Smithy
22-11-2011, 03:35 PM
Half Day Morning With Dan
November 20th, 2011
Dan booked this one in for his work blokes. We started off trolling but didn't get a hit this time. One boat was on the radio and had got a yellowfin tuna and dropped one and as soon as we put down the anchor to reef fish some yellowfin popped up and started chasing flying fish. The reef was a bit slow. It could have been a tide/moon thing as we sat on a good fish show but it didn't happen. We moved to another show and the same thing it was pretty slow but then all of a sudden they started to bite. It was quiet on the radio too. We got brown maori cod and hussar but it was pretty tough.
Full Day With Todd
November 19th, 2011
Todd booked this one in for his work blokes as well. We started off trolling and as I was setting one of the skirts it got hit. I didn't think anything of it but once it came back in for one of the yellowtail kingfish hookups a bit later on it had the telltale scrape marks of mackerel teeth. We got a few kings around the 50cm size, one lot being a triple hookup. Another boat trolling there had picked up a couple of yellowfin tuna but it was still a bit slow. We went and jigged some live bait but they were a bit slow and we were the third boat to hit up that spot for the morning. With livies in the tank we headed off to chase AJs and yellowtail kings. First livie deployed met with instant success but then the hook pulled. The rat kings played the game a bit but otherwise it was quiet. Eventually one of the guys hooked a good aj, snapping one of my soft plastics rods in the process. When lunch was called I decided to go for a troll. No wahoo, mahi mahi or yellowfin for us. This time last year they were biting well. We found more bait shows and dropped down for more ajs and kings but they had lock jaw. They must have known it was a weekend as they bit pretty well through the week.
Half Day Morning With Andy
November 18th, 2011
Andy was back again. This time his good luck deserted him. He had the chance to come through with the goods again when on the first pass trolling we hooked something big that took a good 200m of 15kg line on its first run. He survived the 2nd and third runs and it all looked good as it was only 20m or so from the boat when the hook pulled. I still don't know what it was as if it was a big king or aj it had heaps of opportunity to brick us and it had massive tail beats that transmitted up the rod but we got a bit of flesh back on one of the hooks from a jaw hinge or something. Just bad luck. We hooked the mandatory few rat kings on all the high spots so we went reef fishing. Brendon is now the lucky one and on the floater he went on to catch a nice big grass emperor, a nice brown maori cod and the biggest morwong I have seen in the flesh that would have been 6kg or so. A couple of moses perch and couple more brown maori cod filled out the box.
Full Day With Adrian
November 17th, 2011
Adrian and Declan were on this trip. We started off trolling and first lap we had a nice spanish. 2nd or third lap and a surprise cobia jumped on. Punctuated in between were rat king bites every time we marked fish up high.
We headed off and jigged live bait in a couple of spots. It was tough going but we got enough. At the aj/king spot the fish were on. We got dusted more than we caught, even on the 80lb jigging outfits. The big boys had come out to play. We ended up with a rosy jobfish, a green jobfish and a couple of legal ajs but we only kept one and let a couple go along with numerous rat kings. We had a troll for a wahoo but they still aren't on.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/haul2.jpg
Full Day With Yasu
November 15th, 2011
Yasu booked this one in for a couple of his Japanese jigging clients. They came armed with heaps of rods so I had to put a fair few of mine in the car. We started off jigging bait whilst they had a jig to get their eye in. Sure enough he hooked, fought and landed a cobia with a few more following it up. That was a great start even if the livies were hard to source. We tried another spot while they jigged. It was still tough going but I was happy with what we had so off we went. At the aj/kingy spot they were on the job and Yaus's clients had a ball racking up the species with a dogtooth tuna about 3.0kg a similar size green jobfish a few keeper ajs and one legal size kingfish to go with the numerous little ones.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/SDC10873s.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/SDC10883s.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/SDC10876s.jpg
They also got wasted a few times by big fish. Some were pretty fast and some were cut off so some wahoo must have hit us or sharks and maybe some big gts. The sharks may have been hitting hooked up fish too. It was interesting to watch the way they jig, the equipment they use and the knots they tied. We had a quick troll to see if we could get a yellowfin or wahoo but no joy once again. With the northerly freshening we headed in.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/SDC10888s.jpg
Half Day Afternoon With Carlo
November 13th, 2011
Carlo booked this one in. We shouldn't have headed out in the freshening NE seabreeze but the people were up from Brisbane and locked in. It was pretty choppy but we got to the area. We anchored and fished where I had been in the morning but the main thing biting were undersize red emperor up to a respectable 47cm or so. Most stuff was undersize here but the lady did end up with a good size moses perch which is one thing I had been getting in this area. The ace up my sleeve was the dusk soft plastics session where I had been going great. The only thing is this afternoon was a couple of days after the full moon and in the 18-20knots of NE wind it made things near on impossible. Anyway it was the first arvo snapper session where we had missed out since I started fishing for them on the 9/10/11. Some moons had been quiet but on the lead up to the big moons we had some great fishing with up to 6 big snapper landed and 6 lost in a session.
Half Day Morning With Justin
November 13th, 2011
Justin had booked this one in with a crew from Toowoomba. We started off reef fishing and it took a few spots to get into them. Little red emperor were the main catch with a few just under the legal 55cm limit. It was hard work sitting through all the small fish to find the quality but we ended up with a venus tusk fish, a couple of good size morwong, a couple of good grassies and a nice brown maori cod.
Full Day With Dave
November 12th, 2011
Once again it looked like the fish knew it was a weekend at a spot I had caught them through the week. First livie down after jigging a tank full was a smash up. A bit later Dave hooked something good on a livie as well but after we all took a turn on it up popped a 5' long whaler shark. Once again there were a few rat kings but the big fish alluded us. On the troll we ended up with a rainbow runner and a short while later we took a screaming strike that dumped a couple of hundred metres of line with Dave on the rod but this fish was too good for us spitting the hook. The skirt had a fairly big trim so it was the second wahoo we had lost for the week and a good one at that. Still tough going and am waiting for the summer fish to turn up.
Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba With Richard
November 10th, 2011
Richard was visiting from England and wanted to shout his father in law out. I knew the afternoon seabreeze would be brisk but I was confident we would get some fish after the recent fishing we had been doing. We ended up hooking four or five good snapper but a couple were too good for us and we only landed two. One for Richard and one for Jason. We also got into a couple of schools of rat kings. With a couple of them looking a bit green around the gills we headed in a slight bit early but happy with a couple of good quality fish.
Full Day With Rick
November 9th, 2011
Rick was back again. I elected for a 10am late start for a full day so we could take in an arvo snapper session on the soft plastics as they had been going so well. We started off jigging bait but having marked a big fish sitting on top of the bait twice I decided to rig up a marlin live bait rit and get it out there. The third time I marked this fish we got the bite and as I came up tight on the circle hook it went around the front of the boat. I tried to get the boat around in reverse but she couldn't get around fast enough on the single screw so it was out around the front and hand the rod back. With no jumps, blinding speed and the top tail lobe breaking the surface on its big runs it was a good size wahoo for sure. After a while the hook pulled and a small nick on the leader confirmed its identity but it never bit us off. We headed to the aj/kingy spot and had a troll for another one but it didn't happen but I had sounded out the fish and where they were holding by trolling. They didn't come thick and fast and they were hard work but the boys put a few in the esky, the 72cm rosy jobfish by Rick was the stand out. He got two of them and we also ended up with two legal ajs, a yellowfin tuna on the soft plastics which was a good fight and a nice surprise as well as numerous rat kings and bust ups. A couple were clean snips or soft plastics tails bitten in half so there were wahoo there, they just wouldn't bite whilst trolling. With the sun low on the horizon we headed back in to where the snapper were. Well they were on the job and the boys landed 6, missed a few and also played with the rat kings a few times.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/PIC_0103s.jpg
Half Day Afternoon With Alex
November 6th, 2011
Alex had booked this one in as a game charter. The only thing is all the gamefish are running late this year. We got off to a good start hooking a yellowfin tuna on the first pass. Subsequent passes were quiet so we ran to the FAD to look for a mahi mahi. We trolled all the likely places but it wasn't happening so with the sun low in the sky we headed back in to try for snapper. Well the snapper were chewing on the build up to the full moon. We hooked heaps and landed 6 breaking one of my soft plastics rods in the process. Intersperced were schools of rat kings keeping the boys honest. One of the snapper had leader coming out of its gob and 30cm of braid that looked like mine. It must have been from a previous afternoon but it wasn't slowing it up as it was feeding again. It was a pretty hot little session on nice size fish up to 71cm.
Half Day Morning With Neil
November 6th, 2011
Neil was back again to use up his credit from a previous trip cut short by bad weather. It was tough going being near the full moon and fishing daylight bank hours. We chipped away and ended up with a couple of nice grassy emperor on the floaters, a venus tusk fish and one of the good size moses perch we have been catching in close lately.
Full Day With Trevor
November 5th, 2011
Trev had booked this one ages ago. I used to work with him on the council back home. I opted for a late start once again so we could get in an afternoon snapper session. We collected live bait then headed to the aj/kingy spot to spin soft plastics. It was a bit rough so I opted to anchor here and it took a bit to get on them. The crew did well in the conditions with a few legal ajs like this.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/021s.jpg
And kings like this.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/020s.jpg
In between were a few bust ups and at times the schools of rat kings would come up and we would get a few of them. We tried trolling as well and every pass on the minnows we would hook a rat king but no wahoo, mahi mahi or yellowfin wanted to play the game. Once the sun was low enough we headed back in to try for a snapper at dusk.
Trev came through with this craker and typical of the quality we had been getting there, all between 60-70cm.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/024s.jpg
Liz's young fella got one at another reef right on dusk but it was a bit quieter than normal, just not quite close enough to one of the moons. They are also liking a bit of tide in the water and my worst times have been when tide changes have corresponded with dusk.
Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba Alex
November 2nd, 2011
This was another rough northerly afternoon where I maybe shouldn't have gone but the lure of good snapper fishing and dates that customers had twisted my arm. It was pretty crap and made the fishing hard but we still came through with a good legal one, an undersize one and a couple of missed ones. If we had converted 100% it would have been a great session but you get that. Some days they are all being landed, other days half are bricking us and a couple are pulling hooks. We got a few rat kings as well so it wasn't totally boring.
November 20th, 2011
Dan booked this one in for his work blokes. We started off trolling but didn't get a hit this time. One boat was on the radio and had got a yellowfin tuna and dropped one and as soon as we put down the anchor to reef fish some yellowfin popped up and started chasing flying fish. The reef was a bit slow. It could have been a tide/moon thing as we sat on a good fish show but it didn't happen. We moved to another show and the same thing it was pretty slow but then all of a sudden they started to bite. It was quiet on the radio too. We got brown maori cod and hussar but it was pretty tough.
Full Day With Todd
November 19th, 2011
Todd booked this one in for his work blokes as well. We started off trolling and as I was setting one of the skirts it got hit. I didn't think anything of it but once it came back in for one of the yellowtail kingfish hookups a bit later on it had the telltale scrape marks of mackerel teeth. We got a few kings around the 50cm size, one lot being a triple hookup. Another boat trolling there had picked up a couple of yellowfin tuna but it was still a bit slow. We went and jigged some live bait but they were a bit slow and we were the third boat to hit up that spot for the morning. With livies in the tank we headed off to chase AJs and yellowtail kings. First livie deployed met with instant success but then the hook pulled. The rat kings played the game a bit but otherwise it was quiet. Eventually one of the guys hooked a good aj, snapping one of my soft plastics rods in the process. When lunch was called I decided to go for a troll. No wahoo, mahi mahi or yellowfin for us. This time last year they were biting well. We found more bait shows and dropped down for more ajs and kings but they had lock jaw. They must have known it was a weekend as they bit pretty well through the week.
Half Day Morning With Andy
November 18th, 2011
Andy was back again. This time his good luck deserted him. He had the chance to come through with the goods again when on the first pass trolling we hooked something big that took a good 200m of 15kg line on its first run. He survived the 2nd and third runs and it all looked good as it was only 20m or so from the boat when the hook pulled. I still don't know what it was as if it was a big king or aj it had heaps of opportunity to brick us and it had massive tail beats that transmitted up the rod but we got a bit of flesh back on one of the hooks from a jaw hinge or something. Just bad luck. We hooked the mandatory few rat kings on all the high spots so we went reef fishing. Brendon is now the lucky one and on the floater he went on to catch a nice big grass emperor, a nice brown maori cod and the biggest morwong I have seen in the flesh that would have been 6kg or so. A couple of moses perch and couple more brown maori cod filled out the box.
Full Day With Adrian
November 17th, 2011
Adrian and Declan were on this trip. We started off trolling and first lap we had a nice spanish. 2nd or third lap and a surprise cobia jumped on. Punctuated in between were rat king bites every time we marked fish up high.
We headed off and jigged live bait in a couple of spots. It was tough going but we got enough. At the aj/king spot the fish were on. We got dusted more than we caught, even on the 80lb jigging outfits. The big boys had come out to play. We ended up with a rosy jobfish, a green jobfish and a couple of legal ajs but we only kept one and let a couple go along with numerous rat kings. We had a troll for a wahoo but they still aren't on.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/haul2.jpg
Full Day With Yasu
November 15th, 2011
Yasu booked this one in for a couple of his Japanese jigging clients. They came armed with heaps of rods so I had to put a fair few of mine in the car. We started off jigging bait whilst they had a jig to get their eye in. Sure enough he hooked, fought and landed a cobia with a few more following it up. That was a great start even if the livies were hard to source. We tried another spot while they jigged. It was still tough going but I was happy with what we had so off we went. At the aj/kingy spot they were on the job and Yaus's clients had a ball racking up the species with a dogtooth tuna about 3.0kg a similar size green jobfish a few keeper ajs and one legal size kingfish to go with the numerous little ones.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/SDC10873s.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/SDC10883s.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/SDC10876s.jpg
They also got wasted a few times by big fish. Some were pretty fast and some were cut off so some wahoo must have hit us or sharks and maybe some big gts. The sharks may have been hitting hooked up fish too. It was interesting to watch the way they jig, the equipment they use and the knots they tied. We had a quick troll to see if we could get a yellowfin or wahoo but no joy once again. With the northerly freshening we headed in.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/SDC10888s.jpg
Half Day Afternoon With Carlo
November 13th, 2011
Carlo booked this one in. We shouldn't have headed out in the freshening NE seabreeze but the people were up from Brisbane and locked in. It was pretty choppy but we got to the area. We anchored and fished where I had been in the morning but the main thing biting were undersize red emperor up to a respectable 47cm or so. Most stuff was undersize here but the lady did end up with a good size moses perch which is one thing I had been getting in this area. The ace up my sleeve was the dusk soft plastics session where I had been going great. The only thing is this afternoon was a couple of days after the full moon and in the 18-20knots of NE wind it made things near on impossible. Anyway it was the first arvo snapper session where we had missed out since I started fishing for them on the 9/10/11. Some moons had been quiet but on the lead up to the big moons we had some great fishing with up to 6 big snapper landed and 6 lost in a session.
Half Day Morning With Justin
November 13th, 2011
Justin had booked this one in with a crew from Toowoomba. We started off reef fishing and it took a few spots to get into them. Little red emperor were the main catch with a few just under the legal 55cm limit. It was hard work sitting through all the small fish to find the quality but we ended up with a venus tusk fish, a couple of good size morwong, a couple of good grassies and a nice brown maori cod.
Full Day With Dave
November 12th, 2011
Once again it looked like the fish knew it was a weekend at a spot I had caught them through the week. First livie down after jigging a tank full was a smash up. A bit later Dave hooked something good on a livie as well but after we all took a turn on it up popped a 5' long whaler shark. Once again there were a few rat kings but the big fish alluded us. On the troll we ended up with a rainbow runner and a short while later we took a screaming strike that dumped a couple of hundred metres of line with Dave on the rod but this fish was too good for us spitting the hook. The skirt had a fairly big trim so it was the second wahoo we had lost for the week and a good one at that. Still tough going and am waiting for the summer fish to turn up.
Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba With Richard
November 10th, 2011
Richard was visiting from England and wanted to shout his father in law out. I knew the afternoon seabreeze would be brisk but I was confident we would get some fish after the recent fishing we had been doing. We ended up hooking four or five good snapper but a couple were too good for us and we only landed two. One for Richard and one for Jason. We also got into a couple of schools of rat kings. With a couple of them looking a bit green around the gills we headed in a slight bit early but happy with a couple of good quality fish.
Full Day With Rick
November 9th, 2011
Rick was back again. I elected for a 10am late start for a full day so we could take in an arvo snapper session on the soft plastics as they had been going so well. We started off jigging bait but having marked a big fish sitting on top of the bait twice I decided to rig up a marlin live bait rit and get it out there. The third time I marked this fish we got the bite and as I came up tight on the circle hook it went around the front of the boat. I tried to get the boat around in reverse but she couldn't get around fast enough on the single screw so it was out around the front and hand the rod back. With no jumps, blinding speed and the top tail lobe breaking the surface on its big runs it was a good size wahoo for sure. After a while the hook pulled and a small nick on the leader confirmed its identity but it never bit us off. We headed to the aj/kingy spot and had a troll for another one but it didn't happen but I had sounded out the fish and where they were holding by trolling. They didn't come thick and fast and they were hard work but the boys put a few in the esky, the 72cm rosy jobfish by Rick was the stand out. He got two of them and we also ended up with two legal ajs, a yellowfin tuna on the soft plastics which was a good fight and a nice surprise as well as numerous rat kings and bust ups. A couple were clean snips or soft plastics tails bitten in half so there were wahoo there, they just wouldn't bite whilst trolling. With the sun low on the horizon we headed back in to where the snapper were. Well they were on the job and the boys landed 6, missed a few and also played with the rat kings a few times.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/PIC_0103s.jpg
Half Day Afternoon With Alex
November 6th, 2011
Alex had booked this one in as a game charter. The only thing is all the gamefish are running late this year. We got off to a good start hooking a yellowfin tuna on the first pass. Subsequent passes were quiet so we ran to the FAD to look for a mahi mahi. We trolled all the likely places but it wasn't happening so with the sun low in the sky we headed back in to try for snapper. Well the snapper were chewing on the build up to the full moon. We hooked heaps and landed 6 breaking one of my soft plastics rods in the process. Intersperced were schools of rat kings keeping the boys honest. One of the snapper had leader coming out of its gob and 30cm of braid that looked like mine. It must have been from a previous afternoon but it wasn't slowing it up as it was feeding again. It was a pretty hot little session on nice size fish up to 71cm.
Half Day Morning With Neil
November 6th, 2011
Neil was back again to use up his credit from a previous trip cut short by bad weather. It was tough going being near the full moon and fishing daylight bank hours. We chipped away and ended up with a couple of nice grassy emperor on the floaters, a venus tusk fish and one of the good size moses perch we have been catching in close lately.
Full Day With Trevor
November 5th, 2011
Trev had booked this one ages ago. I used to work with him on the council back home. I opted for a late start once again so we could get in an afternoon snapper session. We collected live bait then headed to the aj/kingy spot to spin soft plastics. It was a bit rough so I opted to anchor here and it took a bit to get on them. The crew did well in the conditions with a few legal ajs like this.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/021s.jpg
And kings like this.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/020s.jpg
In between were a few bust ups and at times the schools of rat kings would come up and we would get a few of them. We tried trolling as well and every pass on the minnows we would hook a rat king but no wahoo, mahi mahi or yellowfin wanted to play the game. Once the sun was low enough we headed back in to try for a snapper at dusk.
Trev came through with this craker and typical of the quality we had been getting there, all between 60-70cm.
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x197/blackfin15/Charters/2011/Nov/024s.jpg
Liz's young fella got one at another reef right on dusk but it was a bit quieter than normal, just not quite close enough to one of the moons. They are also liking a bit of tide in the water and my worst times have been when tide changes have corresponded with dusk.
Afternoon Snapper Trip Out Of Mooloolaba Alex
November 2nd, 2011
This was another rough northerly afternoon where I maybe shouldn't have gone but the lure of good snapper fishing and dates that customers had twisted my arm. It was pretty crap and made the fishing hard but we still came through with a good legal one, an undersize one and a couple of missed ones. If we had converted 100% it would have been a great session but you get that. Some days they are all being landed, other days half are bricking us and a couple are pulling hooks. We got a few rat kings as well so it wasn't totally boring.