queensland Starting a new Schoolies Trend?

[rosstralia46]

Before you start you may need a beer or 2 or 3 haha

So me and my girlfriend sofie had finished yeaf 12 and we had planned to go for our schoolies week the week after and to camp and chill for the week. The original plan was north straddie but then it was decided we would go to the sunshine coast and Mudjimba was chosen. As the weeks closed the more excited i got and was really hoping to catch up with one of my dads mates nev who was one of the most knowledgable and keen fisherman around and i was hoping i could learn alot from him. So after packing the day before we took off at 8 in the morning on sunday. After the stop off at Caboolture bp and then at Coolum to meet up with sofs aunty and a chat and stretch there we made our way to the campsite.

We set up camp and decided that we will have a go and see if we could pump some yabbies. So drive around Maroochydore and find a likely spot on chambers island so walked across the foot bridge and started to pump. The yabbies were few and far between but we got a few and as we walked over i spotted some herrings so grabbed the castnet and a bucket to stand on and wasn’t long before we had a few.stopped in at nevs on the way home but he wasn’t there so grabbed the rods and hit a spot i new in twin waters and started off having a fish. Was slow going before we got onto a few small bream and moses perch the sand flies moved in and i lost 4 fish in a row grrrrr so decided to go back and have something to eat before we went back that night. We grabbed a packet off frozen prawns and headed off with aeroguard this time. Wasn’t long before sof was on and this was giving her a bit of curry and i helped her out before a nice lil stingray popped up.

I grabbed the pliers and flicked him back in. Flicked out my prawn and went to check my herring when my camo stick scraping along the rocks grab it and im on to a decent fish and up pops a nice 30cm breambo and threw him in the bucket so he could be released if we didn’t get any more.

Finally checked my herring and flicked it back out. Shortly after a couple of decent hits and nothing so flicked on another herring and wasn’t long before the line was peeling off ( had it in free spool) clicket it into gear and loaded up i was on. All i could think was jack jack jack as id never caught one, didn’t want to say anything and after a few hairy moment near the pipe the fish was at the rocks i then walked it over to the gravel and slid it up i could see the shape in the moonlight and grabbed the phone to light up my first jack was exstatic and grabbed a few shots and went straight back down to reliase him.

Took him a while but he finally swam off sent a few pics to cam to show him how i blooded his combo and sent a few to my dad. Missed a few more hits but decided to pack up and went home. Woke up the next morning to a kid crying at 5 in the morning L so went to the beach and took the rods for nm so just chilled then decided to catch up with nev and had a talk to him and he wasn’t well as for the last 4 years or so has had numerous surgeries and that on his back and has been so close to being in a wheelchair plenty of times and has just injured it again with the pain killers making him sick. Was good to have a chat and he said there was some decent fish at the weir and asked about dinner at the tavern on Tuesday night and i was keen. So me and sofie chilled for the rest of the day and went out for a disappointing dinner at one of the local restaurants then crashed. The next day we woke up and we had a bit of a break then decided to go for a walk along the beach and check out the mouth of the river. Sof wanted a break (cant blame her) so grabed my camo stick and some bait and tried at north shore for only one small dart

[rosstralia46]

and tiny taps and the water was high enough to fish off the rocks and wasn’t long before i had one dart and then another before id ran out of bait decided to gut the dart and flick out that got another just legal so was stoked then another two on the same bait put on some more gut only to be picked off and still using that original peice got a couple of taps then it drifted into the wash and zzzzzzzziiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnggggggg a good take and this had its head down and going for it after a short tussel a nice big fat healthy clean 32cm sea bream slides up onto the beach and decided i had lunch so i was off.

Knocked the sides off and had some butter and garlic fried fish YUM! What a great lunch and we went to get some herring with not much around the foot bridge found a spot at bli bli and got a heap so kept them for the night. Caught up with nev and had a great meal at the tavern and had a good yarn and his sister was coming up during the week and wanted to go to double island point and asked if i was keen to come. I couldn’t say yes quick enough and couldn’t wait. We decided we would go to the weir and set up. kept getting good takes without hook ups and thats how it stayed for the night before sof felt really ill and we went back to the camp for her to stay up for a few hours with unbearable pain and her thinking she had colek (unsure on spelling) we woke up after a sleep in and sof feeling better we decided to go for a fish and had a fun time down the mouth puliing in plenty of 20cm whiting and a few legals. We then went into Maroochydore and had some fish and chips by the beach and met up with some other mates camping and went back to the weir again after getting some more herring.
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Fished the outside and couldn’t get a bait to the bottom but couldn’t get a take or hook up so downscaled and finally got a hook up flicked a bream onto the beach just about to let some line out and snap NO!!!! My 7ft camo stick now a 6’6’†so fished for a bit longer but soon after went home after going through about 60 herring easily. We woke up and decided to go to the beach and have another fish and swim. We decided just to fish and both caught solid bream before we moved to north shore and have another go but no dart today so tried the mouth for some scarce whiting. Went and through the castnet to be greated by some storms hoped they would pass over but without luck. Then got a call from nev thinking that he would call the trip off but he said that he was still up for it even with the 45knot wind and so was i. The rain stayed that night so me and sof went shopping ( figured she deserved it after the non stop fishing )and then had a sleep after watching a movie and i woke up at 4 30 and started packing the gear. Had everything packed filled up and grabbed ice and went to nev’s. He had loaded up the land rover and we set off. Tried everywhere we could to buy a permit as the high was at 12 so needed to go fairly early to get the low without luck but decided to go anwway. Nev had gave me some tips on beach driving as this was my first time he said if i was coming to a stop to stop reverse select a lower gear and give it another go. So took off onto the beach and stop into reverse and give it another go made it this time and we were off. Followed nev and bought some worms off the pro wormers and looked at aww at the rock faces and the beautiful colours through the rock. We finally made it to the blow after a few bumps and jumps and i selected my gear and went for it after nev and got up onto the boards man that was awesome. We got into the bay on the other side and then set up camp.

Pumped some yabbies and soldier grabs and drifted some herring around for nm before a couple of small diver whiting moved to infront of the dunes and set up my surf rod witha herring and circle hook and my lil rod with a strip of herring as sof slept in the car. Hooked up to a nice bream and then another. My surf rod loaded up and as i got over ping straight through 15lb leader so upped the leader and then my hook and then missed another 4 takes and caught another bream.

Walked back over to nev and his sister Karen and had lunch. They had got onto a few fish and then decided to drive back over and have a fish. Got a few fish and decided to throw a small diver whiting on my surf rod and then another on sofies light rod which had 6lb line and leader. Wasn’t long before it got a good hit and take for no hook up as i was only using a worm hook so got another and on it went. Saw it geting a hit and as i walked over zzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg stop zzzzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggg grabbed the rod tightended the drag and set the hook. A lil tailor was jumping all over the place and i figured i would get chomped soon only to have lip hooked it and bled him and threw him on ice. The bite shut down and the tide was low enough so we decided to take the trek back and nev let me lead the way. Floored it to get up onto the boards hit a rut and went up on the side of the dune and drove off with me and sof laughing the whole time and full of excitement. She then video taped it from there and i took off through the blow onto the beach and hit the soft watery stuff and stopeed reversed up 10m and pinned it and got through it and followed nev. Dropped back a bit and found where i was comfortable and didn’t follow nev as much we then got past all the freshwater creeks and picked up some pace got back upto the cutting and nev took off leaving me by myself grabbed the gear and went for it and got up easy. Stopped and put it back into 2wd and unlocked the hubs. Man it was weird to have traction then hahaha. Nev said wed have the fish for lunch tomorrow so we had dinner and earnt a good nights rest.

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Went to the car wash and and got right underneath to get all the sand out and then went to get a heap of herring for nev as he cant throw his castnet due to his back as a thank you present and left him with around 120 herring which he froze but he wasn’t feeling well so i knocked the sides off the about 7 bream and the tailor. Nev then came and showed me his technique and how he does it. He knocks the sides off throws the head and body in a bucket at his feet then lies the fillets out with none touching each other then once finished all the fish wash down the board and skin then lie individually clean the board flick out any more bones then back to the fridge. He has a few reasons for this so the fillets are never washed and washing off flavour and no bad juice etc is running from one fillet to another and you can certainly taste the difference. He then brought out the wok and we fried the fish with a light beer batter and i must say it was spot on and was one of the best fish i have ever had mixed in with a fresh salad wow it was amazing. Decided to give one last crack at a jack that night and we went to get more herring. Fished under the bridge at twin waters and wasn’t long before we were onto a few decent bream and small moses perch. Sofie slept for a good hour in the camp chair whilst the bite shut down. Decided to throw on a thread buster and have a flick around when a bit of loose line got caught and my new combo was in the drink slid in as it was only shallow and grabbed it. To the humour of everyone else i hopped out and now have to strip the reel down and give it a service L we packed up and went home. Packed up the gear that night and was off in the morning stopped to get breaky at bp and the radio died so drove the rest of the way home without radio but got home hosed off the gear and unfortunately got ready work a split shift. With reality brought back it was good to be home but sad that such an awesome week is over. Sofie has already talked about camping on the beach and is keen to learn more about fishing lucky im getting her a rod for xmas (off tacklebox) so hopefully has some mojo and more reports to come.

All in all had a great time caught my first jack went 4wdriving and had an absolute ball and a fantastic way to spend schoolies and cant wait for our next adventure sorry about the long read but hope you enjoyed cheers.

[Milan]

Great report buuttt,,,

The first 8 photo's didn't work for me

[rosstralia46]

yer trying to sort it out mate >.

[Milan]

Ahhh there we go.. Now I can see that Jack of yours!!

[rosstralia46]

haha thanks mate

[rosstralia46]

would really like to thank nev he never seases to amaze me with his knowledge and willing to share and the beach driving was an experience i will never forget

[Hfisho77]

good onya enjoyed enjoyed the report, would have been a fun trip

[rosstralia46]

thanks mate and yer thought it might haha yer was absoloutely wrapped mate couldnt get the smile off my face haha

[madmullet]

congrats on you jack mate. did you fish of the rocks at d.i seeing you went that way

[Guest]

Thats a great report mate, enjoyed the read & pictures

Looks like alot of fun was had

Cheers

Darren