queensland Monday mental health appointment off the goldy

[rathabfishin2]

Well after a torrid few weeks at work and beautiful weather on Monday I decided to take the day off as a follow up to the Wanderers social and went fishing with a mate Paul off southport seaway.

We headed out just as the sun was starting to show on the horizon and managed to pick up some live bait straight away. Two pilchards also came into the boat which was a first for me jigging.

It was a little slow to start with a few bites and missed hits, so i butterflied a slimey and brought up a nice 51cm snapper.

I was stoked as i have not had much luck on the snapper around Mud island this winter. Not too long after Paul caught a snag....no wait a minute...the snag released and pulled up a nice 40 cm specimen that had pulled him around some reef. After another hour we moved out a little wider to the 24's. We decided to drift as there was little current and next to no wind. I set up a slimey on my baitrunner out the front of the boat and fished the back. After about half and hour the slimey took off like a bat out of hell! I was losing line fast, about 150 in three minutes and Paul quickly pulled the lines in and we took chase. Unfortunately after i gained some line back and started to gain some control between shorter runs of 15-20 seconds...twang.... :pinch: I had had that line get run through some reef earlier and although I checked the mono about 10m back from the swivel i obviously didnt check back far enough. We kept on the drift but the bite was still very tentative. I changed tactic and started to use pilchards on my baitcaster with my thumb on freespool, feeding line when i got a bite. Bam on again to a nice 45cm, and half hour later another 40cm in the boat. The bite quietened down, wind changed direction and made it hard to fish the bottom. I still had a live slimey out and not long before the end of the day it went for another nice run. I did everythjng right but no hook up. When the dead bait came up the large slimey's head had been totally crushed and it was a wonder the well exposed 5/0 circle hook did not get him. Oh well he will be there for next time.

Back to Pauls place to clean up. A great day on the water, donated my 4ocm to Paul so both families had enough for a good feed. Big thanks to Dr Paul for letting me out fish him this trip and not giving me too much stick over the two lost fish!

Cheers Andrew

[tugger]

Great day on the water by the sounds of it Andrew some good fish to boot the big ones always test out your gear you'll have to have another go at getting those biguns again on another of those stress free days

[aussie123]

Well done Andrew.

That's a couple of lovely snapper there.

The slimey with a crushed head is usually from tuna,more thank likely a Mack Tuna.

[rathabfishin2]

Great day on the water by the sounds of it Andrew some good fish to boot the big ones always test out your gear you'll have to have another go at getting those biguns again on another of those stress free days

Thanks Mark. I only had 30lb on Baitrunner with 6-8 kg stick and lost most of my line in short time. It didn't feel like a shark and Paul who has much more experience fishing ther area was thinking tuna of some type. Oh well, thats why they call it fishing and not catching, just means I will have to save some cash and keep an eye on the specials when they come up!

[Shane69]

Well done Andrew.

That's a couple of lovely snapper there.

The slimey with a crushed head is usually from tuna,more thank likely a Mack Tuna.

Or bonito lol. They love slimies

Over past 3 trips if i want flesh bait at 35s for pearlies i just drop live slimie to bottom and il get bonito lol. Its weird. Sonetimes they not much bigger than slimie.

Well done mate. You presisted and got rewarded.

Bay snaps arnt hard to catch either. You do need live or freah bait.

Cant help you with mud too much as i barely fish it but harries if you have live bait your bound to get fish.

[rathabfishin2]

Well done Andrew.

That's a couple of lovely snapper there.

The slimey with a crushed head is usually from tuna,more thank likely a Mack Tuna.

Cheers Lance, nothing like fresh snapper with a nice salad for tea. My son was stoked when I pulled them out after so many trips in the bay and nothing good to show for it. As previously mentioned Paul thought the first run was from a tuna so maybe that was what was around. The fish were very tentative and sticking low ehen we did have good shows on the sounder. I literally had to hand feed the three fish I caught and let them have a good run thumbing the spool before engaging into gear. Good fun though on the lighter rig from 40m down!

[Luvit]

Cracking fish, now you have cracked the code Andrew.

The electric blue spots and highlights over the eyes of the snapper look fantastic when they just come out of the water.

Down south we rarely used live bait for snapper, but it certainly looks like it pays off up here.

[rosstralia46]

Nice bag of snaps Andrew well done mate