GJay382

Yes, that was a bit of an oversight on Henry's behalf. @GJay382 - if you need any advice on where to purchase fresh bait or 'purchase' fresh fish (or fillets), then definitely get in touch with @GregOug ......... 🙃😆

Hey, you forgot about me.

hey mate,
there's heaps of information around on this forum, the search feature is super handy to find threads relative to your location.
i would suggest a couple of things:
1) head to a decent (not large chain) local tackle shop, spend a bit of coin and ask some questions.  generally speaing, people are fairly wiling to help with general local advice, perhaps some generic gps marks as starting points too
2) find someone who is familiar with the area you are fishing and offer to take them out for the day and pick their brain
3) would also suggest identifying a target and going for that.  sounds a little like you are after a bit of everything at the moment which can be great but also mean you aren't really focussing on what you need to do to target a particular species or even fish a certain location.  by doing this you also open up options for still getting out when the weather might not allow an offshore trip - a good feed of whiting from the estuaries still makes for a great day on the water.
4) start a fishing diary.  take notes of locations, tides, moon phase, weather conditions, bait used etc.  eventually this will become second nature and won't need referring to  as much but what it will help in the short term is not making the same mistakes over and over again.
hope this is of some help, bit jealous you get out twice a week though...
cheers,
benno
 

Hey GJay382
I have limited experience being out there, but have read a fair bit and been on some charters so some of these tips might be relevant.
When we went out, the charter guide said the best bait was live herring. If you can throw a cast net, go into some of the canals, and throw your net. Sound up some bait or look for boils early in the morning and try and get some. After that, we'd go to the Seaway. The most recent trip was a dud (mainly because I got seasick) but on prior ones we have caught Jew, GT's, countless Bream, Cod, and even a Grassy. Use around a 20LB leader and have your drag set with a circle hook. Hopefully you'll get a few that way.
After that we'd normally drift for Flatties. They should be the easiest thing to catch, hopefully. Get in a few metres of water over a sandbar, and tie on about a 2 ball sinker. Just drift along, and you'll pick up a couple, or hopefully anyways. Depending on where you are and time of year, Tuskfish (if you're over Coffee Rock) and Squid (over weed) can be encountered too.
Good Luck.
Cheers Hamish
P.S. Attached below is an excellent thread by @marty on Palm Beach Mackerel.
 

Your captain is fishing too heavy by the sounds of it. Your weight should be just enough to get you to the bottom if you're targeting bottom species.
For bottom fish I prefer using a single circle hook with a half pilchard. Head - feed the hook all the way through the eyes, then hold the eye of the hook next to the eye of the pilchard to measure where the bottom of the hook needs to sit. Pass the pointy end through the back of the bait at that point. Tail - pass the hook right through the thin end of the tail section then, similar to the head method, lay the hook along the side to measure where to put the hook through. You can then put a half hitch around the hook and pilchard together.
Nothing like a video to show you -
If you're fishing for mackerel at the reefs then I use a set of 3 x 4/0 Tru turn gangs. It depends where the mackerel are sitting to decide which method to use. You might need to try 3 methods to find them if you're not getting a show on the sounder.
Method 1. Float out an unweighted pillie in the current to prospect the top level fish.
Method 2. Float out a lightly weighted pillie under a float say 1.5 to 2 metres down to prospect for middle feeders.
Method 3. Float a pillie to the bottom with just enough weight to defeat the current.
Berley hard with small sections of old pillies - they cut best if still frozen.

My well off Gold Coast friend has just retired and purchased an (all bells and whistles) 6m Formosa bowrider with a 150 yammy. I'm his Gilligan and we try to get out twice a week. So far we have been out 10-15 times in the broadwater and down to Mermaid and  Palm beach. We have only snagged(correct word) 1 mac tuna on a fluke lure.
We are like boys in a lolly shop, all this top gear, huge waterways, lets do this, lets do that.  In reality we haven't a clue how to fish. We were out for 5hrs yesterday in the broadwater and had  2 nibbles. I did notice my Captain had a 4 oz weight, 500m leader and a double gang rig with a 125mm pilly, in 4mtrs of water. I was using a very light weight and small fillets letting the tide take the bait, to no avail. And no fish on the Garmin. HEEEELLLPPP. Even when there is fish on the sounder, I think its in Demo mode.
Is there more logic to any of this, eg, finding out what fish is in season, where their habitat is, keep going back to try and get a strategy, what bait they prefer etc, etc,etc.
I know this is very broad and obviously would appreciate any and all help, even to have someone come out with us to show ue the practicalities

I suggest looking up tutorials for finding fish on you’re sounder .Every now and then you will get a massive bait school you can use a sabiki rig on a old rod you have with a fairly heavy sinker on the bottom of the rig to get where the bait school is.jig it around the bait school after you get enough baitfish you can either cut them up and use fillets or use it alive,livies @AUS-BNE-FISHO has experience using liveies and seem to have a fair bit of success on them . As for a rod setup ,I’m assuming you’re out fishing in a bay and not the river or offshore correct me if I’m wrong. A good rod setup in the bay would be a 4000 size reel matched with a 4-7kg rod 20lb braid should do the job make sure you use good knots and hooks and make sure you’re rigging the bait naturally I’m sure @ellicatshould have some excellent tips for this style of fishing

Nice looking boat.  When you say the broadwater do you mean the seaway or else where. In the sea way I use a patternoster rig with pilchard and squid. Plus I have another set up with a 2 hook rig with a light sinker and put on a live yakka or pilchard if I don't have one. If you go offshore keep going to your in 40 metres of water and sound along there till you find some reefs or schools of bait fish and drift over that.  You'll have days when you don't get a bite then you'll have a top day that will make up for it. Even on days when I get nothing it's still a good day sitting out there.  Love it.
 

My suggestion would be to get a detailed marine map of the area outside the Gold coast sea way and have a look at where the reefs are on it and head out there. You should have a physical map of the area on the boat anyway. There are areas of reef where you can catch some live bait just out of the seaway (this is assuming that you have a live bait tank on board) before you get out to the main reefs, once you leave the sea way you will probably spot the boats catching live baits a few Km from the entrance so just head towards those and join the crowd. Then once you stock up on livies head out to the reefs. I think you will have more success out there.
Personally I think the best thing that you should do if you guys don't know what you are doing, is both of you hop on a fishing charter boat for half a day first, probably cost about $160 each for 5 hours, but it will be money well worth spending. They will probably do the lot as in catch the live bait and take you out to the reefs, then at least you will know what to do and where to go. When you consider that you will most likely spend nearly the same dollars going out in the boat for very little reward the $ difference is minimal and you will learn a lot as well as catch some fish to take home.
If you want to be sneaky (or smart) you could download one of the Marine navigation apps on to your smart phone and I think that they may have a track function built into the apps which will keep a record of the days path to get to the locations. So switch it on for the length of your trip, that way you will know exactly where you went on the charter boat. Plot those areas into your chart plotter and away you go the next time you take the boat out. You can try out these apps on the Google Play store , search for Simrad and C-Map, they are free to download and you could try them out, I haven't used them but I imagine that they would. Don't keep checking the maps when you are out there and make sure the skipper doesn't see you checking the maps if you do, as they really frown on that sort of thing! 😉
It will be an education that will last you forever.
Just my suggestions.
Cheers
Ed.
 

My well off Gold Coast friend has just retired and purchased an (all bells and whistles) 6m Formosa bowrider with a 150 yammy. I'm his Gilligan and we try to get out twice a week. So far we have been out 10-15 times in the broadwater and down to Mermaid and  Palm beach. We have only snagged(correct word) 1 mac tuna on a fluke lure.
We are like boys in a lolly shop, all this top gear, huge waterways, lets do this, lets do that.  In reality we haven't a clue how to fish. We were out for 5hrs yesterday in the broadwater and had  2 nibbles. I did notice my Captain had a 4 oz weight, 500m leader and a double gang rig with a 125mm pilly, in 4mtrs of water. I was using a very light weight and small fillets letting the tide take the bait, to no avail. And no fish on the Garmin. HEEEELLLPPP. Even when there is fish on the sounder, I think its in Demo mode.
Is there more logic to any of this, eg, finding out what fish is in season, where their habitat is, keep going back to try and get a strategy, what bait they prefer etc, etc,etc.
I know this is very broad and obviously would appreciate any and all help, even to have someone come out with us to show ue the practicalities

My well off Gold Coast friend has just retired and purchased an (all bells and whistles) 6m Formosa bowrider with a 150 yammy. I'm his Gilligan and we try to get out twice a week. So far we have been out 10-15 times in the broadwater and down to Mermaid and  Palm beach. We have only snagged(correct word) 1 mac tuna on a fluke lure.
We are like boys in a lolly shop, all this top gear, huge waterways, lets do this, lets do that.  In reality we haven't a clue how to fish. We were out for 5hrs yesterday in the broadwater and had  2 nibbles. I did notice my Captain had a 4 oz weight, 500m leader and a double gang rig with a 125mm pilly, in 4mtrs of water. I was using a very light weight and small fillets letting the tide take the bait, to no avail. And no fish on the Garmin. HEEEELLLPPP. Even when there is fish on the sounder, I think its in Demo mode.
Is there more logic to any of this, eg, finding out what fish is in season, where their habitat is, keep going back to try and get a strategy, what bait they prefer etc, etc,etc.
I know this is very broad and obviously would appreciate any and all help, even to have someone come out with us to show ue the practicalities