Hweebe

2 hours ago, Junky said:

I had considered that, however I'm not convinced that is the sole reason. 

For a large animal to breech and put itself in danger (falling over a boat wouldn't tickle the whale) like that is more than just the wrong place at the wrong time. 

These animals are not stupid. 

They know the boat is there before the boat (crew) knows it is beneath it. 

I tend to agree Junky - I've been on multiple whale watch tours out of hervey bay and if this was real risk tour operators wouldn't want to be anywhere near the whales. Having said that the rules mean the operator has to shut the engines once whales get to a certain distance. The whales will often approach or are curious of the boat, but they move with precision always avoiding the boat.

Now if the boat was moving whilst the whale is close and  thats another story and I can see how crashes may occur. Especially if a boat is moving around unpredictably

So excluding the pesky jetskis & sailboats - QLD has 215,922 registered powered boats or 4.1% of QLD population (some lucky people may have multiple boats) so say 4%. Or 1 in 25 QLD'er have access to a boat for recreational purposes.

This of course won't include unregistered tenders / tinnies under 6hp

(Population (google) for QLD 5.185 million)

39 minutes ago, Angry51 said:

Don't know who did the survey but only a fraction of towns listed.Townsville wasn't mentioned/Mt Isa

Rocky/Yeppoon Mackay.

Emerald/ Mareeba,,,, come on.

It's annoying the data isn't grouped by Local Government Areas or Regions. I truncated to the list at the risk of creating a massively long post  

29 minutes ago, Angry51 said:

The courier mail lists Brisbane/Gladstone/ Gold Coast/ Townsville in

that order. Are you making up your own stats.

Vessel registrations - Dataset - Open Data Portal | Queensland Government

Although if I combine Mercury and Mariner, Johnson and Suzuki the numbers are closer with Evinrude dropping down the order

By Engine 1 - Yamaha clearly dominant (I've excluded Jet Skis from these numbers now). 

Top of the suburbs with registered vessels in QLD - Bowen out in front but the list is dominated by bayside suburbs in Brisbane 

Guess what Brand sits at the top for most vessel registrations in QLD (2021):

(who doesn't like Jet skis hahaha)

On 09/09/2022 at 12:26 PM, Old Scaley said:

Nice work as usual @Daryl McPhee. Reinforces the idea that 20% of fishers are catching 80% of the fish. A little know how and a lot of patience pays off. I know lots of people who say Moreton Bay is fished out and yet there are plenty of people who consistently pull in good fish. That is not to say they don’t have a donut every now and then, but that’s fishing. Hmmm. Now you are making me think it is time to go on a whiting hunt for the first time in a while. Thanks for posting.

Saw this old adage in real time on the weekend in the Rous channel about 20 boats anchored up in the same area whilst only ~4 or 5 boats landing the majority of the Mackerel meanwhile i struggle to pull in a couple before they bagged out around 10:30am.

Me and the misso looking at each other and saying - only way they bagged out that early was they were there and fishing before the sun was even out (and before I was even out of bed). As much as I love fishing, the thought of getting out of bed at 3am after a long week at work doesn't excite me.

It was still good seeing people pull in the mackerel though, If I'm not catching I still like to see other people around pulling them in. As proof that its me and not the area that i'm fishing has no fish LOL

Wait until Christmas - Normally see a few Stella's go for a good price on Gumtree or Marketplace as "unwanted gifts" brand new.

I always wonder in what circles do people gift Stella's, I'm obviously not in those circles  

For every forum ever: There are no facts, just interpretations.

Looks and sounds like an epic Fraser trip. I'll be up there for a week in early October for some camping.

When did you find the fish were most on the chew?

On 05/09/2022 at 6:04 AM, Drop Bear said:

They are very good quality and worth the money if you can afford them. I won't buy one... I don't look after my gear very well. 

 

This is me as well. I'm not good with looking after my gear and certainly if you get a Stellar you will need to commit time to keeping always clean after a fishing sesh.

I'm ok when i'm fishing from home base and doing the post fishing sesh cleanup in the mancave, but when i'm out on location its usually the last thing I want to do

On 06/09/2022 at 1:44 PM, GregOug said:

I just received the latest email from Steve Starling ‘Starlo and Jo’. The first article is about the Western Australian government proposing to close reef fishing for Eight to Nine months each year! If you are interested in more information go to fishotopia.com.au and register for the newsletter. Hopefully you will receive the current one where this absurd closure is discussed.

cheers

Greg

If i was a Rec fisho in WA and this was passed - there would be no reason for owning and maintaining a boat / trailer to only fish 3-4 months a year. (even less when taking our poor weather days)

Those  whiting fillets would go a treat for a fresh feed. You definitely have honed in over the years of experience for when and where the fish are.

Do you keep a fish diary or do you keep it all in the noggin?

5 hours ago, christophagus said:

i know the ramada has a open parking lot behind the hotel with heaps of space.

3 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

If you are just looking for somewhere cheap and basic, the Harbour View Caravan Park has villas with enough room to park car and boat. 

 

Thanks @christophagus and @Old Scaley The trip will be all about fishing so cheap and cheerful suits me fine. The other half though may prefer the Ramada. I’ve stayed there for work but didn’t realise there was good car parking suitable for a trailer thanks for the tip.

Hi AFOers,

Planning a Hervey Bay trip in the new year. I've stayed at Boat Harbour Resort - Hervey Bay last time which was pretty good.

Any other recommendations from those that have towed a trailer boat up.

Ideally with onsite trailer boat parking (off street) and close to the accommodation / room itself (I know I'm a bit precious about where i park the boat and all the gear on board)

Thanks

 I find that a luring specific rod and the taper can still be used for bait fishing (within the lure weight limits)

However a bait fishing specific rod doesn't have the right rod tip action taper to work a lure.

So to answer your question - Yes it can be used for bait fishing.

Some solid flatties there on some reasonably light line too. Do you find running the lighter leader helps?

Did you high stick the rod? Some graphite rods need to load up evenly through the shaft and can be fickle with uneven load.

Is the rod salvageable? Did you break it at the top tip only?

Some healthy looking specimens, and one that is a little worse for wear.

On 27/08/2022 at 10:23 AM, Leeroy said:

Got a couple yesterday Ellicat but missed a few too.

Felt the rod go down but no hookup for some reason. 

I watched the previous one he did.

Anyone use sea water for their ice blocks? That's something i started doing with 2L containers for longer camping sessions and found it to quite a good / cheap hack. Just takes a few days longer to get the ice blocks frozen / cured

How good and on your own made lure that you can start testing, refining and experiment with what's working and the conditions they work in

@AUS-BNE-FISHO what about always having a heavy / shark rod setup whilst you are targeting other fish. I think at your local you are always a chance of a shark for some fun (if you can call it that).

This will keep it interesting in between hits / bites on other fish.