OffShore Brisbane - Sunday 8th May

[Micadogs]

Hi Guys

Went out the Northern Channel of Sth Passage about 6am on Sunday. Shingles lived up to their name. Bar was basically flat and plenty of water.

Turned right after the bar towards Nth Straddie. I have never fished this area before. Started at the Sevens Reef, in approx 25 meters of water. There was nothing but brown trigger fish (leatherjackets) biting any bait put down.

A boat trolling around us had a triple hook up on Mack Tuna, about 7kgs. They were nice enough to give us one ( A big thanks to the three blokes in the Aluminium Runabout) for bait.

In about 40 metres of water at the sevens we managed to get baits past the trigger fish and got two tuskfish about 40 & 45cm's.

Tried some other marks around the area Turrum and Parrot Reef. Nothing showing on the sounders so didn't hang around long.

Proceeded to the 35 fathom mark to the north and there were fantastic shows, great structure but couldn't get a bite. (it was the turn of the tide).

Headed west slightly, to the 33 fathom mark. Bait everywhere, great shows of fish, great structure. First 1/2 hour - same as the 35's, nothing.

Once the tide got going, the fish came back on the chew. Managed to get snapper between 48 - 51cm's, Pearl perch just over 40cms and a couple of cod.

Ended up taking home 9 fish in total with a mixed bag of snapper, pearl pearch, cod and tuskies.

No current out there at all, we were using 3oz sinkers in 60 metres of water and dropping straight down. Didn't deploy the parachute after 10am as there was no breeze. At the turn of the tide we were drfiting only 50 metres in 15 minutes. (not good if you want to cover a bit of ground)

Conditions coming back home were glassed out. The bar (nth Channel) was rough at the start (west) due to the tide going out again. Shingles were flat.

Great day, great weather - we actually came home feeling relaxed rather than having gone 4 rounds with mother nature.

No piccies, all common fish at common sizes.

Regards Adam

[fishfeeder]

Mate,
Can I ask what you caught most on ?.
We tried Pillies, Mullet, Squid and found it hard to get past the small squire to find anything large enough to keep.

I tried floating down pillies and good sized squid with a small ball sinker and nothing to it hit the bottom then only small fish picking at it.
We tried out at the 80m line NE of the bar and not much at all on the sounder, then headed to some marks as we worked our way North to the bottom of Tempest and could only find small fish.
But it was a great day to be on the water.

Cheers
Brett

[Micadogs]

Hi Fishfeeder,

We mainly used that mack tuna that we were given. There were a lot of pickers around so we used larger baits. The pickers would be instant, and every now and then we would get hit and that accounted for the keepers.

Just needed enough bait to hopefully have some left when a big fish was there.

We also used squid (fresh QLD squid from Sammies girls) they were nice and small so put two on the hooks. Same deal, the pickers has their go but left enough for the occasional bigger fish.

The Mack Tuna accounted for 7 out of 9 fish, 2 x on the squid .

Was using a twin snelled rig 6/0 for the main hook, 5/0 for the stinger. Had some lumo on top of the hooks also. Floatlined with 3oz lead.

This was the first time I had fished this area, we were going to turn left and go to Tempest, but wanted to try these places.

I can safely say I wont be going back to the 7's reef, Parrot reef or Turrum. The 35's and 33's nealry east of the bar had good reef, heaps of bait fish etc. I will return there again.

Regards Adam

[fishfeeder]

The Mack Tuna sounds like the attractor as I had good sized baits down but only got probably 3 good hits all day, One a good Pearly 43cm and the others I missed, I try to use 7/0-8/0 hooks so I don't hook to many small fish, but was still suprised at the amount of small squire we caught.

I must have crossed the Bar around the same time as you guys in the morning, It was a bit ordinary crossing to the Northern Channel from Amity, But outside it was great. We headed for home around 2.00pm and sat on 55km/h all the way back while sipping a cold beer.

Cheers
Brett

[Edmo]

cant go past mac tuna for bait, keeps the peckers at bay and hangs on for dear life plus its cheap, considering the plague proportions down on the coast everyone should try some.