Offshore Double Island Point

[Reefmaster]

well sorry about this report but its gonna be short with little detail. Hit the water sat morning and headed out aound 40km mark with some livies and first spot showed huge amounts of fish on the sounder but after several drops i knew this was gonna be a tough weekend with the fish just not interested in chewing besides a bloody huge cod that i released and a frigging whale that decided he wanted shelter under our boat and even after drifting and driving back to the marks he would soon find us and just hang around ??? i should have taken a picture of the sounder as it showed the biggest red arch you will ever see ;D. anyway we headed to many marks trying to find some reds and the same story would be plenty of fish showing but not chewing. We ended up on the shelf and found some good Reds and worked our way south along the shelf many many miles catching the odd fish here and there before heading in close for the snapper but the long drive saw us get there just after dark but soon as we anchored the snapper were on for about 15 minutes and then it went dead.
Then the wind got up and blew a good 20 knots all night leaving us almost sleep less and pretty un happy with the weather man. We headed out around the 14 mile area and got some nice pearlies and other bits and pieces before making our way in around 9.00am and heading home. It would be a good weekend to make notes of the weather conditions and moon phase and not make another trip at that time again. The fish were there in good numbers but really werent interested in feeding. Not to often we see this happen but thats fishing. We ended up with a nice catch of Reds pearlies snapper and other species but gee we put the hard yards in.

Cheers Greg

[craigie]

Top Quality you've got displayed there Reefmaster. Would have loved a couple like that down on the Barwons Saturday Night. We had the same wind as yourself, mighty F*&king joggly.

Will look for the rest of your pics in the next B&B.

The next good weekend might see half of Ausfish following you out of DI as the Barwons were a bit disapointing for a few of us ::) ;D

Cheers
Craigie

[Thunderbird]

Confuscious say:
Too much time travelling not enough time fishing
Is what makes for a bad looking esky ;)

[Reefmaster]

yeah bad weekend for offshore fishing craigie and yep all good pics and info will be in BnB. We traveled just shy of 200km on the trip and used 150ltrs of fuel not to bad for a 2 stroke ;) But gee there was some unreal bottom all along the edge of the shelf. i will post some pics off my video camera soon.

[Lucky_Phill]

Mark, and your report goes like ?

Phill ;)

[philip_thomson]

those are some nice fish there, that reds very nice. you really should ahve taken a photo of the sounder that would be so awsome.

well done cheers philip

[Cheech]

Greg, can I ask a dumb question,,, When you anchour up for the night that far out, is there any concern of passing ships?

[opimax]

yep

[Reefmaster]

Cheech
its a big concern mate and its always in your mind. best to have someone on watch. you can work out roughly were the usaull path is for these ships but sometimes there is the odd one out of that area. The paper actaully has when these ships depart and arrive in brisbane and one day i might check to see if it can be useful to us. We came very close to getting run over in the middle of the day once. they can really sneak up on you :o

[snappa]

REEFY

what was the bar like for a return trip i know you dont use the bar but just thinking if i was up there and used the bar ?????

[snappa]

hi
if there is going to be a ausfish fisho's fish at D/I..
I WILL CREW WITH anyone.. :P

[Smithy]

Greg,

Was that the shelf due East or up in that 65km stuff? I saw little ledges East but nothing with fish on it and nothing worth anchoring on. Current was also roaring that day. Looked good for Marlin in fact.

[Reefmaster]

Rob
The Reds came from some good country about 10km SE from that 65km area on the shelf and the current was running really hard. This i would assume is the area you fish mostly ;). The good country we found was due east of the bar just inside the shelf and the whole area showed great bottom and massive ledges which was just covered in fish and bait. I will down load my video camera and take a few still shots and post them on here soon. There was bugger all current at this spot as well.

Cheers Greg

[Reefmaster]

heres a shot from my video camera that was taken on the country east of the bar on the shelf.

[bugman]

Greg,

Is that only 56 metres deep. I'm not familiar with the country up there but am I right in guessing that it's only 56 metres deep 65 km directly East of the bar.

Beats winding in pearlies from 130 metres I guess.

Does look promising.

Bugman

[Reefmaster]

well with out giving to much away Brett yes thats correct ;) ;D Theres plenty of water between the 50-60km area thats around 70mtrs deep and then you have spots as shown that have some good reef just on the edge of the shelf. The shelf drops off fairly slow (appox from 65mtrs-150mtrs in about 2km depending where you are. Beleive it or not but very rarely are pearlies caught out there and most are caught in close in shallow water. If you head more NE from DI its fairly shallow all the way to the shelf but the further you head south the deeper the water is way before the shelf. ESE of DI you have a good 15km of water between the depth of70-80 mtrs. before the shelf. Brett one day when your keen we can fish along the shelf in your big rig and you can experience yourself. Just bring lots of fuel and patience as i call those areas frustrating fishing and lots of time and effort has to be put in. YOu wont catch lots but qaulity makes up for it. If you want quantity you need to fish from the 30km area and closer.
Cheers Greg

[bugman]

Mate,

I've got about 220 litres onboard and should get me about 300-400km. Do you reckon that's far enough ;D

Fishing areas for the first time is always tough - just look at our Barwons trip last weekend. The thing I like about it though - is it's a challenge and you can expected the unexpected.

Besides I need to test the Landy on the sand with the big thing on the back. I bought it for these types of trips. I'll try DI before I try Fraser.

I'm still keen on getting a MG on Fraser for the offshore boys. Could you imagine a group of us up there for a week. It'd be a hoot.

Bugman

[snappa]

bugman

so you are interested in towing on the sand.. after opimax had all that trouble last weekend ????
i am modifying my trailer for the double island red emperor attack.
but maybe with our boats a trip through the bar could be alternative. you think ??

[bugman]

Pete,

I think a bar crossing would be a better first option. I'd like to do the beach eventually but only with a support vehicle to snatch through the blow.

I'm not sure I'd keep up with your yellow best offshore but we'll get there eventually. So when are we going?

Bugman

[Reefmaster]

Guys what you have to remember is that when Lee went up, there was very little or no hard sand left to have a decent run at the track. Its all about speed before hitting the soft stuff. To make things worse for LEE we came up around 3-4 hours later and drove for a couple of KMS in the soft stuff and then drove straight into the track bog free. I dont think the boys would have been happy with that :o. ;D
As long as you hit the beach at low tide and hit the track with a fair amount of speed it wont be a problem. As Brett said you can have another 4x4 as a tow car to snatch ya through. To be honest i would go through the bar if you were worried its not that bigger deal. Snappa remember that i would never go to DI and think of landing REDS as most do. Its not easy and most times poeple catch them as pure luck. There are areas that seem to hold reds but its like finding a needle in a hay stack. ;)
Cheers Greg

[snappa]

greg
my luck has to change ;D
when it does, watch out D/I reds ... ;D
bugman..
not sure how long trailer will take starting tomorrow getting boat off in shed...
then off to fraser the weekend 21st august
so when i get back and if you want to tow your boat up i will take mine as the surport vehicle so long as i get to go out fishing and not leave me on the beach.????
i can sniff b.b.q's galore at D/I "cult starting" :o[smiley=gorgeous.gif]
RAZZA is keen as mustard to be my crew

[bugman]

I've taken Phil's 6.2 plate boat Rebait up to Fraser twice and we came back via DI once.

The Landy did it no real probs - other than someone stopping on the middle rocks track because they were in 2WD (HEY PHIL >:()

Bogey will probably weigh a few hundred kilos more (maybe 400-500 max) and has a skinner set of tyres. All those things make me want to be cautious on the first attempt. But we'll be there Pete - lets not fear.

Bugman

[Lucky_Phill]

I take no responsibility for the DRIVER of that vehicle, that wanted to push the boundries >:( ::)

What weekend was this ?

ReBait needs another drink at DI. The new Nissan will pull her through no worries.

Greg gave me some new marks, Brett, and they are only 7,422k's from the bar. :o ::) 8) ;D ;D ;D ;D

Cheers Phill

[fishy_phil]

gday everyone
call me stupid but where is double island point??? is it north or south of brisbane???
cheers
phil

[Reefmaster]

Phil
DI Point is north of Brisbane between Noosa Heads and Fraser Island.

[snappa]

reefy

thats another one that knows NOW...

[Reefmaster]

Thats alright snappa its one thing to know where it is but its another to catch fish. ;)

[fishy_phil]

i was only wondering where it was because it seems heaps of people fish it. but i wont be able to fish it as im in grafton NSW only have access to a 14 ft tinnie and have good enough fishing in my area...but it does not have the big tropical reds >:( but the others we have. but i cant fish for eh because the boat i fish out of is too damn small!!!
cheers
phil

[Smithy]

Boat at 14' is perfect for beach launching behind DI Pt. Bit like Minnie Waters for you Cockroaches. We got 19 good fish in the area overnighting two weekends ago. I know of a 7-8kg Red Emporer coming from much the same area within 2-3 mile of Wolf Rock last weekend.