This saturday night is looking good if the rain holds off, I think I might give it ago.
yeah, i think its ok at the moment
i didn't get many chances to fish off the rocks there, but i went to lion rock in the afternoon, and pulled in a solid 800gm sombre sweetlip. but lost quite a bit of tackle on the bommies.
cheers for all the info
Owen
Freeeedom
I need some advice on Noosa
What do you want to know that's not already covered in this post?Originally Posted by IRMC000
Cheers Freeeedom
Thank you Freeeedom
My father-in-law has fished Lion's Gate with an even older friend a few times and likes the area. I would like to get into a King (one of my dreams). I rarely get up to visit him so I would like to plan a trip to Noosa Heads area with him.
It has been reccomended in posts to fish between Fairy Pools and the Hell's Gate:
When fishing from the rocks - how far off the water are you generally?
How easy is it to get large fish somewhere to get them gaffed / landed?
How long a gaff is required?
How often are Kings caught and what would be the average size?
What pound line do you suggest for Kings, pelagics here?
What other pelagics are common?
What length / line rating / type of rod do you suggest?
Do you reccomend to use braid here?
Does the tide impact the fishing off this area - if so which is best or is it more a matter of light Sunrise / sunset?
What other fish species and where particularly on the Heads can they be caught:
Thank you very much
Robert
Hi Robert
I'll try to answer your questions in the order you've asked them.
There is good access to the rocks at the Fairy Pools and at Hell's Gates but not much in between. The labelled photos I put up in the original post seem to have disappeared (at least on my computer) so I'll attach them again. At both locations you are about 6 metres above the water although you can get a bit lower down if the sea is very calm. Before you start fishing watch the swells for 10 minutes or so to see where the odd larger set reaches, and always watch the sea while you're fishing.
All of my big fish taken here were taken without a gaff. The fish would be played right out and then washed up onto a ledge, then grabbed between waves. I don't recommend it - as they say "Do as I say, not do as I do". That said a long gaff (3-4m) and a mate to wield it would make things a lot easier and safer.
The kings I've taken there are basically 'rats'. The best I landed went about 5kg, but 2-3kg is the common size. They are more common towards December as the weather gets hotter, and come through in schools when the sun is well up. I've also taken cobia there to about 8kg, but these are odd fish. I was there with a mate one day who hooked a cobia that would have gone at least 15kg, possibly 20. After nearly 2 hours he was completely stuffed and the fish hadn't broken into a sweat (so to speak). He ended up breaking it off - I would have still been there!
When I was targeting big fish like jew, spaniards and tuna I used about 10 kilo mono. For bream and tailor through the night I would use about 7kg line.
The pelagics that I've caught there include tailor, spanish mackerel, school mackerel, cobia, yellowtail kings, various trevallies and longtail tuna. If you go small there are often big dart which can be a real nuisance at Hell's Gates destroying pilchards as soon as they hit the water. That's why baits like pike and gar are better when chasing big pelagics. There are also some big longtom that will take your baits - up to 5kg are quite common.
You need a big (4m) powerful surf rod to fish these rocks. This allows you to control the fish, keep it away from the rocks and lead it to the place you want to land it. It also gives you the power to lift medium size fish straight up onto the rocks in a single movement.
I don't bother with braid, just a good quality mono. You need to have a full spool with no joins because the initial run of some of these fish can take a hundred metres off you in one go before they even start to slow down - and you'll hook some that DON'T ever slow down!
Tides don't matter much because the water at your feet is about 10 metres deep. The crucial factors are the swell size and the time of day. If the swell is small and the winds light then you'll have a light sou-wester (land breeze) around dawn which will assist your cast. This will usually drop off to nothing and then the nor-easter will kick in around mid-morning to midday. By then it's time to com home anyway! I don't fish the sunset because you'll have the nor-easter in your face making fishing difficult - always through the night and the dawn.
Other things I have caught there include good flathead on the sand besides the rocks, various reefies (sweetlip, squire etc) and the odd tarpon, drummer etc
Hope this helps
Cheers Freeeedom
Just another point Robert - you mentioned fishing "Lion's Gate". Lion Rock is the next headland south of Hell's Gates, at the southern end of Alexandria Bay. A lot of good fish are taken there but it is a VERY DANGEROUS rock platform. A number of fisherman have been washed off the rocks and drowned there. The rock platform is very flat so when a big green wave comes onto it it can surge a long way onto the platform without losing much of its energy. For this reason I would never fish there. I've had a few hairy moments even up on the cliffs!
Cheers Freeeedom
Hi freeeedom
i'm going up there again this december. I'll definately have a crack at hells gates and fairy pools. Can you catch snapper off there?
I presume the best fish to target are the kingies and trevs along with a few reefies and tailor and bream. Will try all.
I have a snyder 12' 7 w rod which i will be using. with 20 lb line.
cheers
Owen
I have seen squire caught from the fairy pool area although not anything huge but have seen and caught some absolute horse bream from this area. I have fished both the fairy pools and hells gate area and cannot stress enough how careful you must be especially at the outer side of hells gate. Once when fishing that area i was smashed by a big wave. I had looked at the sea for 30 minutes before commencing fishing and had been fishing for about an hour when a huge set came through. Luckily i wasn't washed off the platform merely dragged 20 odd meters along it, but I did lose a bit of gear and ended up battered and bruised. It taught me a very important lesson You can never be too careful. In saying that hells gate has to be one of the best lbg spot in seq (along with point lookout). Good luck with 20lb gear I have never caught anything huge there though have been seriously outgunned by kingies using even 50lb gear. It also pays to carry a lighter outfit to use while you wait for your big live bait to go off the bream and big dart can be a whole heap of fun.
Cheers Chris
how would you go about catching live bait off the rocks there? I was probably just going to use an unweighted pilly on my 20 lb sidecast gear, and swim it like a lure. Or just bottom bash with squid and pillies.
I've surfed at granite alot and have seen some enourmous waves break over fairy pools.
Because i often fish the general area we have found that the fishing isn't as good as in the cooler months, so i'll see how my 20 lb line goes, and upgrade to 30 lb if necessary.
Thanks for the info!
cheers
Owen
If you are after a big pelagic you really should use live bait. With one of those cheap bait jigs you can usually pull up a few bait fish, or burley with bread and tuna oil to get them in the the area. Pillies are usually destroyed by bream dart or tailor before anything bigger gets a looks at them. If your after these smaller fish cubed pillies or squid should be ok.
Cheers Chris
would it be safe fishing out the front of them rocks in a 4m tinny on a calm day ?
Very Helpful information - so many people must benefit from your experience Freeeedom
Grateful for the pics as well as I don't seem to be able to see to many on the site.
I was thinking 8 foot for a rod and maybe 50lb line - so that was out a bit.
Have people done OK while spinning this area?
Robert
They are all spinning ledges in my opinion.
I have done reasonably well on the spin out there landing heaps of trevally(all different sorts),spottie mackeral,school mackeral,small yellowtail kings and small tuna.
I know the longtails cruise past close enough to the rocks but the hours need to be put in before you get one out there....they arent real consistent producers.
I have livebaited with yakkas and big gar off the fairy pools and hells gates.....It is a very hard ledge to get a good drift off as its open to all sorts of wind.
The fairy pools is protected in southerlies but still very hard to get a drift as the swell pushes you back into the bay even when using a balloon.
Livebaiting the bottom could be interesting though for a jew or cobe.
Cheers
Pete
Pistol P
What rods do you use for spinning and baitfishing off here
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