squire A few Peel trips

[Another Wazza]

It’s been a while since I’ve done a report, mostly due to lack of fishing on my part, and lining everything up has been a challenge lately, anyway, back towards the end of April I snuck out to West Peel for a fish, I sent out a plastic and put  it in the holder whilst organising another setup, the plastic got mauled during the drift, It was a 10lb setup with a firm drag and not once did I get that thing under control, having survived the first run I thought I was safe and got a couple of winds on it, then off it went again, shaking it’s head vigorously and ditching the hook in the process, spewing!, I now know how Brian felt when I took him there last year.

The action slowed down a bit after that, I think I landed a couple of 30cm models, one grinner,  and a big sea toad before I hooked a half decent one, he gave me a good run on light gear, coming in at 57cm

A quick pic and he was on his way, after that I headed home and made an appointment with a therapist to help deal with losing a stonker, 

The next outing was at the beginning of May, same spot, but this time more fish, I caught 5 legal squire ranging between 36-40, & 1x46, I didn’t bother with too many pics that time, I did however keep the 46 for a snack, and here’s a pic of him after sitting in the esky for a while 

I should mention too, the grinners were out of control!, I probably caught 12 all up, the day before I went out, my neighbour hit me up for some frames to put in her veggie patch to fertilise the soil,I don’t know if grinners are good for that, but I saw them as the perfect candidates, I took the fillets off them and froze them up for a mate to use when he goes fishing, and gave her the squire and grinner frames for her garden, sorted.

That brings me to today, having checked the tides, and with it being a full moon last night I wasn’t expecting great things so thought I would try something different this time, I went to the foreshore yesterday afternoon & collected some crabs to use for bait on Tuskies around the shallows of Peel, I gathered 9 good looking specimens in no time thinking that would be plenty.

Given the tide I decided to launch at 6am, it felt a bit naughty getting to the ramp that late but Snapper weren’t the target today.

On my way over to Peel I thought I better have one little drift as I’m heading straight over it, I sent out a plastic, put If in the holder, and went about selecting another rig, I’ve looked back at the one in the holder only to see it now has a bend in it, oh dear, I best take care of that, a little battle and up pops this guy, a nice 47cm model

A quick pic and he was on his way, not much further along that drift and the rod bent again. A little 35

At risk of getting distracted, I decided to continue with the original plan and head to Peel, upon arrival I thought I better just throw a plastic quickly to see what’s getting about, well, that was me for the next 2 hours, catching little squire ranging in size from 25 to 37 one after the other, using a 1-4kg rod ( that Brian calls the “noodle”) with 6lb braid, it was good fun, a Z Man streaks in opening night colour rigged on a 1/6th jighead was doing all the damage, the plastic rarely hit the bottom, after that many fish the little plastic looked very tired, by the end of that session he had 2 tales but the fish still loved him.

After getting well and truly sidetracked there, I made my way to the spot I wanted to try with the little crabs. It looked promising, a nice edge, a bit of current, I’m set, well, I wasn’t quite ready for just how quick my little crabs were getting demolished, I went through all 9 of them in less then half an hour without hooking up, it’s clear I may have to rethink my approach.

With my crab supply depleted, I began casting a plastic, and on one of the retrieves as it got close to the boat, I thought I had spotted my target, a green fish followed it up and turned around a metre or so from the top, now my eyes aren’t the best and I can’t  be 100% sure it was the target, but I’ll definitely be going back there and trying again.

It was late morning by now so I decided to try one more spot at Peel before heading back in, not much happened there except a grinner. I began making my way back to the ramp via a quick drift at West Peel, same 1-4kg rig, with a new plastic, fair bit of current now, took a long time to get it down, but when it did, it got eaten by this guy

He suffered a blood nose during the fight but he released well, the “noodle” got a right proper work out on these guys today, and considering they weren’t all that big, I probably had just as much fun, if not more, catching them, as I do targeting  the bigger ones.

[Angry51]

Looks like some fun trips there even though you didn't break

any records. 

Your report is getting up there with Hamish's, nearly needed smoko to get through it.

Every day's a good day fishing.

Thanks for the reports.

[Another Wazza]

24 minutes ago, Angry51 said:

Your report is getting up there with Hamish's, nearly needed smoko to get through it..

Hahahaha, yeah, jamming 3 together is dangerous

[ellicat]

Glad you got all that off your chest. Was it a recommendation from your therapist ?   Mine said to do the same thing.

Shame you ran out of crabs by the sound of it. What size were they ?

The noodle would have upped the excitement, that's for sure.

[Another Wazza]

Hahahaha, it still hurts talking about the lost stonker,

the crabs I used were probably 40mm across, a few tense moments rigging them up though, little claws waving around violently trying to attack me, kind of like a yabby with the mega claw.

I know I’m playing with fire using the noodle, it’s only a matter of time before I get proper blown away, but it’s just so much fun.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Nice work Wazza. Looks like a lot of fun! 

[ellicat]

9 hours ago, Another Wazza said:

it still hurts talking about the lost stonker

Versus

9 hours ago, Another Wazza said:

it’s only a matter of time before I get proper blown away, but it’s just so much fun.

You might need to run this by your therapist too.

[Drop Bear]

Mate that is some nice fishing. Well done. 

Do the tuskies hang around all year?

[Another Wazza]

It’s a very fine line I’m walking Brian, losing big fish sucks, losing big fish because of being severely under gunned, we’ll, I guess that’ll keep my therapist employed a bit longer

[Another Wazza]

1 hour ago, Drop Bear said:

Do the tuskies hang around all year?

I have no idea Robbie, I have read that summer is good, but I don’t know much about them at all so figured if I really want to catch one, I better start somewhere 

[Hweebe]

15 hours ago, Another Wazza said:

I should mention too, the grinners were out of control!, I probably caught 12 all up, the day before I went out, my neighbour hit me up for some frames to put in her veggie patch to fertilise the soil,I don’t know if grinners are good for that, but I saw them as the perfect candidates, I took the fillets off them and froze them up for a mate to use when he goes fishing, and gave her the squire and grinner frames for her garden, sorted.

I can vouch for Grinner frames and veggie patches. Whenever we encounter these pests its the one saving grace. Our veggie patch goes gangbusters afterwards. Just get the frames down deep otherwise it attracts all the neighbourhood cats.

[Hweebe]

Some good catches and some great Pan size catches perfect for a feed. Interesting how you will just throw a plackie out that back whilst you are rigging up / do other things and this will sometimes pick up a fish for you just threw the drift or movement due to swell.

Would you be aiming to bouncing the plackie off the water or mid column?

[Another Wazza]

Hey @Hweebe, ideally I aim for just a whisker off the bottom, a little bit of lumpy water gives it a good action, I’ve done plenty of drifts through West Peel and have a rough idea of the weight required to achieve it, and how much line I want out, It’s a very lazy form of fishing that can pay dividends, I still prefer casting though, either spot locked or drifting, I love the hit on the plastic