The Weatherman got it right!!!

[Huxstang]

Like @ellicat I spend my life monitoring the weather and planning trips around it.

I think everyone would agree this year has had its fair share of less than stellar weather for fishing and finding a day to go outside the bay isnt always easy, so with the forecast being a decent day yesterday and an even better day this morning with the northerly coming in from 10am it was too good an opportunity to miss.

My normal fishing bud has been OS so with today being too good to miss out on I decided to do a solo run - my first out of the bay on my lonesome so with the wind coming in a bit early I decided to stick in relatively close and just went out to Wildbanks Artificial.

Launched at VMR ramp at Bribie Island and headed out into zero breeze and a nice long low swell and a bit of an overcast sky and haze.

After about a 35min run I was at the artificial which has 3 large structures in 35m of water. 2 already had boats on them so I chose the one without….and it was a reasonable decision.

First was a feeler drift with a pilly on to see what the current was like and it was actually quite mild.  I didnt feel like rerigging with less weight for bait, so spot locked on and decided to try a the faithful Nomad Squidtrek.   

If you havent used them, do it.  They are awesome.   Cast them up current and let them drift down on the current.  Really complex fishing .  First cast and with the bail still up on my little Twin Power 5000 (the non SW size one) and I have line peeling.   Flick it down and got some weight, and then it was on….I was loosing and it was winning.  Funny I thought my drag was tight, clearly no where near enough, so a bit of a tweak and I felt like I might get somewhere.  The usual headshakes and I was confident it was another nice Wildbanks snapper, however with some serious runs I was less than confident on boating it by myself.   Long story short and I get colour, pull the net and got the horse in the boat.  74.5cm or 75 depending on how picky you want to be - its hard to hold the fish still and take a finger photo

Dispatched, bled and on ice and it was an easy decision, Squidtrek you are the one….two cast/drifts and it goes off again, just much more manageable than the early one at something like 45cm.  At this point I could have happily gone home….and perhaps could have saved money if I had.

Another cast and something much different takes the squidtrek…solid and powerful.  I started to make ground on it but the poor little Venom 12-30lb spin rod did not have the backbone to put hurt on whatever this beast was and it clearly thought the structure was the place to be.  A hard run and it was bye bye Squidtrek and hello to retying a new leader.  I know from using the Livescope there are some big things around there, could be kingies, amberjack, jewies or even just a big cod (except this was up in the water column).

Out with another rod (new acquisition - Bone PE3 baitcaster with a Shimano Grappler with PE3 braid) - the Grappler can lay on 9kg of drag so decided using my Moreton Bay outfit may not be the best plan…..and neither was this one.  Bricked again - two Squidtrek down I am feeling my self funded retirement funds depleting

Ok, next try, Venom 20-60lb spin with a Saragosa 6000….now we are talking.   Chasebaits Squid lure….repeated attempts, no interest.

Switched over to my little river special Shimano TCurve Premium with a Stradic and PE1.5.   Which was already rigged up with a Berkley Powerbait fork tail on a jig head.   Same technique……hooked up, pulled.   Cast out again hooked up, pulled.   

Cast out again, hooked up solid….headshakes, hmm another nice snapper for sure…and then it became a shark.

Getting lazy because I already have more than a decent feed and persisted with the Chasebaits lure and still nothing. 

Back over to bait on my old TLD couple of small pickers converted into a 25cm red (released) and a second one (no pic) and while dicking around on the livescope it gets a hit, grab it, load up and its solid….and hooks pulled as it went into the structure.

And that was the end of it.  As per forecast, northerly just started to come on at 10am and I had a nice run back across to the island and in….so nice to get out and not come home bruised and sore….and with a feed.

I will see if I can post video of the structure recorded off livescope….that is about max for my version of livescope but its cool to actually see what is around.

[Huxstang]

Livescope video.  

[Huxstang]

For comparison this is Livescope from Harry Atkinson yesterday….you can see how much better a view you get in 20m of water.

I think I need LVS62 (the dedicated deep saltwater version of Livescope).

[ellicat]

Good feed, great fish, sensational conditions and not being at work. Imagine how high you could have been if you didn't lose those magic Squidtrex.

Did you share a pic with the old boss ? haha   I got in trouble today from sharing too much with a friend who has to work... Sorry @benno573.

It is a luxury to have so many rods rigged and ready. We have a limit of 3 each with 2 of us onboard. Sounds like you needed one more heavier rig for the unstoppable mystery fish. Next time.

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Sounds like a great session Huxstang, massive snapper. 

[Huxstang]

45 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Good feed, great fish, sensational conditions and not being at work. Imagine how high you could have been if you didn't lose those magic Squidtrex.

Did you share a pic with the old boss ? haha   I got in trouble today from sharing too much with a friend who has to work... Sorry @benno573.

It is a luxury to have so many rods rigged and ready. We have a limit of 3 each with 2 of us onboard. Sounds like you needed one more heavier rig for the unstoppable mystery fish. Next time.

 

Well when you are solo its not like you are tripping over too many.  On the positive side MOTackle has 30% of Squidtrek on their Wednesday mystery sale….so two down, four replaced.

Problem with using lightish plastics is heavy rods dont seem to feel right.  I should have just tied a squidtrek onto the Saragosa.  They work pretty well with @ 13kg of drag max….it was laziness and it cost me a couple of fish I reckon.  But really I could have left after the first two fish, I think the one over 70 is my limit so then you are hoping anything decent is a different species.

 

[Huxstang]

Thanks Hamish.

[Old Scaley]

Looks like a pretty good morning to me. Brian and I were discussing yesterday the hardships of being retired and today you put a post that eloquently discusses those trials and tribulations. 

Thanks for the livescope videos. Very interesting piece of kit. Interesting point you make about the difficulty of taking photos with a moving fish and whatever finger configuration Brian decides for the comp each month. I notice @Neil Stratford is well prepared with laminated emojis and he catches heaps - I wonder if those 2 things are related?

[mangajack]

Sometimes it pays to bring out the 150lb handcaster....

Good session and great report thanks.

[Huxstang]

I don’t think the workers realise just how much effort we put into having a good time.  They look at us funny when we refuse to go to Bunnings on a weekend unless there is a plumbing emergency, or 30% off at Supercheap or if I say I don’t fish on weekends, too many people.

Livescope is a great bit of kit but I doesnt make the fish bite