castnet difficulties

[Bad_Bubby]

Hey Chico,

- Never tried Yorkey's might have to give it a go sometime. Have you ever live baited that area?.
- If you want mullet at the marlin jetty you have to be there at dead low tide late at night when they creep into the shallows. There are usually big schools of them waiting to get onto the flats at the start of the incoming tide (well thats when I got mine anyway). You can also get the odd one by casting around the start of the jetty at any tide but in my experience that is far from reliable. Prawns are far easier to get (especially if you have a top pocket net). They are always on the northern side of the jetty and move up and down the flats with the tide. They are easiest to get at low tide, but you do get very muddy going after them. 99% of the prawns will be bananas, 1% will be tigers.
- Your 6500c3 outfit should do okay, but if you own an Abu7000 on a jig rod I would recommend bringing that instead. In my opinion 12lb is a bit light for live baiting that place because you often hook up to dirty fighters like fingermark and mangrove jacks. They will show no mercy to 12lb. Normally I fish 25lb with a 3 meter 40lb wind-on, and 1m 60lb leader. Even that gets tested by the fingermark. A guy I used to fish with there used bungy rope cord on a handline (insane but no fingermark got away). Also the 6500 has a pretty modest capacity, if you hook a stingray or shovelie there is a chance of getting spooled. The ratchet is too light on the 6500 in strong current aswell. The best outfit for that place is one that can cast the light weights yet have the guts to handle moderate line classes.

[cHiCo]

ok thanks for that. Im thinkin about getting a Spinning outfit that would hold around 30lb line. It has to be ideal for a spot like that but also chasing little pelagics offshore. Do you have any ideas about what good spinning outfits that are out there these days that wont rip a hole in your pocket. Gonna have to look around the jetty one night for some livies. Mate i havent live baited the yorkeys marina but there have been good reports of barra around 90cm being caught there on livies. You have to get the bait then head to the end of the wall where the river meets the sea and have a go there. I have only ever flicked lures there. Wouldnt mind giving some livies a go there once the barra season starts. but the same again use a big handline or strong line on a caster.

[Bad_Bubby]

Hi Chico,

Normally I would not recommend using any spinning reels for live baiting, even the baitrunner type is useless sometimes at the Marlin Jetty because the current is too strong. I have tried using Shimano 3500 and Okuma CD60 baitrunners and they can't handle tides over 2.7 meters. With the baitrunner control on maximum setting they still spew out line, which means even on moderate tides if a good fish hits your bait a massive over-run is likely.

As you are looking for a reel for pelagics I would gather you are not in the market for a baitrunner. If you are going after pelagics you will need a reel with high speed retrieve to use metal lures and poppers. The problem with that is when you hook a good fish live baiting you have hardly any power or control with the high ratio. Then there is the obvious problem of leaving the reel in gear with a live bait on the other end.

At the marlin jetty the grooves in the side of the concrete actually provide a barrier to stop your rod and reel from going over the side. If you slide the section of rod (inbetween foregrip and bottom guide) into the groove the worst that can happen is that your reel will get slammed into the concrete when something takes your bait. So what reel would I recommend?. In my opinion there is only one make of reel that can do both High Speed Sinning and live baiting and that is the Penn Spinfishers. They have a medium ratio but the diameter of the spool causes it to increase somewhat so they are still effective with metals.

I am not sure what size reel you are after. Personally I would go for the 6500SS because it is not as clumsy as the bulkier 8500SS and still has the aluminium body which the smaller Spinfishers do not have. It has just enough capacity to deal with the saltwaer pelagics, provided they are mostly fish under 10kg. If you want a rod that is strong as hell for lots of live bait work look at the Ugly Stiks, the Ugly Stik Gold SP66A is one of the more affordable Uglys (it should go well with the 6500SS). If you want a rod that will be light in the hand for repeated lure casting I would go for one of the live fibres or Pac.Composites 'Prographs'. Graphite doesn't come cheap though.

Penn Spinfishers are normally on sale at Bransfords Tackle Store. Amart ######### knocks their prices by a further 10%, so that is where I usually get them. At the moment you could get a Spinfisher 6500SS for as little as $160-$170. The Ugly SP66A is around $100 (depending where you shop). I think Tackle Warehouse in Portsmith has some. Live Fibres and Prographs are usually around $200. I can say from experience that getting this outfit will save you alot of money in the long run, there are far more expensive alternatives that will struggle to last the same amount of time. If you go cheaper you will end up looking for a new outfit after 1 or 2 mackerel seasons.

HOPE THIS HELPS!

[cHiCo]

Thanks alot for all that info aye. Im gonna go have a look at these reels one day. What outfit do you use for live baiting at the marlin jetty? Do you think yours is a good outfit for that type of fishing? Any info would be great.

[Bad_Bubby]

G'Day Chico,

I've fished at the Marlin Jetty and Palm Cove Jetty countless times and I reckon the most versitile outfit for both places is an Abu7000 or Calcutta 700 mounted on a 10kg glass or composite jig rod (standard length is 6'6"). Like I mentioned before you need something that can cast light weights but also put the brakes on fish that fight dirty.

At the moment I am using two outfits. One is an Abu7000 on an Ugly Stik Gold OHD66A, the other is an Abu9000cl (not made anymore) on an Ugly Stik PTA64M (sold only at Erskins). The 7000 outfit is probably the better suited to the Marlin Jetty but occasionally you have to use really big baits like 30cm mullet etc, which is why I like bringing the 9000cl.

You will be surprised how cheap you can get one of these set ups. My Abu7000 cost $115 from Amart ######### (wait till they are on special), and the Ugly Stik Gold OHD66A cost $85 at Big W. All up that is $200 for a an outfit that will get the job done and last for many years.

[cHiCo]

Yeh i was thinking something around the Abu 7000 would be ideal. They do get pretty cheap at amart when there is a sale so i will be on the lookout for that aswell as the rod. Cheers

[fisherman_charles]

hey all
got back from fishing the other day and the tide was crap so remember to use the abus not the baitrunners 8)
the other day i caught 2 catfish and one grunter all where over 45cm the weather was bad but prawns every where, in one cast i got 25 prawns and 10 herring my net was packed up with bait but in my last cast i snaged ma net aaghh it was a new one aswell so i mended it up yesterday i caught half a bucket of prawns in just 20mins with about 30 herring so if you want prawns i would recomend you to go now and thats my day

[cHiCo]

Thats alright, at least you got a keeper and some prawns. Should be down there on friday night. Where you using the herring as bait? The baitrunners arent that good with the strong tides. What size hook were you using? Where did you fill up on the prawns and herring? around at the northern side and the entrance to the jetty?

[cHiCo]

The king tides are in. What does the marlin jetty fish like when there are king tides? Hopefully good.

[fisherman_charles]

i would recomend you to cast around the ladders for anchoves and herring, i was using a size 0\2-0\6. went today just using a handline, i lost a big jack to a snag on a hearing. the tide was running real fast proving it to be crap so when their is no current the fishing is hot locals around me got finger marks and some barra and a couple of queenfish.
be care full with your net saw a box jelly fish today.
cant go tomorro night mate, sorry
any ways good luck goin to kurramine this weekend

[cHiCo]

Damn about that jack, hopefully i have better luck with em. I stocked up on some 4/0 live bait hooks so hopefully they will be alright. buggers cost enough. Have a good one at kurrimine, can get some bream and barra round there around the boat ramp but watch out i think that was the beach where a croc was living getting all the fish guts ???. make sure you post a report on how it all went. Cheers.

[fisherman_charles]

yere mate good luck at the marlin jetty, but the tide might be a bit fast.another tip:fish inside the jetty but dont get busted ayy thats were all the fish hang around on the tide.
so do you get barra and stuff around the boat ramp???

[cHiCo]

Just got back from the marlin jetty. Yes it is only 10pm. and that is because i couldnt get any decent bait. everywhere i went the bait wasnt. fished the northern side of the jetty near the mud flats and didnt even get a run. the only bites we got were from mozzys! > Millions of them. Someone has gotta give me a detailed area to get some good sized mullet and herring. Might head out there tomorow midday and try for the other jetty. Hopefully my luck will be a bit better.

[cHiCo]

Hey charles, how did kurrimine go?

[Bad_Bubby]

Have you guys seen the t.v advertisment for the Cairns post? the final scene they show is of someone fishing in the illegal part of the jetty during sunrise...and they're advertising it