H\bay Camping holiday (Pics)

[land-lubber]

Well, where to start, I (Land-lubber) and mharper2001 decided on a camping trip for the first part of marks holidays. Already being in Maryborough, and mark being in Caboolture, we decided to meetup at the local Maryborough Maccas, and go from there. After the formalities and howdy dos, we headed for the bay to stay at the pialba caravan park, which would be our base for the next three nights. Arriving, we set up the new tent, which was causing some dramas, so we decided that a scotch was the way to go to help us put up the infernal thing. Funny what a scotch, two blokes and a female can manage after the effects have hit home.

[land-lubber]

Now that the tent was up, it was time to concentrate on the fishing gear, so out came all the rods and tackle, and a lively discussion ensued. mainly about how the gear worked and setup plans for the jetty trip. here we are disussing the straps that I use to keep my TLD on the jetty, rather than over the side

[land-lubber]

The gear we were using for the jetty asault is shown below, L to R
Penn Spinfisher - Marks
TLD 20 # - Michaels
TLD25 # #- Marks
D.A.M lever #-Marks
Okuma # - Marks
Okuma Beachcaster - Michaels

we will be returning to these reels at a later date, so keep them in mind

BTW, the drags on the reels were locked up in the photo, as they had just been washed

[land-lubber]

So off to the jetty we go, having had too much to drink (P plater) we have to get 3 ppl in a 2 seater Susuki 4b, so mark ends up in the boot, with all the gear and off we go.
Get to the pier and there is masses of bait every where, with big fish cruising in 3ft of water around the bait schools. so we rapidly unload the gear and rig up in a big hurry. We end up with three floaters and two rigs on the bottom. After jigging up the bait, out they all go, and we are just sitting down to our next scotch when Marks spinfisher begins to lose line at a rapid rate. amongst all the hollering, the hook is set, and mark hangs on for dear life as the fish powers away, taking 150m of 50lb braid with it. once we manage to stop the fish, and I manage to tie the rope on the brand new cliff gaff, the fish has begun to make its way towards the pylons half way up the jetty. thus begins a running battle with me yelling at mark to get his hiny moving, as the fish is taking him under the pylons. half way up the jetty, we got colour, and its a big golden. the fish proceeds to swim around the pylon, so the pressure gets applied, and the fish comes to the gaff. a very stoked Mark holds up a 9kg Golden

[land-lubber]

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[land-lubber]

So after the high 5ves and the hollering and ya-hooing have subsided, we again sit down to a quiet scotch, answering tourists questions about the fish as they wander past. Suddenly, a high piched scream comes from the direction of my TLD20. unclipping the strap, I crank up the drag to strike and lean into a good fish. the fish initially gets called for a barra, due to the awesome acrobatics that this fish is displaying but eventually gets IDed after its 4th jump as a big Queenie. Its a bit hard to tell what a fish is 50m away. so again having to run 1/2 way up the jetty, clearing all the rods in between, i finally see the fish and turn to tell mark to gaff it, when i turn, all i see is mark running up the jetty, gaff in one hand, 9kg golden in the other! we had left the golden hanging in the water to keep it fresh with the other end of the gaff rope!
so the fish gets gaffed and we now have a 5.5kg Queenie to add to the list.

[land-lubber]

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[land-lubber]

Big gob

[land-lubber]

So in 1 1/2 hrs we had a feed, so we headed back to camp for the night.

It was decided that a morning session off the end of the jetty was required to chase some pelagics. Up at 3am to find it raining, so went back to sleep. rain stopped at 330, so off we went and got to the end at dawn. down went the jigs, and up came a couple of small herring, which ended up on the lines. Got one run grom a small schoolie that was getting chased by the resident GTs, so tried to skull drag it, but popped it off.
couldnt get any bait, so had to go down to the start of the 2nd channel to jig any. Around 7am, was watching my livie on the floater rig (my Okuma beachcaster) and saw the livey buggering off towards my feet, then BOOF, a big broadbar nailed it off the surface, so i picked up the rig and pulled up solid. after a good fight (me and mark chasing the tourists away so we could fight the fish) we gaffed a 1.5m, 6.5kg Broadbar Mackeral on 24lb line on an el chepo outfit. verypleased with ourselves, we headed off as the herring were proving too elusive, even though we were getting a bite on every one we caould manage to jig up.

[land-lubber]

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[land-lubber]

That evening, after steaking the mackie, we thought wed head down the pier to chase some whiting and squid. as luck would have it, we caught neither, but an interesting event unfolded
a young kid comes wobbling down the jetty on his bike and stops next to me. 'Astingray got me' he says as we catch him as he comes off his bike. we lay him down, and theres blood p!ssing outa a 3cmx 1cm stab wound in his foot. kid is not in a good way, so call the ambos and do all the right stuff til they get there. thank god stingray venom is very slow moving, he knew about it tough, he was in a lot of pain. there are two messages outa this, 1: dont mess with stingrays esp. in barefeet and
2: Join the SES so u know how to handle these things ;) when they pop up unexpectedly (a senior first Aid will do).
That was about it for the fishing until the M&G at dashers, which has been well covered.

After wards we went fishing a couple of times while mark was staying in the Outrigger. one morning sesh at the pier saw us getting busted off by mackies, as in them biting us off, missing the hooks etc. One funny incident, I was dangling my livie on the surface, making sure it was swimming, and was talking to mark, when a mackie came screaming out from under the jetty and i reacted by lifting the livie out of the water :o
much to marks enjoyment. ;D
any way, thats about it for now
cheers

[land-lubber]

some more piccies of the catch

[land-lubber]

;D

[slyham775]

well done boy that,s good to hear your lovely story i bet you had a ball and now i can see that goldie is there as your proof i might head up next weekend .... any one want to share with me ???? maybe you two ;D

[Jacksta]

Bloody hell mate there some great fish! Treva's Queenies and Mackies it doesnt get better then that. Which rigs had most success floaters or bottoms? Might be heading up that way around crissy might have to pop down there and have a crack at em lol

Cheers, Joel :P

[mharper2001]

Me and Michael also had a 2 hour Soft Plastic Session on the wall at the Boat Harbour on Saturday ;D. #Pretty sure Michael was not impressed that a Fluro Yellow lure got more attention than his natural coloured lure lol :P. #First fish had a run then it let the lure go. #The second time I had a metre plus mack chase it ;D. #To Michaels credit though, he did catch the only fish of the afternoon, an estuary cod.

Mark

[mharper2001]

Joel, Floaters did the trick but the Queenie was caught on a bottom rig ;D

[uripper]

Funny what a scotch, two blokes and a female can manage after the effects have hit home.

Dare I ask? - Is there more to this adventure??

[mharper2001]

Lmao, no there wasn't. #Not what I can remember anyway :o.

[reeldreamer]

Nice golden i bet that ate well! Nice story!

Mitch

[mharper2001]

Mitch that golden was like eating a bit of old steak. #I think it would have been better suited in a casserole instead of just on a bbq. #It did put up a descent fight though ;D. #By the way thats not even half the story lol.

[cuzzamundi]

great haul and great story mate! that queenie is fantastic. what does the venom of a ray actually do to you? i should keep this in mind cos i catch heaps and handle em for shark bait.

cuzza

[land-lubber]

Hey Cuzza,

the venom of the rays is a bit like a stone fish, very slow moving but bloody painful. it prevents blood clotting to the wound, and there is a high risk of secondary infection. also, the barb can break off and stick in the wound if it gets embedded in a meaty part of u.
basically, if ur going to use em, cut off the tail.
cheers

BTW, the barbs make great ornaments once they are cleaned of the flesh and bleached

[Girella]

Terrific report LL.

I've noticed the same deal with the livies.

Whenever the livies are in short supply is exactly when the big boys want to bite. I'd say it's no coincidence either.

Probably just means that's the time to really put in with the livey jig.