queensland Cape Moreton Overnight - The Report

[benno573]

Hi all,

@Drop Bear and I headed out from the port about 2pm Saturday and set a course for moreton. The plan was the fish some spots through the late afternoon and into the early evening, see what the weather did and then most likely head back round to bulwer for some shut eye and then back out for a dawn sesh.

 

the bay was quite good but heading around combyuro pt was a bit of an adventure on the way out with the outgoing tide and ENE wind jacking the waves up a fair bit. Plodded our way through that mess and soon pulled up at my first spot to target some reefies on plastics. The arvo started off a bit left field with some squid following up a plastic, squid jig deployed, 2 nice sized squid netted one after the other. A few undersized Maori cod, a really random green job fish, snapper and trevally were landed and then drop bear opened the account with a nice grassy of about 36, I trumped it not long after with a slightly larger model of 42cm. I left the squid jig out as we drifted and picked up another nice sized squid. Things were a little quieter than hoped so we moved on to my next spot.

 

the action was pretty consistent, unfortunately a lot of it undersized. We caught heaps of spangled emps, snapper, bream and tarwhine, a kingie and we added a Moses perch and a slatey to the esky.  The wind was starting to get up a bit and I was thinking of pulling the pin but then drop bear hooked a freight train which gave him some serious curry. A good little fight ensued and I slid the net under a very nice slatey of 72cm. On this high, we up anchored and cruised back round to bulwer.

 

it wasn't the best nights sleep with a thundery shower hitting about 1am and flicking the wind around to a SW which made sleeping a little uncomfortable. Regardless, we were up and away around 5am back to try for some early morning reefies on plastics.

 

our first drift was a corker. 4 legal snapper and a legal Maori cod were boated. I hooked but didn't land a small school mackerel, I managed to drop a legal Moses perch over the side... FAIL. Unfortunately things went a little quiet except for another squid so we moved on again.

 

the next spot fished quite well with some nice moses perch, trevally and a 65cm school mackerel coming over the side in amongst the plethora of other reef species including coral cod, black tipped rock cod, Maori cod, snapper and a few others I can't remember at the moment. With the esky looking healthy and the weather looking great for the trip home we decided to pull the pin and head back. Stopped in at bulwer to empty the jerry can into the tank and have a swim, cruised home in a glass out at 25kn. Stopped to pick up a tennis ball for a free dog toy, found a crab attached to it who wasn't happy we took his floaties. 

 

drop bear was kind enough to drop over and help with the clean up and filleting, thanks heaps for that mate. I'm sure you'll add anything I've missed.

 

awesome trip, great company and a great feed to boot. 

 

Cheers for reading.

benno

 

[kmcrosby78]

Nice haul there fellas - cracking slatey and good bonus with the squid. Well done - not jealous at all ....... 

[Angus]

Awesome! Well done and great example of the "scoring a deckie spot" process. Cracker.

[Old Scaley]

Looks like you guys had a great trip. Nice to see at least one Pelagius in an impressive haul  One of the few benefits of being laid up for the weekend (other than hours and hours of NRL and cricket watching) was that I could keep an eye on things via the www. I was checking out seabreeze and saw there was some activity in the middle of the night.  I had total confidence in you @benno573 but thought you might have lost a bit of sleep.  Still no tuna for the dog, eh?

[benno573]

Nah, no tuna. Did have one bust up near us but the fush looked like tiny bonnies, couldn't get them to take a small slug. Came across a big school of bait sitting on the surface in the bay, nothing chasing them though.

[Sparksie]

Nice effort!

Maori Cod yum!

Fancy stealing someone's else tennis ball, poor old crab might have been using it to have a rest on the surface once in a while. 

[Luvit]

Well done fellas.

It was worth staying overnight for the excellent conditions in the morning. 

[tugger]

Thanks for the report i reckon that was the motivation i needed to do another overnight offshore trip off brisvegas again

[Drop Bear]

21 hours ago, Luvit said:

It was worth staying overnight for the excellent conditions in the morning. 

Sure was. Was a tough night with the rain and wind but so worth it. 

[Drop Bear]

On 3/5/2017 at 8:29 PM, benno573 said:

@Drop Bear and I headed out from the port about 2pm Saturday and set a course for moreton. The plan was the fish some spots through the late afternoon and into the early evening, see what the weather did and then most likely head back round to bulwer for some shut eye and then back out for a dawn sesh.

@benno573Mate I can't thank you enough for having me on as a deckie!

You did a great job with the boat in trying conditions and I have learnt so much about boat trimming in rough water and bar crossing condition reading. 

You have a great ability to get fish! You put us on easy fun shallow rubble and massive schools of feeding fishes and you were extremely generous with your fishing tips, secret spots and information (as well as a few hooks and sinkers I didn't pack). I promise not to tell everyone that the measured mile is your favourite spotty spot.... (I actually made this up its the 4 beacons haha that's made up too its the cardinal off mud...)

I have been working too hard to get into the fish yet but will smash some of it tonight. Cant wait.

The trip was full of new experiences and PB's for me;

First legal grassy on plastic

Largest slatey bream I have ever caught. Man that thing went like a train! I had the Sustain cranked up from "Stun to Kill" as instructed by @benno573 and it still beasted me away with 4 or 5 thumping runs on full drag. Im so glad i upgraded the drags to carbon Tech as I don't think the old felt like washers would have handled it. The Cheater handled this so well. I'm still trying to force myself to stop high sticking but I think I did pretty well and didn't break the rod... I cant say the same about my Favourite that took a good wack a few weeks ago and didn't last the trip (another one bights the dust). The sight of this awesome fish as it came to the boat in the dark will be something I will remember forever. It's massive ghostly shape eclipsed my expectations of what was down there. 

Saw the release of the biggest turtle I have ever seen. Nearly as bit as Trump's hands. 

We saw a massive Green Marlin trying to get to one of Bennos many spanglies. At night off the cape in 15 to 20 knots it looked 7 foot long and as thick as my thigh... Benno might be better at giving a more accurate size haha

First Legal Maori cod on Plastic.

Fist legal Snapper on Plastic.

First legal Moses Perch kept. I think I have caught legal ones before but I have never kept one as they look quite small. When we filleted I saw why you would keep these fish with 2 perfect delicious looking fillets. Can't wait to try them. 

First fish caught off the Cape not land based. 

I caught quite a few new species that went back like the scorpion cod and some other pretty cod. 

Saw Benno catch a Green Job fish. I had no idea they came this far south. Have seen them up at 1770.

Spent a night on a little boat in the bay. Something I plan to do a lot lot more of.

I'm sure there were more but I can't remember now.

Thanks again Benno you are a legend.

The swim at Bulwer was a spectacular way to relax after a day in the boat. 

 

[benno573]

@Drop Bear throw up a few of the photos you took when you get the chance too.

Green marlin = a big barracuda. Probably about 5ft long. Was tempted to crack out the 80lb and have a go... 

One thing we both didn't mention, the queen Mary 2 was at the port on the way out, absolutely dwarfed the freight ships around it.

My housemate and I have only eaten two fillets so far in two dinners and a lunch... The mackerel and the big slatey, both were excellent. Grassy and Maori cod tonight... Into the premium stuff!

[kmcrosby78]

Great add-on to the report @Drop Bear - clearly shows your passion for fishing and then sheer and utter enjoyment that comes from a trip that is not only successful fish-wise but also in acquiring new information, and forming (or cementing) a friendship. Kudos to @benno573 for offering up a spot on his tub.

[Drop Bear]

Ok will add some pickies.

I forgot also that I caught and released a small Maori cod that spewed up Benno's soft plastic. That was pretty cool. 

[Drop Bear]

Here are some photos of the trip. My phone got a little damp and wouldn't charge so I took some on Mrs Dropbear's phone. I will post those soon too.

Thanks again for the trip Mate