queensland Rous 16/11/20

[ellicat]

A window of good weather appeared for this morning so @Old Scaley and I headed out to my mark 'ROUS1A'. Thinking of changing the name to UBEAUTY1A.

Set the mackerel lines out as usual. Steve tied on a metal slice again like he did to get the estuary cod last week. I berleyed hard again before dropping down a small pilly on a 5/0 circle hook. Took up the slack and bang ! I was onto a good fish. Pumped and wound hard as he'd taken me under the boat. Was just about tamed and it spat the hook. Bugger (again). This happened twice more. Steve seeing the action had put away the metal and dropped down a pilly. Bang he was onto a good fish. After a decent tussle I slid the net under this beaut maori cod -

It went 50cm on the ruler and was promptly released to the esky, well after it had given the catcher a good spike to the finger that leaked a bit of the red stuff. I was called on to put away my fishing rod to tend to the first aid requirements - a cunning plan by Steve no doubt.

I had a few more fish spit the hooks at me, so I upped the hook to a 7/0 and got the rewards. We both did and would have caught close to 10 of the suckers but they were all unders except for one that was too close to call so we let it go.

In amongst the maori mayhem (pretty much a fish each drop) Steve managed to score a nice tusky that gave a good account of itself. -

After that all Hell broke loose when Steve hooked onto a heavy powerful fish. It took him from the back of the boat to the side then up the front where it twice rubbed him against the anchor rope. I thought it was over for all money, but it swam the right way and played Steve further until it finally won its freedom. Disappointed !, but that's fishing.

We got onto a couple of other AFOers via the VHF and they were east of Mud Island somewhere with some results to share. About 10.45am we decided the macks weren't coming out to play and with the tide change the picker squire had moved in in plague proportions, so we decided to head for home but stop for a quick flick at Green where I picked up a take-me-home grassy a couple of weeks back. No love from the fish there but a couple of AFO reprobates paid us a visit just as we were sounding the spot. A quick chat and some bragging about the fish caught by everyone (except me) and we parted ways. The wind blew up to 15knots pretty quickly so we headed back to the ramp, well satisfied with another successful outing.

We stopped on the way back to grab a better pic of the cod.

 

The man was compassionate enough to let me take home the delicious tusky so the wife will let me out again next time.

Cheers Steve. Another good day ticked off.

 

[ellicat]

PS

The maori cod was 50cm. Can't remember what the tusky was, but it was well legal.

Another tusky was boated right on 30 so we let that one go and Steve also got a legal Moses perch that went back too.

There were no knots today either, just to make the day that much better than last week.

[Old Scaley]

Another magic day on the water with @ellicat. Even though we only came home with 2 keepers there was heaps of action. I would love to know what that freight train I lost was. Pretty sure it could have eaten the Maori cod for breakfast. I gave the cod a proper measure when I got home and it went 53cm and 2.6kg. It was a fat little fella and I have got some nice fillets from it. The tuskie was 40cm from memory. I hope you enjoy it it mate. I reckon we will visit UBEAUTY1A again soon. We are close to nailing that spot.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Great effort Brian and Steve, looks like you have that spot cracked. Maybe some heavier gear next time?

Youe boat is building mojo Brian... And also, did greg get one? (I’m assuming you were talking to him?).

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

16 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

has Greg finally caught one?

I don't want to steal anyone's thunder.

Thanks Hamish, I've put 94 hours into it so far so I'm due some mojo. haha

[Guest]

Shame you didn't get a look at the big fella that was stripping the line ,  good feed of reefies is always a bonus. If your looking for mackerel  I had the binoculars out this morning between jobs , there was a couple boats getting a few around woorim .

[Brodie_S]

Looks like you had a nice day out love catching reefies good job on the cod those things are a pain because soon as you hook them they go straight to structure looks like you had a good day fishing better then me anyway .today I got 4 undersize bream and my dad got a decent tailor on a 2 inch plastic on another rod I bought with me but it came off 

[ellicat]

1 hour ago, Sneaky1 said:

Shame you didn't get a look at the big fella that was stripping the line ,  good feed of reefies is always a bonus. If your looking for mackerel  I had the binoculars out this morning between jobs , there was a couple boats getting a few around woorim .

Yes, it will remain a mystery fish unfortunately. I took the binos out today too, but there weren't too many boats around to look at. Not that that's a bad thing.

[ellicat]

22 minutes ago, Breaming with bro said:

Looks like you had a nice day out love catching reefies good job on the cod those things are a pain because soon as you hook them they go straight to structure looks like you had a good day fishing better then me anyway .today I got 4 undersize bream and my dad got a decent tailor on a 2 inch plastic on another rod I bought with me but it came off 

Cheers.

We got plenty of undersized fish too.

Shame about the tailor.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, ellicat said:

Yes, it will remain a mystery fish unfortunately. I took the binos out today too, but there weren't too many boats around to look at. Not that that's a bad thing.

Yeah I was surprised there wasn't more boats out , looked nice in the morning .I'm thinking of wagging work on Friday and wetting a line weather permitting 

[ellicat]

It was a beaut morning but by 12 there were plenty of whitecaps. Looks similar for Friday so good luck if you go.

[Guest]

Cheers @ellicat just hope work stops interfering with my fishing 

[kmcrosby78]

Nice work there gentleman, was that the first time catching a maori cod at that spot (or in the Rous in general)? Be interesting to know if they are more a summer species or whether you could get them there in winter as well. Looks like you've got yourself a nice spot - well done, that's half the battle  

Oh and the big question is (drumroll .....) ...... who did @ellicat tell his wife caught the tusky ....... ? 

[ellicat]

I 'fessed up. haha

[GregOug]

3 hours ago, ellicat said:

Cheers.

We got plenty of undersized fish too.

Shame about the tailor.

It makes you  wonder whether,  in a couple years, the undersized fish will have grown up sufficiently to be keepers and Moreton Bay a fishing haven. I mean, surely all those just under grassies, squire, etc etc can’t all get eaten by something else? So why aren’t there great numbers of larger fish already? Have conditions improved in the bay only in the last couple of years, and hence all the young fish? Any ideas anyone?

[Junky]

8 hours ago, GregOug said:

It makes you  wonder whether,  in a couple years, the undersized fish will have grown up sufficiently to be keepers and Moreton Bay a fishing haven. I mean, surely all those just under grassies, squire, etc etc can’t all get eaten by something else? So why aren’t there great numbers of larger fish already? Have conditions improved in the bay only in the last couple of years, and hence all the young fish? Any ideas anyone?

I still recon it's because it's getting flogged hard. The food sources for the marine life are being stripped by the day. 

Trawlers the size of ocean liners killing our oceans. These ships need to be sunk, now! 

 

Don't get me started on our friends from the north coming in and picking up every living creature on the shore line. They're as bad as trawlers. I realise it's not all of them but their culture around oceans is speaks for itself. Fished out. 

Don't believe me, go for a walk over the sand flats north of 1mile on Straddie. What was once a shore line alive with critters is now a bare bank with the odd critter. Same goes for mainland shorelines. 

The food is being stripped right in front of us and our piss weak burocrates won't stand up to it because of this "racist" card being thrown out all the time, but only against Australians. 

I've seen it.

Locals on strad have seen it. 

Being the nice guy will cost us in the end.

We need leaders with balls, not latte sipping vegans with 5 different colors in their hair who can't work out if they're a man or woman. 

 

Rant out.

 

 

[Junky]

Nice fish BTW fellas. 

Maori cod in the bay. First I've seen. Well done. 

Delicious fish too. Hopefully the reds follow them down here.

[Old Scaley]

1 hour ago, Junky said:

Nice fish BTW fellas. 

Maori cod in the bay. First I've seen. Well done. 

Delicious fish too. Hopefully the reds follow them down here.

I have caught them in the Bay before, mostly around Mud Island, but this was only the second legal one (minimum size is 45cm). We must have been on top of a school of them because we caught a few (around 8?) in quick time. And, yes, it is delicious. 

[ellicat]

13 hours ago, GregOug said:

It makes you  wonder whether,  in a couple years, the undersized fish will have grown up sufficiently to be keepers and Moreton Bay a fishing haven. I mean, surely all those just under grassies, squire, etc etc can’t all get eaten by something else? So why aren’t there great numbers of larger fish already? Have conditions improved in the bay only in the last couple of years, and hence all the young fish? Any ideas anyone?

The bay's a good breeding ground. As the snapper get older (bigger) most move offshore to the reefs. A few hang around though and they're the ones we want to get, or the breeders when they come in to do their thing in winter.

I don't think things haven't improved in Bay. I don't know if it's just me but a decade ago I used to regularly be able to bring a feed of squire home. Since I got the new boat I have struggled and only 2 legals have come aboard. Lucky there's a few other species to target/hope for.

There's plenty of juveniles, that's for sure. Plenty of people who have worked out when, where and how to find and catch the resident bigger specimens are able to consistently get good fish, though.

As far as the 'science' goes, Fisheries have determined that in the southeast corner of Qld both snapper and pearl perch are 'vulnerable', hence the closure in July/August. That indicates it is getting tougher now to bring home a feed than it was a decade ago.

It will be interesting to see in a couple of years if the numbers improve as a consequence of the closure.

[jon]

Nice work good eating fish to, how good to the tuskies fight even when there small they go hard Especially if your in the shallows. If you can be bothered take a pair of rubber tipped tongs and get yourself some purple rock crabs from any rocky foreshore and your tusky catch will in crease by a metric buttload (scientific measurement!).

[GregOug]

1 minute ago, jon said:

Nice work good eating fish to, how good to the tuskies fight even when there small they go hard Especially if your in the shallows. If you can be bothered take a pair of rubber tipped tongs and get yourself some purple rock crabs from any rocky foreshore and your tusky catch will in crease by a metric buttload (scientific measurement!).

My father, uncle and grandfather used to catch the giant parrot in the bay when I was young. I’m talking about parrot of twenty pounds plus. Not sure if these are the tuskies we catch today in much smaller sizes but they looked like them. My uncle had a house on the foreshore at Dunwich. Anyway, I distinctly remember (which is very rare for me, by the way) taking torches and catching the ghost crabs as they sat mesmerised by the light. They used these for catching the huge tuskies. My uncle also used to keep paint cans filled with mullet gut which he used to leave in his shed uncovered for months before it was ready for use catching all types of fish.

[ellicat]

13 minutes ago, jon said:

Nice work good eating fish to, how good to the tuskies fight even when there small they go hard Especially if your in the shallows. If you can be bothered take a pair of rubber tipped tongs and get yourself some purple rock crabs from any rocky foreshore and your tusky catch will in crease by a metric buttload (scientific measurement!).

Thanks, Sef. Plans are already afoot on the crab front. haha

It would be nice to catch them by the metric buttload.

[Drop Bear]

Good fish there legends. Starting to dial it in!!

[kmcrosby78]

5 hours ago, GregOug said:

My uncle also used to keep paint cans filled with mullet gut which he used to leave in his shed uncovered for months before it was ready for use catching all types of fish.

Geez that would have smelt real nice ....... sounds like it worked though ..... 

[GregOug]

Just now, kmcrosby78 said:

Geez that would have smelt real nice ....... sounds like it worked though ..... 

Yeah. We didn’t go in the shed too often!

[jon]

18 hours ago, GregOug said:

My father, uncle and grandfather used to catch the giant parrot in the bay when I was young. I’m talking about parrot of twenty pounds plus. Not sure if these are the tuskies we catch today in much smaller sizes but they looked like them. My uncle had a house on the foreshore at Dunwich. Anyway, I distinctly remember (which is very rare for me, by the way) taking torches and catching the ghost crabs as they sat mesmerised by the light. They used these for catching the huge tuskies. My uncle also used to keep paint cans filled with mullet gut which he used to leave in his shed uncovered for months before it was ready for use catching all types of fish.

Yeah those big blackspot tuskies are still around if you put in the effort ive got a few over the 20lb mark in the last two years

[GregOug]

51 minutes ago, jon said:

Yeah those big blackspot tuskies are still around if you put in the effort ive got a few over the 20lb mark in the last two years

Great! When are we going fishing?

[Drop Bear]

1 hour ago, jon said:

Yeah those big blackspot tuskies are still around if you put in the effort ive got a few over the 20lb mark in the last two years

Ive seen the photos. One day when things quiet down a bit I will chase them.