queensland Travelling To Fishing Grounds Off Cape Moreton

[STKE]

Hi All

 

Since Saturdays looking like it's going to be a cracker, I'm looking at streching my comfort zone a little and heading off to fish the reeds of cape moreton.

 

I've done a few trips over to moreton (tangalooma) and i've done the **** 2.5 hour trip back in garbage weather. But I'm wondering based on what the Winds doing Saturday 5~10 knots westelys swinging to northlys, if I trip like that would be worth it? 

 

Should add i've got a 04' 5.2 formosa

 

 

[aussie123]

If they have the forecast right you should have a lovely day out there.

The early Westerly will not bother you except maybe make the sea a bit jigly but that usually burns off as the morning warms up.

The swing to the Northerly will be behind you for the trip home so won't be too bad, especially in your 5.2m boat.

[STKE]

Swell is looking to be a bit over a meter. Would that be much of a drama?

[ellicat]

That's a small swell. What is the forecast period (time between swells) ?

[STKE]

Just now, ellicat said:

That's a small swell. What is the forecast period (time between swells) ?

9 seconds 

[ellicat]

That's fine. Sounds like pretty calm and comfy conditions.

[STKE]

Cheers, will map it out. Might be pushing my fuel limit. 

[ellicat]

1/3 out, 1/3 in, 1/3 spare is the old rule.

[STKE]

Just now, ellicat said:

1/3 out, 1/3 in, 1/3 spare is the old rule.

Just sucks living in redcliffe that the distance to travel to those grounds is so far. Loose over half a tank, just there and back. 

[ellicat]

What's your fuel capacity ? Is it worth buying a Gerry Can to help ?

[STKE]

70l,  but on bigger trips like that i'd take a 20l spare, mabye a second. 

Worst case, See half left on the guage and turn around with a jerry spare (good ol' Jerry) 

[ellicat]

Best to be safe and conservative on your first trip imo.

[STKE]

I thinking might just stick to the inside of morton. It's probably just out of reach with my fuel capacity. 

[aussie123]

Go offshore and enjoy yourself.

Take some spare fuel with you and just see how much you use for the day so that you know for future trips.

I think you would be flat out using the 70 liters for a days fishing because once out there, you will use bugger all fuel while fishing unless you go trolling.

Sooner or later you have to try it so get out there while the weather forecast is really good and have some fun.

[ellicat]

Agree with Lance. Take the extra fuel for your own comfort.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi STKE 

I am a novice in boating, and I'm sure ellicat and aussie123 were more helpful, but I agree. If you can, load up some fuel and see how adventurous you'll be. If doing anything other than trolling, you'll only need fuel to get out there.  

Cheers Hamish

[ggg]

You will be fine. I remember going to Fitzroy Island in a 5.1m Quintrex TopEnder. It was 20knots and we got there alive. Formosa's are made tough and are great boats. You should be safe as long as you plan a good route and have more fuel than you need. Extra fuel will add more weight and, theoretically, it should give you a softer ride.

[GregOug]

Can I just play the devil’s advocate and urge caution. I used to go over to Bulwer wrecks on the inside of Moreton just about every weekend for a few years when I used to live on Bribie. Well over 100 trips. But on the one hundred and first trip (or whatever) the predicted 5 to 10 knot winds turned into 50 knot winds overnight (I kid you not). We ended having to beach the boat and it was 30 foot up the beach the next morning and during the night we were worried the large gum trees behind the sand dunes were going to fall on us. Just be prepared for anything when boating, especially out from the coast.

cheers

Greg O

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey GregOug

That would've been an absolute shocker, for your safety and in general that the weatherman could've been that far off! Lucky you're okay after that experience. I'm glad they weren't that far off when I was on the bay the other day  

Cheers Hamish

[GregOug]

1 minute ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hey GregOug

That would've been an absolute shocker, for your safety and in general that the weatherman could've been that far off! Lucky you're okay after that experience. I'm glad they weren't that far off when I was on the bay the other day  

Cheers Hamish

It doesn’t happen often Hamish but it does happen. Just saying keep an eye on the weather and if it looks like turning bad get out of there. Don’t muck around

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Just now, GregOug said:

It doesn’t happen often Hamish but it does happen. Just saying keep an eye on the weather and if it looks like turning bad get out of there. Don’t muck around

Hi GregOug

Yep, I 100% agree with you. That's probably the best safety advice you could give for boating, because if you have a watercraft incapable of handling the conditions you're kind of stuffed!  

Cheers Hamish 

[GregOug]

3 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hi GregOug

Yep, I 100% agree with you. That's probably the best safety advice you could give for boating, because if you have a watercraft incapable of handling the conditions you're kind of stuffed!  

Cheers Hamish 

True Hamish although if you get winds like that it doesn’t matter what sized boat you are in. You are in trouble! Especially when you are only a few hundred meters from somewhere like Comboyuro Point, which turns into a very dangerous bar in those conditions. And if you are outside Moreton you have to come back through it.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

32 minutes ago, GregOug said:

True Hamish although if you get winds like that it doesn’t matter what sized boat you are in. You are in trouble! Especially when you are only a few hundred meters from somewhere like Comboyuro Point, which turns into a very dangerous bar in those conditions. And if you are outside Moreton you have to come back through it.

Hey GregOug

Righto, I suppose you are. I'm never going out in the bay (especially on the yak) past 25 knots, preferably no more wind than 10 Kn!

Comboyuro bar sounds very dangerous - well, bars in general sound dangerous to me. If I  ever get a boat, I am never going out without an experience skipper at least until I learn how to cross the bars. 

Cheers Hamish  

[Ed.]

The same thing happened to me about 3-4 years ago in the same area, the missus and I went and stayed out overnight at Bulwar on our 26ft boat and intended to head back to Bribie Island next morning  about 10:00AM after breckie as the forecast was for a southerly change  about 2:00PM. Well I woke up at about 5:30am due to the boat rocking, so stuck my head out of the cabin and looked around, yelled out to my wife to get organized and to put on a life jacket as we were leaving in 10 minutes. There were massive storm clouds approaching fast from the south and the wind was picking up. By the time I pulled the anchor, the wind had reached about 20 knots,  and so I hammered it back as best we could, after another 10 minutes driving we we drenched to the bone, the wind by then was at a stupid speed and we being pounded left right and center as the seas whipped up and the waves were side on for a lot of the time.

We outran the worst of the storm and we made it back, cold and wet but if I had have been in a smaller boat I would have done the same thing and beached it. We got back home to Spinnerker Marina a lit bit worse for wear, but we would have been stuck at Bulwar for about 3-4 days otherwise.  It was also the first time I had told my wife to put the life jackets on on that boat, now that I have a smaller boat we wear the inflatables  ones all the time.  Just goes to show that the weather forecasts are just that and you still need to be aware that the weather is unpredictable.

Similar story about 15 years ago, had a smaller Scarab, a 23ft, took the 3 kids and missus out from Jacobs Well marina,  down through the Broadwater and out the Southport Seaway for some fishing, We went a few miles out and constantly watched the  the horizon to the south as there was a southerly change due in the afternoon,  there were huge storm clouds in the distance but they were just stationary.

Finished fishing and went back in so the kids could have a swim in the Broadwater before heading back to the marina.  It was a clear sky, flat seas and the clouds on the southerly horizon had not moved all morning till about 20 minutes after the girls went swimming. The clouds then started to move fast, way too fast for my liking so it was all aboard and I hammered it, I did 40 knots all the way back and the front was still gaining on us. Managed to get to the marina and moored up  just as it was getting nasty, by the time I finished mooring to the pier it was a white out due to the torrential rain and winds, visibility was down to about 25 meters and wind easily 50 knots. Funny thing is that just before we got to the marina we passed a 12ft tinny with a couple of guys heading out,  they were oblivious to the impending front and they would have got a nasty surprise. I mean by that stage it was pretty obvious even to a blind man that a major storm was about to hit. Some people have no self preservation in mind!

[GregOug]

Hi Ed,

Yes, I have a few other scary tales as well but suffice to say, if you go out often enough one day you will get caught. As long as we survive and learn from the experience all is good.

cheers

Greg O

[Ed.]

3 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

 If I  ever get a boat, I am never going out without an experience skipper at least until I learn how to cross the bars. 

Cheers Hamish  

That is a very good idea, but it isn't just the bars you also need to learn about, the seas as well as the weather, anyone can get a boat license and most of the time boating is pretty safe provided you know the basic rules, however when the smelly stuff hits the proverbial fan, you need experience and that is invaluable if caught out in a storm, and do not rely purely on weather forecasts as they are frequently wrong.  So having an experienced person teach you what to do and when is the best way to minimize your risk.

I was fortunate in having been a deckhand on a cray boat in W.A for several years so picked up a lot of skills from my skipper and some of the seas we worked in were truly horrible but you put your trust in the skipper who has a lot of experience, if he said we work, then we went out, if he said we are staying home then you know you really don't want to be out there. At the end of the day experience is worth its weight in gold and it is not worth risking your life for a couple of fish. Having said that the more you go out  in a boat the more experience and knowledge you accumulate, as GregOug said above, if you go out often enough it is not if you get caught out, but when!

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey Ed.

Righto, thanks for the good tip. Hopefully I will eventually be able to tell when not to and when to go out, not just rely on the weather forecast. 

It seems like a good experience you had on the cray boat to get to learn, it would be very helpful. 

Cheers Hamish  

[benno573]

Hey @STKE,

 

i used to fish the area out from the cape regularly in my 5.3m half cabby. The forecast from last Saturday would have given me no cause for concern at all, however, Sunday would have been a different issue. Looking at the chart from Saturday, there was no real discernible change throughout the day meaning the weather would remain stable. Sunday showed stable conditions early but a SE change hitting in the late arvo/evening.

i would certainly have given it a crack on Saturday, however, would have been unlikely to roll the dice past lunch time on Sunday. Often a change can push through earlier, you usually get warning signs about an hour ahead with cloud formations and the like that usually preceed a change. Best in summer to be planning to head in earlier as the NE sea breeze can kick up real quick anything after about 11am on a hot day and makes for a wet and uncomfortable ride home. In winter I would usually launch at 9am or so once the ssw has calmed down and would often come back about 7-8pm, meaning you get the best of the weather and the peak dusk bite time.

If there were storms forecast (even a slight chance) again that would indicate a not overly stable weather pattern and I would not be venturing far from home in case you had to leg it out of there. I got caught in quite a few when doing yacht races - recorded a gust at 74kn in one and the boat was laying flat to the water with no sails up - certainly less than ideal - I even almost spilt my drink. 

I got caught out in a mates boat off Fraser one day - a predicted 15-20kn SE change that was supposed to hit after lunch hit about 4:30am. We were only 110km from the ramp... thankfully the boat and skipper knew what to do and we cruised home at about 18kn with the wipers on flat out.

Tip is don't just look at today, look a little bit ahead too and if the pattern is stable and the chart isn’t changing a lot you can feel reasonably confident about the forecast.

as far as fuel goes, I used to launch at port of bris and would have 80L under floor and at least two 20L gerrys on board as well. 5.3m glass boat, 90hp 2-stroke on the back. Only had to use second jerry once but always took it regardless. Cheap insurance if you ask me!

 

[STKE]

@benno573

Managed to go out on Saturday without a drama. I used about a tank which is 70l for 120k's of travel. I did suggest to the wife about sleeping the night @ bulwar, but didn't. However comming across the bay at 3 in the morning. There we so many boats anchored up for the night it looked like christmas lights on the water. 

 

Conditions were great, was a bit lumpy out on the reefs. 

[benno573]

7 hours ago, STKE said:

@benno573

Managed to go out on Saturday without a drama. I used about a tank which is 70l for 120k's of travel. I did suggest to the wife about sleeping the night @ bulwar, but didn't. However comming across the bay at 3 in the morning. There we so many boats anchored up for the night it looked like christmas lights on the water. 

 

Conditions were great, was a bit lumpy out on the reefs. 

So the obvious question at this point... did you catch anything??

 

glad you made it out and back safely.

[STKE]

2 hours ago, benno573 said:

So the obvious question at this point... did you catch anything??

 

glad you made it out and back safely.

Just the one school mac. Plenty of current, hard to stay on the bottom in 20m of water. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

30 minutes ago, STKE said:

Just the one school mac. Plenty of current, hard to stay on the bottom in 20m of water. 

Evening STKE

Sounds like a good bit of fun, pity the current was making it hard on you though. 

Cheers Hamish  

[benno573]

2 hours ago, STKE said:

Just the one school mac. Plenty of current, hard to stay on the bottom in 20m of water. 

Better than a donut I guess! Tip - plenty of fish to be found out there in a lot less than 20m of water.