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onerabbit
31-07-2006, 10:57 AM
Hi all,

Ballina RSL Fishing Club held it's monthly deep sea outing yesterday.

For once, conditions were great, bit of a wobbly bar crossing just after 6am but the ocean behind it was really good, so good that we were still chugging at 35knts at the 32s in comfort. We decided to make a run to the shelf & try for a cod.
Our first stop in 105fthms only produced 2 small cod, so we continued a further 6 miles out to the 120 fthm mark.
It all started a bit slow with a few job fish & nannagai, until Chris (ida) got going.

Twice we dropped down togeather, he'd catch a cod, I'd catch a bl@@dy green-eyed shark.

Disaster struck halfway through the morning when Charlie (neon 1991) snapped his rod, through no fault of his own, which then meant that I had to hand him my gear & pull out my big floater gear, (sealine 900 + 37kg stick). Of course I snagged the 80lb braid on the first drop which fortunately came free after some profuse swearing.

By 10.30 we had all caught fish & were ready to bolt back to the 48s to get some leather jackets, we only needed 45 mins to get our fill of them.
So, with sore arms & backs we made it back to the weigh in point with an hour to spare.
Photos to follow.

Muzz

onerabbit
31-07-2006, 11:00 AM
Charlie was very proud of his first cod

onerabbit
31-07-2006, 11:02 AM
An unusual catch, now identified as a masked foxfish.

onerabbit
31-07-2006, 11:05 AM
Another unusual catch, not sure but we think Jackass Morwong ( still to tired to look it up)

onerabbit
31-07-2006, 11:12 AM
In recent threads on leatherjacket I had mentioned that we used really heavy wire when the jackets are around. Heres a pic of the dangerous end of our Chinamen jackets, these guys can chew through 135lb multi-strand wire.

Big_Ren
31-07-2006, 11:36 AM
Top fish Muzz. Those bar cod are beauties and great chewin.

Cheers
Paul

onerabbit
31-07-2006, 05:15 PM
Cheers Big_Ren,

Bar cod has to be one of the best eating fish, certainly in our area. Just as well considering how far we have to go to get them.

Muzz

F1SH_BOY
31-07-2006, 05:59 PM
wow that leather jacket has huge teeth!

onerabbit
31-07-2006, 06:27 PM
Should have taken a photo of the fish( just we are sick of them), that one weighed 2.2kg

Muzz

reef_king
31-07-2006, 08:12 PM
nice mate i'm keen to get out there and try for some hapuka myself. What bait and rig do u use?
cheers ty

onerabbit
31-07-2006, 10:12 PM
Hi reef_king,

we go out there & do battle with standard rod & reel, there's just something about the strain & pain it takes that makes it worth catching these fish.

Choice of rod (50lb)with sealine 600s & 30lb braid, this gear has accounted for some good cod over the time.
Standard trace gear is usually ok also, I make mine on 70 lb sneider mono.

One time I saw Ida dragged up & down the deck by a big cod on the same gear (laughing my head off ), in the end, rod on gun'l, guts on the rod butt cursing for the line to break, dont think you need to go any heavier or they may pull you over.
We normally use standard hooks, 3/0 & 4/0 big guns, but believe it or not, ida outfished me on sunday using 1/0s that were rigged for jackets.

In deep water be ready for a 5minute drop to the bottom & a 20 minute wind up, thats with no fish on, just your sinker if you get baited.

I will attach a photo from this time last year when we were sick of catching jackets.

Muzz

reef_king
01-08-2006, 05:25 PM
thanks for the info, am keen to try some ground we found in 250-350m off cape moreton while marlin fishing. Do you get much else out there and are they this far north?



ty

onerabbit
01-08-2006, 07:12 PM
There was a thread a while back in saltwater photos of some blokes who were catching fish with electric reels ( not fishermen IMHO ) north of the border, I'll have a look & see if I can find it.
I imagine that there would be cod of some kind all the way along the shelf.

As for other varieties, we catch a very pretty variety of job fish (rainbow jobfish) , jem fish are also fairly common, as are good sized nannagai. We sometimes catch fish that we need to look up.

Hmmmmm, then theres the green eyed sharks, if you are unlucky.
Its a real bummer to have to wind up all that way when you know its only a shark.

muzz

onerabbit
01-08-2006, 07:21 PM
Here it is.

http://www.ausfish.com.au/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1132737856;start=all

Muzz

samsy
01-08-2006, 08:43 PM
Nice photos muzza. I will use those for the newsletter

onerabbit
01-08-2006, 08:54 PM
No worries Marc, looked but didn't have your email address & havent made it down to the shop yet.

Muzz