was low enough we headed back in to try for a snapper at dusk.

Trev came through with this craker and typical of the quality we had been getting there, all between 60-70cm.

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Liz's young fella got one at another reef right on dusk but it was a bit quieter than normal, just not quite close enough to one of the moons. They are also liking a bit of tide in the water and my worst times have been when tide changes have corresponded with dusk.

Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba Alex

November 2nd, 2011

This was another rough northerly afternoon where I maybe shouldn't have gone but the lure of good snapper fishing and dates that customers had twisted my arm. It was pretty crap and made the fishing hard but we still came through with a good legal one, an undersize one and a couple of missed ones. If we had converted 100% it would have been a great session but you get that. Some days they are all being landed, other days half are bricking us and a couple are pulling hooks. We got a few rat kings as well so it wasn't totally boring.

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Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba With John

October 30th, 2011

We headed out to get into some afternoon soft plastic snapper action and that we did. Three made it into the net but a couple got away. We were also visited by the rat kings so there was a bit going on during the session.

Full Day With Brad and Jeff

October 29th, 2011

This was booked in by regulars Jeff and Brad from Toowoomba. This was Brad's bucks party. We had always had good trips with these boys but this one was a bit quiet. One good snapper on a livie put down for an aj or king, some parrot and some hussar were about it. Good weather but the fish were not chewing. It sounded the same on the radio for all the other boats as well.

Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba With Red and Ross

October 28th, 2011

Red was back again. Ross came and also his Uncle John. The fish were on straight away but only on the good side of the boat. Red and Ross were on fire getting a couple of crackers each as well as getting dusted a couple of times. I am only boating about 50% of the hookups at the moment due to pulling hooks or the fish getting back to the reef. I think the best fish in this lot went 73cm to Ross.

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Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba With Todd

October 26th, 2011

Todd booked this one in. The snapper were on and we ended up with 4 for the session as well as missing a few. Pretty standard fare for this week.

Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba With Zac

October 23rd, 2011

Zac booked this one in and it was our second date due to cancellations. The fish took a while to warm up but once it got close to sunset they fired. They got 6 to the boat but got wasted about 8 times and pulled hooks a few times as well. This was the bottom end of the size caught with most 60-70cm.

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Half Day Morning With Sef

October 23rd, 2011

I also had Mark and his kids aboard but they got seasick pretty much as soon as we got out so I took them back in and extended Sef's time. He was stoked with this good gold spot cod caught on his soft plastics outfit but the everything else was undersize or just hussar. We caught heaps of red emperor which are good fun when they are in the 40cm+ range as well as hussar but he was happy with the cod.

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Full Day With Matt, Helen & Mark

October 22nd, 2011

This was a mixed trip. We started off getting live bait then heading to a wreck to chase cobia. It was rough so it was tough going travelling and also fishing. Helen dropped one on an eggbeater then Matt got this one on his overhead.

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This spot went off so we headed to another. My usually reliable hussar/parrot spot was quiet but only seems to fire in autumn. We did get a few here but it was tough going We headed to an aj/kingy spot only to get dusted a couple of times. The fish were there, just not chewing.

Another Windy Day But Some New Pics

October 18th, 2011

Took a while to get them but thought you might be interested in one of the last trips with the Stabi. Jeff and Brad had booked it in. They are regulars from Toowoomba and along with them was local Don. The unusual thing about this trip was the Sunrise Perch we caught at the Pigfish spot. We ended up with a few piggies and then had a ripper on the kingies, ajs and cod later in the day on live bait.

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Full Day With Kevin

October 16th, 2011

Kevin booked the boat and we were on about our third date after bad weather and rebookings. It paid off though with a cracker of a day weather wise. We headed off to try for the soft plastics snapper but they didn't co-operate. By then his wife Jodie and son Mitch were a bit green about the gills. We went and jigged some live bait and set off to try for a a kingfish or an amberjack. Kevin got one a drift on our first two drifts on 200gm jigs but then they went quiet.

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They weren't looking at the 4oz jighead soft plastics either like the TT boys had used with me. We went to livies and still nothing. I headed to another spot only for Kevin to hook up first cast on a blade. This set the scene for a few hours. Hookup after hookup on all manner of things. Blades and octopus jigs were working out the best along with vertical jigs and burn and kill plastics. First fish actually to the boat after a lot of pulled hooks and bust ups was a rosy jobfish which was a bit of a surprise. Another boat anchored right on my mark was smashing them vertical jigging. We ended up getting rat kings and amberjack which were all released, some bludger trevally and a proper great trevally amongst all the bust offs and pulled hooks. Not a bad day at all.

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Full Day With David

October 13th, 2011

David booked this one for his brother Greg. Along were their partners Barb and Ruth. We headed off to chase the soft plastic snapper I had been getting. As per the last few mornings it was slow but David did land one and a trevally. We headed off and jigged up live baits pretty easily. We took them to an amberjack spot where a friend had brained them the day before. He must have hit them pretty hard as there were none left even though the show was good. We came back to the first hump a second time after fishing around the area and Greg ended up getting one on. It was a nice school aj about 7kg. Subsequent drifts were quiet so we headed off. We sounded a fair few spots and fish other spots when they had a bit of a show but nothing was red hot so we ended up back in the same area we started as it had good bottom shows. We tried anchoring and drifting but it was difficult to get on the spot being wind V tide and we hung straight over the anchor rope. The only things biting were undersize pearlies. We headed back in to try for the soft plastic snapper. With a storm building it was dark enough for them to bite and bite they did. We just weren't good enough for them. One got off after a long run out of the rod holder while I was attending to someone elses rod, another smashed us up and then David came through and got one. By then the wind coming of the storm was ridiculous so we headed in to beat the rain.

Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba With Jim and Ross

October 12th, 2011

Regular Jim was back with Ross and Channon. We started of looking for live bait but it was a struggle so we gave up on that plan and had a quick reef fish. Once it was dark enough we headed in for the dusk soft plastics bite. They were on with Channon doing the best with three landed, two bustoffs at least and a couple of missed ones, either on the bite or torn lips mid fight. I got one and Ross got a good one that gave him a bit of grief going under the boat. I got stitched up a few times and missed a couple of other bites. Poor Jim had no luck at all.

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Full Day With Sean

October 11th, 2011

Sean booked this one in for a whole heap of bar managers and publicans as he is a wine rep. We cracked a great day weather wise and headed off to try our luck on the soft plastic snapper. They were absent being in the tide change first up (no run-no fun!) so we headed off to top up on live bait. The livies were on so we headed off after a bit of a reef fish. Another afternoon spot too so it seems. We had to sound a fair few reefs to find a decent show before eventually having a drop. Nothing was going on so we tried another spot. First drift here and Sean hooked up to a good legal brown maori cod. That was promising. We anchored right on the spot and a steady procession of trag jew came aboard. Rick was on fire landing two nice cobia. Sean got smashed up a couple of times before his offsider landed a small cobia that had to go back. A few moses perch, hussar, morwong etc. were landed before we had to head in and they were off to one of the pubs to get the fish cooked up by one of their chefs. A top day in the end with beautiful conditions.

Full Day With Wayne

October 10th, 2011

Wayne and crew were visiting from Victoria on an AFL Golden Oldies competition trip and they were playing for country Victoria. We headed off early to get a soft plastics dawn snapper bite and it was well worth getting up early. We ended up with 6 good ones in the boat and got smashed up 3-4 times and pulled hooks and missed bites by another 3-4. Livies were easy to get so we headed off to try for an aj or king. Nothing was going on here so we had a quck gamefish for some of the tuna that had been caught on the weekend. No joy there either but the great snapper fishing from the morning made up for everything.

Half Day Afternoon With Scott

October 9th, 2011

Scott and mates were also visiting from Victoria. We started off having a reef fish and did pretty well getting some hussar, brown maori cod, grass emperors, morwong, etc., etc. Come 4pm and I wanted to try for the dusk snapper bite. Sure enough they were on and we got 2 good ones, got busted up by another 2, lost one half way up and missed a few more bites. It was a great session but it was better earlier rather than toward dusk. Must have been the tide change that stuffed us up, no run=no fun!

Spring Shootout Tournament

October 9th, 2011

I fished Capricorn in the tournament with Jim and Ryan McKinnon. On the second day of the tournament Ryan landed an 8.9kg spanish mackerel which put us into third place.

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A bit later he got this mulloway, also on 8kg line that went 5.6kg. If it had gone line class, or 8kg, it would have been an Australian and Qld record on that line class.

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We ended up in 2nd place for boats >7.0m and Ryan took out champion Junior.

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Congratulations to President Brent Higgins as he tagged the only marlin of the weekend, a blue marlin for his dad Barry out of his 20' centre console.

Half Day Afternoon With Lance

October 5th, 2011

Lance booked this one as the boys were on an Auto One conference at Twin Waters. The only time they could get out was between 11:00 and 4:00. I didn't have high expectations as I perfer to fish a dawn or dusk, not the middle of the day but that is all they could swing. I didn't matter. We smashed them anyway. We ended up with three grassies, 3 tuskies, a few hussar, a few brown maori cod, ripper moses perch etc. All in all a good session.

63cm grass emperor.

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Dolphin Spotting Day

October 2nd, 2011

Took some of the family out Sunday for a circumnavigation of Old Woman Island and a look at some dolphins. Right on Pt Cartwright a mother and calf humpback got in on the act putting on a great show. Lucky they were in close as it was blowing a stiff westerly breeze. We followed this up with a canal cruise just in time to be back for lunch at Lawries Marina.

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