tugger

Went out yesterday with Robbie (drop bear) and a friend of his from Germany. We headed out early and crossed south passage bar at 1st light then stopped at the bait grounds. Then once enough live bait was collected we anchored up off point lookout nth stradie.
Conditions were a bit lumpy but smoothed off a bit behind the rock in and around the whirlpools made by the current. The snapper were patchy at 1st but got thicker as we got closer to the top of the tide. Then a shark took a liking to our live bait and Stefan played with this beast for 15 minutes or so before breaking him off.
The next live bait didn't last long before a Spanish mackerel made the reel scream but again the fish won its freedom. The 3rd slimie mackerel again was out for only a couple of minutes before another Spanaird took off.
Stefan was a bit seasick but it was not stopping him from fighting this fish. After a few blistering runs the mackerel doggedly went deep and used it's mass to slow the fisherman. Soon colour could be seen down deep and I called it for a Spanaird. Once I sunk the gaff and lifted it aboard Stefan high fives us both and I even got a cuddle from a very happy German.

The snapper kept coming in just pan size from 38cm to 45cm with lots of little fish in between. Then at the top of the tide we caught a couple of snapper over 50cm to finish off the bag. 
The weather was getting betting through the morning so we got a great trip home. The run around peel island and over to Cleveland was like glass then a few beers went down while we cleaned the fish to top the day off. Thanks for crewing Robbie and I bet your friend will have a good fishing story to take back home.

Went out yesterday with Robbie (drop bear) and a friend of his from Germany. We headed out early and crossed south passage bar at 1st light then stopped at the bait grounds. Then once enough live bait was collected we anchored up off point lookout nth stradie.
Conditions were a bit lumpy but smoothed off a bit behind the rock in and around the whirlpools made by the current. The snapper were patchy at 1st but got thicker as we got closer to the top of the tide. Then a shark took a liking to our live bait and Stefan played with this beast for 15 minutes or so before breaking him off.
The next live bait didn't last long before a Spanish mackerel made the reel scream but again the fish won its freedom. The 3rd slimie mackerel again was out for only a couple of minutes before another Spanaird took off.
Stefan was a bit seasick but it was not stopping him from fighting this fish. After a few blistering runs the mackerel doggedly went deep and used it's mass to slow the fisherman. Soon colour could be seen down deep and I called it for a Spanaird. Once I sunk the gaff and lifted it aboard Stefan high fives us both and I even got a cuddle from a very happy German.

The snapper kept coming in just pan size from 38cm to 45cm with lots of little fish in between. Then at the top of the tide we caught a couple of snapper over 50cm to finish off the bag. 
The weather was getting betting through the morning so we got a great trip home. The run around peel island and over to Cleveland was like glass then a few beers went down while we cleaned the fish to top the day off. Thanks for crewing Robbie and I bet your friend will have a good fishing story to take back home.

Went out yesterday with Robbie (drop bear) and a friend of his from Germany. We headed out early and crossed south passage bar at 1st light then stopped at the bait grounds. Then once enough live bait was collected we anchored up off point lookout nth stradie.
Conditions were a bit lumpy but smoothed off a bit behind the rock in and around the whirlpools made by the current. The snapper were patchy at 1st but got thicker as we got closer to the top of the tide. Then a shark took a liking to our live bait and Stefan played with this beast for 15 minutes or so before breaking him off.
The next live bait didn't last long before a Spanish mackerel made the reel scream but again the fish won its freedom. The 3rd slimie mackerel again was out for only a couple of minutes before another Spanaird took off.
Stefan was a bit seasick but it was not stopping him from fighting this fish. After a few blistering runs the mackerel doggedly went deep and used it's mass to slow the fisherman. Soon colour could be seen down deep and I called it for a Spanaird. Once I sunk the gaff and lifted it aboard Stefan high fives us both and I even got a cuddle from a very happy German.

The snapper kept coming in just pan size from 38cm to 45cm with lots of little fish in between. Then at the top of the tide we caught a couple of snapper over 50cm to finish off the bag. 
The weather was getting betting through the morning so we got a great trip home. The run around peel island and over to Cleveland was like glass then a few beers went down while we cleaned the fish to top the day off. Thanks for crewing Robbie and I bet your friend will have a good fishing story to take back home.

We will have the great barrier reef off brisbane with global warming 

Nice spot to pull up the van Mark and looks like you absolutely nailed the weather - nice!!!!

So many beautiful places in northern NSW. If only that pesky Great Barrier Reef would hurry up and die we could have those surf beaches, headlands and beautiful estuaries all the way up the Queensland coast as well. Oh wait, that might mean no more red fishes so maybe cancel that idea.
Love the camping spot photo @tugger. Hard to beat a spot where you can fish from your awning.

I have caught 40cm bream in 30cm of water in a rock pool on the southern side of flat rock with massive waves breaking right in front of me.It is a nice place alright.

Stayed a week at Shaws Bay holiday park the weather was calm all week. I have never explored this coastal area what a beautiful part of the world.
 
Went luderick fishing in my mates tinnie along a rock wall in the river. We caught 2 fish on cabbage nothing on weed all morning so gave up with it being quite.
 
I fished the northern wall the next night but couldn't find any fish. Easy access to the wall from the park.


Did a bit of sight seeing the next day along the coast up to Lenox heads. For starters this was my view from camp.

This is flat rock between Ballina and Lenox Heads looks very fishy off the rocks was perfect weather to do some rock fishing as well

The view from Lenox headland looking back south

Fished the beach next to town just a short walk from the park where you can have the dogs offleash. Caught a few good whiting and bream with our dogs keen for each fish to come ashore.


Fished the end of the breakwall again on the last night but could only manage a small black spot cod.

It was a good week exploring and catching up with a mate I used to work with. The park is located next to the river and shaws bay OH did I mention it is next to the pub and fish and chip shop as well bonus.

Evans Head caravan park was dog friendly to that I visited earlier this year another beautiful spot

Stayed a week at Shaws Bay holiday park the weather was calm all week. I have never explored this coastal area what a beautiful part of the world.
 
Went luderick fishing in my mates tinnie along a rock wall in the river. We caught 2 fish on cabbage nothing on weed all morning so gave up with it being quite.
 
I fished the northern wall the next night but couldn't find any fish. Easy access to the wall from the park.


Did a bit of sight seeing the next day along the coast up to Lenox heads. For starters this was my view from camp.

This is flat rock between Ballina and Lenox Heads looks very fishy off the rocks was perfect weather to do some rock fishing as well

The view from Lenox headland looking back south

Fished the beach next to town just a short walk from the park where you can have the dogs offleash. Caught a few good whiting and bream with our dogs keen for each fish to come ashore.


Fished the end of the breakwall again on the last night but could only manage a small black spot cod.

It was a good week exploring and catching up with a mate I used to work with. The park is located next to the river and shaws bay OH did I mention it is next to the pub and fish and chip shop as well bonus.

Stayed a week at Shaws Bay holiday park the weather was calm all week. I have never explored this coastal area what a beautiful part of the world.
 
Went luderick fishing in my mates tinnie along a rock wall in the river. We caught 2 fish on cabbage nothing on weed all morning so gave up with it being quite.
 
I fished the northern wall the next night but couldn't find any fish. Easy access to the wall from the park.


Did a bit of sight seeing the next day along the coast up to Lenox heads. For starters this was my view from camp.

This is flat rock between Ballina and Lenox Heads looks very fishy off the rocks was perfect weather to do some rock fishing as well

The view from Lenox headland looking back south

Fished the beach next to town just a short walk from the park where you can have the dogs offleash. Caught a few good whiting and bream with our dogs keen for each fish to come ashore.


Fished the end of the breakwall again on the last night but could only manage a small black spot cod.

It was a good week exploring and catching up with a mate I used to work with. The park is located next to the river and shaws bay OH did I mention it is next to the pub and fish and chip shop as well bonus.

Nice bag Steve the old river produces still

Stayed a week at Shaws Bay holiday park the weather was calm all week. I have never explored this coastal area what a beautiful part of the world.
 
Went luderick fishing in my mates tinnie along a rock wall in the river. We caught 2 fish on cabbage nothing on weed all morning so gave up with it being quite.
 
I fished the northern wall the next night but couldn't find any fish. Easy access to the wall from the park.


Did a bit of sight seeing the next day along the coast up to Lenox heads. For starters this was my view from camp.

This is flat rock between Ballina and Lenox Heads looks very fishy off the rocks was perfect weather to do some rock fishing as well

The view from Lenox headland looking back south

Fished the beach next to town just a short walk from the park where you can have the dogs offleash. Caught a few good whiting and bream with our dogs keen for each fish to come ashore.


Fished the end of the breakwall again on the last night but could only manage a small black spot cod.

It was a good week exploring and catching up with a mate I used to work with. The park is located next to the river and shaws bay OH did I mention it is next to the pub and fish and chip shop as well bonus.

Evans Head caravan park was dog friendly to that I visited earlier this year another beautiful spot

The best part about not working any more is being able to pick the best days of the week to go fishing.  Yesterday was certainly a cracker to be out on the water. Had a little solo trip to the front of the rock wall, leaving the port ramp about 8am.  Pretty quiet with just a few very pretty wrasse, some bream around the 25cm mark and a sole to keep me entertained early. Not a single snapper, which is what I was looking for. 
Decided to move to a spot close by where I often find flatties. Threw a prawn on a bream rig while I tossed plastics around looking for the flathead. The prawn was taken by a winter whiting so I changed hooks and started feeding them half a peeled prawn.  Gathered 19 in no time, and thought that would be enough filleting for one day, so moved into the river to see if I could bag a snap on the outgoing tide. Very quiet to begin with, but came on the chew 30 minutes before I needed to get off the water.  Caught 4 or 5 that were around the 34cm mark and then bagged a decent 45cm model for the esky on my last cast.
Overall a beautiful day on the water.  Interesting too - I saw the Japanese warships and a sunken tinnie tied off to a channel marker. Never a dull moment down there.  Here is a bad picture of a couple of dead fish. Thanks for reading.
 

Stayed a week at Shaws Bay holiday park the weather was calm all week. I have never explored this coastal area what a beautiful part of the world.
 
Went luderick fishing in my mates tinnie along a rock wall in the river. We caught 2 fish on cabbage nothing on weed all morning so gave up with it being quite.
 
I fished the northern wall the next night but couldn't find any fish. Easy access to the wall from the park.


Did a bit of sight seeing the next day along the coast up to Lenox heads. For starters this was my view from camp.

This is flat rock between Ballina and Lenox Heads looks very fishy off the rocks was perfect weather to do some rock fishing as well

The view from Lenox headland looking back south

Fished the beach next to town just a short walk from the park where you can have the dogs offleash. Caught a few good whiting and bream with our dogs keen for each fish to come ashore.


Fished the end of the breakwall again on the last night but could only manage a small black spot cod.

It was a good week exploring and catching up with a mate I used to work with. The park is located next to the river and shaws bay OH did I mention it is next to the pub and fish and chip shop as well bonus.

Good to see a dog friendly park they are getting few and far between,
Cheers
Ray

Stayed a week at Shaws Bay holiday park the weather was calm all week. I have never explored this coastal area what a beautiful part of the world.
 
Went luderick fishing in my mates tinnie along a rock wall in the river. We caught 2 fish on cabbage nothing on weed all morning so gave up with it being quite.
 
I fished the northern wall the next night but couldn't find any fish. Easy access to the wall from the park.


Did a bit of sight seeing the next day along the coast up to Lenox heads. For starters this was my view from camp.

This is flat rock between Ballina and Lenox Heads looks very fishy off the rocks was perfect weather to do some rock fishing as well

The view from Lenox headland looking back south

Fished the beach next to town just a short walk from the park where you can have the dogs offleash. Caught a few good whiting and bream with our dogs keen for each fish to come ashore.


Fished the end of the breakwall again on the last night but could only manage a small black spot cod.

It was a good week exploring and catching up with a mate I used to work with. The park is located next to the river and shaws bay OH did I mention it is next to the pub and fish and chip shop as well bonus.

Stayed a week at Shaws Bay holiday park the weather was calm all week. I have never explored this coastal area what a beautiful part of the world.
 
Went luderick fishing in my mates tinnie along a rock wall in the river. We caught 2 fish on cabbage nothing on weed all morning so gave up with it being quite.
 
I fished the northern wall the next night but couldn't find any fish. Easy access to the wall from the park.


Did a bit of sight seeing the next day along the coast up to Lenox heads. For starters this was my view from camp.

This is flat rock between Ballina and Lenox Heads looks very fishy off the rocks was perfect weather to do some rock fishing as well

The view from Lenox headland looking back south

Fished the beach next to town just a short walk from the park where you can have the dogs offleash. Caught a few good whiting and bream with our dogs keen for each fish to come ashore.


Fished the end of the breakwall again on the last night but could only manage a small black spot cod.

It was a good week exploring and catching up with a mate I used to work with. The park is located next to the river and shaws bay OH did I mention it is next to the pub and fish and chip shop as well bonus.

If you don't want to cross any bars and fish some of these southern marks like Caloundra wide and shallower which are all excellent reefs you can leave from Sandgate or bribie island and head out through the top of the bay no bars required 

The kids got spoilt with that weather glassing out , good to see a few mackies about still.

The kids got spoilt with that weather glassing out , good to see a few mackies about still.

Took the wife and two boys out fishing after Liam's soccer game on Saturday morning, heading straight to our usual haunt at Green Island. The boys love it because we always catch plenty and yesterday was no exception, with the first hour resulting in small squire one after the other - I reckon they would have caught close to 15 in the first hour and there my partly rigged rod (to put a floater bait out the back) lay to prove it ....... (nothing changes - perhaps I should start planning ahead and rigging it up at home ......).  We had a very large green sea toadfish on Georges rod (I fought that one for him), Liam got a just undersized tusky plus a small grassie and a nice big bar-tailed flattie but unfortunately a big grinner (@Old Scaley the boys could give you a run for your money ..... 🙂) had put a whole in the silicone net (right - no more grinners going in this net!!) and the flathead went straight through it. Turned out it was still on the line but unfortunately in attempt number two it threw the hook and won it's freedom (much to Liam's displeasure - not a happy chappy!!).
Dropped the family back to the ramp about 2:30pm (they lasted a bit longer than I was planning .......) and then back out to do some trolling for mackerel. Got one not far from Green Island and kept heading towards the Hope Banks, marking a couple of decent shows of bait along the way. Got a Watson's Leaping Bonito close to the Hope Banks then decided to go back to where I had marked the shows of bait earlier (was then hoping to head to the eastern side of St Helena Island outside of the Green Zone to find some new fishing spots but didn't get there - next time ... 🙂) and bingo, the sounder was impressive!!

Trolled the area back and forth a few times picking up three more bonito and another mackerel. By this stage it was about 5:15pm so decided to anchor up and fish with pillies to see if I could add to the esky. The pillies were getting picked apart by the baitfish so I put out a whole squid on ganged hooks and then also plucked a couple of whole yakkas out of the esky. Had three sharks on in about a half hour period which was a lot of fun - the first one broke me off when it dove back down beside the boat so I upped the leader size and had a good fight with the next one, with it jumping and thrashing around on the surface a couple of times a fair distance from the boat. Got it beside the boat and it was dark by now and my headlamp was in need of new batteries - much around trying to tail it and also trying to gaff it before it eventually busted me off as I was messing around. Grr!!! 
Caught and landed the next one after again mucking around trying to land it - good fun solo in the dark!!  Busy back at the ramp with about a 15/16ft tinny towing about a 20ft fibreglass boat in. After I retrieved mine  a guy came over to ask if I had a detachable winch handle as his had bounced off in transit - I didn't but luckily he only had a 15ft tinny and a couple of guys to help so seemed to be in control.
My boys were excited to see the catch when I eventually got out of bed this morning .... 🙂 

 

Have you had a chat to your brothers yet

Michael is keen Mark - need to check with my brother Danny who lives in Gracemere but will depend on his work. Also need to talk Dad into it ........ I would say if we do go we'll wait and pick a weather window closer to the time and just come up for 2-3 days. Will touch base regarding this closer to the time - thanks for the reminder 🙂