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Led Him Astray ....... 29/12/16

kmcrosby78

By kmcrosby78
in Saltwater

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kmcrosby78 Mentor

kmcrosby78

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Well it was bound to happen - two decent sessions in a row at Mud and @Old Scaley insisted he come and fish my new found spot. Due to me battling a very sore throat (wasn't sure I'd make the trip but woke up and thought bugger it, it'll be just as sore sitting at home ....) we decided to both take our tinnies, that way I could head home early if need be. So ...... I got up earlier, zoomed out to Mud by 4:15am (after ripping a nice big hole in my net - DON'T CAST RIGHT NEAR THE RIGHT HAND CORNER OF THE POOP SCHUTE AT THE MOMENT - SOMETHING VERY SOLID THERE!!), gto the berley flowing and put two lines out (whilst kicking myself that I didn't put a light braid rod with a popper in - I had for the previous two trips but because I was hoping to also get out to the Measured Mile to chase macks this time I already had too many rods - as luck would have it there seemed to be LOTS of activity in the shallows, next time!!).

Oh and conditions were terrible ......

Mud Sunrise.jpg

Fair bit of action early on with undersized grassies, one tuskie, one legal grassy (33cm), lots of good runs that dropped the bait, snags (with no sinker - annoying!!), bite offs (I'm thinking the may be the tuskies - is this likely on 10-12lb line?) and a few that buried me in the rocks. Also got 'spooled' by one fish mysteriously - was in the rod holder, line began peeling off the reel (fast but not super fast) and as I picked it up out of the rod holder I hear a 'pop'. Hmmm, hope I haven't broken the tip of my rod ... Nope, no line left? In hindsight I had noticed last trip that the spool certainly wasn't full but it had caught the 54cm the other week so I didn't think it was a huge issue as I'm not looking for huge casting distance with this setup. Anyway, line gone and I'm left with one real viable option to fish with in this scenario so luckily I had an old spool of 20lb mono in the boat so spooled it up with that. More snags, then Steve is on his way so upanchor and move to a totally different area of Mud to throw him off the scent ...... :whistle:

Greeted Steve in this new location, pretended to give him advice on where to fish, and all we caught were rocks ...... I was slightly slow with taking this photo as moments early Steve had a double hook up of quality rocks ...... a very rare catch!!!

Old Scaley.jpg

Steve was clearly getting frustrated at the lack of action at my 'special spot' (although he seemed to be blaming himself thinking he had jinxed it .....) but took it out on me anyway, launching a ferocious 2-3 inch live calamari into my tinny which promptly bit me on the hand - UNCALLED FOR! It was nearing high tide and things were quiet so the options were to stick around and see if the turn of the tide worked (I thought it might but really wanted to go chase some mackerel), head to teh Measured Mile or head towards the river mouth. I chose the middle option and Steve was happy to follow (and then lead as his boat is faster .....) so into a bit of chop we head and arrive eventually. All is quiet so we pack it in around 11am and head back to the boat ramp with both of us getting a little sideways in a couple of 'potholes' around the river mouth leads (plenty of chop).

We were both glad there were two of us at the ramp as it was very busy so having two of us meant rather than waiting like everyone else and only using the lane closest to the pontoon, we could park wherever on the pontoon and then drive around to our trailer with the other person grabbing it and attaching the winch. Not as silly as we look .... ;)

Now to the truth and obviously I didn't upanchor and move to a different area, it just got quiet from about 6/6:30 onwards. Looking for answers, there was more boat traffic (there would have been another 2-3 boats in the general area plus more driving past a couple of hundred metres away), it was pretty sunny most of the time and I think the new moon from the night before had an interesting impact - I noticed I didn't catch a single squire (not even a rat) and caught a tuskie for the first time in 3 sessions there so I wonder whether that is a pattern that will continue to show itself on this moon phase. Time will tell I guess. Was good to get out on the water with Steve at last - next time we'll go in his boat (doesn't leak ...... and has nice high sides) and he can teach me some soft plastics skills. Hope his wife enjoyed the ONE CRAB (he's claiming a technical non-donut .....) he brought home for her for her birthday today .......:whistle: Considering I had two or three on my line yesterday I had high hopes for him but sounds like he got mostly jennies. That's fishing/crabbing!!

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Old Scaley Mentor

Old Scaley

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Geez @kmcrosby78 that is a long report for one 33cm grassie:). Thanks for sharing your secret spot with me. I did place a waypoint. Now it is called "don't bother" on my chart. Only joking mate,  this is just how my fishing has been lately.

The morning started out positively with some quality livies from the poo chute. Thanks for the warning about the hidden snag. There Wes a few boats manoeuvring around and that can be awkward when cast netting on your own so I decided to have one shot at it. Hit the mother lode and got about 20 quality poddies and a few pike.

Motored over to find Kelvin as planned. I tried to stay far enough away to not disturb his fishing but close enough to hear him. I think I failed on both counts. Set the pots and settled in to clean up in Kelvin's spot x. Managed a few sausage fish (snags), one bite that reefed me and one bite off. Checked the pots. Three female sandies and 2 baby calamari, one of which I tossed to Kelvin in a gesture of good will. Moved them and ended up with one keeper, so a technical non donut. A wise man once told me that you should either fish or crab, never both. I half agree, but sometimes the pots are what save me from a hiding when I get home.

We headed to the measured mile where I dropped one good fish of undetermined species and had no other hits. 

Kelvin, apart from my hoodoo effect, I did notice that there didn't seem to be much life around us. No turtles, rays, sharks or dolphins. No bird action either. Maybe it was just another one of those days. We will give it another crack soon.

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Old Scaley Mentor

Old Scaley

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1 hour ago, ellicat said:

That's the first time I've heard of squid in a crab pot. Unusual.

To be precise, @ellicat they were cuttlefish so a bit fatter around the body. They were less than 10cm long. There was another 2 of them in the same pot but they slipped out before I got the pot in the boat. No crabs in that one to scare them out. Feisty little Cephalopods though. One bit me and then took on @kmcrosby78 when I tossed it to him.

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benno573 Rising Star

benno573

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Geez guys... Thanks for the invite... And after all I've done for you lot...

 

bite offs most likely giant toadfish. Burley around mud can lead to plagues of the damn things. Almost better being bitten off than landing one though.

 

tuskies are very difficult to target around mud. More of an accident when targeting grassies/snapper although generally taken on squid/prawn baits. Probably my favourite fish to catch there though, they go hard, look awesome and taste amazing.

 

being bricked is interesting. Maybe wobbegongs?

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kmcrosby78 Mentor

kmcrosby78

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Sorry @benno573 it was a bit of a rush job the arvo before and I wasn't too sure I'd actually make it. You on holidays ATM? Yeah I think that's my first tuskie at Mud - just needed it to be 3cm bigger .......  So overall do you reckon it is better to NOT berley at Mud or just do it and put up with the negatives? Bit of a catch 22 I guess.

Yeah @bassmandan Steve and I commented that cod could be another likely culprit. Part of my problem is/was working two rods. I think there was some more gnarly structure compared to where I was positioned the last couple of times which didn't help. And yeah the northerlies could have been a contributer - it was nice and calm early on when they were biting and then went quiet which coincided with more boat traffic, brighter sun and the northerlie kicking in so probably a combination of all three.

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Old Scaley Mentor

Old Scaley

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1 hour ago, ellicat said:

Why don't tusk fish have trunks ?

 

Is this from your Christmas cracker @ellicat? Is the answer something about them not having school holidays? :frantics:

 

2 hours ago, benno573 said:

@kmcrosby78 I don't burley. If you pull up a rock with mussels etc on it I crack the mussels up and that seems to do the trick.

 

thinking I might try and head out there tomorrow.

Need to be up early @benno573. Those sh#tful northerlies will be starting early again. Went to bed early last night with full intention of being on the water at dawn for a New Years fish. Got up at 3.30 but lost enthusiasm and went back to bed. I have slipped into that Christmas haze of too much alcohol and too little commitment.  Might try in the morning but will be hanging around the mouth somewhere. Might give you a call to see how you are going.

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