queensland Barwon Banks-Friday

[daveylad]

Met up with Dhess and Shane at 3.30am at Mooloolaba Coast Guard Ramp on a still clear morning, we were quickly out into the river and okay till we entered the exit to the sea, there has been some work done on the entrance due to sand bars forming, As soon as we arrived it all looked very different to previous trips there was a good size wave forming up to our left coming across from the entrance, we waited for a while looking at it to see what it how it formed up, the tide was out at that time then 2 boats came into it, thinking we'll watch them and follow, one boat went straight ahead and the other went leftand around the front of the wave whicj looked a bit odd considering the size of the wave so we followed the 1st boat. It was okay for crossing but the depth was down to .5 of a merte in spots to an average of .75, very different to the past. Anyway soon passed it and entered good clean water.

it takes about 1.5 hrs to travel to the banks and it was not too bumpy a trip, not quite what was forecasted. We arrived there before sunup and got some good indications on the sounder at one of Doms favourite spots.

It didnt take too long to get some hits, all of us got bitten off several times with some really big hits.Sahane struck first with a legal snapper. Then Dom got a big hit and pulled in the Snapper of the day.

Overall it was a great day with a reasonable catch with many lost over the day and some undersize, on the way back Dom and I had a lesson in catching Macks with Sahne pulling about 10 in the baot in as many minutes using a small slug. The area was the outer Gneerings and was alive with bait and Macks boiling up.

[daveylad]

Another of Doms Snapps

[wyatt01]

Well done on the fish . That bar is a bit tricky, they need to do a lot more sand pumping to get it back to the way it was.

[regulated]

Very nice fish mate. That sand does move around a bit out the entrance. They did have some buoys sitting on it at some time to mark it out for everyone.

[daveylad]

When we came back in there were guys on sea skis surfing the waves across it they were that big

[regulated]

Yeah I haven't seen it like that many times. The path out there months ago was slightly right around the dredge then hang left straight out a fair bit then you can turn to the sea. You sort of had to do a big S bend.

Hoping to get some mates keen on barwon. When its on fire you bag out real quick

[Shane69]

Firstly i would like to thank Dom for taking me as a deckie. It was nice meeting you mate. It was nice meeting you too Dave.

It was a good day out. Fishing was Good at the start and than it slowed down. I think it was too calm

Few good fish lost through the day too by either not hooking in properly or just smoking light gear.Biggest highlight for me of the was losing 100 meters of 50lb braid in one hit. I wonder what it was. The Trevelly i got in the end put up a great fight. Should have taken a photo of it.

The little mac tuna were fun. I reckon we could have filled esky if we stayed a bit longer. They were feeding really aggressively. There were a few big predators just under them according to sounder.

I went out again yesterday off straddy and used the mac tuna as strip bait. Nailed the snapper on it early morning floating strips. Threw out a whole one on wire. As soon as it hit hit bottom it got smashed. Straight into the reef. No chance of stopping it.

Thanks again Dom for a good day on the water.

Looking foward for a fish with you soon.

Shane