The BeaR
22-02-2009, 12:08 AM
Hi All...
Having the weatherman predicting variable winds for the next few days, we were more than ready to get into some good fishing. We had a young fella, Peter, up from Brisbane that we had promised to take fishing over 12 months ago and finally the opportunity was here, so he was pretty excited as well.
Thursday was the first of the variable wind days so we weren’t taking any chances, the gear was prepared the night before and we were off the next morning to the offshore waters of Bundaberg. And what a trip, it was the smoothest 30miles of water we have ever travelled.
Once we arrived at the spot, we rigged up with 7” Gulp on 3/4oz jigheads and sent them down into the depths of 120ft of water. Up in these areas, it’s a little different to the waters down Cape Moreton way. The main difference is that most of the fish seem to come from off the bottom rather than the midwater. All the basic techniques of soft-plastics still work the same, but I believe up here the jighead weights need to be kept heavy enough, depending on current etc., to keep the lure on the bottom.
Between us two main techniques were used. The first was to cast upcurrent and keep the bailarm open, letting the soft-plastic sink, then once on the bottom start a slow erratic retrieve. The second technique was to fish the side of the boat where the SP can be dropped straight down, drifting away from the boat. Once on the bottom, the plastic can be shaken or hopped as well as short lifts of the rod, making sure to open the bail arm when needed to keep the lure on the bottom. As you can see there is a lot of emphasis on keeping the lure on the bottom. Nearly all of our fish were caught with these techniques using S10’s, as this is the style of fishing that this rod has been specifically dezigned to do. They were matched to Daiwa Certate 4000’s spooled with 40lb Braid and 60lb Wind-on leaders.
One thirty PM saw us heading home as we had caught more than enough fish and the wind was said to change in the arvo, so we cruised around in glassed out conditions till around 3pm chasing Mackerel and Tuna for which we caught more than we could possibly have imagined. The spotty mackerel were in such big schools that they created foam on the surface in their feeding frenzy. Every toss of the plastic was either picked up or followed by at least half a dozen fish. It was a great day.
Friday saw us staying home due to a dark cloud overhead in the morning and a breeze that wasn’t quite as light as predicted so we didn’t want to risk a bad day. But the wind died out to nothing in the arvo and it was decided that a short day out playing with the mackerel again would be fun for Saturday.
So this morning we were off and again we were blessed with zero wind so we headed out to a spot a little closer off Bundaberg again to wait for the mackerel to show up. While waiting we drift fished an area that produced a bonus of two nice scarlets on a double hook-up.
Once the tide turned, within an hour the birds were spotted working the surface, so we set off and enjoyed the rest of the day catching and releasing mackerel.
All in all it was two of the best days fishing we have had for a long while and best of all young Peter got to enjoy the experience, catching many species for the first time.
Eric&Deb...
Having the weatherman predicting variable winds for the next few days, we were more than ready to get into some good fishing. We had a young fella, Peter, up from Brisbane that we had promised to take fishing over 12 months ago and finally the opportunity was here, so he was pretty excited as well.
Thursday was the first of the variable wind days so we weren’t taking any chances, the gear was prepared the night before and we were off the next morning to the offshore waters of Bundaberg. And what a trip, it was the smoothest 30miles of water we have ever travelled.
Once we arrived at the spot, we rigged up with 7” Gulp on 3/4oz jigheads and sent them down into the depths of 120ft of water. Up in these areas, it’s a little different to the waters down Cape Moreton way. The main difference is that most of the fish seem to come from off the bottom rather than the midwater. All the basic techniques of soft-plastics still work the same, but I believe up here the jighead weights need to be kept heavy enough, depending on current etc., to keep the lure on the bottom.
Between us two main techniques were used. The first was to cast upcurrent and keep the bailarm open, letting the soft-plastic sink, then once on the bottom start a slow erratic retrieve. The second technique was to fish the side of the boat where the SP can be dropped straight down, drifting away from the boat. Once on the bottom, the plastic can be shaken or hopped as well as short lifts of the rod, making sure to open the bail arm when needed to keep the lure on the bottom. As you can see there is a lot of emphasis on keeping the lure on the bottom. Nearly all of our fish were caught with these techniques using S10’s, as this is the style of fishing that this rod has been specifically dezigned to do. They were matched to Daiwa Certate 4000’s spooled with 40lb Braid and 60lb Wind-on leaders.
One thirty PM saw us heading home as we had caught more than enough fish and the wind was said to change in the arvo, so we cruised around in glassed out conditions till around 3pm chasing Mackerel and Tuna for which we caught more than we could possibly have imagined. The spotty mackerel were in such big schools that they created foam on the surface in their feeding frenzy. Every toss of the plastic was either picked up or followed by at least half a dozen fish. It was a great day.
Friday saw us staying home due to a dark cloud overhead in the morning and a breeze that wasn’t quite as light as predicted so we didn’t want to risk a bad day. But the wind died out to nothing in the arvo and it was decided that a short day out playing with the mackerel again would be fun for Saturday.
So this morning we were off and again we were blessed with zero wind so we headed out to a spot a little closer off Bundaberg again to wait for the mackerel to show up. While waiting we drift fished an area that produced a bonus of two nice scarlets on a double hook-up.
Once the tide turned, within an hour the birds were spotted working the surface, so we set off and enjoyed the rest of the day catching and releasing mackerel.
All in all it was two of the best days fishing we have had for a long while and best of all young Peter got to enjoy the experience, catching many species for the first time.
Eric&Deb...