Wide Caloundra Sat 24th

[SeaSaw]

Didn't everyone get the forecast wrong today. :( I headed out to Wide Caloundra this morning with Johno and Craig (Cheech). It was a 2 hour run to do under 40km and we were greeted with steep waves, whitecaps and a good 20+ knots of NE, not to mention the rain squalls. Nearly turned back after the first 20 minutes, but decided to keep on going :-/

The conditions were not very fishable. The strong winds made drifting impossible. And there was a fair bit current running which made it hard to floatline on the anchor. We just anchored up on some good shows and did some bottom bashing.

Luckily there were enough fish around to keep us entertained, and we managed a reasonable feed of 21 fish before calling it an early day and heading back in around mid morning.

Could have added a nice cobia to the catch, except for someones very ordinary attempt with the gaff :-[ Take it easy on me Craig ;D

Here are a few pictures from the day

Cheers,

Mark

[SeaSaw]

First pearly of the day

[SeaSaw]

Johno

[SeaSaw]

Then Craigs Turn

[SeaSaw]

snapper

[SeaSaw]

my share of the catch ;D

[SeaSaw]

Ok ..... an earlier shot of the catch

[Lucky_Phill]

Do I see a little ' piggy ' there Mark ? And a lone Moses, !!!

Hope you guys are leaving me some piscatorial pleasures out that way for when I return to the Big Smoke ?????

What, the BoM got the weather wrong ???? never ::) ::) ::) :o :o :o

CHeers Phill

[Smailesy]

nice fish great snapper . 20 + NE very yuky bad decky droping the cobe

[outsiderskip]

hi mark
brave man at least you got good rewards
nice pic of snapper and pearlies
cheers pete

[backlash08]

Good goin' better you than me out there in 20+, nice feed

Craig

[indy]

Well done Mark those pictures don't give the conditions justice you did really well to get a nice feed.

What time did you head out?

cheers pete...

[Jay_S]

Hi Mark,
Good to see we aren't the only ones who are mad-keen or just mad ;D
Lee and I headed up north yesterday about 10am, took us 2 hours to get there.
Bloody mixed up sea that's for sure!! We bagged out on squirey snapper, a few parrot and got hastled by heaps of rat kingies. We were going to stay the night but pulled the pin just on dark and headed back in. Think it turned out to be a good call as it would have been a pretty average long night out there getting thrown around. The swell seemed to be moving quite fast ?? Next time we might let it settle a bit longer :D
Talk to you soon.

Cheers Col

[Brooksy]

Col I had the same idea, I'm now glad that I didn't go.

Steve

[reef_king]

nice catch of fish there, pearlies are the flavour of the month ;D

conditions must have been worse in the south, as we had 15-20knts dropping to under 10 as the day went on.

ty,

[Big_Ren]

Great rewards for your efforts Mark and some lovely fish to show for it.

We must have been even madder because we left Mooloolaba about 4pm in joggly conditions and hit the Banks about an hour and a bit later. We had barely anchored to settle in for an overnighter when the deckie spewed big time. He was brave (or crazy) enough to battle on but after chuck no. 20 I had to put him out of his misery and take him back in. We cruised home at about 26 knots and were back safe and sound by 8pm without even a scale on board. Deckie then came good obviously :-/

The boat now has a couple of lovely technicolour pin stripes on one side ;D

Cheers
Paul

[Fixation]

Hi Mark,

I passed you guys near the ramp in the river as you were coming in. We ventured out for a fish late sat. morning and into the late arvo. Was very messy. I had guys laying all over the deck sick as dogs. Couldn't shift too much. Only faired few feeds of grassies. Wind dropped right out in the arvo but the swell certainly didn't too much. Looks like you guys did alright given the conditions. Well done.

Regards,
Craig.

[seapup]

Nice catch Mark in the average conds!

[redspeckle]

Gee I am thinking towing the boat up to coast next weekend heading out that way and chase those Pearlies [smiley=chef.gif] the long range weather forcast looking good for sat [smiley=lipsrsealed.gif]
[smiley=thumbsup.gif] for catch in those conditions seasaw
and another great article in Bush&Beach ;)
Mitch

[Cheech]

Can't complain too much if the deckie with the gaff is also the skipper.. Besides, I won't feel so bad if I ever do the same.

The only reason we kept going was that we thought it would improve as the day went on. Oh well.

Was still good to be out there catching fish. About to see what that pig fish is like. Is pig, pearlie, parrot for dinner. Now that makes it all worth the rough trip.

Cheech

[620sf]

Sounds like you earned your fish this week Mark. We had the pin pulled by Thursday night with the swell and wind blowing. We have to get a good weekend soon for the wide grounds.

Luke

[Bass43]

Hi Guys
We hit the Northern Banks on Saturday Very confused seas thats for sure. A very ordinary day all round, one just legal Perlie on the first drop and dropped a good snapper on the next only to go fishless for the rest of the day. Back at the ramp at about 2.30 pm and both my mate and I were very glad to be back, It was thye closest I have come to adding a bit of personal buyrley in a long time. :-X
Cheers John

[Matt]

John, you were keen!

We left Mooloolaba ramp about 2:45am on Saturday heading for the banks. Faced with the fact that we were going to miss the dawn bite thanks to the crawling pace through the sea, we opted to fish the 10 mile until we could see something. Wind and Rain and more wind so we didn't end up venturing any further out. Back at the ramp just after midday and ended the day with a few snapper, a couple of cobes, a nice sweetlip and various other undersized bits and pieces. Best snapper went about 4kg which was a nice surprise for that area. Also felt a bit quesy (sp) when it was dark for the first time in a lot of years!

Matt.

[Snap]

Great persistance,
we left mooloolba 4am for a slow run to the banks, stopped Nth of blinker, anchored, got rained on couple bites, threw up & returned back to the ramp.
:-[
Tried again at 8am, this time out to Caloundra 12mile. Conditions got worse as we got out there.
Drifted then Anchored for undersized, squire, sweetlip + grinners & one yellow tail king dropped as pulling into boat.
Gave it away at 10.30am
Back to Toowoomba. One trip to forget. >:(

[SeaSaw]

Sounds like everyone copped a bashing in the conditions.

Hey Phil. We weren't going to move around too much looking for fish so anything that was edible went in the esky ;) ;D When are you back in town. I'll let the fish know you are coming ::) lol

Pete (Indy), We got to the ramp about 2:45 and were underway by about 3am. That wasn't you that followed me to the ramp was it?

Col, good to see you got out. All night with nowhere to sit down in those conditions would have been fun :o ;D Talk soon.

Geez Paul thats a long trip to just turn around and come home empty handed. But being that sick is no fun either. I hope you made him clean the boat ;D ;D

Was it just down from the mouth that you passed us Craig. I recall a nice looking rig with about 4 up going past. At least you went out at the right time. As we got back in the wind seemed to drop out and conditions didn't look too bad. I was thinking that we should have stuck it out a bit longer. Where did you get out to.

Thanks for the feedback Mitch. Anyone got any ideas for articles? it is hard to keep coming up with new things to write about.

Good call luke ;)

John, thats a tough day out for only a couple of fish. But still ... it happens and I'd still rather be out there giving it a go.

Snap, thats dedication ... all the way from Toowoomba ..... blame that one on Seabreeze :-/

Cheers,

Mark

[lucyloo]

good fish there bud but tell me wat sort of bait do u use to catch them crumbed like that ;D

[Fixation]

Yeah Mark that was us in the Seafarer. 4 on board but only 2 fishing most of the time. That swell was nasty thats for sure. Be a trip to forget about. We headed over some ground outside cal 12 mile. Everything had pretty much shut down, very timid bites. Anchored up on some good shows but nothin wanted to play the game. Had livies, dead bait, tried light line, tried floaters, droppers etc. Nothing seemed to work too well. Only scratched up a few feeds. You guys definitely did alot better over cal wide way.

[Big_Ren]

Thanks for the feedback Mitch. #Anyone got any ideas for articles? #it is hard to keep coming up with new things to write about.


Cheers,

Mark

Your articles are a good read Mark. I particularly enjoyed about breaking your billfish virginity :o

It might be timely at the moment but how about a yarn on getting a feed in adverse conditions ;) You seemed to make the most of the crap weather and still scored a nice feed and kept safety as your number one priority>

Cheers
Paul :)

[indy]

No mark didn't see you at all but when i do i'll say hello must have just missed you though

[SeaSaw]

good fish there bud but tell me wat sort of bait do u use to catch them crumbed like that #;D
Mate its not the bait that counts ..... its the quality of the deckies #;D #Clean the boat, fillet and crumb the fish, get me beers #:o ;D ;D ;D

Craig, we had the same thing happening. #We got most fish during the dawn raid. #After that it shut down and although we had good shows only raised the odd fish.

Not a bad idea there Paul #;) #Thanks.

Cheers,

Mark

[DALEPRICE]

top stuff mark,
rough....... come on ;D ;D ;D
looks like its nearly glassed out is some of those pics ;D ;D

full marks for the trip and looks like you put
the boys onto the goods.

check your pm i got some info for you.
cheers dale