Tough Week

[ellicat]

Steve and I headed out twice this week with both Tuesday and Thursday proving to be pretty tough to get a fish.

Of course Tuesday the 16th we were raring to go after the snapper closure finished Monday. We couldn't find any livies before we headed to Mud. We fished Mud until late morning then headed over to the Rainbow to chase some schoolies again. Steve got a nice squid on a bait. That was it for the day. Home we went.

Today we got up at the crack of farcical and headed out to Harry's where we dropped some livies in and fished plastics until about 10am before leaving defeated. Over to Mud we went. Very quiet. I had a hookup but dropped a half decent fish. Then around midday the reel spun and I landed a 56cm snap. That was it for the day. Got back to the ramp just before 4 disappointed for Steve who managed a few unders and a just legal tusky that was thrown back.

I know all the workers are struggling to feel the pain here, but your turn will come.

 

[ellicat]

Actually, I just remembered that @Old Scaley got two wobbygongs on the Tuesday.  Forgettable.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Still looks like some fun Brian and Steve. Nice work. Better than being at school!

[ellicat]

Yes. ..and being at school is better than being at work. Except maybe exam days.

 

As you can see in the pic, conditions were only just bearable.

[kmcrosby78]

15 minutes ago, AUS-BNE-FISHO said:

Still looks like some fun Brian and Steve. Nice work. Better than being at school!

Agree ........ 

[kmcrosby78]

14 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Yes. ..and being at school is better than being at work. Except maybe exam days.

Unless school IS your work ........ and someone has to mark all those exams ....... 

[Old Scaley]

Can’t say we didn’t try today, Brian.  On the water at 5am and back to the ramp at 4pm. It felt like we had the whole Bay to ourselves today. Max of 8 boats at Harry’s and we only saw 2 other boats the whole time at Mud. We’ll get em next time.

[Hweebe]

12 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Can’t say we didn’t try today, Brian.  On the water at 5am and back to the ramp at 4pm. It felt like we had the whole Bay to ourselves today. Max of 8 boats at Harry’s and we only saw 2 other boats the whole time at Mud. We’ll get em next time.

How good.....beats a 7am to 4pm work day....I'd love to have so much time on the water fish or no fish and to have the bay to yourselves.

Hopefully some schoolies will be around tomorrow - planning to head out there at a similarly farcical time to avoid the gentlemen's hour fishos

[ellicat]

Good luck tomorrow, Hweebe. Steve has heard from a reliable source that there was a massive massive massive school of schoolies inside the top of Moreton early this week. Hopefully they will have made their way down south for you. If not, it may be worth having a look towards the northern end inside Moreton. I had a good session (9 and left them biting) with Benno early this year circling one of the beacons up there with a trolling board.

[Hweebe]

20 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Good luck tomorrow, Hweebe. Steve has heard from a reliable source that there was a massive massive massive school of schoolies inside the top of Moreton early this week. Hopefully they will have made their way down south for you. If not, it may be worth having a look towards the northern end inside Moreton. I had a good session (9 and left them biting) with Benno early this year circling one of the beacons up there with a trolling board.

You have worked me up into a frenzy @ellicat some beacon bashing will be a good chance to test the trolling motor in some current!

[ellicat]

When trolling, 5-7 knots is the ideal speed for schoolies, depending on whether you are going with or against the current. For my rig, sitting at 2200 revs seems to be the sweet spot - going slower into the current and faster with it. That normally keeps me in the range or close to it. It doesn't seem to matter if you're a bit outside. e.g. 4.5 knots against the current.

[ellicat]

Here's how to set up your trolling board -

I find the 6 inch board gets down to roughly 5 metres (lost one in 5 metres on the bottom) with about 30 to 40 metres of line out. I don't make the notch and it doesn't seem to make a difference...just keep an eye on the wear on the line at that point. 3" Halco Barra spoon.

[Hweebe]

On 19/08/2022 at 1:17 PM, ellicat said:

Here's how to set up your trolling board -

I find the 6 inch board gets down to roughly 5 metres (lost one in 5 metres on the bottom) with about 30 to 40 metres of line out. I don't make the notch and it doesn't seem to make a difference...just keep an eye on the wear on the line at that point. 3" Halco Barra spoon.

Thanks for the tip @ellicat I ended up doing a late sesh on Saturday to Amity banks, Maroom Hole and troll along the Rainbow channel, that setup works great, the swivel really helps reduce line twist at the lure.

No hookups for makeral but got countless grinners on the spoon. What do you think was the case?

• too high / low in the water column?
• Too fast / slow
• Wrong area all together?

My target for the day was to end up at hole in the wall to target some snapper (I was on a call with Spero whilst he was hooking / bagging out on snapper in 12ft of water.) He sent me the photo before he posted here. http://wp.fishingmonthly.com.au/2022/04/20/moreton-bay/

No luck there but i think there was too much boat traffic compared to when Spero was there.

Heaps of herring on the sounder so I sabiki jigged them for next session, couple of pike and a yakka as well, so mixed bag of bait for next session.

 

 

 

 

[Old Scaley]

2 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Thanks for the tip @ellicat I ended up doing a late sesh on Saturday to Amity banks, Maroom Hole and troll along the Rainbow channel, that setup works great, the swivel really helps reduce line twist at the lure.

No hookups for makeral but got countless grinners on the spoon. What do you think was the case?

• too high / low in the water column?
• Too fast / slow
• Wrong area all together?

My target for the day was to end up at hole in the wall to target some snapper (I was on a call with Spero whilst he was hooking / bagging out on snapper in 12ft of water.) He sent me the photo before he posted here. http://wp.fishingmonthly.com.au/2022/04/20/moreton-bay/

No luck there but i think there was too much boat traffic compared to when Spero was there.

Heaps of herring on the sounder so I sabiki jigged them for next session, couple of pike and a yakka as well, so mixed bag of bait for next session.

 

 

 

 

@Hweebe, here is a 2018 article by Spero with heaps of info about trolling for mackerel in the Bay. His theory is that if you are catching grinner, you are either too shallow or your trolling board is too far back.

http://wp.fishingmonthly.com.au/2018/02/02/school-mackerel-on-spoons/

[ellicat]

Like Steve said, probably too low.