queensland Mackerel - More Practice Needed ......

[kmcrosby78]

Woke up at stupid o'clock and set sail for my new favourite spot in Moreton Bay but unfortunately it was windier than I'd hoped which caused a problem as it was wind against tide til about 8am. At this point I was thinking back to all the dud sessions I've had over the years when I get up super early and don't boat a keeper til much, much later. Difference this time was that I didn't boat  a keeper all morning, well, unless you count the large barnacled sand crab that I happily put into the esky. Lots of small stuff around with only a small bream, two undersized squire (one tiny) and a 40cm school mackerel boated. 

Had heard there was meant to be lots of mackerel around so proceeded to troll a spoon with a paravane, doing a loop out past the Hope Banks for not a touch so begrudgingly headed back in towards the channel between Green & King Island's to see if @Drop Bear's mackerel had grown since last week. Finally saw some bait on the sounder (none the rest of the time amazingly) and sure enough, hooked an undersized schoolie. After releasing it, turned back around an soon after the sounder was looking very impressive but somehow after going back and forwards through it a few times, no more love, so decided to drift through it with a pillie on gangs. 

Silly me through the pillie in the wrong direction to the drift so had to mess around bringing the rod and line around the nose of the boat, then a couple of minutes later notice the boat had turned a little and the line was close to the motor. At that exact moment the rod buckled over and I was in a foul mood as the motor is pretty new and I really didn't want line caught in it. Picked the rod up and wound a little and realised it wasn't court on the motor - fish, yahoo!!  Worked out it wasn't a mackerel pretty quickly so it was time to start guessing - shark?  shovel? ray? then I remembered reading about a large cobia boated in the same stretch of water last year and I told myself it was the right time of year for one, hmmm that would be good. Anyway, I can confirm that unfortunately it wasn't a cobia either, so you can probably guess what option that leaves .............

Was meant to pick the family up at about 10am but it was too lumpy so canned it. Conditions settled beautifully an hour or so later so re-invited them to no avail. Long day on the water but good to get the boat out as I haven't used it since before the last school holidays (painting the exterior of our house and a camping trip filled the holidays and I've had a injured knee since day 3 of this school term).

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi kmcrosby78

Nice session, even though you didn't get many keepers. Must've still been a bit of fun out on the water with the fam  I hate it when you wake up at stupid o' clock and don't catch anything till ages later too. Lol. 

My knee is dodgy, whenever I run for a bit (especially in basketball) it goes weird and the bone feels out of shape. Then after a quick rest I do the exact same thing again  

Good job on the mackie, squire, and little bream!

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

Shame the cobia didn't change shape for you.

At least you were getting something. I'd swap results for our trip on Friday.

Now you're back into it we should organise a tag along day sometime.

[kmcrosby78]

Sounds good to me Brian  Yep, a cobia would have been much better than what it turned out to be ....... 

[Old Scaley]

5 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Sounds good to me Brian  Yep, a cobia would have been much better than what it turned out to be ....... 

Did it have a cheeky smile by any chance Kelvin?

[Drop Bear]

Nice one mate. What could that mystery fish be?

I am heading out there today so will try a few drifts with some pillies and see if the Cobias come out to play. 

I am super surprised you didn't get smashed by little macks. We got 30 last Monday in about 3 hours and 20 on Friday in about 2 hours.

[Leosonfire]

No wonder Southside are killing it, they seem to be on the water a lot! has anyone from the north had a fish? I’ve had one with only a squid to report

[kmcrosby78]

5 hours ago, Leosonfire said:

No wonder Southside are killing it, they seem to be on the water a lot! has anyone from the north had a fish? I’ve had one with only a squid to report

Don't worry, your fearless 'leader' @GregOug is (or at least should be, unless he's just drinking ....) no doubt compiling a match winning lead right now on Fraser Island, so fear not ........ 

[kmcrosby78]

12 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Nice one mate. What could that mystery fish be?

I am heading out there today so will try a few drifts with some pillies and see if the Cobias come out to play. 

I am super surprised you didn't get smashed by little macks. We got 30 last Monday in about 3 hours and 20 on Friday in about 2 hours.

Yes I was surprised too Robbie, can only assume that once the westerlies stopped they spread out again? Although, if you catch a heap today, maybe I really do simply need more practice ..... .

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

2 minutes ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Don't worry, your fearless 'leader' @GregOug is (or at least should be, unless he's just drinking ....) no doubt compiling a match winning lead right now on Fraser Island, so fear not ........ 

Knowing GregOug, he's probably sitting in front of the fire right now (which he lit by tipping a can of petrol on some logs), enjoying a XXXX beer while seeing how much the biggest tailor at the co-op costs on his phone  

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Just now, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Knowing GregOug, he's probably sitting in front of the fire right now (which he lit by tipping a can of petrol on some logs), enjoying a XXXX beer while seeing how much the biggest tailor at the co-op costs on his phone  

 

Just kidding, like you kmcrosby78,  I reckon Northsiders will have the advantage after GregOug's big trip!  

Cheers Hamish

[kmcrosby78]

16 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Did it have a cheeky smile by any chance Kelvin?

Funny ask Steve, but no it didn't, instead it looked rather upset at being caught at 1:30pm in the arvo, in a busy waterway with lots of boats heading back in from a day's fishing.

Me on the other hand, I had a very cheeky smile ....... . All of the previous mentioned details (cast wrong way for the drift, cursed myself thinking it had caught on the motor) are true, so I am feeling very lucky to have scored my PB snapper under such circumstances. Goes to show, you never know what you could catch on any given day.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Bloody Hell! That's a stonka! Great job KM!  I think that will be taking the lead in the Suburbs of Origin comp for sure! 

You'll be eating well for a few nights with all the meat off that.

Great fish

Cheers Hamish

[kmcrosby78]

2 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Bloody Hell! That's a stonka! Great job KM!  I think that will be taking the lead in the Suburbs of Origin comp for sure! 

You'll be eating well for a few nights with all the meat off that.

Great fish

Cheers Hamish

Thought I might be able to bask in the limelight for a little while Hamish - well, until @Allnighter and @Cobiaaddict get back out there ....... but @Junky beat me to it, luckily for us he's a Southsider .  

Had fish and chips tonight (I had both 'wings' - delicious) and going to do the head in the laksa tomorrow night. Yum!

[ellicat]

Congratulations on the PB.

Is it 72 ?

[kmcrosby78]

Just now, ellicat said:

Congratulations on the PB.

Is it 72 ?

Yep . Had my cr@ppy net within reach as was expecting mackerel (I don't use my Berkley silicone net for anything with teeth so it was up the front of the boat) so was very nervous as wasn't sure how I'd go getting it in. Only had 12lb leader so was very happy to get it first go.

[samsteele115]

Absolute cracker mate and you're right it's amazing how we can catch fish in unusual circumstances... and other times when you think it should be good fishing it's

I've never done well on the snapper but the one 70+ I did get was when I was doing a wee and not even touching the rod (the fishing one) after fishing hard all morning for nothing. 

[kmcrosby78]

5 minutes ago, samsteele115 said:

Absolute cracker mate and you're right it's amazing how we can catch fish in unusual circumstances... and other times when you think it should be good fishing it's

I've never done well on the snapper but the one 70+ I did get was when I was doing a wee and not even touching the rod (the fishing one) after fishing hard all morning for nothing. 

Thanks for clarifying which rod you were touching Sam ....... .  

Something this fish has rammed home to me is that over the years I've always been in a hurry to start fishing and have more focused on the bottom structure than actually continuing to look until I find a good amount of either bait or fish on the sounder. We hear it all the time on fishing shows - find the bait, find the fish - but I for one haven't really done this and my overall sketchy results have certainly proven it to be true.

Next time I'm out I'm going to try to look around a bit more and see if I can work out where fish hold. Then obviously, look at different stages of tides. 

[Leosonfire]

1 hour ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Funny ask Steve, but no it didn't, instead it looked rather upset at being caught at 1:30pm in the arvo, in a busy waterway with lots of boats heading back in from a day's fishing.

Me on the other hand, I had a very cheeky smile ....... . All of the previous mentioned details (cast wrong way for the drift, cursed myself thinking it had caught on the motor) are true, so I am feeling very lucky to have scored my PB snapper under such circumstances. Goes to show, you never know what you could catch on any given day.

Very nice  

[samsteele115]

Staying open minded catches fish! Being programmed in to going to a certain spot at a certain time doesn't always produce. And how many times have we got to that spot and caught nothing and wondered what would have happened if we stopped at those ripples on the surface or a couple of fluttering birds along the way... 

@Luvit is expert at this! Learnt lots from his approach 

[Drop Bear]

9 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Yes I was surprised too Robbie, can only assume that once the westerlies stopped they spread out again? Although, if you catch a heap today, maybe I really do simply need more practice ..... .

Yep they were there in numbers again today. A few double hookups. 

[Drop Bear]

9 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Thought I might be able to bask in the limelight for a little while Hamish - well, until @Allnighter and @Cobiaaddict get back out there ....... but @Junky beat me to it, luckily for us he's a Southsider .  

Had fish and chips tonight (I had both 'wings' - delicious) and going to do the head in the laksa tomorrow night. Yum!

Great way to enjoy a cracking fish mate. I love nose to tail eating. Good on ya. 

Awesome fish too mate. Congratulations. 

[Drop Bear]

7 hours ago, samsteele115 said:

Staying open minded catches fish! Being programmed in to going to a certain spot at a certain time doesn't always produce. And how many times have we got to that spot and caught nothing and wondered what would have happened if we stopped at those ripples on the surface or a couple of fluttering birds along the way... 

@Luvit is expert at this! Learnt lots from his approach 

Pro tips. 

[Cobiaaddict]

Good fish @kmcrosby78 ,  12lb & shallow water they really give it to you hey!!!!

 

[Old Scaley]

That is a beauty @kmcrosby78. Good to see that you are getting out again. I bet Liam and George wish they had been there to it landed.

[GregOug]

On 31/08/2020 at 7:48 PM, kmcrosby78 said:

Don't worry, your fearless 'leader' @GregOug is (or at least should be, unless he's just drinking ....) no doubt compiling a match winning lead right now on Fraser Island, so fear not ........ 

Ah. You may have hit the nail on the head there KM. It is very hard to hold a fishing rod,  wind the weed in, and also hold a stubby so I eventually saw the light and gave up.

[GregOug]

On 31/08/2020 at 7:52 PM, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Knowing GregOug, he's probably sitting in front of the fire right now (which he lit by tipping a can of petrol on some logs), enjoying a XXXX beer while seeing how much the biggest tailor at the co-op costs on his phone  

 

Now now Hamish. It is far too early in the comp to be pricing fish yet. I’ll wait until the last day or two. No good wasting money yet when an unscrupulous Southsider could buy a bigger one.

[GregOug]

On 31/08/2020 at 7:56 PM, kmcrosby78 said:

Funny ask Steve, but no it didn't, instead it looked rather upset at being caught at 1:30pm in the arvo, in a busy waterway with lots of boats heading back in from a day's fishing.

Me on the other hand, I had a very cheeky smile ....... . All of the previous mentioned details (cast wrong way for the drift, cursed myself thinking it had caught on the motor) are true, so I am feeling very lucky to have scored my PB snapper under such circumstances. Goes to show, you never know what you could catch on any given day.

Well done!

[GregOug]

On 31/08/2020 at 9:04 PM, samsteele115 said:

Absolute cracker mate and you're right it's amazing how we can catch fish in unusual circumstances... and other times when you think it should be good fishing it's

I've never done well on the snapper but the one 70+ I did get was when I was doing a wee and not even touching the rod (the fishing one) after fishing hard all morning for nothing. 

Have to agree with you Sam. I thought a trip to Fraser at this time of year would have produced something decent. But between the bloody weed, the groups of twenty or more 4x4s parked bumper to bumper at any halfway decent looking gutter, the fact that I only saw two fish getting caught by the hundreds of fishermen I drove past and my absolutely pathetic fishing record of late I’m not really surprised I got nothing. 
 

For the record, my party caught one good sized whiting, one mediocre legal tailor and four good size dart and that was it for quite a few hours of fishing. Oh well, we still had a bloody great trip. I’d recommend it to anyone.

[Drop Bear]

5 hours ago, GregOug said:

For the record, my party caught one good sized whiting, one mediocre legal tailor and four good size dart and that was it for quite a few hours of fishing. Oh well, we still had a bloody great trip. I’d recommend it to anyone.

Some good food there mate. Well done. But POIDH...

[ellicat]

11 hours ago, GregOug said:

Oh well, we still had a bloody great trip. I’d recommend it to anyone.

Yes Greg, the last two times I've been to Fraser I didn't touch the rods.

[samsteele115]

23 hours ago, GregOug said:

Have to agree with you Sam. I thought a trip to Fraser at this time of year would have produced something decent. But between the bloody weed, the groups of twenty or more 4x4s parked bumper to bumper at any halfway decent looking gutter, the fact that I only saw two fish getting caught by the hundreds of fishermen I drove past and my absolutely pathetic fishing record of late I’m not really surprised I got nothing. 
 

For the record, my party caught one good sized whiting, one mediocre legal tailor and four good size dart and that was it for quite a few hours of fishing. Oh well, we still had a bloody great trip. I’d recommend it to anyone.

Beautiful place isn't it. Shame about the lack of fish but that happens been quiet on straddie all week too. 

Did you check out the western side? Would be tempting to get away from the ocean side crowds 

[GregOug]

1 hour ago, samsteele115 said:

Beautiful place isn't it. Shame about the lack of fish but that happens been quiet on straddie all week too. 

Did you check out the western side? Would be tempting to get away from the ocean side crowds 

It is a gorgeous place. We didn’t make it to the western side because we were too busy showing my sons’ friend the eastern side!  Next time will be an inside trip I think, probably using the boat.

[Drop Bear]

6 hours ago, GregOug said:

It is a gorgeous place. We didn’t make it to the western side because we were too busy showing my sons’ friend the eastern side!  Next time will be an inside trip I think, probably using the boat.

Take your boat up to Wathumba Creek for a trip. I love it up there. 

[samsteele115]

6 hours ago, GregOug said:

It is a gorgeous place. We didn’t make it to the western side because we were too busy showing my sons’ friend the eastern side!  Next time will be an inside trip I think, probably using the boat.

That's fair enough! Can't do it all at once, so much to see on the east. The Hervey bay flats are a special shallow water fishery... Just about the time of year the juvenile  black marlin cruise along (October- January), and have seen longtail and trevally do the same! Incredibly unique. 

In terms of having a landbased fish next time on the western side I'm pretty sure the bread and butter species are a regular catch there also. 

[samsteele115]

5 minutes ago, Drop Bear said:

Take your boat up to Wathumba Creek for a trip. I love it up there. 

Don't take an open boat with no shelter or mozzie protection and expect to get some sleep on it without double checking the rain forecast

[Drop Bear]

2 minutes ago, samsteele115 said:

and have seen longtail and trevally do the same! Incredibly unique. 

One day I hope to see this. It has been pretty quiet every time I have been up there with no Goldens to be found and I have never seen a Marlin up close. Last November, there were quite a few boats charging along the edge of the shallows with towers searching for them.