queensland Mud With Blood

[Old Scaley]

I had been talking with my brother about a quick trip on the Bay for ages, and finally teed it up for yesterday. He was a very keen fisho and boat owner until he discovered golf about 20 years ago and now his boat and gear is just sitting under his house going to rack and ruin.

Anyway, the forecast was good so I decided that Mud would be good because you always catch something, even if it is undersize reefies or squire. Left the PoB ramp mid-morning and headed to spot A. There was a boat where I wanted to be so we sounded around and found some structure holding bait and hit the spot lock on the Minn Kota (did I mention how much I love the electric?).  We spent the next 45 minutes feeding squire around that 25cm size, so decided to leave them biting and headed to spot B. Of course there was a boat on that spot as well so I sounded around about 70 metres away from there and found more bait and structure on a small drop off. First cast and up pops a tuskie that was right on the legal limit so back he went to grow some more. The bite was constant and I was pulling in small tuskies and grassies every couple of minutes. Then a bigger model came onboard, around the 34cm mark. Then a nice cod around 43cm and 2 more tuskies about the same size as the first keeper. The bite slowed as the run out tide slowed down.

My brother is still a bit rusty so only managed a few undersize squire and grassies. I was desperate to get him onto a decent fish so we stopped at a couple of snapper spots at the port on the way in. Not much happening there until I said time to go home. As I packing up the boat he kept a line in, hoping for one last chance. Suddenly, his rod buckled and a good size fish took off. He called “finally!” And then it was over as quickly as it started - the fish spat the hook! Even though he didn’t take home a keeper I think he had a good enough time to want to do it again, and maybe soon the golf clubs will be gathering dust and his boat will be back on the water.

All fish caught on prawns or squid. Only one photo- my usual poor effort with a pic of dead fish on an esky. Thanks for reading.

[Junky]

Those blue bone (tuskies) are good chewing. 

[Old Scaley]

44 minutes ago, Junky said:

Those blue bone (tuskies) are good chewing. 

Delicious. Crumbed tuskie with steamed veggies last night. Crumbed cod and roast veggies tonight. Life is tough.

[ellicat]

Good day out Steve. I think another trip to Mud will be next for me too. No marks for the southside yet but exploring is half the fun.

You didn't share your catch with the brother to peak his interest even more ?

[Old Scaley]

26 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Good day out Steve. I think another trip to Mud will be next for me too. No marks for the southside yet but exploring is half the fun.

You didn't share your catch with the brother to peak his interest even more ?

Nah. I love him like a brother, but tuskies? Come on. Actually I did offer but he declined.

[Drop Bear]

Nice one mate. You are the cod king! 

Looks like you both had a great day. 

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey Old Scaley

That's a great day out, good job. Mmm, the cod would've been tasty too. 

Hopefully your brother starts getting back into it. 

Cheers Hamish  

[Fisherman's gear]

Hi Old Scaley,  any tips on catching Tuskies? I have fished for them for a while, never caught an undersized one even. I even trapped some small live crab just to target them to no avail. I think i am targeting them on the right area around bay island where there is a lot reefs and broken rocks, but i don't have the result to back it up.

Can you give me a couple of tips?

[Old Scaley]

17 minutes ago, Fisherman's gear said:

Hi Old Scaley,  any tips on catching Tuskies? I have fished for them for a while, never caught an undersized one even. I even trapped some small live crab just to target them to no avail. I think i am targeting them on the right area around bay island where there is a lot reefs and broken rocks, but i don't have the result to back it up.

Can you give me a couple of tips?

I am definitely no expert, but here are a couple of things I can offer that might help. 

It seems that if you get one there will be more, so you are in the right area. Yesterday we were sitting on top of a small drop off where the water was about 7 metres deep close to low tide, but the run in tide is also good. Small crabs are supposed to be the gun bait, but we didn’t have any and were using squid and green prawns. They seemed to prefer the prawns yesterday- just a half a peeled prawn.

 I was using a 3 - 5 kg carbon fibre rod with a Stradic 4000 reel running 16lb J Braid attached to 16lb fluorocarbon leader, running size 2 sinker down to a swivel, then about 40cm of 10 lb trace. I was using a 2/0 baitholder hook because that works well with prawn baits, but I think you should just match your hook to the bait you are using. I would avoid circle hooks because they seem to be a fish that you need to strike to catch rather than wait for them to engulf the bait. Probably because of their small mouths and sharp teeth.

Because you find them in reef areas, you need to be anchored (or spot locked) and not move your bait around or try to drift it down with the current or you might find you are spending a lot of time retieing terminal tackle and traces. Mono might be a better choice for that reason, but I was fishing with what I had. I just cast to where I want to fish, take up any slack and be ready to strike on even the smallest bite. Keep the drag as high as you think safe because they are pretty quick to head for cover and you don’t want your line rubbing on coral or shellfish. I got bricked a few times yesterday so fishing heavier might have delivered a couple of better fish, but maybe not so many?

Anyway, like I said, I am definitely no expert, and there are others on this site more knowledgeable than me who might chime in with different ideas. I hope you get onto them soon!

 

[Hweebe]

There are always boats around mud on the weekend but @Old Scaley tip about sounding around is the way to go. Plenty of marks to be found and for mud i've found the same thing.  find the bait and the fish activity will be near by. Don't worry about if another boat is on Spot X. 

For mud being spaced far enough from other boats is the challenge as the water where there is structure is typically shallow - 3 -7m

[Fisherman's gear]

Appreciate that Scaley, you have been helpful as always mate. I think what i do wrong is probably I drift fishing a lot in these areas as I dont have an electric motor and afraid to lose my anchor there, which result in a lot of snags like you said and not a lot of fish. Or i use no sinker the bait just drift on the surface with the boat.

Looking to explore the electric motor option soon, hopefully I will score a tuskie. Thanks again.

[kmcrosby78]

Tasty results and a fun session there Steve, well done . 

[Hweebe]

On 03/07/2020 at 8:54 AM, Old Scaley said:

(did I mention how much I love the electric?)

I'm trying to save up on some coin to retrospectively get one installed up front on a half cab, but just can't justify the price of a self deploy model.

If i'm ok to jump through the forward anchor hatch this would save some money but the anchor hatch door swings out to where i want to install the electric on the port side. 

[tugger]

Nice trip steve love the colours on the tuskies