Mooloolaba reefs plastic and bait help anyone?

[BrandonH]

Hi all. I posted something a couple of days ago on this but didn't get 1 single reply :'(

Can anyone give me some pointers on what palstics i should be taking out around the 30mtr mark, and how i should be fishing them???

Any info including best bait (in case my plakies don't work :-X) this time of year would be appricated!!!!
I am hoping for a decent snapper or two but will be happy with a good feed of anything!!!!!

Cheers N
Tight Lines

Brandon...

[Blackened]

G'day
I'll start you off. I havent tried this at all, but when I do, this is what i'm taking.

The gulps, 7'' jerk shads and the big squid, the gulp squid also come in 10''.

Imakatsu Javallons in 160.

I'd be using these unweighted on a patternoster rig, twin droppers. On hook with bait (pillies, squid, yakka or slimie) and the other with plastics.

This would be th best comparison one could make.

Dave

[BrandonH]

thanks dave :)

with the paternoster rig, what distance would you space the 2 rigs? and how far would you hang the 2 rigs from the main line?

Would you run the plaky on the top and bait on the bottom? haven't ever played with a 2 bait rig b4 so info here would be appricated too guys :-/

Would 40lb be enough for the leader or should i go to 60lb? will be using my abu 6500c4 loaded with 50lb braid or 80lb handline.
I have some Javallons stashed and will be giving them a go ;)
saw one of those BIG gulp squid at North side the other day :o :o :o they are soooo huge!!! but can't justfy spending $11 for one bait... it was hard enough justfting 4 Javallons at $25 ;D ;D

my mate dosn't collect bait out there (only ever seams to use squid :-?) so will be taking some nice IQF pillies and a pack of squid ;)

thanks again Dave!!!!!!

Cheers

Brandon...

[Clint06]

For a paternoster rig i use at least 60lb trace. As for plastic on top or bottom, ive tried both and normally put it on top so that pickers are less likely to wreck the plastic.
I havent had much success with plastics on a paternoster rig, i actually think bait is the better option on a paternoster. You cant maximise the action of the plastic when it is used in this way.
If your keen on using the plastics why not just use a plastic only and forget the paternoster, youll probably find the plastics are more sucessful this way.

[BrandonH]

Thanks for the info guys :) muchly appricated!!!!!!!!

Have found a little more on paternoster rigs to play with, but will take what you said Clint about the plastic action into account. If the current is strong it probablly won't make that much difference as it should swim against it to a degree. I will certianly have a go with a single plastic first (Javallon 160 ;)) and take it from there!!

will try and put all this infomation into practice and catch some nice fish ;) hopefully :-/ and have a nice report to post too ::)

stonking lipper in your avatar too Clint :) is it a yellow or red throat?

Cheers N
Tight Lines

Brandon...

[Clint06]

Yellow sweetlip Bradon...
Also, to add to what i wrote above, you generally cover more of the water column if you use the plastic by itself because it doesnt just get plonked on the bottom. You should try and let the plastic "swim" down then, depending on current and jig head weight, bring it up a bit and let it swim down again.
Fish like snapper often feed higher in the water column and often plastics get hit well off the bottom.
Good luck!

[Nico.d.R]

hey brandon , i would try bait on the bottom and 1 of those segmented plackies a metre or so of the bottom they would swim nice with the sway of the boat and the current .

[BrandonH]

Thanks guys :) The weather looks like its going to hold for us so I am keen as mustard to get out there and wet a line ;) I will try the plaky only option first, but if my mate starts hooking up with bait I will have to look at my other options. I too belive these segmented plakys will swim ok against the current if its strong enough (don't want it to be too strong!!) so will have a play with that setup also ;)

Keep your eyes out for the report sunday arvo, or monday if I am stuffed from pulling up all the fish :P :P ;D ;D ;D

Cheers N
Tight Lines

Brandon...

[Nico.d.R]

good luck tomorrow hope you get a big ugly snapper ;D and not a snap off :'(

[mirage]

There's not much current at the moment. Float a plastic or a very lightly weighted pillie (on 2 5/0 ganged hooks and a small running sinker) down a good burley trail and you should get a feed.

[BrandonH]

Glad to hear about the current :) should make it easier to fish!!! Thanks Mirage :)
I am keen to get them on plakys if I can 8-) but have pillies ready to go too ::)
Thanks for the luck Nico ;) If i get a good feed i will drop some over for you on my way home ;)

Hope it all comes together!!!
gota go to sleep now :-X
Will let you know how i go sunday ;)

Cheers
Brandon...

[Brad_H]

Hi Brandon,
If its any help to you I am passing on some info from a charter skipper I know who had done some testing outside of Moreton Isl with softies. He has come to the conclusion that if you use a big jig head as your weight, use a crly tail on it as any current will give the tail movement. For the horizontal droppers use a fluke tail shad (tail looks like a snake tongue) and he has best results with a colour called ELECTRIC CHICKEN. Its pink on top and a light green belly. He has tried other colours and no matter where he puts the leccy chook it gets more hits than the others, He likes the salt assassin 4" Curly Shad and 4" salt water shad (fluke tail). hope that helps you some. Good luck

Cheers Brad

[BrandonH]

Thanks brad :) a little late for my trip though ::) Anyways i did try a necular chook and got one of the swim tails chomped, but no takers.. I also tried my javallons for a couple small chomps outa them :'( but the fish wern't biting well at all probablly due to the time frame we fished...

Anyways here is the story ;)

We didn't get a bait in the water untill 8:30am :'( (my mate can't drive at night and isn't keen to let anyone else drive for him :() but first drop my mate got a legal parrot before I could get a floating pillie out!! unfortunatlly after that we didn't get a touch on the deck but i managed to land a schoolie at 75cms and the biggest mac tuna I have ever caught at 13.5lb :o fort hard for 25mins on 20lb braid was grat fun :D. Anyways we moved around a bit. starting on a very close reef (were the mac and tuna came from) then to murphys (not a touch) then to the 50mtr mark :-/ I had a 1.5oz jig that would bounce once before getting lifted off the bottom while drifting but seeing there were schools of bait about mid water i thought this could be ok.. the floating pillies didn't get touched out here and we did 2 drifts for one unidentified reefy about 20cms long that a dolphin ended up having for lunch :) Anyways on the 3rd drift we went over 2 bait schools, my mate was bringing his bait back in when it got chomped and lost his rig :-? probablly another mack. While i was ripping my platic back up to the boat for another drop it got hit hard!! after about 10mins of fighting we see this fish come up to the surface, looked like a shark untill it hit the surface and we could see no dorsel fin ;) I had just caught my first Cobia!!!!!!!!! and even better it was on a plastic [smiley=laola.gif].
Went about 90cms and 9.5lb :) :) :) (pic attached). we gave it another couple of drifts without a touch and decided to get back in close as it had started to blow up.. we anchored for 30mins b4 the wind started gusting at about 20knotts and my mate wasn't happy :'( he dosn't like getting bounced around much these days and said that we were going to head home :'( so I didn't get a chance to fish the bottom at a sunset or sunrise (was on the cards) and i didn't get my snapper :'( I'm not too upset seeing i got this cobia and 2 new PB's also ;)

to top it off me and Nico.DR fished clontarf sunday morning and i managed one squire!!! yep equal to my PB at 38cms :'( it got a bit rough so we headed towards the hornybrook where Nico managed a grinner and a baby flathead and i got a shark all of about 20cms long!! not much biting... anyways there is always next time :)

Pic below of Cobia and one of the dolphin that was hanging around our boat at the 30mtr mark :)

http://members.optusnet.com.au/b.hazelwood/Myfirst%20Cobia1.JPG

http://members.optusnet.com.au/b.hazelwood/Dolphin1.JPG

Thanks again for everyones help!! it will come in handy if (hopefull more like when ;)) I get out there again!!!!!

Cheers N
Tight Lines

Brandon....

[shayned]

Nice work mate, glad the weather held for you.

[BrandonH]

WEll it was ok till 2:30pm :( and the fact that my mate didn't want to hang around for an arvo session or sun morning session was a little upsetting :'( but then again i think i did ok ;)

Saw the flaming riptide heading out about 2pm also, think he was heading for the banks ;)

did you get out shayne?

Cheers
Brandon...

[shayned]

A little bit of poppers on the dam in the no go area sat. late (1 miss and a follow, should have changed to divers but I'm still looking for my first 'toga in Brisbane) and tested a kayak on sunday and decided to give it a decent home. Guess there will be some sneaking up on fish to be added to the options, all I have to do now is convince you to do the same thing and we can hack our smoke blackened lungs out in unison. ;D

[finding_time]

BrandonH

Sorry i didn't see this post till now and realize you have already been but he's what i would try!


The inshore can really produce at this time of year and i have caught some very good fish on the shallow reefs of the sunshine coast, my favorites being Raper shoals, coolum and sunshine reefs. 2 things i find very important on these reefs are the time and being quite and away from other boats. The times that seem to produce for me a early morning and dusk to early evening with dawn being my prefered option. when i say dawn i mean fishing at dawn so you want to leave the ramp about 1.5 hours before and find your area anchor on it and have been burling for about 30-40 minutes before the sun shows up ;) And just float back your chosen baits in the trail,by about 7.30 am its time to pack the bait rigs away and start on the plastics.

For the plastics i like to consentrate on rubble areas right next to the reefs. and work these areas on slow drifts with the aide of a droug or para anchor. I wouldn't be tempted to put a plastic on a pananoster as it's not going to be all that effective better to fish with bait on a floater rig then plastics in the normal fashion. Like in the bay when you find the bait youll find the fish so work the bait schools and the results will come.

Hope that helps next time

Ian

Ps. try and get your mate to the ramp before dawn even if you sleep there as fishing during the day while nice and easy doesn't produce a good feed on the shallow area's

[BrandonH]

Thanks for that info Ian!! I will use it for next time I get up there ;) I have also heard good things of Raper shoals, might have to talk him into having a fish there one of these days. I didn't drop a bait to the bottom all day, only ever had one floating pillie out the back and a few different plastics bouncing accros the bottom (one at a time), or near the bottom at times. My mate had a bait on the bottom that got hit maybe 3 times :'( and a floater after I caught my second fish on mine ::) I must admit he wasn't too happy with me getting all the fish again :-X so may not get another trip with him!!!! Lol.

We were planing on staying over night and doing the dusk and dawn sessions but the weather got the better of the skipper so we came back in.. I can't blame him too much he is in his sixties and not keen to get bounced around much these days:-[ Still I am happy :) I got my biggest Schoolie, my biggest mac tuna and my first Cobia [smiley=laola.gif] Catching it on plastic makes it soooo much better too ;D :D :D ;D

Cheers N
Tight Lines

Brandon...