queensland Fishermen's Gutter Report (20 June)

[Hweebe]

The weather forecast

Seeing as though last weekend the weatherman predicted 50% chance of showers but it stayed sunny most of the day, we decided to go fishing despite the forecast 1-3mm of rain.

At the Manly boat ramp at 1st light - not many braved the weather with the pick of any parking spot available. It had been drizzling all morning but just as we launched the sun was peeking out and the drizzle  temporarily stopped.

Seeing some reports on FB of people bagging out at Fishermen's last week we headed to some usual whiting spots in 3-4m of water. Tide was running in so this was ideal for this spot.

Never seen so few boats at Harrie's on a Saturday - counted 4 boats. Run out was choppy but no whitecaps, we expected some with wind against tide.

Zero for Fishermen's

We had Fishermen's gutter all to ourselves but drifts over the usual spots for whiting didn't produce. Tried several drift lines for the next couple of hours with no success.

The target was whiting but with nothing happening we headed to Rous channel, where we spotted some nice fish arches on the sounder, not huge arches but something definitely there.

Rous Channel

The drift was SW to NE which kept us on a nice ledge / drop off depth in the channel. Caught a few small pinkies on the drift but nothing sizeable.

We came across some nice bait shows so anchored up for brunch and started a burley trail.

Using old pillies as burley we started drifting out some fresh pillies and managed one Bonito. My partner continued with bait and I switched over to 30g slugs.

Over the next couple of hours we managed 4 baby school macs (~40cm), one 51cm school mac and a second bonito.

Guitar fish.

In between fish my partner landed her PB guitar fish. It was too big to get in the boat and still had plenty of energy but it would have been 1.3m to 1.4m in length on a 6kg outfit. She was pretty stoked to get it up to the boat as each time we got close to the boat it would make a run before we could ID it. (Needless to say her arm hurts today)

Nice fight and runs at the start got us excited before the familiar dead weight right under the boat got us thinking it was some kind of shark. It was not happy get lifted up to the surface.

Until next time tight lines - next week we are thinking of hitting Jacob's well with the predicted wind forecast.

Hweebe

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

G'day Hweebe

That looks like a great session - good job on the mackies, and good on your partner for getting that new PB. It looks massive!  

Do you use the bonnies as bait, or like others on here, do you like eating them? If I ever catch one I might need to give it a try. 

Cheers Hamish

[Drop Bear]

Great report mate thanks for the read. 

I'm glad there are still some Schoolies around. Sorry you missed out on the Whiting. 

Cracking shovel nosed ray especially on light gear. Well done. 

[ellicat]

Well done on the feed. Those little bonito are quite feisty for their size.

Mystery fish are always fun, hey. Did you cut him off or were you able to get your hook back ?

[Hweebe]

4 hours ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

G'day Hweebe

That looks like a great session - good job on the mackies, and good on your partner for getting that new PB. It looks massive!  

Do you use the bonnies as bait, or like others on here, do you like eating them? If I ever catch one I might need to give it a try. 

Cheers Hamish

My partner especially likes mackerel as she likes to clay pot them, the fish oils help enhance the flavours of the food.

We cooked up  both the mac and one bonito last night. So good fresh. Both flesh turned out tasty with the bonito probably slightly drier in texture compared to the mackerel. So mackerel wins that one.

I fillet up the second bonito for flesh baits and kept all the fish heads for crab bait (no wastage from me)

 

[Hweebe]

48 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Well done on the feed. Those little bonito are quite feisty for their size.

Mystery fish are always fun, hey. Did you cut him off or were you able to get your hook back ?

The shovel nose wasn't playing the game. We couldn't get it to stay next to the boat long enough to de-hook so had to cut as close to the hooks as possible. 

Funny incident when I cut the line the rod was loaded up so it flicked back into my partner face but she was saved by her cap brim (bearing the brunt). Close called  that we could laugh about but will have to be more careful next time. 

Just learning things and  tid bits to watch out for every time we hit the water.

[Hweebe]

2 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Great report mate thanks for the read. 

I'm glad there are still some Schoolies around. Sorry you missed out on the Whiting. 

Cracking shovel nosed ray especially on light gear. Well done. 

Could be a case of don't believe everything you see on Facebook. One of my mates swears that nothing on FB should be believed. He reckons fishos are the worse with fake news.   

[Old Scaley]

37 minutes ago, Hweebe said:

My partner especially likes mackerel as she likes to clay pot them, the fish oils help enhance the flavours of the food.

We cooked up  both the mac and one bonito last night. So good fresh. Both flesh turned out tasty with the bonito probably slightly drier in texture compared to the mackerel. So mackerel wins that one.

I fillet up the second bonito for flesh baits and kept all the fish heads for crab bait (no wastage from me)

 

Would be very keen for the clay pot recipe if that is possible. 

[ellicat]

3 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Funny incident when I cut the line the rod was loaded up so it flicked back into my partner face but she was saved by her cap brim (bearing the brunt). Close called  that we could laugh about but will have to be more careful next time. 

Just learning things and  tid bits to watch out for every time we hit the water.

Yeah, That could have been nasty. Thank goodness for the cap facing the right way.

[kmcrosby78]

Shame the whiting weren't around but good to see plan B produced a feed, well done! I need to do more whiting sessions to build up a bit of a knowledge bank of where to find them when - so much to learn .....  

[ellicat]

What bait do you use for whiting over there ? Squid strips ?

[Hweebe]

4 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Would be very keen for the clay pot recipe if that is possible. 

I’m on it. Will do a right up and  post something once she has it measured out. Like most of her recipes it’s all in the memory bank (pinch of this sprinkle of that etc) never really think to convert this into a written down recipe

[Hweebe]

59 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Shame the whiting weren't around but good to see plan B produced a feed, well done! I need to do more whiting sessions to build up a bit of a knowledge bank of where to find them when - so much to learn .....  

Ideal scenario where I’ve had most success with the winteries.
 

Incoming tide, with top of tide 2-3hrs after first light. Some wind 10-12knot to break up the water surface (more aggressive bite) with the drift speed over ground between 0.8 to 1 km/h. 
Water depth will vary depending on wind and light conditions with the whiting going shallower if they have cover and deeper if it is sunny and glassed.

I have faired better On sunny  days whereas if it’s rainy or lower pressure system around not as well.

Other then that never anchor up. Drift around until u find a good patch and keep working the drift over that area.

The trick is finding that first patch and you are set for the day.

The drift at the right speed keeps the bait moving and when it’s not too slow or first they find the drifting bait irresistible.

 

[Hweebe]

1 hour ago, ellicat said:

What bait do you use for whiting over there ? Squid strips ?

Haha I cover all bases as they can be finicky. I’ll typically run a three dropper rig top hook Berkeley gulp red sand worm (they do work when the bite is on). Middle rig will be fresh as u can get prawns and bottom hook squid strips. 
I don’t use long shanks but Slightly shorter bait holder hooks. I find the long shanks leave too much exposed hook to spook and the bait holder holds the small cut up prawn better. 
On any given day u will catch them on prawn or squid but one will outperform the other at which point we will load up more of that bait.

When they are on, squid strips stay on better and can be recast quicker when drifting over a patch.

I use the Berkeley gulp as a bit of a fish attracter but also allows me to get the line  back in the water quickly without having to rebait every time.

If u are absolutely set on targeting only whiting for a feed I would buy 100gm of live worms. Nothing will beat them for bait. Cut up right 100gm of live worms will just get u the bag limit if there aren’t too many bycatches (toadies, grasslip, trumpeters). It’s just the price of worms ~$30-$40 that puts me off. But if taking impatient kids this is the bait to go with along with squid and prawns.
 

Between me and the missus we run 3 rods. When we are on a patch I’m basically the deckie unhooking fish and rebaiting while she brings them in, hands me the rod and moves on to the next rod going beserk. While the whiting are small it’s Hectic days like this that we try to replicate cause it can get mad addictive.