Tim_N
26-06-2009, 03:54 PM
Had the chance to fish with an old mate Searunner on Thursday with a plan to fish the 12 Mile for a Snapper and Cobia on both SP's and bait.
Left Bribie at about 5.30 am and headed into a decent 1.5m of NE swell but very little wind and arrived at the choosen spot a little after sun up.
Found a bit of bait and decided to drift fish because sea conditions allowed a nice slow and steady drift as there was bugger all wind up.
It was fairly slim pickings with a few just legal Snapper (up to about 40 cm) coming onboard. When drifting, a SP was cast out and allowed to waft down while we kept our hand on the rods that were baited with squid or Pillies or Slimies and it wasn't until my plastic was smashed while sitting in the rod holder (and yes I will claim that one), that the focus went back to holding the SP rod and a baited floater could sit in the rod holder.
Line peeled of the small Daiwa and after a short tussle, a nice Snapper was boat side ready to be netted.
This one went 4.335 kg.
It was now about 9.45 am and things were looking decidedly better.
Then, we saw a blue platey roaring towards us at full noise and pulled up beside us as we were half way through another drift. Fair dinkum, he would have been no more than a decent cast away, and then he sounded around us, and when he located the school of bait we were working, dropped his anchor right in the middle of our drift run.
What do you do?
Anyway, we tried to do the run but wider and of course, if you're not on the fish, you might as well be a million miles away.
I think FrankOO calls this Blowflying.
So, plan 2. We headed off to another set of marks not too far away and located some more bait and proceeded to work it. Firstly a Mack Tuna of about 7 kg gave my new Egrell Bear S10H a work out. The grunt this thing has got is amazing. When you put the skids under one of those so fast, it's no wonder the guys who have them rave about them. This was followed by another Mack Tuna around 4 kg which was also released unharmed and by then things were really happening.
My SP was nailled again and the Egrell S6 and 2500 Daiwa combo had a 5.265 kg Snapper boat side ready for the waiting net of Searunner.
A pic was taken and I cast out again when my mobile rang and while the rod was in the holder, it got hammered again, this time resulted in a failed hook up. It was another Knobbie, you can tell by the way they fight.
Searunners rod goes off next and the thumping and bumping was the telltale of another good fish, but unfortunately his gear let go, and another one is released????
After a few unsavory words, Searunner is back in the water and his SP gets inhaled by what we reckon was a XOS Cobia. These things have a very hard mouth, but......after a huge first run of probably 100+m, the jighead comes out, another one released. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
It was now aproaching midday and things were starting to slow down when I get the smallest Cobia I have ever seen. It was still a feisty little devil, and after a quick pic, back he went to grow some more and terrorise you in the future.
In the end we ended up with 4 small Snapper and the 2 biggies in the box, everything else, including Searunners Stingray and rather large Albahtros looking bird were released unharmed.
A glassy run home ended a great day out, and thanks Craig for a good day.
Here are a few pics.
Tim
Left Bribie at about 5.30 am and headed into a decent 1.5m of NE swell but very little wind and arrived at the choosen spot a little after sun up.
Found a bit of bait and decided to drift fish because sea conditions allowed a nice slow and steady drift as there was bugger all wind up.
It was fairly slim pickings with a few just legal Snapper (up to about 40 cm) coming onboard. When drifting, a SP was cast out and allowed to waft down while we kept our hand on the rods that were baited with squid or Pillies or Slimies and it wasn't until my plastic was smashed while sitting in the rod holder (and yes I will claim that one), that the focus went back to holding the SP rod and a baited floater could sit in the rod holder.
Line peeled of the small Daiwa and after a short tussle, a nice Snapper was boat side ready to be netted.
This one went 4.335 kg.
It was now about 9.45 am and things were looking decidedly better.
Then, we saw a blue platey roaring towards us at full noise and pulled up beside us as we were half way through another drift. Fair dinkum, he would have been no more than a decent cast away, and then he sounded around us, and when he located the school of bait we were working, dropped his anchor right in the middle of our drift run.
What do you do?
Anyway, we tried to do the run but wider and of course, if you're not on the fish, you might as well be a million miles away.
I think FrankOO calls this Blowflying.
So, plan 2. We headed off to another set of marks not too far away and located some more bait and proceeded to work it. Firstly a Mack Tuna of about 7 kg gave my new Egrell Bear S10H a work out. The grunt this thing has got is amazing. When you put the skids under one of those so fast, it's no wonder the guys who have them rave about them. This was followed by another Mack Tuna around 4 kg which was also released unharmed and by then things were really happening.
My SP was nailled again and the Egrell S6 and 2500 Daiwa combo had a 5.265 kg Snapper boat side ready for the waiting net of Searunner.
A pic was taken and I cast out again when my mobile rang and while the rod was in the holder, it got hammered again, this time resulted in a failed hook up. It was another Knobbie, you can tell by the way they fight.
Searunners rod goes off next and the thumping and bumping was the telltale of another good fish, but unfortunately his gear let go, and another one is released????
After a few unsavory words, Searunner is back in the water and his SP gets inhaled by what we reckon was a XOS Cobia. These things have a very hard mouth, but......after a huge first run of probably 100+m, the jighead comes out, another one released. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
It was now aproaching midday and things were starting to slow down when I get the smallest Cobia I have ever seen. It was still a feisty little devil, and after a quick pic, back he went to grow some more and terrorise you in the future.
In the end we ended up with 4 small Snapper and the 2 biggies in the box, everything else, including Searunners Stingray and rather large Albahtros looking bird were released unharmed.
A glassy run home ended a great day out, and thanks Craig for a good day.
Here are a few pics.
Tim