Quick update. Bought one of the really cheap ($15) smoker boxes from Bunnings along with some wood pis (seafood mix - mesquite and alder). Despite all my research and the responses on here, I still didn't really have a clue. Anyway I worked out that the box gets half filled with chips that have soaked for at least 30 mins and then placed between the burners and the grill on the old 4 burner BBQ. Let the bbq heist up until there is plenty of smoke.
I prepared the trevally fillets by soaking them in brine for an hour. Plenty of brine recipes on the www. Then dried them on paper towel in the fridge for an hour before salting them and covering in a thin layer of maple syrup. Put them on a rack with some baking paper under them and placed them on the plate side of the bbq, but without the burners on the plate being on. Cooked like that on a low heat (only the one burner under the smoker box was on) for about 30 mins. Smoke was running out (more chips next time) so I turned the other burners on for 10 minutes to get the fish up to cooked temperature (63 degrees centigrade according to my cooking thermometer). Back into the fridge and then eaten today with some anchovy mayo. Tasted great - a big like breakfast kippers. Now I know it what to do, I will be trying different things and will post some photos next time.
We then have to attach the lid using the shock cord and another clip made from the copper wire.
Cut the shock cord slightly longer than the height of the pot and tie a double knot in one end and thread it through the frisby then the clip and back through the frisby and tie another knot.
Then melt a hole in the other end of the pot placing the hole at 90 degrees to the weights and take another length of shock cord and knotit and thread it up through the pot and through the hole on the lid.
Pull this cord as tight as possible and tie a knot in it and trim it off.
Completed pot.
I burn my name ( Pity I cannot spell it) into the pot with the soldering iron .I also burn my name into the float ( Helps preventing people thinking that they are their pots.)
I have lost a couple of photos where I initially attach the mesh to the frisbee so I will take some more tomorrow night and update.
I did make some pots out of galvanised gutterguard and they were a lot easier to make but they are starting to rust out after only 2 months in NPD, If you can find some 250 mil begonia saucers they are a lot easier to make up and use less gutterguard and catch just as well as the larger frisbee pots.
Happy shrimping.
Cheers
Ray
Not new gear by any means, but I have a couple of must haves in my tray when going fishing. This is my second in line and has accounted for a few jacks, bream, bass, trevally, tarpon and many more species.
Product: Megabass Anthrax
Type: Hardbody
Preferred Colour Thus Far: Natural colours, however they all work really. I've found action and technique to be more of a deciding factor than colour.
Price: ~$40 but can be had for cheaper in bulk online purchases.
Quality: Paint job has improved with the 2nd generation.
Action: Top water and sub surface.
The Anthrax is a pretty unique lure in that it's intentionally retrieved upside down to mimic an injured bait fish. This leads to some spectacular and very aggressive hits, especially from even small bass which are not shy in hitting such a large lure. Jacks have also made a mess of some of my hooks.
The small one I have is actually an older model with a fixed anal fin (which sits out of the water), the paint job on these older models are good but don't last long with continued punishment and will wear over time with ultra sharp hooks. The newer versions have a more durable paint job and hinged fin which rocks side to side which I noted to give the lure a wider action.
Top water and sub surface action can be influenced by either retrieving with a high or low rod tip respectively. I've found it to be most effective very slow rolled to allow the audible inner ball bearing to rock from side to side with pauses to mix it up. The lure can also be twitched erratically jerk bait style.
The beauty of the these lures and the Dog-X series, is that I have found the lure will actually rest tail heavy. The importance of this is that when you fire in a cast into a snag (or throw in a pause) the lure will actually 'reverse' about 10 mm or so which technically allows you to cover more ground and may entice the fish for a quick strike. Since many fish hit most lures (whether plastics or hardbodies) on the pause.
One thing I have noticed is this lure begins it's intended action from the very first crank of the handle, other imitations I've used require a bit of momentum (i.e. 5-10 cm) before doing so. This is crucial especially if you are fishing tight snags or have a very small strike zone and you want that lure action working straight away.
Pros: Versatile lure that is good for a beginner to get into surface fishing but also has scope for an advanced angler, ultra sharp hooks as standard make for excellent hook penetration, well balanced, can be worked very slow and well designed.
Cons: Expensive, good paint design but poor durability in older versions, thin hooks don't last long with jacks. Like with most surface lures the hook up rate can be relatively low, but I find that is due to short striking than the lure itself.
Product: lucky craft Sammy 65
Type: surface walk the dog lure
Colour: clear for saltwater, dark for fresh (although a pearl white colour has had most success on bass for me)
Colour range: so many colours I havnt seen all of them yet
Quality: excellent
Value: worth every bit of $20
Action: has an irresistible walk the dog action on the surface. Very fun to use and casts like a bullet.
Experience: this lure is one of the best of its class in my opinion. Caught me lots of surface bass and they hit it hard! My go to lure along with the tiemco cicada and osp bent minnow, depends what I feel like using at the time.
The advantage of the Sammy is it's casing ability. Can get exceptional distance and accuracy.
OK... With the upcoming monthly social events the idea was thrown out there that an article be written up prior to the event that could be made into a FrontPage article for all to see detailing the species for that month and a sort of “How To” on catching them. This would enable people that are keen on chasing the nominated species an insight on fishing for them and might offer them a few tips or point them in the right direction.
Now first up I’m not necessarily to best qualified nor have I caught the most Long tail Tuna in Moreton Bay but I have chased them in boats and a yaks with success and thought I could write up an article on chasing these speedsters that might help a few other people on the site. Feel free to add to this anything that has helped you and nothing I put down is given law on catching Longies so please don’t shoot me down for having a go.
Longtail Tuna are a member of the Tuna family (duh!) that extend from the tip of Cape York right down to south of Sydney and are a seasonal fish that start entering Moreton Bay around Easter every year. The fish usually travel down the coast and the reports from the Hervey Bay are usually a good indicator on how our season will fare here. Size can vary quite a bit from year to year with some years the average fish are only 8kg, other years the average size could be around 15kg it varies from season to season. They are a fantastic sports fish that can be taken on a variety of methods and also fare well on the plate especially for those who enjoy Sushimi. Below I’ll brake it down into different sections and also the main focus will be using plastics as I have no idea about catching them on bait so I'll leave that up to someone else to add if they so desire.
Time of Day and Tides
Put simply time of day doesn't really matter a whole lot for Tuna as they are more of a gentleman’s hours fish meaning you don’t have to be up at sparrows fart to catch them, the middle of the day in the bright sun is as good a time as any. Tide is a different story as in the bay most people looking for Longies will opt to fish an outgoing tide and like most fish “no run means no fun” this applies to Tuna as well as the tide will help them ball the bait up.
Locations
First things first for Longies there's no spot x they can turn up anywhere in the bay, right from the top end of Bribie and as far south as near Coochie. Generally speaking fish in the northern part of the bay will of a bigger average size than those you encounter in the southern half of the bay but the odd bigger models can still turn up anywhere. Some of the more well know spots for chasing them would be places like The Four Beacons, Mud Island, Curtin Reef, Pearl Channel, The Sand Hills, Spitfire Channel, Harries, Rainbow Channel, Rous Channel and the waters all around Peel Island. Also when they're thick in the bay you don’t have to travel far as they can be quite often found within close range of spots like Wello and Cleveland Point so don’t feel you need to travel to the other side of the bay to catch one.
Finding The Fish
Birds, birds and birds are your best friend when locating fish also word of mouth on where they're being caught is not to be overlooked because if there's constant reports of fish coming in from north of Peel than chances are if you fish north of Peel for long enough you'll find them. Longies can vary in the size of the school from solo fish through to bigger schools of thirty or more generally speaking they don’t hang in as large a schools as say Mac Tuna. When driving around the bay keep a constant eye out for birds and try and see what they're seeing, if there's 50 birds diving in one spot with a lot of commotion going on chances are there's some Tuna there, but it's not always that obvious with sometimes a single bird being the only giveaway to the location of the fish. Keep an eye on any bird that is constantly dipping in one spot if he flutters to maintain position in one spot chances are there's something below him whether it be the bait the bird is after or the Tuna you're after. Also Tuna tend to chase the bait fish up onto the edges of sandbanks throughout the bay especially in the areas north of Peel up towards Harries, so if you do find them fire a cast there direction and see what happens. Another thing to remember when trying to catch Tuna is DO NOT just drive up at speed cut the motor and try to catch them that way sure it might work on occasions but in the end most of the time the fish will shut down not to be seen again. Instead the best approach although difficult is to try and watch the travelling direction of the fish and get in front of them allowing them to come to you. It can be hard at times when they're always changing directions but this way the fish will stay up longer and multiple casts can be made at one school of fish.
Rods, Reels and Line
Rod and reel choice can vary quite a lot as they can be landed on anything from a 2-4kg Bream setup right through to heavier spin gear. They don’t fight dirty and a good drag and plenty of line is all that's required to land one but bear in mind that fishing too light will result in you having to drive after the fish and increase your chances of getting sharked. Being this article is geared more towards the plastics style of fish my preference for a Tuna rod would be something in the 7 foot 6-10kg range and a 4000 size reel to suit, brand is not important and all companies make gear that cover these specs. A rod with a softer tip to throw the lure is important to achieve a greater distance if the fish are easily spooked and a strong butt section on the rod to lift them when they circle below the boat is another vital quality to look for in a rod. I personally use a LuckyCraft Light Drop Shot 3-10kg with a Stradic CI4 4000 and have found it more than capable on most bay Tuna. Line wise 20lb braid would be the sweet spot for in the bay and if you used the combo offshore as well 30lb would also be suitable, 10lb would do the job most of the time also but it gets a bit tedious trying to lift the fish on lighter gear. Leaders wise Flurocarbon is the go and generally speaking the shallower the water the fish are found in the lighter the leader needs to be. In the southern bay you could go as low a 14lb leader and be alright but as you head towards the northern half of the bay 30lb would be a better choice as you're more likely to come across other fish like Cobia, Kingfish and Macs.
Lures
Now that you've found some fish and have the rod and reel in your hand you need something to actually throw at the fish and get a strike. Match the hatch is what most people work by and the same goes for Longies, having said that Longies are nowhere near as fussier fish as Mac Tuna can be and as such they take a large variety of plastics and metals. In the bay a lot of the fish are feeding on Hardy Heads and a small 3” plastics in the clearer to opaque varieties is a good place to start, most companies make plastics that suit with brands like Zooms and Bass Assassin through to Berkely and Squidgies all having suitable styles and colours. Jerkbait/forktail minnow styles are probably the best as they represent the baitfish better but they can also be caught on other weird and wonderful styles as well so do be afraid to throw out what's in your tackle box. Jigheads need to be strong and 3/8-1/2oz is probably the best weight as any lighter and you wont cast the distance any heavier and the lure will sink straight past the fishes mouth, hook size just needs to match the plastic you're using. Also ensure the hooks are heavy wire in what ever brand you use aas light wire hooks wont last long on heavier drag settings.
Technique
I have to be honest I’ve not found any technique to be more successful than any other as most of the time when the lure lands in the right spot it's picked up without any retrieve necessary. But unlike metals a fast wind isn't really needed as you want the lure in front of the fish for as long as possible and I tend to find a medium twitching retrieve on the lure seems to do the job. In the end just mix it up as one thing works on one school of fish but not the other. Also let it sink through the school and see what might be beneath it. Another trick is whilst fishing have a lightly weighted plastic dead-sticking out the back of the boat as I know of one person using this technique and it has proven to be quite successful for him.
Landing The Fish
All that's required to land the fish is patience as they wont run for any reefs and they don’t have any teeth to bite you off, you just need to survive the initial run and take it from there, the hardest past of the fight is when the fish is below the boat and circling as they can prove to be quite difficult to lift from this position. The trick here is to just motor off the fish and try and get it arching up on the surface also try and work against the fishes direction of travel say if he's swimming away from you try to work the rod the other way so that you're always trying to turn the fishes head. All that’s needed now is to net or gaff the fish and you're done.
Summary
I hope this is of help to at least one person and that you're able to score your first Longie from it. At the end of the day you just need to be on the water and watching what's going on as most people just drive past good fish not knowing they're there. There will be days where none of the above works and other days where it all falls into place and that's the thing with Tuna as they are so unpredictable and for the yakkers out there Longies are certainly catch-able from a yak in the bay you just need to be a little smarter about chasing them and be prepared to paddle but they're worth it in the end. Now the wait begins for them to start showing up in numbers
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