GregN70

10 hours ago, bigkingie said:

The problem I have with that is that before you said "Especially along the Southern Great Barrier Reef from about Mackay to Bundy" was 'flogged to death', 'barren' etc. This is a range of 520 km (that's just as the crow flies).  This was on the basis of you recently taking up diving. Then you doubled down and said "Plus there's FA to catch anywhere aslo, like an absolute barren wasteland out there". 

All this shape shifting doesn't do much for your credibility and doesn't give any justification for disregarding official assessments and scientific data. 

Come for a dive with me smart mouth. Perhaps stop being a know-it-all keyboard warrior and come for a real see for yourself look. I’m guessing you’ve never actually been anywhere near this area, and you just like being a troll. 

22 minutes ago, Daryl McPhee said:

They are up that way on most of the beaches around Yeppoon. Further north, Alva Beach is a known hot spot for them with a lot of people chasing them there. If you have a shot on those beaches around Yeppoon you should be able to consistently get a feed.  

Done those beaches to death, using both locally caught live beach worms and yabbies from the nearby creeks. Never seen a Whiting there yet.

That's really awesome. Got to live whiting, such a delicious little fish.

Pity they don't live around Yeppoon area or Central Qld.

All I can attest is areas that I fish and dive (Coastal and offshore waters off Yeppoon) are in my experience, based on current observations and catches compared with that which I experienced 30yrs ago when I first visited here are merely a shadow of what there once were. If you can’t see we’ve completely ruined it your either delusional or have a vested interest (eg pro-fisherman).
 

Apologies for not producing a statistical analysis data plot research paper. 30yrs ago I didn’t think we’d end up this rooted. 

16 minutes ago, bigkingie said:

Well, no wonder you are getting a few laughs. There is no way you could have covered a significant area by yourself and given you have only recently taken up diving. You have no baseline of what healthy stocks look like. If that's not enough even properly done diver surveys tend to significantly underestimate fish stocks:

 Reef fish communities are spooked by scuba surveys and may take hours to recover - PMC (nih.gov)

Plus there's FA to catch anywhere aslo, like an absolute barren wasteland out there.

6 hours ago, bigkingie said:

On what basis - apart from your own opinion?

 

Observation 

2 hours ago, bigkingie said:

 Stocks of reef fish are described as very robust and appear to be increasing in numbers. 

 

Not in my area, I would call stocks somewhere between scarce & extinct 

Occasionally they swim into Yeppoon waters when the water quality is good, which is not very often. They do fight well and have good sharp little teeth.

I've always thought that fragile reef areas, need to be shut like this for about 10 months per year to preserve stocks, otherwise there will be nothing left soon, and its getting very close to it now..

Especially along the Southern Great Barrier Reef from about Mackay to Bundy which has been absolutely flogged to death for the last 40 yrs. Like open it only for a month in Dec and then again in Jun. And Same for those extremely rare Spanish Mackerel which are on the verge of extinction in Qld waters.

For both commercial and Rec though.

4 hours ago, Junky said:

Diawa certate. 14000XH. 

Same as the saltiga (I have both) but older saltiga bail arm. 

It's everything you want. 

Awesome reels. 

Watch matty smashing the GT's with em up Airlie way. 

Pelagic persuit. 

Certate 14k XH

300M of saltiga  PE6 12 BRAID. 

Hang on!

 

I use mine for reefies and trolling. 

That Pelegic Pursuit guy is a full on knob head 

Absolutely. You get what you pay for, always.

Many years ago, I looked at all my tackle and decided to halve the amount of rods and reels I own, but double the quality. And it's served me very well ever since. Not only are high quality reels a pleasure to use and perfectly reliable, they also have extremely good resale value. I predominantly use Daiwa gear as I prefer it over shminano, and when say a new Exist model comes out I pop my old ones on ebay and I usually get almost what I paid for it, then before you know it I have 3 or 4 shiny new ones to enjoy. And I keep this up also with the Saltigas/Certates I use offshore and also the couple of little Luvias I keep for freshwater and trips down south and across to NZ.

13 hours ago, getrigged said:

Yeah have done mission before and got the miss on fishing. 

Pitty, I used to get great Mangrove Jacks there.

I'd avoid Motorguide at all costs, I now call them "Aspros" because they dissolve in water. I had my first one for 2 years, always washed it, never treated it rough, it corroded like crazy, despite being a SW model. They did their best to avoid any warranty. Sold it.

The second one cam with a boat I bought, I was reluctant, but gave them another shot, once again, it started to corrode badly with in a few weeks of use. Got it repaired & repainted, sold it cheap, bought a new MinnKota, and 3 years on there is no corrosion and it has been faultless.

On 27/08/2022 at 6:30 PM, Leeroy said:

I would argue against this especially offshore.

Well I wouldn't know I live and fish out of yeppoon, there are NO fish here offshore anyway, so makes no difference to me.

7 hours ago, Kat said:

Have you found those features useful for catching more fish?

I’ve not caught any more fish that I would have with an anchor 

1 minute ago, Angry51 said:

And I bet you can't remember how many stubbies you had.

Not even 1.

I have a Motorguide on my creek boat. The only gizmos that I use or think is valuable are:

Spot Lock, works really well, unless you are under a bridge and it can't see the satellites, mine lost its connections, got confused & took off on me, crashed hard into a bridge pylon.

Jog Feature to move in steps 1.5m, I love this when you just need to adjust to get the right spot

I tried using the heading feature when trolling for barra, but it's useless. It's meant to keep you going on the same heading, but ended wiggling my way across the flats like a drunk was in control.

THe others i cant find any use for

I have plastic tags cut from old ice cream containers and lids (etc) with a hole punched that I keep with a few zip ties and a nikko, and just sippy them on to the rope near the foat, so who ever i take crabbing just writes up 4 tags and away we go.

Hows the crabbing around cannonvale? I hope its better than that around Rocky and Yeppoon. I managed just one keeper last summer from 13 trips

17 minutes ago, Jimmyjack said:

I agree up to a point. My fishing this year has been so crap Im beginning to unenjoy it. Like loving to play cricket but getting beaten by ten wickets every week. And being in Brisbane compounds it because it's not like I get away from everything when everyone is getting away from everything at the same time and in the same place. 

But at least it's usually exceptional fishing all around there and in Moreton Bay etc. Good crabs, heaps of prawns too.

13 minutes ago, Jimmyjack said:

Despite having all the attributes it fishes poorly IMO. Always bait around, with some deeper water there and structure. It's like a mini version of the codhole/jewhole at the Maroochydore highway bridge but with much less action. HAve not had much success anywhere on the Pine but that's more a reflection of my skill level than the reality. Def casting upcurrent is the way to go I agree. 

Still could be worse = Rockhampton/Yeppoon

You don't often hear about donuts there, it being such a great & consistent fishery.

6 hours ago, Hweebe said:

Any spottie or spanish macs there?

No, not unless you go out to the Swains which is a few hundred KM out to sea, to far for my 5.8m. I've not caught a Spanish Mack and have been trying for 3 decades now, tried here a lot but the water quality is usually too poor and to shallow for them, not much if any bait around either. might have to wait till I move back to SEQ to snare one. Much better fishing around Brisbane than Yeppoon.

Sad they, like all other fish are so rare around Central Qld