Boating Mud Island?

[Keechie]

hi i am wondering what you think is big enough for like the minimum requirement to get from the brisbane river to mud island.

[charleville]

hi i am wondering what you think is big enough for like the minimum requirement to get from the brisbane river to mud island.


1. In 0 - 5 knots of wind: 3 - 4 metres

2. In 5 - 15 knots of wind: 4 - 5 metres

3. 15 - 20 knots of wind - you can survive in 4 - 5 metres but you won't have much fun.

4. > 20 knots of wind, no one wants to be there in any boat except a bloody big one.


I have been at Mud Island in my 4.75m Quinnie runabout on a very black night in 6 knots breezes that suddenly turned into a 30 knot rain squall. I survived in that size of boat but my wife will tell you that after I got home safely, I was a bit wound up for several hours. It was not pleasant.

15 knots is the limit of what I will want to go there in and even then only if the forecast is for lighter winds later. It is just so damn uncomfortable bouncing up and down in the short period wave cycles.

Also, I am not sure that I would want to go to Mud from Whyte Island in a small boat. <4m. It is a shorter route from Whyte Island than say, Manly where I go from but it is very open and the waves rolling there from either north or south easterly can be very lumpy. By going from Manly or Wynnum, you are protected by St Helena and Green Islands a good deal and can take a respite behind St Helena before gritting your teeth for the next open bit of the journey.

[marty+jojo]

I have a 4.2mtr bluefin tinny, i have been out there when it has been 15 knots, i got there and home safely but is quite uncomfortable. I have been there many a time in my boat, anything smaller would be ok in fine conditions eg: 5-10knots.
I agree totally with everything Charleville said, he knows the place like the back of his hand. If your boat is on the small side stick to the river and the creeks that run off it there is still plenty of quality fish to be caught there.
Marty.

[Scalem]

I've been to Mud more times than I could count in my humble 4.3mtr glass mustang runabout. Few seem to mention wind direction which has everything to do with having a comfortable ride or not comfortable. My rig, while not deep V, tracks very well as if on rails. 20 - 25 knot N/NE is a walk in the park for the return journey back to Manly and really does not concern me. If I see that the Northerly winds are forcast in the afternoon, following sea back to port is much easier than if it was a SE in the afternoon which I prefer to avoid, such as today.

In the Brissy river there's another ingredient to watch out for which can affect your decision to go in a small craft - Outgoing current tends to make shorter waves at the mouth sit up steeply, especially in a N/NE wind. So my answer is no hard and fast rule. Know the wind direction to and from your planned spot to fish, and consider the tide also. I have easily negotiated 25Knots+ in the bay ( not by choice) because I have followed this basic understanding of what I have just said.

Scalem

[robersl]

have fished mud for a few years now and will not go if forcast is for waves more than .7 m even though it does not sound much in wave size but when you get to the other side of the shipping channel coming from woody point it can get a bit hairy with waves coming from 3 different directions even on a good day. i like the days it says 5-10 knot sw-se going nth east later in the day because the winf will normally drop out to notnng near the top or the bottom of the tide and this is when you run home

p.s all my boats have been 4.1 to 4.45 m

shane

[mik01]

i went out to mud from the mouth last sunday and it was pretty blowy. punching out into the NE was interesting and robersl is quite right - the worst of it was actually in the entrance to the bay from the river. was like a washing machine!
once that was cleared it was relatively average, yet it was around 15-20kts and a decent swell.
coming back was even hairier once we hit fisherman's island area - caught plenty of water over the bow. but i have a 5.2m with a full bimini so we stayed dry.
i actually enjoyed giving the boat a good workout

[jimbo59]

Any little boat will do on a good day but you get a big flood tide running out and a northerly over 15knt's and your in deep pek pek when you gotta come in.It starts about 2kay's from the end of the rock wall and ive had 2 bad trips thru there 1 in my 233 and the second was about 6 weeks ago in my 560 sharkcat a wave went right over the bow and smashed my see thru canopy so i was a nasty arvo. A chinese bloke came in and he was really scared for his life he was in a late model quinny around 5 metres in lenght. One day a family will die coming home after a day at mud.

[loophole]

the strecth in the brisbane river can throw up a good swell and chop at the windest of times

[charleville]

the strecth in the brisbane river can throw up a good swell and chop at the windest of times

... and the wake from the pilot boats can be a bit of a challenge as well in the river.

[Poodroo]

I really would not go to mud in anything unless I at least had a 27 meg radio, bilge pump, and all the other safety requirements like flares. I have done a lot of trips to Mud as deckie with Scalem so know the area well so was confident to travel to Mud in my 3.7 metre tinny in 5-10 knot conditions but on board I had all the necessary safety gear as mentioned above so I consider it to be a safe tinny. It worries me to see guys out there in tinnies on rough days that don't have anything in the form of safety gear. Had one guy stop next to me to say g'day on a glassout day and he didn't even have oars on board. Amazing really. Simple common sense should prevail always. Our best tool is to keep an eye on the weather via the internet and plan the trips. Wind direction is everything as Scalem says. These days I have stepped my comfort level up a notch buy investing in a new Blue Fin 4 metre in a runabout configuration. Very beamy and a lot safer than the 3.7 metre open tinny.
What you possibly should have done in this poll for boat sizes is given the options of :-
3 - 4 Metres
4.1 - 5 Metres
5.1 - 6 Metres
6.1 - 7 Metres
My boat is exactly 4 Metres so I could have put it in two categories. ;)

Poodroo

[charleville]

It worries me to see guys out there in tinnies on rough days that don't have anything in the form of safety gear.



Mud Island is one place which gets plenty of inspections by the water police and marine inspectors. Day and very early morning have been my experiences for inspections.

If anyone goes there without all the required safety gear, they are just asking for a big fine.



.

[haggis]

I go to mud quite a lot in my 410 ally craft but we do watch the weather & the water , when the white caps start to appear it is time to disappear back up the brissy river . we have had a very long & wet trip back to the mouth of the river
every boat trip is an adventure , we learn something new every trip as we new nothing about boating when we bought a boat a little over two years ago but have had heaps of fun learning .
safe boating to all
haggis ..........................

[Keechie]

sorry Poodroo i was suppost to do that because i was in a hurry to go out to lunch so i quickly tried to do it and i don't think you can edit the polls anyway sorry.:)

regards,
keechie

[Marlin_Mike]

IMHO????????????

If you have to ask that question then your boat aint big enough


Mike

[Poodroo]

Mud Island is one place which gets plenty of inspections by the water police and marine inspectors. Day and very early morning have been my experiences for inspections.

If anyone goes there without all the required safety gear, they are just asking for a big fine.



.

Well you'd think the hefty fines would deter people wouldn't you? Fines don't seem to stop people from speeding or drink driving either do they? I think we just have to live with the fact that we share this world with some complete and utter dingbats who deserve to be caught out doing the wrong things eventually.

Poodroo

[Poodroo]

sorry Poodroo i was suppost to do that because i was in a hurry to go out to lunch so i quickly tried to do it and i don't think you can edit the polls anyway sorry.:)

regards,
keechie

It's all good keechie. I voted in the 4-5 metre boat category because I got them to add a transom step when building my boat which technically makes the hull longer. Lol :P

Poodroo

[Marlin_Mike]

fines and legislation dont stop idiots and dickheads poodroo


Mike

[webby]

Mate you could get to Mud in a bathtub with the right wx conditions, so its up to you to decide after checking weather reports etc, and conditions on the day you arrive at the ramp, and your ability as a skipper wether you can get there or not.
regards

[Kleyny]

i dont think its a case of if you can make it there its more the fact if you can make it back.
IM0 9 times out of 10 SEQ wind seems to get worse in the arvies espically in the summer

neil

[Mrs Ronnie H]

In This Weather----- The Combi Trader???????????????????????????

Sorry couldn't resist

Ronnie

[Dezzer]

I wouldn't go today!!
or tomorrow, or the day after .........

[charleville]

http://img.skitch.com/20071230-x9ax35x5ggfpp955ygegs5eixm.jpg

[webby]

So is this a invite Charlie to take the tinnie for a run.??????

[charleville]

So is this a invite Charlie to take the tinnie for a run.??????



...or in this weather, Webby, even the bathtub. ;D



Do ya reckon that Seabreeze is just playing a nasty trick on the weekend fishos? ...


http://img.skitch.com/20071231-gjq62tky58aa9g74e794hwfcya.jpg



.

[2DKnBJ]

I reckon it won't come good till Monday and if that is the case i will be on the water.Finally i will be able to get a couple of midweek trips while everyone is at work.

Cheers Dazza

[gar26lw]

would you say these sizes apply for moreton too?

im wondering if the freeboard makes a diff also.

i see some smaller boats with great freeboard compared to larger boats with less.

[charleville]

would you say these sizes apply for moreton too?

im wondering if the freeboard makes a diff also.

i see some smaller boats with great freeboard compared to larger boats with less.



A trip to Moreton is only different to a trip to Mud insofar as the pain of a rough trip takes a lot longer. It is probably better to say a trip FROM Mud or Moreton as this is where the pain usually happens.

Mud is very exposed and cops the same oceanic anger as a trip to Moreton does.

Moreton can be a bit beguiling though as the height of Moreton has a shielding effect to easterly winds which means that it can be quite calm on the inside of Moreton but uncomfortable out in the middle on the way home if easterlies of any sort are blowing. (and of course, northerlies - which are worse because there is no island shielding.)

I have been to Moreton plenty of times in my 4.75m Quintrex runabout which does have a good freeboard and an engine pod at the rear rather than a cutout transom.

However, I choose my days carefully and always always leave to come home at 11 am or thereabouts in summer unless the forecast is excellent and also that the weather has been stable for a few days.

Theoretically, if the weather turns sour, you should be able to track south on the inside of Moreton and do a big loop around the southern bay protected by Peel etc but my experience has been that going south was no less choppy than taking the pythagorian choice and just going across the bay, gritting one's teeth all the way.

Don't go to Moreton without plenty of fuel as you will use a fair bit more coming home if the weather is rough.

I see a lot bigger boats than mine high-tailing it from home from Moreton when the weather starts to turn sour so once again what you will read repeatedly in these pages is that it is the wisdom of the skipper that will get you home rather than the size of the boat.

I might also mention that I have been caught in an unexpected fog at Moreton that meant that I could not see the mainland. At that time, I did not have a GPS and came home by compass in pea soup conditions - a little off-course because of wind and current but none-the-less close enough to find my way back. The moral of the story being, of course, that the sheer distance in going to Moreton in a small boat means that you need to be prepared for all eventualities. :)

[bayfisher]

Id say there is a big difference in going to moreton as opposed to mud. The stretch between mud and moreton can be horrendous at times and it is a long long long (cant stress that enough) way if the weather starts to turn bad. Mud is close and if the weather starts to blow up you can usually fairly quickly duck back into the river, at moreton you don't have this security.
Now back to mud, You see some 'bathtubs' out there fairly regularly as long as its a good day and the skipper knows what they are doing then it can be done.

Cheers Chris

[PinHead]

I am going to ask another question on this:

closest ramp for a Mud trip?
quickest way there? is it all deep water?
I won't bother asking about where to fish when there..will have to work that one out myself.

[Marlin_Mike]

Pinhead, WHyte Island and yes plenty of water all the way. alot of boats leave from manly Harbour which is Ok as well.

Mike

[2DKnBJ]

Pin Head
Closest ramp for you is Pinkenba but it is a bit open to the weather.Your next option is to use Whyte Island.Just make sure your ariels are down and you don't have rods in the launchers when you go under the bridge.

Cheers Dazza

[Marlin_Mike]

now the shop has gone from Pinkenba, security would be a problem for me at Pinkenba

Mike

[charleville]

I won't bother asking about where to fish when there..will have to work that one out myself.



Don't say that I don't give you anything....;D

There are lots of experts on Mud Island on Ausfish who might even PM you with GPS marks and there are certainly some places that fare better than others on average and you will see where they are by the crowds that congregate there on weekends. My experience is that there are spots all around Mud that yield good fish under different circumstances simply because there is just so much structure there mostly thanks to all that dredging for coral way back then.

Jason Comino is one of my favorite fishing gurus who gives outstanding presentations about fishing the Bay at the various boating shows. When I attended his talk on Mud Island at the Brissy Boat show in 2007, I took plentiful notes and copied his "mud" map of Mud Island. Those notes and my sketch of his map as shown on the screen at the Boat show are to be found at the following links...

http://img.skitch.com/20071231-tnwerjttdccaf4j65hy3m26666.png

http://img.skitch.com/20071231-bf4yuf5uk6dc8s3p3udx3paeb5.png

http://img.skitch.com/20071231-gmjinyyuyfar9e5epsn1mn8824.png

http://img.skitch.com/20071231-cs7486248pxyj64kadd3ss5bc5.jpg

I hope that this helps you make a start at Mud with that flash new boat of yours. (and all other readers too, of course. :) )


Many thanks to Jason Comino for his outstanding presentation. :)


Best wishes for great fishing in 2008.

[PinHead]

thanks Bruce..some helpful info there..might manage to get there one day..not sure I really want to target snapper though..not my favorite eating fish by a long shot...perhaps some nice big bream would do me.

[charleville]

thanks Bruce..some helpful info there..might manage to get there one day..not sure I really want to target snapper though..not my favorite eating fish by a long shot...perhaps some nice big bream would do me.


Greg - it is almost impossible to not catch snapper/squire at Mud no matter what you are trying to catch. eg I have caught a lot of squire on mullet gut there. They love it!

Bream are plentiful also - more so in winter, of course. Close to shore around a new moon at night is pretty good. Stealth fishing as always.

[kevinnugent@westnet.]

With winter coming up, I thought I'd revive this discussion and ask about our boat.

We have just bought a cruiser - a Bayliner 2755 (just shy of 30' LOA). How would it handle, say, from Horizon Shores to Mud and back?

Kevin

[Blackened]

With winter coming up, I thought I'd revive this discussion and ask about our boat.

We have just bought a cruiser - a Bayliner 2755 (just shy of 30' LOA). How would it handle, say, from Horizon Shores to Mud and back?

Kevin

G'day

No worries at all, will cost you a fair bit in fuel, as it's a reasonable distance.

Just stick to the main channels.

Dave

[mookyandlumpy]

ill jump on too im a newbie to the bay, i have a 4.2 mtr quinnie with a 40hp open tinnie

5 - 15 knots of wind and a s/ se on the run out and a n/ne on the run back to port is ok ????
is alright to go out to mud on a n/ne wind ???????
did i read that right ????

[mik01]

ill jump on too im a newbie to the bay, i have a 4.2 mtr quinnie with a 40hp open tinnie

5 - 15 knots of wind and a s/ se on the run out and a n/ne on the run back to port is ok ????
is alright to go out to mud on a n/ne wind ???????
did i read that right ????


where ya heading from?

[mookyandlumpy]

i have never been out up that way ,, where would be best ?????