First Time Mooloolaba

[samsteele115]

Went out for a trip up to mooloolaba this morning with @Skegz  to see if we could catch some fish on the bucket list namely Yellowfin Tuna or Spanish Mackerel because I hear there are a few around up there lately. If that failed, we planned to jig on some close by reefs. 

Well the Spanish and YFT plan failed, but we are sure we saw some yellowfin in amongst the hoards of mac tuna. To catch one though was a bit of a 'needle in the haystack' scenario with the amount of mac tuna around. By lots of mac tuna I mean half a football field sized feeding frenzies, everywhere. It was insane! It sounds like they were so easy to catch but nope they were on tiny bait and being the fussiest of the tuna species from my experience they were simply not interested in what we were throwing. Nor were they interested in what everyone else was throwing either! I'm sure fly would have tricked one or two. Mac tuna are either the easiest fish to catch as last Wednesday proved or the hardest fish to catch. When they are in this mood I don't spend too long chasing them. 

Aaron did manage to get a hookup eventually on a small soft plastic and got it to the boat after a sizzling run on his lighter Nordic Stage setup. I also got a hit but no hookup.

We got sick of the mac tuna very quickly and started trolling at about 7-9 knots in the hope to pick up a Spanish. Not sure if that was the right speed but it seemed right. Trolling for pelagics is new to me and quite frankly I got bored very quickly. 

We decided to head to one of the reefs and drop some microjigs around. A couple of rainbow runners were caught and I got this beautiful looking fish. I think it is in the trout family but not certain. It was 2cm under the coral trout legal limit anyway so it went back. 

At this point it was about midday and I started to feel seasick. I actually felt really tired all morning and didn't really enjoy being out there because I wasn't feeling the best. I think the swell made me feel drowsy because I didn't take any seasick tablets as an experiment. So that proves the last time I felt like this it wasn't the tablets making me drowsy. It's safe to say I haven't caught the offshore bug yet, so it's back to the bay tomorrow.

Tight lines for the rest of the weekend!

 

[RUSSIAN]

Thanks for the report! Good on you for trying new grounds and trolling. Bit of a tough gig hey? If you're looking at trying it out again, have a read of the info Peter Pakula has got on the internet. Massive document to read but definitely worth it. About time I read it again. Shame the YFT or spanish didn't play.

[samsteele115]

Thanks. I've heard about that. If I got into trolling I would have to look into better rod holders and setting the boat up better for it, not something I really want to do. 

[aussie123]

That is a Black Tip or Red Banded Grouper.

They don't grow much bigger than that and are often a pain on the inshore reefs.

They only get to a couple of kg for a large one.

[Luvit]

Those macs can do you head in some days. Good effort for Skegz to get one.

First time I've seen one of those groper, thanks for the id Aussie. Pretty fish.

Trolling is like any other fishing. You need to put in the time to get the rewards and many like it and just as many don't.

If targeting Spanish and yellow fin at the same time I would be trolling at around 4-6 knots depending on current, direction of travel etc with shallow and a deep diver.  If just targeting tuna I would use skirts and troll between 6-8 knots.

if you can get over the woozy feeling out wide it can be a magic place to fish.

 

 

[samsteele115]

Save writing a new report as I have no photos. Was back to the bay today. Tried getting a mackerel off the beacons but nothing around. Had a look for tuna and not much around either. Found some very casual longtail feeding on small bait and we were able to get close pretty easily. Got 2 hookups in about 20 minutes of stalking them so that was pretty good going. I fought my fish which was a very good fish for about 7 minutes before it came up near the boat and shook the hook loose. Was great to get the hit and experience most of the fight anyway. It went really hard and given its size would have come close to pb territory. 

Wind started picking up so we called it quits after only 3 hours on the water. Was so worth it though! Nice day. 

[Miller 197]

Howd you find going out the mooloolaba seaway?

Easy as pie?

[samsteele115]

2 hours ago, Miller 197 said:

Howd you find going out the mooloolaba seaway?

Easy as pie?

You said it mate.