Cape Moreton etc Weds23Jan = Wahoo but no Marlin

[uripper]

managed a day off before the winds pick up again

lures spread by 5.15am tolling for billies south of the Cape for next 6 hours including a high tide change early and a moon under-foot later / a few bait schools & birds early but no sign of any beakies / did not turn a reel / marlin seem to have all but disappeared from this area for the moment ?? / hopefully some more may come through soon ???

headed north / best bait shows around Hutchies / jigged several without success

lures out again / scored 3 Wahoo 5-8kg in a frantic 20 mins on the low tide change then it shut down / lost best fish (thinking XOS wahoo) / awesome screamer of a run in a double hardbody hookup / it pulled 200m+ of 15kg line off a Tyrnos with contemptuous ease then detached / landed the smaller one

great conditions with little swell, light breezes & heavy clouded sky with a few showers / little fish activity overall / 195kms total (100+ trolling) / 13hrs on the water with #1 son & friend / lucky to come home with a feed / all good ;D

Mal

[Secret Spot]

Good on you Mal, always good to go out and get a few even better with No1 son. Looks like you were lucky with the weather doesn't look so good for the weekend.

[unka]

We hit the Gold Coast yesterday and trolled from the 24s off the Seaway down to the 50 meter line south east of the Tweed bar
Never turned a reel
Very little bait or bird activity
Set the spanner trays in 51 meters and scored a feed of spanners

[MyWay]

Mal
we were down south from you
and we got one black Marlin it was 1st for my 11 year old son .
we had 3 more hits on billy. Young one got also Spanish 130cm long and two mack-tunes from five. Very nice afternoon but bit sloppy morning

[TREVELLY]

Good report,

Very informative - thanks for sharing.

Have to admit the only hits i got were near the small fish schools at Hutchies when I was there last too. Venturing about in search of better chance drew a blank on baitfish and hits.

[outta line]

cheers for the report mate.... any day on the water is better than working... hows the new motor hight going ? are you getting any closer to your magic mark of 1.5km to the L ... i too played around with motor heights and went up a hole but gained no better fuel consumption .did get it to rev out at 5800 rpm wot used to rev to 5500rpm but the prop would break out in large swell and relay messy seas . i would rather have a bit extra drag from the leg in the water than a prop break out crossing a bar . cheers mick

[bazinga]

Same story, thought i would get a day on the water before to weather turns bad, in water at gc seaway by 5, headed straight up to the pin area, everything looked right, trolled skirts for 4 hours at all depths 25m to 50m, not a touch. Headed out to 36s, 2.8 kts current, back to se 24s to anchor up, let some slimies lure some spaniards to the hooks for another 4 hours ......nil. Still better than working. There was a bit of bait around se of the seaway. Dunno what water temp was like cos my tranducer tells me it was 33 deegrees c.....a bit sus. To top off my day of supporting caltex, mate down kingscliff way had a billy free jumping 20 metres from his tinny several times but was not hungry.
chris

[lethal]

I was out Tuesday and went east of the cape for 2-1-0 on billfish, snapped off the the fish on 15kg line. Also pulled out a dolly 12kg.
Headed north to hutchies where we scored 2-2-2 on wahoo, 7kg and 11kg fish.
Did a quick lap of the trench and we marked a few fish there but no takers.
Nice to take some fish home but the billy we lost was a lil larger than others we've hooked so a little disappointing.

Lee

[CoastRunner460]

88516I made it out on Wednesday but only just. Was rigging up on Mon night due to working on Tues and found cracked guides, quick call at 0600 on Tuesday morning to Mossops at Cleveland and picked the rod up at 1700, all done great job and only $20 odd dollars for two guides.

Made it out to the group off point lookout, there were several other boats out there as well, but I did not see anything substantial brought aboard. I picked up a mac tuna (60cm) on the way over and then droped 4 others around there, including a dolphin fish that came out of the water to smash my skirt (note to self, check the knots before deploying). One skirt came back a little mashed up so I imagine a toothy one.

Moved up to the 29's for a bottom bash, no current so moved out to the 35's, still no good. On the way back found a current line with some scum on it, put the skirts out and managed a Wahoo 120cm, my first so happy with that.

[Goldfinch]

Hey Mal, Have you tried dropping live baits into the bait schools on the drift yet? I did it again last Sunday and hooked another Small Black. But nothing on the troll. What hard bodies did the Wahoo go for? Cheers, Dave

[uripper]

cheers for the report mate.... any day on the water is better than working... hows the new motor hight going ? are you getting any closer to your magic mark of 1.5km to the L ... i too played around with motor heights and went up a hole but gained no better fuel consumption .did get it to rev out at 5800 rpm wot used to rev to 5500rpm but the prop would break out in large swell and relay messy seas . i would rather have a bit extra drag from the leg in the water than a prop break out crossing a bar . cheers mick

Hi Mick, No change since our last chat re fuel econ. Have been told by those who should know (years in the racing and workshop worlds) that water over the cav plate (as is my case) is not the determining factor re motor height. There are many - hull shape, weight etc.etc. The ultimate test is (so I told) to trim motor to cruise sweet spot (not too high, not too low) then do high speed (WOT if you can) turns. If motor at correct height it should only break free (cavitate) near full steering lock. If it breaks free early then motor too high.

You also need to clinch your arse cheeks real tight if doing 5500rpm 65kmh+ in 2tonnes of rig at full lock FFFFFFFAAAARRRKK :-) Happily though she handled beautifully and only broke free in tightest turns.

She still has a heavy bum (needs almost 3500rpm to plane easily) , so now its on with the Permatrim & fit larger trim tabs. Also getting new trailer tyres & rims next week, then will do nmea fuel flow setup to accurately assess best rpm & trim .

one day I will post the findings of my saga.

cheers, Mal

[uripper]

Hey Mal, Have you tried dropping live baits into the bait schools on the drift yet? I did it again last Sunday and hooked another Small Black. But nothing on the troll. What hard bodies did the Wahoo go for? Cheers, Dave

Hi Dave

no, didn't live bait that day, bait schools very scarce & seemed to vapourise when track back over the same spot WTF?

best hardbody lures for us over recent weeks have been


Halco LaserPro (large)
Rapala Xrap magnum 30

best colours - red / white and green /blue

cheers, Mal

[trueblue]

for wahoo hard bodies try the purple chrome halco, brilliant

bright days - red white qantas
cloudy days - red gold qantas

fire tiger green is great

the old classic blue minnow is always a winner

annaconda has a 20% off sale last time i was in there

[carnster]

Fun times there mate, personally i would take a wahoo, over a marlin any day of the week.