queensland First Trip To Moreton Is - Tuna Time!

[The Mad Hughesy]

The weather according to Willy weather was a bit of rain with very minimal wind on Saturday morning. Given it was a long weekend, I thought most people would write Saturday off and give either Sunday or Monday a go. We arrived at the Scarborough boat ramp which already had quite a few cars and trailers already parked up. Hit the water and off to the measured mile to see if anything was about. It was at this stage we knew good old reliable willy weather was wrong…the bay was sloppy and much windier than predicted, but we pushed on. A few drifts resulted in nothing at the mile so I set course for the 4 beacons. We drifted past every beacon multiple times for no fish, nothing on the sounder either. Having no experience at this location, maybe they fish better if you anchor up there? I’ve read reports of people catching cobia, snapper and kingfish here as well as the usual pelagics. Guess I’ll have to go back and try next time! In my planning for the trip, id also read that the tuna will show up anywhere in the channel that runs along the inside of Moreton. So, we headed in closer to the island cruising in the main channel and bam, the first school of tuna turned up. First cast and im hooked up, only a small mack tuna which we kept as shark bait for later on.

About 30 mins later we found another school hitting the surface, by the time we got within casting distance, they were gone. But I remember reading a while ago that if the tuna go down after you get to them, just let your lure sink to the bottom then crank it back…which worked this time! Another slightly bigger Mack tuna was boated then released.

Just goes to show, that properly researching your target species can really be vital. We then just cruised along the channel in between the 4 beacons and Tangalooma watching for any surface activity. Ended up chasing another 10+ bust ups throughout the morning for no luck. We decided to anchor up near a beacon and put the shark bait out (half a tuna). Didn’t take long before the reel was screaming, but it wasn’t to be… 5 minutes into the fight we dropped whatever it was…bugger. Given the bite marks on it, id call it as a bull shark (cutting marks on one side and puncture marks on the other side)

After retrieving the bait for inspection, we had a local come say hello. We threw out half of the tuna for him which he smashed then swam away. A few minutes later, he was back and just sitting 5m behind the boat as if to say…”is that all? im still hungry”. He must have been one of the dolphins that visits Tangalooma as it was very tame. We were able to get some cool clips of the dolphin taking the tuna under the water.

 

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On the horizon we could see the rain rolling in, so we decided to give the other half of tuna to the dolphin and steam on home (that and every time we tried to float the bait out he would play with it). Funnily enough, the bay was flatter on the way home, only taking 32 minutes to get from Moreton to the boat harbour.  

 

All in all, a semi successful first trip to Moreton. Since being a little kid, I’ve always wanted to take my boat over to Moreton, which I can tick off the bucket list now. Probably could have picked a better day to do it, but it was a blessing in disguise really. Now I have much greater confidence in my boat’s abilities to handle poor weather! Until next time…

[ellicat]

Cool videos.

Sounds like a good morning despite the sloppies.

[Old Scaley]

Great report @christophagus. Thanks for posting.

[kmcrosby78]

Good day out there Chris, well done. I'm also yet to take my own boat over to Moreton - will have to take my boys over there sometime. Cool videos of the dolphin!!

[Drop Bear]

Great report mate. Well done. Sounds like a good day. Dave and I went to Green island and got stuck in the storm. Was 5 mins of rain then ok. Left us both sopping wet. 

The Dolphins seem to be becoming a pest. 

Those Mac Toooona are great to eat. Don't believe the hype. They do have more blood meat that I like to trim off. 

They make great sashimi, lightly seared steaks and if you just undercook them they are great in a salad. 

Glad you got some confidence in the boat.

[Poddymullet]

Great report @christophagus glad to hear you ticked Moreton off your bucket list. 

As @DropBear mentioned they are great to eat. Just new to cut the blood line out.