queensland Fishing A Day In The Bay

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey everyone

It was organised that @ellicat, @GregOug, @Old Scaley, and @Cavvy would be coming out for a fish. I was on ellicat's boat with Cavvy, and Old Scaley and  GregOug's son, were on GregOug's rig. We met at the North Manly ramp at 7:00AM, and after a quick chat and introducing/saying hello to one another we launched. After a relatively quick boat trip, we were out of the harbour and at the first spot. We got a bit of bait ready, which consisted of good quality squid, and some prawns, and dropped the lines down. 

The first bit of action came from a (I better not say), but it was ellicat's and we kept it for bait. After that, I got the next hit. Some nibbles followed by a big run on my 10lb setup made me slightly nervous that I would get busted off. The fish just kept running around, but eventually I made progress and got it to the surface. It was my first ever catshark - woohoo!  It was a ripper fight, and after de-hooking it and untangling it from the line it was released. Here it is - 

We would've spent about 20-30 more minutes at this spot before it went a bit quiet. As we were reeling our lines in to move, I realised something had eaten my bait and must've been sitting on the bottom. It had two lunges and then went screaming off... Not for long - it also busted me off. "Bugger", I said. It was mildly disappointing but we think it might've been a ray as it stayed on the bottom. Then again, we'll never know now. 

We then fished at an artificial reef area, which yielded no success. It was a bit of a bummer, but we continued onwards. The same baits were used here, but we got some good pillies out ready for our next spot. 

As we were leaving for the next spot, we managed to lose GregOug and Old Scaley, so we did some drifts... The first part was quiet, but then we started to get pickered. They were pretty small, as we didn't manage to hook them. This continued for a while, and we were basically donating baits. The other party had still not found us, and while we were just drifting we saw a leather jacket or something swimming in the top water column, right up close to the boat. 

My dad actually fluked a strike which got one of the pickers in the guts. He skull dragged it up, and up came a grubfish (red rock whiting, or I think that is the correct name). Since they are good eating, we kept this one. It is soon to be cleaned and eaten. Not many things better than fresh fish. Yummo! 

We left soon after this, as GregOug and Old Scaley had gotten back to us. They said they'd gone for a zoom around the bay, and in GregOug's rig, it was roughly at 70Km/h. The bay was nice and glassy by now, and we were travelling around comfy and smooth. We got to the next spot for some more fishing. We were soon to have lunch on Peel, so this was close to a nice area where we could get up to the beach. It didn't take long for some nibbles though. I wasn't getting touched with my grinner fillet, but ellicat and Cavvy were getting nibbles. My Dad managed to strike and actually pulled in one. While they are tiny squire and they don't really count as a catch, it was our first so we got a quick piccy - 

We then went to Peel to eat lunch (salad rolls, yum!), had a bit of a chat about the day so far, and enjoyed the nice beach . The tide was rising so it looked like Greg's son had to swim out to the boat in the chilly water . We got back to the boat, but not before saying goodbye to Greg, Steve, and co. We headed to the next spot, but we quickly found out the tide was way to fast for our small sinkers, so Brian and my Dad switched to heavier sinkers but I kept the lighter one on. The decision was made to change spots, and we were going to the general spot Ted (crazywalrus) and Brian got their mackies. Unfortunately, time got the better of us and we had to head back to the ramp. 

Probably should've gotten a group photo!!!

It was a great day overall, and good to meet @GregOug and @Old Scaley. Brian, it was great to catch up again. Thanks for the ripper day out guys, I hope to do it again soon! I hope to hear some other perspectives on the trip too. Here are the stats of our trip - 

Statistics of Trip -

Tide - Manly - 5:40AM, 2.1M, high, 12:40PM, .4M, low - we fished the rise and the run out

Moon Phase: First quarter moon

Fish caught: Grinner x 1, Catshark x 1, Grubfish x 1, Squire x 2

Bait used: Squid, pillies, prawns, grinner

Weather: A glassy bay - beautiful! 

Tackles Used: I believe Brian (ellicat) had 15lb and 20lb rigs, whereas I had 10lb and 30lb rigs (20lb and 15lb leaders for both of us). I was using 4/o circle hooks, a size 3 ball sinker, on a Rogue Firepoint 2M rod, and an Ugly Stik 6"6' rod. We had about 40cm-60cm of trace. I had size 1000 Shimano Sienna and a size 650 Penn reel. Brian had two Nordic Stage rods, but i do not remember what reel. 

Air Pressure: 1024

Overall Success Rate: 80% - a fabulous day out on the water!!!!

Cheers Hamish  

[ellicat]

It was a beaut day to be on the water today. The marks I discovered turned out to not be a secret as each time we approached a spot there were already plenty of boats there....and I mean plenty. The West Peel artificial was a real carpark and I'm sure the amount of traffic shut down the fishing.

When we headed to South Peel there was only one boat down there and, you guessed it, right on spot x again. So we motored wide to another mark where we managed the few undersize target species.

We did notice @Old Scaley on fire getting heaps of squire and I believe some on plastics just for some variety.

Nice to meet you @GregOug and the boys. That rig is an awesome piece of gear.

@AUS-BNE-FISHO and @Cavvy, nice to spend the day together and you are certainly welcome back...with some better catching results hopefully.

No donuts on board today, but I did finish in the negative due to the grinner.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey ellicat

Yep, shame most marks were a carpark though... hopefully tomorrow when you go out (if you're still going) they aren't as crowded for you and you catch some  

Thanks for that also, I know we can't wait to the next trip . 

Also, just cleaned up the grubfish. It wasn't much but here it is for anyone interested - 

I've got the head frozen for bait, I can't help to think it would make a good bait for snapper or another reefy. 

Cheers Hamish  

P.S. Already had dinner tonight so it will be lunch/dinner tomorrow...

[GregOug]

Thanks Ellicat, Old Scaley, Cavvy and Hamish for a great day out. Must do it again. Old Scaley,  for the record I used 53 litres of fuel, which considering we were racing all over the bay looking for Ellicatch, was pretty good going in my books. And we must bring Hamish more often guys cause he does the trip report for us!

[Old Scaley]

Great to meet some new faces @GregOug, @Cavvy and @AUS-BNE-FISHO. We sure did cover some ground today, visiting @ellicat‘s catshark hotspots, and Greg and I searching for ellicatch after following the wrong boat  at one point. Lots of pickers out there today, but the conditions were too nice to be disappointed about the lack of keepers. Great day everyone. Thanks for inviting me along, Greg.

[kmcrosby78]

Sounds like a fun day out fellas - sure beats painting a house ......   Hopefully tomorrow our reptilian housemate doesn't decide to check on our progress ......... 

[Ed.]

Nice Carpet snake, just warming itself up on the warm tin roof! With the weather we are having I don't blame it.

[Hweebe]

2 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Great to meet some new faces @GregOug, @Cavvy and @AUS-BNE-FISHO. We sure did cover some ground today, visiting @ellicat‘s catshark hotspots, and Greg and I searching for ellicatch after following the wrong boat  at one point. Lots of pickers out there today, but the conditions were too nice to be disappointed about the lack of keepers. Great day everyone. Thanks for inviting me along, Greg.

No radios on board? I always carry some spare handhelds in the car (useful when convoying/4wd). If I'm running with some other boats and they don't have VHF radio the handhelds are a godsend when meeting up. Especially if one group is hooking up at Spot X

[Hweebe]

4 hours ago, ellicat said:

It was a beaut day to be on the water today. The marks I discovered turned out to not be a secret as each time we approached a spot there were already plenty of boats there....and I mean plenty. The West Peel artificial was a real carpark and I'm sure the amount of traffic shut down the fishing.

 

Mint day out in the bay but still surprised with a midweek carpark. Wait until you see a reel car park in the bay during weekends.

[Hweebe]

4 hours ago, ellicat said:

It was a beaut day to be on the water today. The marks I discovered turned out to not be a secret as each time we approached a spot there were already plenty of boats there....and I mean plenty. The West Peel artificial was a real carpark and I'm sure the amount of traffic shut down the fishing.

When we headed to South Peel there was only one boat down there and, you guessed it, right on spot x again. So we motored wide to another mark where we managed the few undersize target species.

We did notice @Old Scaley on fire getting heaps of squire and I believe some on plastics just for some variety.

Nice to meet you @GregOug and the boys. That rig is an awesome piece of gear.

@AUS-BNE-FISHO and @Cavvy, nice to spend the day together and you are certainly welcome back...with some better catching results hopefully.

No donuts on board today, but I did finish in the negative due to the grinner.

I've found that on days when conditions in the bay are mint fishing to be generally tougher. My theory is on mint days the clear waters and the corresponding boat traffic make the fish spook more easily.

Are you typically fishing at anchor or on the drift in the areas you fished today?

How did the Fishfinder go today?

 

[ellicat]

We did a couple of drifts but mainly anchored due to the boat traffic.

Going for another session today but starting a tad earlier. We'll see if we can beat some of that traffic.

The Lowrance and me went well together and the detail helped us land on the right spots (even though they weren't firing).

We had radios, but Greg's wasn't working unfortunately. Phones had to be the choice of communication.

[ellicat]

4 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Mint day out in the bay but still surprised with a midweek carpark. Wait until you see a reel car park in the bay during weekends.

I think the school holidays didn't help with the traffic.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

12 hours ago, GregOug said:

Thanks Ellicat, Old Scaley, Cavvy and Hamish for a great day out. Must do it again. Old Scaley,  for the record I used 53 litres of fuel, which considering we were racing all over the bay looking for Ellicatch, was pretty good going in my books. And we must bring Hamish more often guys cause he does the trip report for us!

Hey GregOug

Yes, we must. It was great fun. It's also good you didn't use to much fuel considering you were driving around quite a lot!  

I'm happy to do the report every time.

12 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Great to meet some new faces @GregOug, @Cavvy and @AUS-BNE-FISHO. We sure did cover some ground today, visiting @ellicat‘s catshark hotspots, and Greg and I searching for ellicatch after following the wrong boat  at one point. Lots of pickers out there today, but the conditions were too nice to be disappointed about the lack of keepers. Great day everyone. Thanks for inviting me along, Greg.

Hi Old Scaley

Yep, it was. The catshark was great fun. They sure go hard on light gear. 

The glassy bay certainly made up for the lack of fish  

11 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Sounds like a fun day out fellas - sure beats painting a house ......   Hopefully tomorrow our reptilian housemate doesn't decide to check on our progress ......... 

Hey kmcrosby78

Yep, fun day it was. That snake looks very big, hopefully he doesn't cause any problems! 

9 hours ago, Hweebe said:

I've found that on days when conditions in the bay are mint fishing to be generally tougher. My theory is on mint days the clear waters and the corresponding boat traffic make the fish spook more easily.

Hey Hweebe

Yeah, I think that is a good theory. Like ellicat said above, school holidays were probably a good bet to why there were a few more boats than there usually would be on a weekday.

Cheers Hamish  

[Drop Bear]

Great day out. What a legendary crew. Well done. 

Thanks for a great report too. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

15 hours ago, ellicat said:

Going for another session today but starting a tad earlier.

Hey ellicat

Ya do OK today? Hopefully you got a few snapper/mackerel (whatever one you were targeting). I went out this arvo... Only got the river equivalent of a grinner - dirty catfish

59 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

Great day out. What a legendary crew. Well done. 

Thanks for a great report too. 

Hi Drop Bear

Thanks for that, yep, legendary crew it was  

Cheers Hamish  

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Also, just cooked and ate the grubfish. Yummy - 

[Drop Bear]

looks a bit like whiting flesh. Glad you got a feed mate. 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

37 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

looks a bit like whiting flesh. Glad you got a feed mate. 

Yep, the last time I cooked some whiting (long ago because I haven't caught a legal one in ages ), the flesh was similiar to this. 

I think it had a similar taste as well. 

Cheers Hamish