queensland Hervey Bay Report June 2019

[Luvit]

Luke and I headed off on Sunday and launched at Urangan boat ramp around lunch time. First spot we stopped at we jigged a couple of school mackerel and quickly moved on not wanting to lose any more jigs to them.

We head for Wathumba area and saw no birds until we got there. There were small schools of small tuna and some bigger ones around but they were not interested in any of our offerings. We anchored up for the night in anticipation of tomorrow's full day.

The crack of dawn we were up and our plan was to head to Rooney's point and hop from reef to reef before heading onwards to southern gutters. The first 2 reefs didn't produce much so we kept hopping. On our first drift I picked up my first large mouth nannygai or saddle tail snapper.

They fight well and I expect will be nice eating. With a lot of pickers around we decided to head straight to the southern gutters.

There were plenty of fish there but sharks were ridiculous. We couldn't get anything past them, except Luke managed to pull an ander size Red Emperor out of the mouth of a shark and the poor thing had it whole head crushed.

After many bust offs we headed back to the closer reefs for the afternoon. Turned out  be a good decision because we were not being hammered by the sharks and the afternoon bite was good. Luke pulled I think 6 under size Red's up to 48cm, doh.

Luke also picked up his first Nannygai 2 x PB and new species for us both.

Then I upgraded with a 50cm tuskie another PB 

We added about 4 more Nannygai's to the esky and a few Mosses perch. This is the sort of reef fish I love to eat.

I left a micro jig out bouncing and a nice size Mac tuna pulled hard on the jigging rod. This provided most of our bait.

We were pretty tired after the full day and as the sun dipped below the horizon we threw the anchor our and reheated some Spaghetti Bolognese that Luke had pre made. It was amazing and washed it down with some beer and bourbon.

I thought I'd try some Soft plastics after dark and to my surprise they worked well at 35m meters down in the pitch darkness. I scored a nice Mosses perch and then another Nannygai while Luke kept banging fish on bait and still bringing in small reds.

The wind come up and we broke anchor so headed back to Fraser for a calmer nights sleep.

Yesterday morning we headed back to the same the reef but the fish were not co-operating and the drift speed was double that of the day before with the wind getting up.

Considering what we had in the esky we were satisfied and made the call to head back to see what else we could find on the way home.

The wind was a SSW so we punched into the chop all the way home. After travelling for 25 kw back from Rooney's at speed we saw some fish and ground under on the sounder and quickly pulled up to see what it was.

Luckily for us it was bait fish and some Golden trevally. 2 weeks ago I made a new color up at Gobblers while in the lure training a clear but when viewed side on it has a green tone skin look.

I cast the new plastic out (yet to be named) and hopped it of the bottom very subtly and felt the weight. This was a good fish and after a spirited fight we landed my PB Golden at 92cm.

We had another 4 hits that we didn't convert and a braid failure after a hook up, which impressed me no end.

All in all we had a ball as usual and learnt more new things.

To come home with such good quality fish was a bonus.

 

[ellicat]

Good fish good food good times

[Luke Landrunner]

Awesome as always mate.

Cannot wait for the trip that I catch that many Reds...... but all legal !!

Thanks again.

[Drop Bear]

wwwaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.................

[Luvit]

When the golden hit the deck I said to Luke Robbie will be kicking himself.

[kmcrosby78]

Great report and trip there fellas, nailed it!  No long tails around? Wrong time of the year? Or just weren't targeting them?

[Drop Bear]

Sounds too good mate. Very sad I missed it. I am trying to piece a trip together next week. Not sure if I can make it work or not.

Amazing trip. I would love to get some tips on where the southern gutters are. 

[Drop Bear]

Just now, kmcrosby78 said:

Great report and trip there fellas, nailed it!  No long tails around? Wrong time of the year? Or just weren't targeting them?

I went out with Steve this morning. Not a grinner in sight.

I fluked a school mac and Steve caught 100 undersized snapper. 

[Luvit]

Here's a few more photos.

A bit of a tradition now if we ever go through Tiaro we stop for coffee. It's just a very nice blend.

 

[Drop Bear]

Nice. Golden are awesome baked whole. One of my faves. The fillets look delicious too. Well done for keeping them cold they look mint!

[Luvit]

I feel  like I'm the only person that uses this new web site thingy majig called google. numbers 9 & 10 Drop bear. So many sharks though.

It's a long way, we did 270 km for the trip.

1. Wathumba Wreck    24 59.716s 153 11.266e
Holds assorted reef fish and bait. Trevally frequent this area and can be a pest, scarlets at night.
 

2. Washing machines    24 55.713s 153 12.741e
Not real deep here around 12m but can fish well dawn and dusk for school size scarlets and sweetlip.
 

3. Washing machines north    24 54.509s 153 12.671e
The start of the coffee rock area, assorted plate size reef fish, best at night. Good in a northerly.
 

4. Red Ned    24 51.115s 153 04.530e
Situated about 3nm SW of Rooney Point it’s the home of an old sunken house boat, very little remains today, but holds bait and assorted reef species and pelagic’s. fishes well for snapper in the winter months.
 

5. Rooney Point    24 49.190s 153 08.212e
Small black marlin inhabit the area from here back to station hill, so trolling some skirts on and off the shallows from October to December can be a lot of fun here. Site casting for them happens regularly in the shallows.
 

6. Rooney 4 mile    24 46.188s 153 04.263e
Assorted reef fish, coral trout and plenty of mackerel and tuna in season. current can run here at times.
 

7. Rooney 8 mile    24 46.242s 152 58.277e
Some better fish here at times, drifting is best as it’s a reasonable area north south, Reds and assorted reefies at times. If there is no bait don’t waste time keep moving on.
 

8. 18 mile Area    24 44.326s 152 48.644e
You are about ½ way between Rooney point and Bundaberg here, some good drop offs around here. Trout, snapper and assorted reef fish here, reef jacks at night for those who have the patience.
 

9. Gutters 1.    24 40.277s 152 47.900e
The gutters run SW to NE through this area, good reef fish and trout particularly on live bait.
 

10. Gutters 2.    24 32.859s 152 46.342e
Another spot worth searching around for the ups and downs, fish the edges of the gutters for trout and on top at night for assorted reef dwellers.
 

11. Wreck    24 33.574s 152 49.519e
This area can hold some big fish, a couple of wrecks can be found around here, big cobia will test your tackle here as well as scarlets and occasional snapper.
 

12. Sandy cape shoals    24 36.274s 153 20.738e
Gets shallow here under 10m , great spot for pelagic’s and assorted reef fish, big green job fish hang out here in the 25m to 30m areas that hold bait.
 

13. Break sea rough patch    24 33.348s 153 21.199e
This area has a lot of small rises 2m 4m high, fish anything that has bait. Maori cod, Red Emperor, parrot, you name it, it will be caught around here.
 

14. Break sea north    24 26.152s 153 17.232e
Situated about 17 miles north of sandy cape this area holds great fish but unfortunately hundreds of sharks, try to find isolated patches of reef for the best chance of beating the tax man.
 

15. Light ship    24 16.753s 153 05.624e
This area is where you are likely to encounter everything from big Blue Maori cod to red emperor, look for isolated patches of bait on the bottom and drift through it and hang on.; current can rage here at times, but the fishing is usually great, particularly at night.
 

16. Break sea NW patch    24 17.729s 153 01.324e
Another area worth searching for big Reds, scarlet sea perch and other bigger species, set you sounder to search the bottom 20m as all fish here inhabit the bottom. Reef Jacks are a reword if you find the right rock, but only seem to bight at night.
 

17. Herald patches    24 12.814s 152 41.257e
This area is better accessed from Bundaberg or Burnet heads, the ground here is home to trout, parrot and red throat emperor, but the big Reds can be found to the SE of here in the 45 m to 65m depths.

[Old Scaley]

1 hour ago, Luvit said:

Here's a few more photos.

A bit of a tradition now if we ever go through Tiaro we stop for coffee. It's just a very nice blend.

 

We always stop in at that coffee shop too @Luvit on the way to or from visiting the outlaws in Hervey Bay. Works out to be expensive coffee because Mrs Scaley always finds some retro piece of junk to buy while she is waiting for the coffees. The butcher across the road is worth a look as well, but judging by that bucket of fillets I guess you weren’t looking for extra protein. 

Great report as usual. Congrats on the PBs.

[Luvit]

Luke grabbed some beans for his coffee grinder.

The catch was quite unexpected.

We thought grassies, tuskies ect but to get the nanny's was awesome. I had said if we got a golden I wanted to keep it. They're an underrated eating fish I think. 

[aussie123]

Some nice fish there boys, well done.

 

[jon]

Nice trip well done, I agree golden trevs are great chewing. They go really well in thick cubes and thrown in to a hot green curry

[Drop Bear]

9 hours ago, jon said:

Nice trip well done, I agree golden trevs are great chewing. They go really well in thick cubes and thrown in to a hot green curry

now you are making me hungry!