Andrew_P

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.

From the same forum:
 

From the same forum:
 

That looks delicious. Thanks for the inspiration

I’ve been smoking a fair bit lately! Been getting the scraps from my mates’ reef trips. Wings, belly and backbones especially. It’s a great way to use flesh that would otherwise go to waste. Here’s a few pics. 

Latest batch. Red wings and backbone

I’ve been smoking a fair bit lately! Been getting the scraps from my mates’ reef trips. Wings, belly and backbones especially. It’s a great way to use flesh that would otherwise go to waste. Here’s a few pics. 

I’ve been smoking a fair bit lately! Been getting the scraps from my mates’ reef trips. Wings, belly and backbones especially. It’s a great way to use flesh that would otherwise go to waste. Here’s a few pics. 

Latest batch. Red wings and backbone

Hello all,
Long time no post! I've been through a couple of years fishing hiatus, life hiatus really, due to health problems. I've lost the obsessive nature and passion I used to have with fishing but I'm happy to be involving myself every month or two in a fishing trip! And enjoying it which is the main thing. 
Unlike other sports such as golf I was pleased to discover that I haven't 'lost it'. It was great to find that fishing is an activity once you learn it you can't unlearn it, maybe just brush up on the basics and wrack the memory and you're good to pick up where you left off. 
Last month with a mate in his boat (I am now boatless and only have 2 rods and reels and hardly any lures! The true minimalist fisho) we headed out into the bay in search of tuna. From past years, the first of the westerly winds brings them in close to the western bay shore. And sure enough we found them within 5 minutes of looking. 
Successful day hooking up to 6 and boating 3 or 4, I can't remember. I don't really bother with photos much anymore but here's a couple of little cuties around 1m from a double hookup.

I literally own 2 types of plastics and 1 stickbait which has actually made it a cool experience. I used to be so caught up wondering which of my 7836 lures to put on next and wasting time doing so. In the end sticking with something that has been proven in the past and keeping it in the water is what caught the fish. Funny that. 
This morning myself and Murray (same mate) went out in search of snapper in the shallows which was a bucket list item for him. Conditions were too still but I'm really glad he got one at 47cm, he has massive hands haha. 
That was about it aside from a couple of squid.
Thanks guys! And hello to all of you I know and those of you I don't, I hope everyone is going well 🙂

Luke and I headed off on Sunday and launched at Urangan boat ramp around lunch time. First spot we stopped at we jigged a couple of school mackerel and quickly moved on not wanting to lose any more jigs to them.
We head for Wathumba area and saw no birds until we got there. There were small schools of small tuna and some bigger ones around but they were not interested in any of our offerings. We anchored up for the night in anticipation of tomorrow's full day.
The crack of dawn we were up and our plan was to head to Rooney's point and hop from reef to reef before heading onwards to southern gutters. The first 2 reefs didn't produce much so we kept hopping. On our first drift I picked up my first large mouth nannygai or saddle tail snapper.

They fight well and I expect will be nice eating. With a lot of pickers around we decided to head straight to the southern gutters.
There were plenty of fish there but sharks were ridiculous. We couldn't get anything past them, except Luke managed to pull an ander size Red Emperor out of the mouth of a shark and the poor thing had it whole head crushed.
After many bust offs we headed back to the closer reefs for the afternoon. Turned out  be a good decision because we were not being hammered by the sharks and the afternoon bite was good. Luke pulled I think 6 under size Red's up to 48cm, doh.
Luke also picked up his first Nannygai 2 x PB and new species for us both.

Then I upgraded with a 50cm tuskie another PB 
We added about 4 more Nannygai's to the esky and a few Mosses perch. This is the sort of reef fish I love to eat.
I left a micro jig out bouncing and a nice size Mac tuna pulled hard on the jigging rod. This provided most of our bait.

We were pretty tired after the full day and as the sun dipped below the horizon we threw the anchor our and reheated some Spaghetti Bolognese that Luke had pre made. It was amazing and washed it down with some beer and bourbon.
I thought I'd try some Soft plastics after dark and to my surprise they worked well at 35m meters down in the pitch darkness. I scored a nice Mosses perch and then another Nannygai while Luke kept banging fish on bait and still bringing in small reds.

The wind come up and we broke anchor so headed back to Fraser for a calmer nights sleep.
Yesterday morning we headed back to the same the reef but the fish were not co-operating and the drift speed was double that of the day before with the wind getting up.
Considering what we had in the esky we were satisfied and made the call to head back to see what else we could find on the way home.
The wind was a SSW so we punched into the chop all the way home. After travelling for 25 kw back from Rooney's at speed we saw some fish and ground under on the sounder and quickly pulled up to see what it was.
Luckily for us it was bait fish and some Golden trevally. 2 weeks ago I made a new color up at Gobblers while in the lure training a clear but when viewed side on it has a green tone skin look.
I cast the new plastic out (yet to be named) and hopped it of the bottom very subtly and felt the weight. This was a good fish and after a spirited fight we landed my PB Golden at 92cm.


We had another 4 hits that we didn't convert and a braid failure after a hook up, which impressed me no end.
All in all we had a ball as usual and learnt more new things.
To come home with such good quality fish was a bonus.
 

The Australian Lure Expo is being held at Beenleigh this weekend if any one is interested. I’ll be there for a look from 9.30am tomorrow. 
Beenleigh Showgrounds, 38 – 44 James St, Beenleigh QLD 4207

Lance and I left Brisbane Sunday morning and headed up the highway rolling in to Agnes Waters just after 2pm. We fueled up and got plenty of ice launching by 3pm we pointed the boat towards our final destination.
 
The boat travelled over some very calm conditions with a forecast of mint weather for our 1st couple of days. We reached the reef we wanted to fish just after sunset but not much biting around dusk surprisingly.
 
We ended up moving over to our overnight anchorage and cooked a hot dinner. The sea was like glass and the stars had a mirror image on the water, going to bed you could not hear the water lapping on the hull.
 
After a perfect night sleep we were greeted to more of the same weather and the fish were hungry. The 1st area we targeted Red Emperor and both Lance and I lost a couple of big Reds blowing us away. I did hook a Red before they all shut down landing a 60cm Red beast.
 
Jumping down to the next spot was easy with the sea state and each new spot gave up some quality fish. Coral trout, Red throat emperor, Venus tuskfish, Hussar, Moari cod and Red Emperor were filling the box. By 3pm the box was nearly full as we got close to our baglimits so we anchored up for a well earned rest so we thought.
 
We cracked a few beers and I set a floating bait for any lurking pelagic. Well it didn't take long for a Spanish mackerel to hit peeling line at blistering speed. The gaff shot was made but this fish new how to fly jumping off the gaff and winning it's freedom.
 
No sooner I had set another floating slimie mackerel out the rod buckled again. Lance battled this Spanish calling it for a beast after a dogged fight even looking at 1 stage to running around the anchor rope it did turn and come back eventually coming into gaff range it hit the deck. This Spanaird was just under 140cm and around 18 to 20kg.

 
We even got coral trout while we were anchored while sinking a few coldies at the end of the day. The wind picked up after dark but we were tucked in on the Lee side of the reef. About 5am the wind swung around as forecast and it got a bit lumpy so we pulled the anchor and moved to the Lee side of the neighboring reef.
 
The next anchorage was perfect for the southerly wind which got up to 20 to 25knots. The sea was still flat where we were tucked in behind this reef and you know what there was fish to catch.
 
Setting another floating slimie mackerel the line was pulled out of my hands so I slammed the reel in gear and held on. The reel screaming another Spanish was to blame soon the Spanaird in the box had company.
 
The wind was strong through to midday but dropped right out giving us our freedom from behind the reef. The next area produced our last couple of fish for our total finfish bag. I got a good Maori cod but Lance landed our 2nd legal Red Emperor and last fish so we pointed the boat for home.

 
Getting to the ramp just after dark we stopped at a local caravan park for a sleep. The next day was a lot easier driving home well rested thanks Lance for a great trip and thanks Robbie with the help cleaning and bagging fish up.

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 .... 🙂 

 

Met Eye looks amazing for both days this weekend. I am heading offshore on Saturday in Quampie with the family then again in Min Min (fancy Sea Hunt center console) with a mate on Sunday. 
Plan is to jump the bar at about 6.30 Sat and first light on Sunday (around 5.50?ish). It is low tide so will have to be careful both days but with less than 1m swell mostly from the east should be fine. 
I would be happy to meet you at the bar if you wanted to follow someone out. While I am not the most experienced bar crosser I have done this one many times now and feel pretty confident.
I will mostly be targeting Spanish but will try a bit of bottom bashing for Snapper too 

Headed up to Maleny this morning to fish Baroon.First couple of schools I found were mongrel spanglies, they were of good size and fooled me on the sounder as I thought they were bass.Fished a few spots with some producing and some not. Tally was growing on shrimp so I decided to try a few back alleys casting spinnerbaits,While I was doing this I had a couple of baits over the side in case a bass showed up. All of a sudden one of the rods buckled over and I first thought you ripper my first 50 up here for awhile, it was very heavy and I was expecting to see a bass wrapped around a branch surface. Well my eyes opened up when I seen a nice approx 70cm Mary come up.I didnt measure it was in a hurry to get it back in the water, so one pic out of water while removing the hook and a quick one in the water.It was caught on the smallest of shrimp I had.
I kept casting in the back waters until I finally got a bass on spinnerbait. All up 78 bass and one MRC. Last time up there I couldnt see a foot in front of me the fog was that thick, this morning I was greeted by the fog in the middle of the first pic.
Dino

Very nice fish Andrew, you guys have done well, i'm envious, thanks for sharing.

M 15
H  18
🙂

@Junky that’s my mate’s boat. I haven’t fished out of it yet - I took the photo from the other boat. Yeah they look pretty raked back now you mention it. He travels with his rods on the deck so don’t think he’s lost any yet. Bound to be some sword crossing with 4 guys on a boat! 😂

Ha! We’ve all had a guess here at work
 

Update: we’ve let the otoliths dry out for three weeks or so, and blocked them (one of each species) in polyester resin. The drying makes the rings more obvious. The reason we block them is so we can cut a section through the centre of the otolith with a low speed saw without crushing the otolith material.

Two more weeks for the resin to harden then we will cut the sections. I’ll put some pics up of the rest of the process. 
 

Just had another look at your cat. I love KC's. 
Do you lose rods at any time out of the rocket launchers when travelling?  Man they're racked back. Been in plenty of kevla's and never noticed the launchers to be so raked. I know they ride smooth as silk so this may be your saving grace. 
 
My mates old reef boss had launchers like that and rough weather they would bounce out. I always left my rods on the deck when travelling.
Must also find it difficult to cast without a collision of rods. 

Hussar 39. 
Moses. 26. 

Love the science on this Andrew, really interested to see the result!