queensland Moreton Isl 8 June - 16 June

[benno573]

Headed over to Moreton Island on Saturday 8 June with the Mrs and a couple of friends, set up base at the North Point Campground. After lunch and a bit of a sit down and relax (i.e. a bourbon), I decided to go and check if we could get the yaks out. The wind was offshore about 12kn with minimal swell on the beach, right, off we go!

Peddled out to the spot, flicked around the ever faithful 4†nuclear chicken drop shot minnow. I was out with a rookie both in the kayak fishing and plastics fishing stakes, my challenge was dinner for 5 and get him onto a decent fish. First cast I was on and added a nice 40cm snapper to the bucket. Over the next half an hour the action was mental. I ended up with 6 and finally got the rookie onto one. I had one last cast and completed the combined bag. Ranged in size from 39-46cm, all perfect eating size. As we were heading back in the heavens opened, I dropped my pocket knife but was still worth it. Less than 1.5hrs later (would have been 1 but I got distracted by a bottle of bourbon along the way) the fillets were crumbed and sizzling away... can’t beat it.

Sunday was a pretty average day. 25-30kn from the S/SE, constant showers... glad I bought plenty of bourbon...

Monday the friends who came over with the Mrs and I went home, as did everyone else in the campsite leaving us with the place to ourselves. You ripper! Spent most of the day recovering from too much bourbon the night before and hiding from the rain.

Tuesday we awoke to 5kn S/SW, beautiful blue sky and about 24 degrees. Headed around to tailor bight, the Mrs sat in the car and read while I walked along the beach flicking plastics into various gutters and holes. I found a school of hardy heads and very quickly started to catch fish. First a flattie at 48cm, then a tailor about the same length, both kept for a feed. This was followed by a long tom and then a couple more tailor which were released. When I was walking back towards the car, I noticed a very familiar shape in the gutter. I dropped everything, grabbed a stick and shortly after had a hold of a nice buck muddie, 16cm across and full as. Lunch is sorted! Snuck out on the yak Tuesday arvo for a nice snapper at 46cm and a good grassy at 36cm. Dropped a nice cod yakside, might have just gone legal but I guess I’ll never know! The night saw more bourbon consumed.

Wednesday was average during the day, turning to complete poo later. A storm rolled in about 11pm, winds gusting to 40kn and an inch of rain in about an hour. Had battened down the hatches so the camp survived pretty well, snapped a pole in the tent, glad I had a spare. Plenty of bourbon and a wee port kept me nice and warm.

Thursday was much nicer, had about 20kn SW blowing early but eased to about 10kn during the morning. The eastern beach was the place to be. Unfortunately, no fish to speak of. More pippies on the beach than there has been for about 3 years, good signs that recovery after the oil spill is still progressing. Snuck out on the yak in a complete glass out in the afternoon, got a couple of legal snaps but it was just awesome being out there in the conditions. I headed back in and then grabbed the long wand and headed up to the stones for an afternoon of spinning. After a few warm up casts to get the blood flowing, I took on the swell and went to my favourite rock. 1 minute later I was soaked. On about my third cast I got nailed by something which ripped line off the reel and ran me straight into the rocks offshore, quickly rubbing through the 20lb leader. I tied a new 30lb leader and a new slug, tightened the drag and peppered the area. I was getting a bit buggered when my lure got absolutely brained as I ripped it along the edge of the whitewater. I managed to turn this one’s head and get it away from the rocks. This was a decent fish. After about 15 minutes of running up and down the rocks I caught a glimpse of my quarry in a wave. Now the tricky part... On the third attempt I managed to wash the fish onto a lower ledge. I waited for the next big wave and heaved it up to be at my feet. Much to the disgust of the two old mates standing near me, I proudly walked off with a 70cm about 4kg GT. He had suffered a bit getting up the rocks so I bled it out and took it back for a feed. Salt n pepper GT is dam nice just on an aside. Had to have a bourbon to celebrate.

Friday we went around to tailor bight again, not a lot happening but probably the best morning of the trip weatherwise. Landed two decent tailor which were released and a nice flathead which was kept and a couple of long tom, just mostly enjoyed the serenity. Tried spinning off the stones again in the afternoon but the swell and tide were both a bit higher, only had two casts before deciding it was too dangerous, wet and cold. Back to the bourbons to warm up...

Saturday morning saw the arrival of Sparksie and his daughter. After a bit of sight seeing, we went to Harpers Rock for a fish. Using pippies as bait, we had an awesome session, landing dart, silver trevs, golden trevs, tarwhine, bream and silver drummer. Had a great feed of oysters and then headed back to camp to fillet fish, drink bourbon and start that most unenviable task of packing up.

Sunday was the end of it all, I forced Sparksie to take his own yak out in the morning, he landed one nice snapper while I did some packing up. The usual mad last second rush and we were back on the barge home. Coming home across the bay in a complete glass out was a bit tough I will admit. A few photos from the trip to follow.

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

Benno <><

Sorry for the lack of actual fish photos, only one catch really stood out for me... :blush:

Note: only had the lure in its mouth as I needed to actually cut it out with a knife, it had nailed the treble that hard. Not trying a be all sponsory and that sort of stuff... unless someone from halco is reading...

Why does it always look like this when you are going home????

[max pwr]

Sounds like my idea of a top trip Ben ! Was a good read and you've given me the inspiration to open up a bottle of gentleman jack as a winter warmer..... Cheers

[ellicat]

Mate, I think I need a lay down after that. I think I have a cold from Wednesday too.

I haven't fished off the rocks since you tried to lure me to my death that time (Well maybe once since then)

[Old Scaley]

Thanks for the report, Benno. Sure has got me dreaming of an island getaway. Hard to beat that sort of week.

[tugger]

Great report Benno and some cool pics the weather was great for the week as a whole you could get a lot worse nothing better than catch a good feed of fish and cooking back at camp maybe next year our 2 camps won't overlap

[viper83]

Great report mate. Sorry I couldn't get across but the money is tight in my family lol. We will catch up for another flick soon mate.

Cheers

Matt

[tiotony]

Now that's my idea of what a fishing trip should be like! Loved the read!

[PWR2W8]

Good read benno thanks, and good luck with halco sponsorship too haha

[Damien2Rad]

Nice one, mate.

Little bit jealous sitting here at home.

[Keen2fish]

Good post benno we are headn ova in morn for a week with the yaks and small tinnie hope to do half as well as you :cheer:

cheerz smithy

[benno573]

Good post benno we are headn ova in morn for a week with the yaks and small tinnie hope to do half as well as you :cheer:

cheerz smithy

Mate weather is looking much better for your trip. Where you camping?

Matty - next time mate, whether you like it or not!

Thanks for the other comments - it was supposed to be an 8 day drinking/poker playing session but fishing kept getting in the way...

[ellicat]

Fish but no chips then ? :silly:

[benno573]

Boom tish....

Plenty of chips for me mate.

[Do$tylz]

Nice one Ben. 8 days on the beach would have been bloody heaven. Good to see the gradual slow migration over to plastics

[benno573]

Mate the migration is as complete as it is ever going to be. I used plastics exclusively off the beach and the kayak at moreton, only bait I used was fresh pippies off the rocks. Still have a foot in both camps on the boat though, when I get bored with all that casting and retrieving I throw a few baits out and sit down. Usually need a bourbon to assist with the recovery too...