Last week we headed over to Tangalooma for a week long holiday on Moreton Island. After much deliberation I decided not to take boat as it was just too hard to make it work logistically.
Turns out that it was not that much of an issue as the fishing shore based was great with a wide variety of fish caught and some whoppers amongst them. Highlights were:
Fishing from the Wharf - Most days would see me up at around 4 (just can't sleep in anymore) and I would head down the wharf with a couple of rods (light/heavy) for a session before brekky. It was the most productive time of the day with a consistent catch of Spotty Mackeral everyday, especially around sunrise.
Biggest Mackeral went 94 on a live Herring under a balloon which was awesome to watch and best surprise catch was a 47cm Grassy on 10lb line that smashed a floated out hardy head. This guy took me under the wharf structure and nearly rubbed the leader through so I was pretty lucky. The Mackeral were great fun and catching them on 10lb was a real buzz, with them usually taking small slugs.
There were also some massive Kingfish around - almost every morning three of them around a metre in length would cruise around the wharf for about 20 minutes and then take off somewhere. The local guys said the only way to hook them was with a big live bait - Whiting being the preferred bait.
Fishing Western Side - I also did a few sessions on the Western beach south of Tangalooma which is a magical area to fish with a wide variety of species to target. I tried to keep to lures and plastics this trip to build my skills up in this area and I was not disappointed. Best catch was a tie between a 92cm Flathead that nailed a popper whilst I was fishing for Whiting (thought it was a Wobbegong to start with) or a Bullshark that also nailed a popper about 2 meters away from me at Shark Spit funnily enough. Again all on light gear which made it fun. All in all I caught about 6 good Flathead, a good bag of Whiting, my first Long Tom, Bream and a Bullie so I was pretty stoked.
As usual the 4WD'ing was great and we saw some interesting sites including a massive dead Dugong on the Western side and a couple of large dead Turtles on the Eastern Side - one unfortunately had been caught in commercial fishing gear.
Also snorkelled the wrecks which are not as bad as I suspected even with the council vandalism - the only time they look small is on a very high tide - saw some of the biggest Bream and Whiting there I have ever seen and they were quite tame as well.
All in all an awesome trip to an awesome place.
Biggest Mack on Light Gear for the Trip
Long Tom on a lure (not sure why these have rotated)
Yep its a flattie but look at the great location! (Again not sure why this has rotated)
Well done mate ....sounds like a great holiday, with some hot fishing off the jetty etc.....!!!
Some v big fish lurk about there at times....chasing bait no doubt.
I suspect the Mac photo you have put up is a School (doggie) mackerel... ..not a Spotty mac.
Good sized schoolie tho. See info below on School mackerel Id etc
https://www.daf.qld.gov.au/fisheries...chool-mackerel
You may have caught Spotties as well tho..??...as 94 cm is a big fish.
Cheers
thanks for the report Blair, good times.
how is the mobile phone coverage there on the island?
Pretty good on the Western side - we had coverage all the way down on Telstra. North Cape and teh lighthouse has coverage too - only part that is dodgy is the middle of the island eastern beach from middle track downOriginally Posted by PROS
Well done mate, great report !
Yeah, who needs the boat when you get that much action !!
What popper did you use and did it catch the whiting as well ?
Cheers
Craigie.
Hey Craigie it was a small 40mm popper in a clear colour - RIver2Sea I think
Blair
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