Townsville - CapeCleveland

[Mozza]

Hi all,

Never underestimate the lowly pike!

Thats the lesson coming out of yesterday's trip to the Cape. Conditions were perfect and Salamander was a carpark so I shudder to think what it might be like come Saturday, weather permitting.

Saw one guy out on his own attached to a monster spaniard - he was trying to back his (Freedom Sport??) large boat back toward the rapidly fleeing fish and trying to fight it at the same time. To his credit, I think he boated it too. We trolled a fair bit early - plenty of bait on the sounder with good fish arches as well but no hookup so we visited a couple of spots one of which, produced the goods.

When we pulled up on it, the sounder looked bare so I wasn't all that hopeful but we pulled in the usual u/s nannies. I persisted with the bait jigs and started pulling in the occasional pike which got tossed back until my little bait outfit got monstered by something just after it loaded up with some bait.

'Right' said I, 'the next one will be pinned.' Well, THAT brought the bite on. We had 3 huge hits with half dead pike coming back up with shredded sides. We were pulling them out of the fishes gobs. I pinned the next one very skinny and gave her plenty of free spool before setting the hook. Woompah! ~5kg trout! Thanks for coming!

We must have had another 3/4 hits after that but the pike were just too big and I didn't have any 2X hook rigs ready to go.

Still one good trout in the bin had us smiling as we screamed back home on a mirror at lunch time.

Mozza

[FNQCairns]

Nice report and a nice trout, a never ending learning curve, something different every trip to see, do and ponder, the ramp may be only hours away but the experience lasts long, I went out last sunday offshore and I am still pondering the experience.

cheers fnq

[kingkev]

nice catch mozza

[Scott nthQld]

thats awesome mozzas, hopefully I can get onto a trout or 5 tomorrow, going to launch about 4.30 in hope of beating the crowds at the ramp.....don't like my chances though. Might be time for a strategy session this arvo to try and beat em.

[thelump]

Nice fish Mozza. Could one of you Townsville people tell me which is Cape Cleveland? I was up there on Tuesday for work and got to have a look around.Mostly only saw the inside of the Shamrock and the Ausralian;D Is it the first big headland south of Maggie Is??:-/
Mozza you might be able to snell a couple of hooks next time;)

[ronnien]

mozza,

mate what a fat trout! nice job & if thats all the bait around you would be crazy if you did"nt put one back down pinned. heading out tomorrow (maggie shoals) so the pressure is on the skipper to find the fish (how hard can that be lol).

lump, thats the cape as you told it.

p.s sounds like you could have had a few more if they had stuck.

ron.

[Scott nthQld]

oh thanks ron, no pressure there at all.....

I'm pumped for tomorrow's session, new gear, first time to the shoals (in my boat) and a new tackle box full of big hooks. I must remember to take those wolfies out of the freezer tonight too, hopefully we can entice an XOS Spaniard to the boat.

[Benno1]

no wonder you look plenty pleased Mozza...cracker of a trout...nice one :D

Good luck with getting your spanish mac Scott nthQld ...DONT FORGET THE WOLFIES!!!:D

[Fishin_Dan]

You get those new big hooks for the big sharks out there Scott? Or are you expecting some Giant Remora ;)

HA HA HA HA HA


Good luck boys!


Beautiful trout Mozza! Pike are really an underestimated bait. Always hppy to send one out under a balloon or around the bottom when they're around.

[Robbo_Townsville]

Nice trout, as good as what you get 120km offshore.

[Mozza]

Thanks Guys,

Yes, easily my PB trout and that's including a few trips to the reef.

Lump, next one south of Maggie - looks like an island on most days due to the low, sand dune country connecting it to the mainland. And yes, snelling would have helped but as skipper, I was flatout trying to keep the bait coming in and occasionally send my own bait down. My 'deckie', a close work mate, isn't a klutz when it comes to fishing but, jigging for livies was a new one for him and snelling probably sounds more like a sneeze than a rig as well.

So, yep, I was quietly chuffed to bring home the bacon much to his disgust after missing 3 or so really good hits.

One hit was a spaniard or shark because the line took off as speed for a few seconds before the mono got snipped.

Dan, I've had a similar experience at Burdekin rock where trout were hammering unweighted pike. Has anyone had much luck trolling them?

I was convinced the trout was full of roe because it had a flippin' beer belly, Ron but no, all meat.

Good luck Scott, hope you had a good day.

Mozza

[Fishin_Dan]

Haven't heard of anyone trolling them Mozz... Would be an interesting experiment. Although Pike are normally around the bottom, so you'd proably want to troll them slow & deep.

[Scott nthQld]

I have heard of trout being trolled up, and sen it a couple of times on telly. I've also seen them caught on poppers over very shallow reef on Fishing WA. Dan's hit the nail on the head, slow troll (much like barra) and nice and deep near the coral.

No redfish or trout for me on the weekend, but a couple of firsts ( see my report, its great, still in disbelief myself), and a couple of decent sized doggies for the plate, not a lot to take home but still, best......day....fishing......ever.

[ronnien]

of coarse you can troll for trout, have got a few on keeper with halco lazor pros 190mm up close to the reef, say in about 15mtrs.

ron.

[disorderly]

of coarse you can troll for trout, have got a few on keeper with halco lazor pros 190mm up close to the reef, say in about 15mtrs.

ron.

yep agree with Ron...I get them as well on the halco's in 5-12m of water along reef edges and around bommies ....thing is sometimes they don't even set the ratchet off..first I know is I see a bend in the rod and look behind and see a big open red gob skipping along the surface.
They fight like crap on trolled lures....but still taste as good as a bait caught one.http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/smiley.gif

Scott

[kingkev]

Sounds like Trout are around. A mate of mine went out to the shelf Saturday and between 5 of them got 40 large Trout. Mind you over half of them were speared.

[Scott nthQld]

I hope they had an extra person on board, as they've just gone over their bag limit

[Malcolm1976]

I hope they had an extra person on board, as they've just gone over their bag limit

Better be careful there Scott!! I got slammed last time I pointed out that that someone couldn't catch x number of fish over x number of days without going over their possession limit. As right as you are!