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Wasn't Great, Wasn't Bad

samsteele115

By samsteele115
in Saltwater

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samsteele115 Newbie

samsteele115

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So there goes another long weekend and I was lucky enough to head out all 3 days.

Saturday I fished with Reece Thomas who is a respectable Moreton Bay snapper fisherman and does lots of tagging for sunfish. The idea was for me to get a snapper and learn a bit about it and for him to get a longtail later on in the day. Well, we came close. I hooked and got busted off by a couple of decent sized snapper, so that wasn't great but it wasn't bad. I learnt a lot and am keen to try again.

Reece caught undersized reefy after undersized reefy and I couldn't get a touch! But I did get this strange character… flute fish.IMG_20160430_185022.jpg

We then headed out looking for longtail. Found one and hooked one and lost one. So again that wasn't great but it wasn't bad. Better hooking up than not at all. I guess the frustrating part of Reece's first encounter with a Moreton Bay longtail was he lost the fish due to knot failure, these fish certainly find any weaknesses in tackle. We both got dusted by suspected Spanish Mackerel also.

On Sunday I took bersim out for the day. This time we went northern bay region. The plan was snapper, tuna and squid. This was a pretty tough ask but we did it! At first light bersim got his ‘snapper' and that was it from the shallows. IMG_2811.thumb.jpg.e31f1cce1da3052abf03cde241a30753.jpg

Not too far from the snapper spot we came across a couple of broadbar Spanish Mackerel launching high into the ai.  So the stickbaits came out and we started to blind cast. There was only 1 or 2 birds to help guide us and no fish showing themselves apart from those mackerel. No fish busting up but we hung around the bait and persisted with surface lures. Eventually I got a hit from a nice big longtail at the boat! No hookup. Bugger.

A few casts later the water around my lure erupted. Yes!!! Longtail off the top without seeing them. A very rewarding form of fishing when they aren't showing themselves and when you bring them up from the depths. Well, it wasn't quite a longtail was it but it was still good fun. Annoying, though. IMG-20160501-WA0002.jpgIMG-20160501-WA0005.jpg

Then again down deep on a plastic.DSC_0468.JPG

The birds and bait disappeared so we went in search of a squid or 12. Got 12 squid and lost many more at the boat due to my laziness. James with his first. A dark specimen. IMG-20160501-WA0012.jpg

Me with my first of the season. Big for this time of year!IMG_20160501_183340.jpg

This is what 12 squid look like lying on the road.DSC_0469.JPG

James also got this cod on his squid jig. Just under legal size.DSC_0464.JPG

And to wrap things up I headed out solo today. No pelagics of any kind. Haunting memories of the poor season we had last year for tuna.

But I got half a dozen more squid and released a few more. Also got a big catfish on a jig in 20m of water.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

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bersim Newbie

bersim

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Thanks again for the session Sam.  Despite the rain I had a lot of fun and it was one of my favourite bay sessions.  Love squid so much for some reason.  Definitely going to be having many sessions purely targeting them during winter.  They tasted pretty great for dinner too!  

Is 3 squid between 4 people really that much?  We didn't struggle to eat it all haha.  

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bersim Newbie

bersim

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Yeah it sucked the jig right down so was almost impossible to remove.  Was a real shame because it was only 1cm from legal size.  Not sure if it would have survived even though it did swim off alright. Hooked a couple of other fish on the jigs too but they didn't stay on @kmcrosby78

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samsteele115 Newbie

samsteele115

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15 hours ago, timtam_ said:

Good couple of sessions!! Unlucky to miss out on the longtails - what do you think the coming season holds? Squid fishing looks to be in the northern bay area?

I think the peak of the season has already passed. My first of the season was in November and December last year, followed by some awesome longtail fishing in January through to March this year where some days you would approach 50-70 feeding frenzies. Since then they have spread out a bit and been harder to find and when you do find them they have either been feeding deep or 1 or 2 schools popping up briefly. Last year the longtail season pretty much finished around March, so lets hope this isn't the end of this one. I remember in 2014 however that there was a good run of them through the winter months but for whatever reason last year they were a summer fish and it seems they were early again this year. I am hoping it is not the end of what has been a pretty good season, but you never know. Now is a good time to get out though there are still a few around.

Squid fishing was at mud island but there are definitely better places to jig for them. The sea grasses of Moreton and Straddy can hold ridiculous amounts of squid. Just be aware of the green zones

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