queensland 3 Days In The Bay

[ellicat]

The weather is looking too good to miss out on this week.

So Monday @Old Scaley and I are heading out, Tuesday @Leosonfire and I are heading out and on Wednesday @shaun1800 and I are tagging up with @GregOug and decky and heading up Curtain way.

Tuesday is showing up as an 'Excellent' day for fishing according to the almanac, with Monday and Wednesday showing as 'Good' days.

Hopefully with 3 days on the water there will be something to show for it (other than an early tan) and the reports will keep those who have to work entertained.

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi ellicat

Now I REALLY wish I was retired already, LOL.  

Good luck. I hope you get onto a heap of fish, and get some OK feeds. Lets just hope they're not snaps or pearlies.

Would you ever/do you ever fish Friday/Saturday night? 

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

I've only fished Friday night with Benno (as he has fatherly and work commitments and can't come during the week) twice so far.

Back in the Force days I used o make Friday nights habitual river sessions.

[Another Wazza]

Hi there ellicat, the winds looking real nice for a change, I’ll be sneaking out tomorrow for a little fish myself, still undecided where I’ll go though, what do think you and old scaley will be chasing?

[ellicat]

23 minutes ago, Another Wazza said:

Hi there ellicat, the winds looking real nice for a change, I’ll be sneaking out tomorrow for a little fish myself, still undecided where I’ll go though, what do think you and old scaley will be chasing?

Hey @Another Wazza,

At this stage we are leaving from Manly and thinking of heading to Wello to try for some grassies first up, then up to Mud for some tuskies, then maybe the Rous for some whiting depending on how we're going at Mud.

Let us know if you'll be in the area and we'll keep an eye out for you.

[Another Wazza]

Sounds like a nice little adventure, I’ll probably end up in the Rous around lunchtime for the run out, not too sure where I’ll be prior to that though, was thinking of having a little look around goat in the morning

[ellicat]

Okay. Might see you at the Rous. Will you be anchored up hoping for mackerel ?

Good luck.

[Another Wazza]

Yep, I’ll be in a 4.27 Clarke pursuit with a 40hp 2 banga Yammy on the back wearing a straw hat with the electric anchor going, in the hope of finding some schoolies, fingers crossed, if that fails I’m not ruling out looking for a feed of whiting either

[ellicat]

Will keep an eye out for you. We'll be in this (maybe with the bimini up) -

[kmcrosby78]

Nice week coming up for you Brian, I'm not jealous at all ...... 

[ellicat]

@shaun1800 and @GregOug, thinking of changing Wednesday to Thursday looking at the latest forecast. What do you reckon ?

[GregOug]

16 hours ago, ellicat said:

@shaun1800 and @GregOug, thinking of changing Wednesday to Thursday looking at the latest forecast. What do you reckon ?

Hi Brian,

Yeah. Wednesday is not looking good now. Let’s keep an eye on Thursday. Otherwise there’s always next week.

cheers

Greg

[Drop Bear]

21 hours ago, ellicat said:

Hey @Another Wazza,

At this stage we are leaving from Manly and thinking of heading to Wello to try for some grassies first up, then up to Mud for some tuskies, then maybe the Rous for some whiting depending on how we're going at Mud.

Let us know if you'll be in the area and we'll keep an eye out for you.

looking to put some miles on the boat. Great stuff. I am keen to hear how you and Old Scaley went. 

[ellicat]

Well, Wello went well with a little bit of swell and chop early. Steve got a baby grassie and then got snipped off 3 times before I jagged a little schoolie on the retrieve.

We got a couple of these but Steve was up to his fifth re-rig so we headed for Mud.

We got to mud and anchored up at one of the many spot x's but the anchor didn't grab which we didn't realise for a few minutes so an adjustment was made but a few minutes later we were still drifting slowly. I decided to pull the anchor and motor back to the mark and low and behold there was no anchor at the end of the chain. Some bright spark mustn't have done up the D shackle tight enough. Doh!

I grabbed the spare reef anchor and deployed it but it wouldn't grab with the choppy conditions. Steve managed a baby squire and a couple of whiting while we mucked around and had coffee and cake for a late morning tea.

Not feeling the love with the anchoring issues we decided to head to the Rous and float some pillies out while we drifted for some tings. A boat approached us just after we arrived and were setting up. It was nice to meet and put a face to the name @Another Wazza. A quick Hello and he was off towards Amity after reporting that not much had been happening.

We drifted around for a while with the occasional nibble before calling it as we wanted to be back at Manly by 2pm. As I retrieved my whiting line a ray decided to interrupt and gave me a fun few minutes before busting me off near the boat.

Conditions on the way back were much better than the early chop we encountered. Thanks for the day, Steve and thanks a million for giving me your spare anchor so I can head out again tomorrow.

 

[ellicat]

I did forget to mention my good fortune in not landing a grinner all day. Steve, on the other hand...

[Old Scaley]

2 minutes ago, ellicat said:

I did forget to mention my good fortune in not landing a grinner all day. Steve, on the other hand...

I was hoping you wouldn’t mention that. You know how jealous @kmcrosby78 gets. It was a good day out, Brian, even if the fish didn’t play the game. 

[Leosonfire]

On 02/08/2020 at 9:25 AM, ellicat said:

The weather is looking too good to miss out on this week.

So Monday @Old Scaley and I are heading out, Tuesday @Leosonfire and I are heading out and on Wednesday @shaun1800 and I are tagging up with @GregOug and decky and heading up Curtain way.

Tuesday is showing up as an 'Excellent' day for fishing according to the almanac, with Monday and Wednesday showing as 'Good' days.

Hopefully with 3 days on the water there will be something to show for it (other than an early tan) and the reports will keep those who have to work entertained.

 

Looking forward to it! Cracking day coming up with the fishing gods smiling down on us

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey ellicat

Sounds like a fun little session you had, despite the unfortunate event of the anchor going.

At least you got some macks and whiting. The ray must've been a bit of fun.

Cheers Hamish

[Drop Bear]

52 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Some bright spark mustn't have done up the D shackle tight enough. Doh!

haha. I have a spare if you want it? 

[Drop Bear]

53 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Thanks for the day, Steve and thanks a million for giving me your spare anchor so I can head out again tomorrow.

@Old Scaley I got a few from the reef up at Pumicestone if you want one?

[Drop Bear]

54 minutes ago, ellicat said:

We got a couple of these but Steve was up to his fifth re-rig so we headed for Mud.

did they measure? They look very close.

[Old Scaley]

21 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

did they measure? They look very close.

Nah, they were well under, Robbie. They were thick, though, but I think it was a school of all the same size. Because we were bottom bashing with single hooks they kept snipping us (me) off. 

[ellicat]

59 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Hey ellicat

Sounds like a fun little session you had, despite the unfortunate event of the anchor going.

At least you got some macks and whiting. The ray must've been a bit of fun.

Cheers Hamish

The macs were fun on the light gear even though they were small. The ray on the other hand, well...I knew it was a ray early on so the excitement level didn't peak too high. haha.

[samsteele115]

So good! Nice read Brian. 

Heaps of Watson's leaping bonito and schoolies been around amity this year, haven't heard anything for a couple of weeks though but always worth a go. Some nice winter jacks on the wall too. 

Some life long residents have said it is the most bait, mackerel, bonito, and tuna they have ever seen and they hung around for weeks. Great signs for the bay.

Catching longies and mackerel in my creek basher yak and landbased for a few weeks straight is going to be a lifelong memory. 

Lettuce know when you're next at amity and I'll cast some slugs at your boat  

[Another Wazza]

Hey there ellicat, I can relate to your lack of enthusiasm regarding the Ray, I hooked a shovel nose half an hour after swinging by, you know straight away it’s not cool, but I consider myself lucky it took my heaviest outfit, otherwise I’d probably still be playing it, got him alongside the boat 3 times before he’d behave long enough to trim the leader

 

 

[ellicat]

A bit of fun in an otherwise pretty quiet period, Wazza.

40 minutes ago, samsteele115 said:

So good! Nice read Brian. 

Heaps of Watson's leaping bonito and schoolies been around amity this year, haven't heard anything for a couple of weeks though but always worth a go. Some nice winter jacks on the wall too. 

Some life long residents have said it is the most bait, mackerel, bonito, and tuna they have ever seen and they hung around for weeks. Great signs for the bay.

Catching longies and mackerel in my creek basher yak and landbased for a few weeks straight is going to be a lifelong memory. 

Lettuce know when you're next at amity and I'll cast some slugs at your boat  

Gee, thanks Sam. haha

I got a couple of Watsons a month or two ago as well as a few schoolies but the last couple of trips they haven't been around.

When were you catching the longtails ?

[samsteele115]

Late May, got dusted by one landbased and pulled hooks on another, plus that one in the kayak. All big fish around the 120cm range and there for weeks just feeding on the plethora of herring

[ellicat]

I've only really tried for them once properly with Wayne Luvit but the few we found were too good for us that day.

I might have another serious go this year. What would be a good month to start trying ?

[samsteele115]

It's rare to have an unchallenging day with them that's for sure. 

Northern and middle bay from January with a peak there in February and March. Then they tend to be spread out and can be targeted in the southern bay April til May, as well as along Bribie during these times. Especially when the first of the westerlies kick in Bribie is a goer in autumn 

[ellicat]

Great info from the Guru. Thanks, Sam.

[ellicat]

6 hours ago, GregOug said:

Hi Brian,

Yeah. Wednesday is not looking good now. Let’s keep an eye on Thursday. Otherwise there’s always next week.

cheers

Greg

Now it looks okay again (which doesn't sit well with the BOM not settled on what's going to happen), but I think I'll need a rest day so I'm going to head out Thursday for sure. Lookout Curtain Kingies !

[ellicat]

Day 2

Met up with Leon @Leosonfire at Manly at 8am and we launched and headed straight to Wello again. Leon was first on board with a nice Moses Perch just under legal. Then the little mackerel were around again but not in great numbers. After we had both been snipped a few times without landing one we decided to move onto Mud and deploy the anchor (with fingers crossed).

We were entertained here for a while with nibbles from little squire. In amongst that we landed a few tuskies, slipping two of the slippery suckers into the esky.

Someone also managed a good (is that possible) sized grinner. I won't say who but it wasn't me. Having reached what I thought was the peak bite period, we moved on to the Rous.

We reached our destination and I checked my Garmin fishing almanac and realised the bite period was not finishing for a few more minutes. Damn, we had wasted fishing time traveling for half hour. Oh well.

The usual plan of attack was made to float pillies for macks and entertain ourselves with some whiting whilst waiting. Someone forgot to let the fish know the plan. The whiting were giving inconsistent nibbles infrequently and, in the name of Truth Telling, I landed a baby grinner. The shame of it. One of the mack lines saw some attention but I don't think it was from a mack, instead it was pickered by something too small for 4/0 gangs.

Beautiful day on the water again with conditions perfect in the morning with the Bay glassed out. The usual afternoon chop was setting in for the ride home.

It was great having you onboard, Leon, especially as you didn't throw away my anchor like @Old Scaley did yesterday. haha Look forward to another session soon.

 

[Old Scaley]

At least you got a couple in the esky today.  My lawyers will be talking to yours tomorrow about the anchor libel.  

Hopefully a good day on Thursday will bring the mojo back to Ellicatch.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

23 hours ago, ellicat said:

Great info from the Guru. Thanks, Sam.

Hey ellicat

I think samsteele115 has kitted you up with information. Hopefully when it's season you can get a biggun.

Good session with Leosonfire also. While it wasn't the amount, at least you got some nice tuskies!  

Do you target anything on live whiting, like jew, or just stick to macky fishing?

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

It's just a mackerel spot I think, but I've only been going there for a couple of months.

[ellicat]

@Another Wazza, Were you out there again today ? Thought we saw you but couldn't get a wave back.

[Leosonfire]

Awesome day with Brian the legend! Forever grateful! Good chats and laughs. Can’t wait to do it again. By the way technically if you don’t land the grinner it doesn’t count (great tactic by me I must say, to drop it before it was in the boat)  Thanks again mate

[ellicat]

Haha, that's right. You win on a technicality.

[benno573]

@Leosonfire - how did you cope with the smell?

[ellicat]

Unfortunately work has got in the way of @shaun1800 coming out, so have asked along a mystery decky for tomorrow.