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Saturday Mud Island - what a cracker

benno573

By benno573
in Saltwater

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benno573 Rising Star

benno573

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On Saturday morning I picked Ellicat up at 4am and we headed to Manly. I was as surprised as the next person that he was at least partly awake at that time of day! Our target for the day was snapper, grassies and sandcrabs (and whatever else) around Mud Island. After launching at Manly and a chilly run across the bay, we were getting close to our first spot for the day. I noticed a bit of a rise and a few small bumps on the sounder well away from any other marks I had. Remembering I was doing 26kn at the time and any structure that did show up would be greatly reduced, I marked the spot for further investigation later. We carried on to our first spot, dropping the pots in along the way.

There was a bit of bait showing on the sounder at the first spot so we anchored up and started to fish. I got adventurous and decided to throw a plastic out (a rarity for me at Mud) – for instant result. Only an undersized pinkie but a good start all the same. I then switched up in size a bit to a damiki 5" armor shad and nailed the first keeper of the trip at around 40cm, followed next cast by a grassie at 33cm. Ecat was still waking up at this point so was a little slow out of the blocks... :P

After about an hour and a half, we went to check the pots. We got 4 good sized crabs and a couple of others that were just legal but looked too small to bother with. We then anchored up again near the first spot but in a little deeper water. I threw out a squid vicious (ok it was just a strip of squid) and a punk prawn (also known as a peeled green prawn) on the rods and after about 5 min the squid strip went off in a big way. After a good tussle, Ecat slid the net under a nice 49cm specimen. Into the esky he went. I then added a couple of rock whiting to the esky upon Jeff F’s recommendation on their eating qualities.

Things started to get a little quieter there, mostly due to the big increase in boat traffic, at times drifting well within “swearing at†distance :angry: . So we decided to up anchor and go and check out the new ground we saw on the way across which was thankfully far away from any other boats. I had a good sound around the area for about 15 min and really liked what I found. An area about 50m x 100m of various rubble and wire weed patches and a few larger bommies scattered amongst it, as well as a couple of good drop-offs of about 4-6ft. We went and dropped the pots and came back and anchored up in between two larger bommies.

The action took a little while to warm up but when it did it was pretty good. I nailed two more legal snapper (around 40cm) to complete my bag and Brian chipped in with a nice tusky to add some variety. I threw out a live trumpeter which I jagged on a plastic which was smashed in about 5 min and rubbed me off on the rubble. Bugger! Next livie was nailed by a 5ft wobbegong... :pinch: I then dropped a lovely tuskie boatside that I had hooked on a 4†gulp drop shot minnow, not a happy camper about that. :angry: Definitely worth another look considering the action we got was on the worst part of the tide and in the middle of the day. I reckon it will really fire if we get there on a run-in around dusk.

Once the tide changed and started to run in, I headed to one of my “old faithful†spots which rarely lets me down. The action was immediate and I added a 36cm snapper to Brian’s esky, followed immediately by the fight of the day, a 55cm painted sweetlips/morwong/blackall/blubberlips/one of those things.

After that the westerly kicked up a bit and the bite slowed right down. So we pulled the pots for the last time and ended up with 15 crabs for the day :woohoo: which kept Mrs Ecat very happy.

All in all a very relaxing and successful day out, despite the somewhat questionable company.

Cheers,

Benno <'><

post-2244-144598949349_thumb.jpg

Apologies for photo quality, ECat took it so yell at him... :P

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kmcrosby78 Mentor

kmcrosby78

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Great report and a fantastic haul of fish for a Mud session there Benno (oh, and E'cat .....). I need to get myself a better sounder (or play with the one I have ???) so that I can see stuff while on the move at speed. I have to slow right down before mine shows me the bottom and the depth.

Can't wait to read your next report from your new spot at a better time of the day/tide. Just one request - when you do that report, would you mind including some background landmarks in your photos, cause I just love scenery ............. :P

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benno573 Rising Star

benno573

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Great report and a fantastic haul of fish for a Mud session there Benno (oh, and E'cat .....). I need to get myself a better sounder (or play with the one I have ???) so that I can see stuff while on the move at speed. I have to slow right down before mine shows me the bottom and the depth.

Can't wait to read your next report from your new spot at a better time of the day/tide. Just one request - when you do that report, would you mind including some background landmarks in your photos, cause I just love scenery ............. :P

The funny thing is I could do that and you'd be none the wiser! :P especially if I do it at night!

There is heaps of ground around mud, I'm always trying new bits and finding new areas to try, I have about 40 separate marks around the island. Biggest tip is to look away from the main areas especially where there is no boats. Small structure with no boat traffic is more productive than "better" structure with heaps of other boats. Look for rubble bottoms, weed patches, drop offs or a combination of all of those and if you are lucky you'll find a big bommie or two away from the main crowds which are solid gold and will rarely let you down.

Re sounders, I have a hummingbird set up to shoot through the glass hull which works well on the plane, not a flash or expensive unit but works well. I also have a raymarine combo which is a much better sounder but only works when off the plane with a transom mount transducer. I picked the new ground up on the hummingbird and investigated at a much slower speed using the raymarine. I always use feet as a measurement, probably just personal preference there. The reason yours won't work at speed is either because it is a bit rubbish or the transducer is out of the water when on the plane or in an area that creates a lot of disturbance when underway. Have a squizz at where the transducer sits when you are on the plane, if it is out of the water or in really turbulent water it will not work properly/at all.

Hope this helps.

Benno

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kmcrosby78 Mentor

kmcrosby78

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Cheers for the advice. I've never thought about that - I'd say there is a fair chance it is out of the water when on the plane. Makes sense now - the water is sitting more on top of the water when on the plane whereas it sinks into the water more when I slow down. Will have to investigate.

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