Raby Bay Canals

[C@RLO5]

Went down towards cleveland yesterday with a mate to go have a try in the raby bay canals, low tide when we got there about midday and started rising in the arvo, all i caught was 2 just legal bream (released) and a nice squid (kept), we were using frozen prawns :-[ and i was flicking some 3" shads about as well as some hard bodied lures but nothing... the water looked nice and clean, can anyone help out with some locations, bait, details? we were fishing on Raby Bay Blvd and Marrara St i think it was called, im keen to further fish the canals so any advice would be greatly appreciated, cheers.. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

[Maria]

There's two canal entrances - the Ormiston Entrance, and the Raby Bay entrance. The Raby Bay entrance is the one with the big grassy park area on the Ormiston side, at the bottom of the hill. On the other side are some small beaches and a recreation area.

The Raby Bay entrance is near the Volunteer Marine Rescue, and simply has a park on one side which is accessed via Paxton St, Marram Ct and finally Raby Bay Bvd. This one I believe is where you were fishing.

After fishing those entrances for almost 10 years now, I would say that the Raby Bay entrance is more productive than the Ormiston entrance, but both can hold fish at the right times. I usually only fish with bait there, and have found well presented strip baits to be the go. E.g..mullet, tuna...whatever. Squid does alright sometimes too.

Have caught tailor, bream, luderick, whiting and shovelnose sharks there in the past, with bream being the most common caught. This time of year can see a few tailor about, but most are undersize.

Try to stick towards the end of the rock walls, not further up inside the canals. Most of the fish tend to hang around right in the very entrance, and just out from it.

Have caught fish on both a rising and dropping tide there before, but the most productive times are the hour before and the hour after a tide change.

Hope this helps

Ben

[Billo]

Interesting Ben ...most of the fish i have caught have been right up in the canals .
I have gotten squire and bream and the odd shovelly from the mouths , but from round the marina and canals themselves i have gotten flathead to 5kg , Bream -some over the 2kg mark , Mangrove Jack to 4kg ,tailor , squid , pinkies , pike and some hefty cod .

I like fishing with heavy leaders , no weight and slab baits of mullet / tuna / tailor etc along the bottom of the rock walls within the marina itself ....some estuary cod i have pulled out have been up to 6KG ! ...other then that , winter i fish the 1kg tackle , size 10 hooks , no lead and fresh strip baits for bream - mostly late night high tides....
In summer it's out with the hardbodies and cast parralell with the rock walls again in the marina from the ramps down to the pontoons ..this has also pulled me some good bream with Mangrove Jack being the target , and some good cod to the mix on th lures also .

[Maria]

To be honest, I've never really fished the marina properly eh. Just the pontoon beside the train station for bream. I might have a better go at it sometime later this year for the jacks and cod. How's that new rig of yours going mate?

Ben

[jaybee]

When i use to live down that way we use to catch some good size schoolies and the odd spotty in summer in the raby bay entrance, where we use to fish houses now stand though, another place often overlooked is the canals at birkdale off commodore drive, bream, legal tailor, squire, squid, cod. hope this helps
cheers
Joe

[C@RLO5]

thanks for that guys, much appreciated, will keep all this in mind next time, cheers [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]
Carlos...

[MulletMan]

Look for my boat up on a big :-lifter and see if the rods are out the back! ;)
If one is bent, then it is snappery squire about the 2-4 kilos mark ;D ;D
The name of the canal is:
Damn, what is it again..................
Ummmm, nope, lost it I am sorry!
:-X :-X :-X :-X :-X