Reply With Quotenice looking snapper in the 3rd pic Jeff. You should send the first one in to the footy show Sterlo lookalikes segment.
It was just a bit cool at 6am this morning when I met up with Brian (Scalem) and Johann at the Scarborough boat ramp. We launched Brian's 555 Yalta and headed out for a soft plastics session on the shallow reefs north of the Cape. Apart from a small amount of left over chop on the eastern side of the bay, the run to the Cape was very good and we arrived out at our starting location in just over an hour, with the Yalta giving us a very comfortable trip out.
As is often the case, the first plastics in the water produced the goods. Johann kicked the day off with a small fish that was released, and then my plastic got slammed in a big way. After a really good fight, Brian slipped the net under my first fish.
Placed the fish on the measuring board to confirm its size and pretty happy with calling it for a 74cm fish.
Throughout the morning, the conditions got better and better with just a small amount of breeze, and a fairly nice drift speed allowing us to set the boat up for some good drift lines across the reefs and it resulted in a steady procession of good sized snapper and a couple of monumental hookups and bust offs from fish that were too good for the light outfits in use, and managed to get us into the reef. A good number of the fish caught were similar in size to this snapper which took a liking to a ZMan 5" Jerk Shad in Redbone Glow.
This fish was to be a short lived PB plastics snapper for Johann, with his next cast resulting in a much better fish being caught.
We moved around a fair bit throughout the morning, trying not to drift across the same patch of reef with each drift, and by the end of the session, we had our bag limit of snapper in the ice box as well as a 40cm grass emperor. We also released a fair few snapper throughout the morning, and Brian caught and released a small yellowtail king and also a diamond trevally. All in all, a great day on the water in good company with some nice fish to top it off. Water conditions were close to perfect for the trip home with the cruise back to Scarborough taking just on an hour.
Cheers
Jeff
nice looking snapper in the 3rd pic Jeff. You should send the first one in to the footy show Sterlo lookalikes segment.
Dad reckons fishing is 10% brains and 95% muscle, the rest is just good luck.
Top report mate nice to hear some size to the fish as well congrats
happy days ahead summer is coming
What a top day. Sitting at home after a quick wash down and flush of the engine and I am wishing we were still out there. Whale watching boats were out there chasing them, but we were trying to avoid them, without much success. I guess at least 20 swam past us??
You were on fire today Jeff taking the better class of fish, Pitty I missed a couple of brutes but that's how it goes...happy to man the net.
Great day and time flew past, thanks for coming out.
Pic of the fish coffin before splitting our catch up.
Brian
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Well done guys, glad to hear the snapper are about.
Yeah there are bloody whales everywhere out there at the moment. Last Tuesday we gave up pointing them out as there were just too many. This cold spell really has fired up the snapper. Back at work now so have to wait for the weather to play the part on weekends.
Not wrong on the conditions out today!
A mate and I hit the cape as well as a bit of shoal ground just wide before heading up to the artificials around 11. Tally for the day 3 grassys a couple of small kings and about 20 baby Reds from the artificials.
Oh and whales make short work of a Stradic 8k spooled with 40lb braid....... Saw a shadow under the boat as I was retrieving moments later it was all over. Next rod please.
Don't recall seeing a 555 while we were there however we jumped around a bit due to lack of success. We were in my Seafarer "No Worries"
Trip home sure was heavy on fuel!
Cheers
Marchy
Good work Jeff. Certainly an old man snapper for it's size that one.
Great read blokes.
Thanks
Rob
Thanks all, it was certainly one of those days to keep in the memory banks for a while to come.
Brian - we all certainly had the chances, and some of the hook ups and resultant tackle losses were impressive to say the least. There were some very good quality fish out there.
Thanks Dean. I like your suggestion on sending the photo to the Footy Show, but surely the fact that Sterlo is a Blues supporter is embarrassment enough for this year, without me adding further to his misery.
Marchy, I'm fairly sure I did see your boat out there at one stage during the day. We had a couple of occasions where the whales got a bit too close for comfort, and had us fast retrieving the plastics to ensure we did not end up connected to them. I did suggest to the guys at one stage that an approaching whale was a fantastic sight casting opportunity, but they were reluctant to rise to the challenge.
We had another boat fish alongside us for most of the morning, and they too struggled to connect to any good fish. There were times when the two boats were drifting almost alongside each other, and we were hooking fish, and they were not. Hard to explain why that was the case as our fishing styles and rigs were almost identical.
Cheers
Jeff
Re: Cape Moreton Today.
Even the Maroons didn't win all 3 Games. I think I'll wear their colours next time. When are we going?Originally Posted by Short Fuse
Brian
You might need to increase the calibre of the gear Brian - 10lb braid is pushing the luck in that territory!
Jeff and I fished up that way a few years ago with a mate of ours Keith - and I was foolish enough to take my Bay SP gear along. Same calibre as you were using. Got smoked big time on several occasions. At least it was entertaining for the rest of the crew!
My fav gear now for offshore SP fun is a Saragossa 4000 on a nice Jewel spin rod rated 6-8kg. Loaded with 20lb power pro and run either 20 or 30 fluorocarbon leader. Regrettably, I don't think either item is still available these days.
And by by the way, welcome to PBA! More Southside/bayside members we can get, the better!
Note to self: Don't argue with an idiot. They will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience....
Re: Cape Moreton Today.
Thanks for the welcolme.
Not disputing your point Grant, but think about all the SP users who eventually found out that the approach "lighter is better" increases your chances of getting fish to strike. I call my rig I was using the suicide rod when fishing that sort of territory, for offshore it has accounted for some great fish. Point taken, what was I thinking?
Why do people chase pigs with bows and arrows? But I guess I never tried to drop a pig with a .22, that would be plain stupid, fun trying though!
Next time!
Brian
Brian - Took a look at the forecast for the next few days and not looking good for fishing over the weekend. Just back from throwing a squid jig around the foreshores of the Peninsula for 1 good tiger squid landed and 1 dropped when trying to lift it up on the rocks. It is a beautiful night out on the bay - maybe we should have gone out again today.
Cheers
Jeff
Weather doesn't get much worse does it? I have never followed this Almanac app Closely but it rated when we went out as GOOD. It's called fish time pro which says this Sunday is the last GOOD prediction until the 13th August. Some "fair" and "poor" days in between... If you believe Almanacs. I will see if I can prove it wrong by fishing on days I am able to go. Hopefully 13th August!
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