queensland Peel Island Trip Report + a few photos!

[Wahoo2]

I decided at the last minute that Monday looked like a nice day to go out for a fish. I phoned Richard7785 at 10am and told him we were going fishing at 1pm till sun down. I packed the boat quickly and was straight on the road.

We got to the ramp at around 1:00pm, launched and headed over to the Coochie Ferry terminal for some live bait. That was a failure so we set the crab pots and were on our way to the Houseboat.

We anchored up directly over the edge of the house boat, burlied up, dropped some nice juicy peeled green prawns and were both straight onto our first squire. We would have pulled close to 20 squire of the wreck in the first hour but as our usual story goes they were all just under with the majority being around 32cm.

We had to re-rig as the current was roaring and we were struggling to get close to the bottom. First drop after adding more lead I got whacked and pulled up my PB snapper of 49cm after a brief fight. I was stoked! I haven't been fishing the bay long so this was a big moment for me. Ask Richard.. I was dancing around the boat like a drunk teenie bopper.

So all the excitement was over for me until about 30 minutes later when Richard's 4000 reel and 3-5kg rod got monstered by something effffiing HUGE! Richard set the hook and had this beast on a leash for a few minutes until he started to lift it off the bottom and it took a massive run and then...... CRACK. Theregoes the rod clean in half. I tried to grab the line with my hands and have an epic braid cut as proof.. Haha

Now many of you might not agree but Richard and I are both calling it for a very big snapper. The way it fought and bumped around it had to be.

Anyways, after all of that excitement and a broken rod we decided to head back in and leave it to another day.

I have attached a few pics of the fish and what I did with it and also my boat. If you see us around feel free to say g'day.

Cheers,

Kane

[Dubbzy]

great trip mate! my money would be a big ray!

[bersim]

Must have been great fun! Certainly looks like that snapper wasn't wasted. Bet it tasted good.

James

[richard7785]

nah definitley wasnt a ray this thing had head shakes all the way up but it was only when he got up closer to the boat did he let fly at me i got him back twice then the last run he headed he ran towards the wreck really hard and the rod snapped in a place id never seen one snap before. right above the 4th guide so i blame the rod for losing the fish. i know i would have had him if the tackle didnt fail. gutted still.

[TIM D]

Sounds like you blokes had a good day, and congrats on the PB :woohoo:

Richard said in another post he fought the fish for about 10-15 minutes which makes me think it probably wasnt a big Snapper. My mates and i have caught quite a few 70-80cm Snapper in the bay using 2-4kg rods and have always got them in fairly quickly (under 10 minutes).

Sounds like something big and heavy took a liking to his bait.

cheers tim

[Stevodevo]

Good on you two for a good day and a nice snapper , your making me hungry with the photo's

[richard7785]

yeah i was on this thing for about 10 min. all i know it was bloddy heavy and fought real hard when it got close to the boat. i really wish i got it man. one of the other guys who was there called it for a big jew

[Old Scaley]

Bad luck, Richard. You have your fair share of near misses, so the big one must be coming soon. Sometimes it is better not to know what it was - sorta keeps the dreams firing ready for the next trip.

yeah i was on this thing for about 10 min. all i know it was bloddy heavy and fought real hard when it got close to the boat. i really wish i got it man. one of the other guys who was there called it for a big jew

[Greenmachine]

Bad luck Richard, :evil: gonna have to find him again next time.

Congrats on the pb Kane. My mouth watering looking at that feed.

Nice looking rig there mate

[fishingnut]

Great feed well done !

Cheers

[Shane69]

Nice work man.

I was going to go out today to chase mackerel after work but was tired.

I hear the spots are starting to come in :whistle:

Richard i reckon you had a good jewie on. I know few mates who have got big jews there lately. Its only good weekdays though. Weekend place is like car park.

Try using plastics there youl get better fish. Use 5 inch Mcarthy or 3 zman minnow is pearl white. fish them on 1/2 and hop them off bottom. use your sounder to find fish .

Bait youl catch undersize squire all day. Live arrow squid works there good

Shane

[Wahoo2]

Thanks for the reply Shane!!

When you have some spare time I'd love to take you out to show me how you do it with the plastics and what not. What ya reckon?

I've got a few plastics in 3 -5 inch but have never had much luck... I'm sure I will get there soon just need that confidence I think.

Thanks again

[Shane69]

Thanks for the reply Shane!!

When you have some spare time I'd love to take you out to show me how you do it with the plastics and what not. What ya reckon?

I've got a few plastics in 3 -5 inch but have never had much luck... I'm sure I will get there soon just need that confidence I think.

Thanks again

You can come with me one day il show you in river. I dont fish peel too often so i dont know place around to well. I just dont see point going out there to catch squire when i can go catch them in river with eaze. For snapper id rather fish offshore lol

You just gotta keep trying man. Presistence is the key on catching fish on plastics. I try to avoid fishing bait in bay and river coz you catch rubbish

[Wahoo2]

That would be awesome mate. I'd prefer to go offshore too but my boat isn't big enough and i'm not confident enough.. YET!

I think it may be my technique or lack of patience. I usually jut flick the plastics out, let them hit the bottom and hop them back.. sometimes I even just slow roll some of the paddle tails back up but never much luck.

Are those flash arrows any good in 5 inch?

[Shane69]

That would be awesome mate. I'd prefer to go offshore too but my boat isn't big enough and i'm not confident enough.. YET!

I think it may be my technique or lack of patience. I usually jut flick the plastics out, let them hit the bottom and hop them back.. sometimes I even just slow roll some of the paddle tails back up but never much luck.

Are those flash arrows any good in 5 inch?

Mate it took me so many trips before i caught my first fish on plastics. To start off with paddle tails way too go. Learn to use your sounder. No point fishing place where theres no fish. If theres fish there most of the time you drop plastic on their face they hit it if they in feeding.

Personally i havnt used the 5 inch flash arrows myself. Alot of guys have luck on them though. I prefer fishing z mans as they are durable and they catch fish for me. Those 5inch do look good for jacks though. I will be giving them a go nextjack trip. Im sick of buy bevy shads and pointers and losing them to trees lol.

[Seiran]

Good work on the PB Kane, it always good to score a new PB :woohoo:

But now I'm starting to think you're either having some bad luck, or you're totally jinxed. You've now lost a rod and had one snap on your boat

[Wahoo2]

Haha I am bad luck!

I've lost a Stradic 4000 and a Gary Howard Custom rod

Snapped the tip off my Sahara rod

Richard snapped his Shimano rod

Lost 2 anchors on Harry Atkinson.. Oh and a big hand line at Harry's

Lost my Oakley oil rigs over the side at Peel

I'm sure there is plenty more.. LOL good times!

[TIM D]

I'd prefer to go offshore too but my boat isn't big enough and i'm not confident enough.. YET!

Mate your rig would be fine to go off the goldie on a good day

cheers tim

[Wahoo2]

I'd have to go with someone who has had quite a bit of experience. I like having a bit more boat around me when I go out.

All in good time, I'll have to get to a Wave Break social or something and follow some guys out.

Kane

[Sofish]

SP snapper, one key you have to remember, always contact the bottom. The boathouse area has a large mussel ground, snapper love hang around those environment, and big ones could patrol higher water column, so work your jigs little bit higher, might have a better chance hook some big ones.

[jimjim]

You just gotta keep trying man. Presistence is the key on catching fish on plastics. I try to avoid fishing bait in bay and river coz you catch rubbish...

haha what a laugh the bay is a big place you use rubbish baits and you catch rubbish fish. If you want to catch the biggest and the best fish in the bay they will be caught on live or whole baits. If you arent catching fish on whole baits you need to start fishing smarter and move your baits at different depths in the water coloumn depending depth and speed of tide, as the tide runs harder the fish feed higher, dont fall into the trap of putting on a slab of mullet on gangs and leave it on the bottom and wonder why iam catching 32cm squire grinners stripeys and whiptails, but some plastic people are more than happy to catch undersize fish all day. iam a plastic fan and use them when it fits the species iam chasing, but how did fisherman ever catch before plastics were invented. just remember only 5 percent of fisherman actually catch fish.

shane69 send me a pm ref the mack situation in the bay

[Shane69]

You just gotta keep trying man. Presistence is the key on catching fish on plastics. I try to avoid fishing bait in bay and river coz you catch rubbish...

haha what a laugh the bay is a big place you use rubbish baits and you catch rubbish fish. If you want to catch the biggest and the best fish in the bay they will be caught on live or whole baits. If you arent catching fish on whole baits you need to start fishing smarter and move your baits at different depths in the water coloumn depending depth and speed of tide, as the tide runs harder the fish feed higher, dont fall into the trap of putting on a slab of mullet on gangs and leave it on the bottom and wonder why iam catching 32cm squire grinners stripeys and whiptails, but some plastic people are more than happy to catch undersize fish all day. iam a plastic fan and use them when it fits the species iam chasing, but how did fisherman ever catch before plastics were invented. just remember only 5 percent of fisherman actually catch fish.

shane69 send me a pm ref the mack situation in the bay

I didnt mean it like that mate. I wasnt dissing bait lol. I still enjoy fising it. Most of my best fish have come of bait in river bay and offshore.

In bay we use whole or live bait if we fish at night but in day time its all plastics, espically around the wrecks. I find we get better results.

House boat wreck in patericlar. Most of mine and my mates have come from hopping big plastics off the bottom. Bait all we catch is undersize squire moses pearch etc

Like you said livies will outfish anything. I love using livies offshore now lol. Being getting some good fish in past few weeks.

Shane

[Do$tylz]

I dunno if livies will outfish anything. If the fish are there in the spot you drop then yeah, it'll come out trumps.

But if you had to line up the different techniques sometimes I'd say artificials come on top just for the sheer amount of ground you cover vs someone sitting static on 1 spot with bait.

[Shane69]

I dunno if livies will outfish anything. If the fish are there in the spot you drop then yeah, it'll come out trumps.

But if you had to line up the different techniques sometimes I'd say artificials come on top just for the sheer amount of ground you cover vs someone sitting static on 1 spot with bait.

Want to try out your theory lol. Come offshore with me and fish boat rock. You can throw plastics and il use livies :evil: see what gets more and quality fish :whistle:

[benno573]

Just to throw another idea out there... with big headshakes and powerful runs I would call your lost fish for a painted sweetlips / blackall / morwong / one of those things! I have caught them at the same spot to about 6.5kg and they go waaaay harder than most other fish of the same size. They are a struggle on 20lb gear once they get over about 3kg. I remember a double hookup Jeff F and I had off Caloundra on these guys, mine went 4.5, his went 5, great fun chasing them around the boat. Jewies don't often throw up a lot of big headshakes but the blackies fight exactly like a snapper but with longer and faster runs.

And as to the artificial V bait idea in the bay... very dependent on where and when you are fishing as to what will work best. I like both depending on which way I am holding my tongue, and have caught quality fish from a variety of species on both, in the bay and outside. So on any given trip I will have various baits and various (usually cheap) lures depending on what is happening at the time.

And besides, as a lazy person, artificals get very hard work after a while, all that casting, retrieving, supertuning, casting, retrieving... you need one hand free for the beers surely? not to mention why have rod holders if you are holding the rod all the time?