Jump to content

A Trip To The Cape!

Drop Bear

By Drop Bear
in Saltwater

Recommended Posts

Drop Bear Community Regular

Drop Bear

Posted
Posted

Heading to Cape Moreton today. Weather looks fantastic today and tomorrow and will be back Wednesday. I will hopefully have a great report for you. Targeting land based Snapper but welcoming Spotted Hine (netted Morwong) Black Drummer, Golden Trevs and other Trev species, Large Bream, Tarwine and Moses Perch. .

Thanks Mrs Drop Bear for the leave pass. Just double checked where the green zone is to make sure we don't do the wrong thing. :)  

Woohoo Wish me luck.

 

cape moreton.png

green zone.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Drop Bear Community Regular

Drop Bear

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Sorry for not posting sooner. Its been a busy time.

But the trip went really well. The bay was glass going across but when we got to the Cape there were big swells so we had to stay on higher ground. 

First session was amazing. The Spotted Hind (Netted Morwong/Netted Sweetlip) were really hungry and good size. These are a much maligned species. I think its bad reputation for eating is misguided. They are not the coral trout where you fillet and eat. They are more the bake whole type. We cooked ours straight on the fire... un-bled and gut in. Yes you heard that right gut in. I used a thin knife to kill them quickly but was really careful not to flake off any scales or nick the skin. If you take the gut out or even bleed them, sand and grit gets into the fish and you end up wasting so much. When cooking them gut in the gut all stays in its own compartment and does not affect the meat in any way. Saying that we are always careful to not bust open the rib section. We made a bed of coals and placed the fish onto this and covered it up with more coals and actually made a small fire on top. They take a while to cook this way. You only get one go at it. They can handle a bit of over cooking so be patient. If you take them out and open them up while they are still raw you cant put them back in the fire as all the stuff gets into them. When you are sure they are done take off the coals and dust off the fish. a small leafy branch or a bunch of long grass works well and much better than a nylon brush that can melt plastic onto your dinner. They can get sand etc on them during the cooking process so its important to dust well. then carefully peal the skin and scales back. Try to do this in one go. The fire seems to bind the scales to the skin and makes a great hard outer layer that protects the meat from burning and easily pulls away. The meat is soft and moist. Juicy and delicious. It was a bit of a blokey trip and we took over very little gear so flaked off the meat and put on bread for fish hotdogs/tacos/sandwiches or whatever you call it. We did this with a squire and a bream as well but by far the tastiest was the Spotted Hind. We got a few Tarwine and a couple of Squire to top off a really great session.

The first morning(second session) the wind was light and offshore. We put some big casts in and I lost 2 large fish. Guessing one was a Jew and one a large Taylor? I will never know what they were but I do know that my 10 foot 9 wrap was bent like a kmart fiberglass whiting rod trying to hang onto a 2lb big eye trev. around the oyster leases. We caught a few more spotted hind and a few bream and a couple of squire. Its fun catching land based squire. I don't really know why i get such a buz. Perhaps its nice seeing the pink scales and blue dots. Perhaps its just cause its a bit rare?  Dunno.  

That day we cut some cunge at low tide and had a swim at Yellow Patch where some bonito were smashing the tiny bait fish. I snorkeled out to them as they were not far off shore but the clarity was poor after all the rain. Thanks Debbie. The bait fish were about 50mm long and virtually see through. there were plenty of mullet in the shallows so cast netted a few as well. I suck at cast netting so lucky Max was there.

We had a good afternoon session and bagged out on the Morwong but kept a few more bream and squire.

That night we found a bit of a hole and soaked the Mullet. No fish were landed but Max was bested by a xxos Jew and what we think was probably a large snapper.

last morning we released some more morwong and kept one last squire and a few smalish Tarwine. We normally get more of these and they are mostly xxl. Perhaps they are more of a winter thing?

So over all a fantastic trip. Only 2 nights but worth it. With 2 adults splitting the barge and camping fee its not a crazy expensive exercise. The cooler months will see more fish come in close. I'm away for work for 2 months but will be back in June and plan to hit it again. I probably need to do a bit more on the push bike as there was a fair bit of huffing and a puffing.

I can dream of my 9 wrap bending in half and one day, if i get lucky, i may get a glimpse of what is on the other end. 

20170410_170731.jpg

20170411_064013.jpg

20170410_173252.jpg

20170410_152209.jpg

20170411_174219.jpg

20170410_170101.jpg

20170411_051437.jpg

20170410_174605.jpg

20170410_161606.jpg

20170410_162331.jpg

20170410_173333.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Drop Bear Community Regular

Drop Bear

Posted
  • Author
Posted
17 hours ago, Angus said:

Awesome Rob. Def a trip I want to do!

Its a great option. I have the campsite dialed in and the stuff to bring. IMHO its worth doing leaving Saturday Morning back Sunday night but heaps better if you can go lunchtime on friday. We use baits and some slugs. Its tricky country for lures but I did get a few bream on soft plastics. With your skills Im sure you would make it work. Shall we pencil in a trip for July?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Angus Rookie

Angus

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Its a great option. I have the campsite dialed in and the stuff to bring. IMHO its worth doing leaving Saturday Morning back Sunday night but heaps better if you can go lunchtime on friday. We use baits and some slugs. Its tricky country for lures but I did get a few bream on soft plastics. With your skills Im sure you would make it work. Shall we pencil in a trip for July?

Yes. I would be keen as and would make a Friday departure work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kmcrosby78 Mentor

kmcrosby78

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, Luke Landrunner said:

What happened to the fish on the right in the multi-fish picture....?

Looks to me like it was 'dropbeared' ....... he's a big unit (the photos don't do him justice .....) and LOVES sashimi ;) (He'll probably lie though and say it was a shark ..... :whistle:).

Hmmmmmmm - might have to follow the progress of the mooted July trip ........ ;)  Oh and great write up Rob, very informative.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...