Another Sunday Report

[SeaSaw]

Headed out for a morning fish yesterday. Only Johno on board for this trip.

We headed north, but not to the banks. ;) It has been over 6 months since I fished Barwon, so I must be due to give it a go again, but this trip was the Hards ... again.

The conditions were great and we traveled out at 28 knots for a glorious run. The snapper were on early and we bagged out in under an hour. They were only average size with most fish in the 2 - 3 KG range. We threw a heap back once we hit the limit, and many bigger than the ones we kept. :'(

Ended up having to drive away from the snapper and go looking for some pearlies. 8-) We searched hard but only found a few with some mixed reefies throw in for good measure.

Overall it was pretty hard going, except for the hot snapper bite early. Bought home 20 fish between 2, which is well below average for the area.

Here are a couple of pics.

Cheers,

Mark

[SeaSaw]

snaps

[SeaSaw]

pearly

[SeaSaw]

This job fish was suprise. I think it is a small-toothed job fish, but I have never caught one before ..... can anyone confirm ?

[SeaSaw]

last one - the catch

[reef_king]

hey mate i seen you sunday mid morning. You were on one of our marks, that we cuaght some similar sized snaps off the night before, did you see us/catch any off that spot? Was thinkin of comin over and saying G'day but as the fishing was fairly slow i didn't want to scare what you had goin.

cheers ty

[lucyloo]

great fish

[Snap]

Nice feed,
we were mid-nth banks, 27nm out from Mooloolaba, thought about Hards as i haven't been there yet & conditions were great.
Punched in bottom of Hards another 12nm, :o would that sound right.
40nm out of Mlba. ?

[Birdy]

Mark,

That is a rusty job fish.
I jigged two of them chasing AJ's on the southern Hards with Rhys a little while ago,not bad chewing mate.
It looked like a great day to be out there.

Birdy

[-spiro-]

Mark we got uor bag of pearlies in the deeper water around lunch time. We found that we missed the morning snapper bite but they came onboard thro the arvo. What time did you head for home? i didn't here you on the radio, were you on 21? 8-)

[Fixation]

Hey Mark. Looks like you guys did alright. Conditions look awesome. Bit tough when you have to drive away from the snaps. ;)

Regards,
Craig.

[seapup]

Hi Mark,
Good feed of fish there mate.. I surfed all weekend instead of going fishing....after looking at some of the Snapper caught on the weekend at the Hard I wish I had gone for a fish now!! :'(
Cheers,
Ben.

[F1SH_BOY]

awesome fish

[linzmitch58]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the report ... good pics.

I am new to the area, and wonder what is the full name of "The Hards" and how far is it from Maloolooba? :-/

Thanks

Lindsay

[Big_Ren]

You slayed em again Mark and Johnno. What's with the Trevors though? Are you saving them for the cat?? ;D

Great effort in great conditions. Me, I was stuck at home entertaining out of towners :'(

Cheers
Paul

[DALEPRICE]

nice stuff mark,
looks like you may have a snappa magnet
under that boat :D
good stuff.
cheers dale

[griz066]

Geez those pearlies are good chewin 8-)

[SeaSaw]

Ty, you can delete that spot from your GPS .... there were no fish biting there on Sunday ;) ;D Next time come over and say Hi

Snap, another 12nm mile from the banks would be about right.

Thanks Birdy. I googled Rusty Job Fish and thats the one alright [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

Chris, we headed home about midday. I heard you on the radio, but it was hard to get a word in with that w@nker with the 13lb flathead on air ::)

Ben, you didn't miss much. there were plenty of snapper but they were pretty average in size. Apart from the dawn snapper bite, it was pretty hard to find fish that would bite.

Lindsay, The Hards is the full name for the area. It is to the NE of the Barwon Banks.

Lol, thanks for pointing out the trevors, Paul ;D ;D ;D I won't touch them, but I get into trouble if I throw them back. Johno's father reckons they are the best eating fish in the sea ::) :o

Cheers,

Mark

[Smithy]

And another one as Lucky Phil wanted - similar reports together.

Headed to the Banks Sunday morning pre dawn. When we went out it was glassy on top and last 5km the barest ripple. Swell was normal size and long and rolly. Headed out doing 20-22knots in Bakes' V19C Haines. Went up and down each one gently, didn't come off the back of any. The jacked up a bit in the arvo but were still rolly. Came home in the dark Sunday night doing 23-26knots and didn't bump once. Little bit of SW slop 5km out and that was it.

Started on top of the banks in 90 foot or so. Didn't do much good. One Squobby on a floatline and a couple of bits and pieces. Getting down unweighted. Got a couple of Whaler sharks to the boat and released them. Hooked a couple of others as well by the fight.

Moved east of the banks to 160-170 foot. Did the best here on the bottom and floatlining. Box looking respectable. Moved a bit more east to 170-180 foot and drifted over big gravel areas like Perko does a bit further north for those big Parrot and other stuff. Current was E-W. Not much wind and boat wasn't moving in wind V current situation but lines were streaming back a bit. Had a look out east in 280 foot for Pearlies and big cluster of boats.
Must have been where Spiro was as we saw him head that way earlier. Not as fun fishing that deep so tried anchoring on another spot. Middle of the day so quiet.

Went back to best spot. Moon overhead and they bit mad for a bit. Few Maoris and stuff off the bottom and Squobbys on floatlines. Watched the Antarctica Ice Breaker ###### Australis go past about 50m away, we were ready to cut an run with him. Quietend down then fired up on sunset again. My floatline went off every drop. Missed a few then finished off the night with the 63cm Red on floatline after we had well and truly got our Snapper bag and threw a few back. Might have dropped a few other Reds like him going by the fights. Just pulled hooks. Pulled pin out there at 6:30 and less than an hour to get in. Perfect 5-8knots of breeze all day and the action was steady except a quiet period between about 1-3. Lot of radio chatter about it being quiet but we didn’t find that.

Swell was surprisingly good. Spewing I didn't grab a mates boat and go to 1770 like I had planned chasing Blacks. Scared off by the swell report. Watched the obs on the computer all day and it was blowing 0knots up there. Saturday was even good by all reports down here for a few that went out of Mooloolaba but they were breaking across the front on the Friday.

The fish.

[Smithy]

The icebreaker. Name is ###### (Southern Lights) Australis.

[-spiro-]

Lol Smithy it was a ugly looking ship hey ;D ;D looked like it was with red oxide ;D ;D
I guess everyone heard Morty and the 13lb flathead ::) ::)

[reeldreamer]

Reasonable catch there mate! My decky went on sunday arvo and cleaned up on Snapper and he commented the bit came on really earlier which means the snapper are out in force i guess! Hope to catch up soon.

Mitch

[DALEPRICE]

great report smithy and a colourful
catch to go with it.
cheers dale

[Willo]

This job fish was suprise. #I think it is a small-toothed job fish, but I have never caught one before ..... can anyone confirm ?

Not sure Sea Saw but we use to all em King snapper down here on the coast . Long time since I caught one.But look pretty similar .

[SeaSaw]

Alas its the Smith & Jones report #;D ;D ;D #Well done smithy. #What are the two fish in the centre of the front. #Cant quiet make them out. #One looks like a Rainbow Runner (or maybe a Kingy)

Thanks Willo, but if you mean a Rosy Jobfish (which is what we call a king snapper) then it definately wasn't, and I've caught hundreds of them ;) #From the info I have found a Rusty Jobfish is a perfect match. #Here is a closer photo.

Cheers,

Mark

[Smithy]

The Smith and Jones report! I like it. All we need is an Evans and we would have a Welsh Rugby side.

AJ and Rainbow Runner in the middle front.

[caloundra]

another great haul there mark & jonno

[outsiderskip]

top fish mark
good to see them up there