Neil Stratford

Nicely done fellows, good fish.

Here u go Bretto ,

I'm lucky enough to have 2 boats .

A little 4.75m Stessl edge tracker with a 70 hp Suzuki  that I fish in rivers, creeks, dams and close to shore stuff  and a 6m  boat.

The bigger boat  is an old 6m plate  Sportfish that I had re  refurbished   with a hardtop, new paint  and glass windows about 10 years ago.

I run a Furuno FCV 588 as a dedicated sounder and a Lowrance Elite FS9 as a chart  plotter.

I also use a Lowrance HDS 7 as additional  sounder /plotter when required.

Its powered by  a 140HP  Suzuki and has a 120Lt fuel tank , 200L under floor kill tank ,a self draining deck and a double bunk bed up the front.

Top speed is 34 knots and cruises nicely at 24 knots.

Neil

Here's another video of my son and I getting some  Spanish Mackerel earlier this year.

Regards

Neil

Just found some lost videos on my phone, I'll post a couple over the next few weeks   , here's one  spinning for Tailor at Fraser Island last August using my faithful old 499 Mitchell Spinning  Reel  , Live Fibre Surf Rod and a 85g Raider lure.

Enjoy me nearly falling over dragging it up the beach.

Neil

Sorry Bretto I can’t give away the location , there’s still a few snapper there with a deep desire to come home with me .If you line up that aircrafts  jet stream with the sun’s  angle of incidence to the island  and the shadow on the esky you should be able to work out the location within a few metres . HEY -You should be at work away! Here’s a few photo of a few specimens to help you through your day.
Neil

Bretto -Yes Southern Bay .

Kat - yes I usually use plastics for Snapper in the bay , especially in the shallow water.The boat is a lot easier to clean , and you don’t have to sort though as much vermin to get a feed . Mind you I did catch a dirty big catfish this morning that slimed balled the carpet.  
Neil

Put the boat in this morning at 6am . Surprisingly was the only trailer in the car park.

Headed out into an ok sunrise. Tagged 13 small snapper and a lone grassy , and brought home 3 snapper for a feed . All caught on soft plastics. Back at the ramp at 10am. Weather permitting, I might go and have a flathead fish later in the week.

regards

Neil

Hi Hamish, I’ve caught Spanish mackerel on all sorts of things.They are one of my favourite fish to catch.I was very lucky that a very successfully pro mackerel fisherman at 1770 shared his knowledge with me when I was young like you.

Both Wolf Herring , school mackerel I find quite good.A lot of pro fishermen use live  slimies and yakkas because they can get them cheap and easily  , some use gar on wog heads . Pike and even WA pilchards  , plus various different lures to name a few things , I’ve used them all with success. But for fishing between the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast I wouldn’t even bother going out if I didn’t take at least a dozen Bonito. The Qld government will soon reduced the bag limit to 1 per person or 2 per boat if you have crew  on board ,so now I’ll  only need to take about 6 baits. I’ve found that by far , the best species of Bonito are the “pretty boys”  (Watsons Leaping Bonito) . 
The bigger and fresher the bait the faster it will get hit. Don’t be afraid of a bait over 60cm long , spanish mackerel will eat that first almost every time. There are many aspects other than bait rigging that you need to know to catch a Spanish mackerel  - location , water quality ,what they look like on a sounder , time of year, tide, troll speed and direction ,are all very important to learn at different places . Believe it or not , a lot of people simply don’t even see a strike and wind in a bait severed a third of the way down , missing every hook . Even when you think you’ve mastered the art , then there’s the sharks to beat. 
regards

Neil

As promis

ed a couple of months ago , here's a video of how I  rig my troll baits for spanish mackerel.

If you plan to use your VHF radio - Yes you need to do a marine radio course to use a VHF radio.

Use channel 16 in an emergency.

Use Channel 16 or 73 for Manly Coast Guard

Use Channel 16 or 67 or 73 for the Seaway Tower Gold Coast

Use 68 or 72 for Rec Boating activity.

Regards

Neil

Fished the southern bay again  . Put the boat in at 2.30pm

Beautiful afternoon on the water, the bay was like a mirror.. Probably too good as the water was crystal clear. We need a bit of rain to put some colour back in it.

Fished with soft plastics , but had to sort through a lot of underside fish to get a feed ,but finally got there. 

Pulled the boat out at 5pm . Left the fish on ice , and will fillet them tomorrow,when they harden up a bit.

Regards

Neil
 

He was out having a walk , just had to pick him up and convince him to come home with me. 

Just getting ready for lunch today.

Looks like a another nice day ,plan today is : cappuccino’s and Qld lolly pops by the bay for morning tea , then some nice fresh crusty bread crab sandwiches for lunch . If we feel up to it , we might even  follow up with a bit of a walk along the foreshore.
Retirement is hard , wish I was back at work - not.

Decided to fish the southern bay this morning . Didn’t put the boat in till about 6.30am and knew with a low tide at about 7am it was going to be a struggle. On top of that conditions  were glassy as ,with very clear water ,which always makes fishing in the shallows  difficult.Anyway it was better than watching the grass grow.

Got about a dozen under sized  snapper first up and lost a very good fish that found a snag and broke me off . Ended up getting one snapper  that went 54cm , a couple of flathead,  a sole and a crab that when added up , put together a nice little feed.

Just had 2 days of arts and crafts with the wife.

Whilst I was busy outside making up a  new jig head mould ,pouring some molten lead and playing with some paint to produce some coral trout hybrid jigs , the wife was upstairs printing me out a cool polo shirt. See below photos of the finished goods.Just got to get motivated again and make another 20 or 30 more jigs and pour a few more sinkers. 

Has your reel got a full spool of line on it?

You’ll cast a whole lot further if it’s got a full spool.

If your leader is too long ,especially if it’s very heavy ,  that will also reduce your casting distance. 
regards

Neil