Allnighter

Hi Elli

20pd braid with 40pd mono leader

Bait was a not so fresh Halco slug ...

Well, the stars aligned this morning for myself and my two sons, we all had time off work this morning and headed out for a quick fish from the Port of Brissy in search of any pelagics.

Bashed the beacons for awhile with no schoolies, so headed to an old mark where we have had success before in the middle of nowhere and was pleased to see on the sounder some massive bait balls

Wasnt too long and off goes the Shimano baitrunner ! 

Nearly half an hour later and finally boated a nice Longtail Tuna which went just over a metre ......

Tried to swim it alongside boat for awhile for a graceful release but it was pretty gassed and ended up in the esky for dinnies.... (Lots of dinners i think)

Happy with that , so decided to make it a short session and back at the ramp by midday leaving behind a gloriously flat bay ! 

Hahaaa yea its so exciting when a plan comes together ! ☺

Baits were dead not live, but fresh - as in caught that day, and thats half of the adventure, if we cant catch our own bait that day, we go home without even bothering fishing.

We have always been bait fisherman, but we use lures/plastics to catch our bait, so i guess its a bit each way ☺

The name Allnighter started years ago, my sons and i used to go fishing for 2 days at a time, gather bait during the day then sleep during the day, and then fish all thru the night. Im too old for that now lol. But in those times we learnt sooooo much back then that it has certainly given us an insight of when and where to fish these days. So now sometimes we fish night, and sometimes day. Either way its great to revisit these same spots even 15-20 years later, re-live the good old days with my sons and laugh about the funny fishing stories we remember when they were just young tackers. ☺

Well its been a few months since ive wet a line, been busy at work and that bloody summer northerly keeps us from fishing most of our favourite marks in the bay.

Last winter we returned to some of our old gps marks we have collected for 30 years of fishing the bay, and fished around Green and Mud Island for some great catches of Snapper.

With summer well and truly upon us i was mindful that in years gone by, in summer, some of the bigger snaps seem to be found in the more southern bay, so was keen to fish Macleay Island when everything was aligned, and that opportunity was last night ☺

So my son and i left Viccy Point boat ramp late yesterday arvo, spent a few hours gathering bait, and then headed to our favourite spot at Macleay Island.

Set the Minny on spot lock, with a gentle breeze, no rain and a flat bay☺ 

Wasnt long before one of the rods buckled over and line screaming off the shimano! ☺ , wooow this one was unstoppable and reel almost spooled and then it was all over... gooooooone, snapper 1 - fisho's nil.....

 That initial snapper run in the shallows is mind blowing and still has us gobsmacked everytime.

Anyway next screaming spool wasnt too far away, and was really patient with this one, a blistering run like a freighttrain and could feel the head shakes and after a loooong few nervous minutes , out of the darkness of the water appeared a nice 80cm Snap ! ☺

Back to the boat ramp in 15 minutes, what a great fishing haven we have at our backdoor! 

Well with a friday off work and with a wet and windy weekend coming, i pondered the thought of heading to Mud for a quick solo session. 

Checked the radar, didnt look too bad and besides the weather bureau always seem too early in their predictions. Lol

So hooked the tinny up, grabbed the rain coat and headed out.

ZERO trailers at the boat ramp, yep its official i'm the only mad idiot.

Conditions ended up being not too bad  across to Mud's western side.

Arrived at spot x, hit spot lock on the minny and enjoyed the serenity while looking back at brissy's ominous weather.

Anyways, landed a couple of good eating size snaps around the 65 cm range.

Headed home before dusk, made it safely back and happy i went afterall.

I should add that although wet, the forecast was only for 10-15 easterlies.

Couldnt resist another quick fish this afternoon with the weather so great!

Grabbed a couple of cans o beers and headed out to a gloriously flat bay.

Set the pointy end of the boat towards the island, cracked a can while cruising out there and really enjoyed the smooth ride and anticipation of what might unfold today.

Set the Minny on spot lock and slowly floated down two baits and wasnt long before one of the rods buckled over with the reel screaming off line!

Boated a nice snapper, rebaited and in again and wasnt long before number 2 snap hit the deck.

It really is hard to describe how hard these go in 5- 6 metres of water!

Doesnt get any better than that so decided to head home early and cleanup the gear.

About 15 years ago i used to fish the bay islands regularly with my sons and one close mate, but then some life changes got in the way and my close mate unfortunately passed away

Back then i was a regular to Ausfish and met some great blokes, and had some great fishing adventures.

I sold the 5.2m Formosa 10 years ago or so, but have recently rekindled my passion for the bay again and have bought a 4.2m Renegade with the desire to fish the bay again with my two sons

Well, the glorious bay is still there all these years later and i am thoroughly enjoying re-living the good old days!

What a beautiful place we have right at our back door!

Luckily i kept some gps marks from all those years ago which are still producing some great fish.

These are from just 5-6m of water.

I have a 4.2m Quintrex Renegade and recently self installed a Minn Kota Riptide I Pilot with spot lock.

It was under 2K complete with a 120ah battery.

I have never used the anchor since.

The advantages of using it when fishing or even exploring are mind blowing , lash out and spend the extra coin.....

Actually i would go as far to say that it would be more important to me, if i was on a budget, to spend the coin on an Ipilot,

instead of spending more on a flash tinny and a flash motor

It's like i've been born again... and i"m an atheist lol

gives me a boner every time i go out and deploy the electric ......