moreton bay 19th

[mackmauler]

Went out with Adam to the spotty area of yesterday from wello point and it was rather bumpy, despite the chop we had a pair of 10kg bluefins onboard, it cleared up real good soon after but no fish in sight anywhere so some shark action was in order, we drifted the channel between mud and moreton and I got a nice hammerhead about 2m, headed south and found the spotties, never seen em like it in the southern bay :o fish after fish boat was surrounded by em. Adam got a real good stretch casting at spotties when a 12kg+ bluefin jumped on, soon after our 10 spotty limit was up and we left em to finish off the baitfish.

[sharkbait]

Yeah Rob Saw you today chasing birds out the front of mud where we got em yesterday, I was in the blue lump of plastic ;D mates polycraft, top boat by the way, I've only been in one 4.5 better ;) THerre were spotties mixed in with that same school of little tuna, hooked a snodger well over a metre that was on for 10min before the hooks pulled at the gaff >:( they went off the bite quickly there so we headed over to the sandhills, which was mack tuna city, and up to the 4 beacons. just south of the beacons the spotties were on the chew big time, the other guys on the boat got their 5 which they were very pleased about and I caught and let about half a dozen go, didnt need any more after monday and yesterday. cant believe you got 3 longtails, there were plenty of them west of the beacons but we couldnt get anywhere near them, not for lack of trying.

[mackmauler]

You sure you saw us? We chatted to a few boats that came within sight and never saw a blue plastic one ??? Was the one you lost a spottie or spanish? thats tough luck ay, nice release though ;D the 4 stroke motor makes it easier to get shots at longtail but we still found them touchy some of the time.

[craigie]

The news just keeps getting better !!! Longtails as well :o :o

Rob, are the spotties still a good class of fish or similiar to the 2 - 3kg fish that infested Hervey Bay ??
Size 1, VMC trebles (3x) they way to go with your slugs ?

Cheers
Craig

"Cyclone Season" starts tomorrow !!!!

[Nugget]

Just got a call from a mate that chased them today (Thur 19th).
He said he found the main schools further south, east of St Helena.
You have to keep your eyes open and search for them to get results.
They got their bag - the biggest was a whisker under 3kg -not big fish unfortunately.

Dave ><>

[sharkbait]

Yep definitely saw yas Rob, I can't believe you didnt see us, I even waved. This would have been 7.30 or maybe a bit earlier. Adam was hooked up, must of been taking up your attention. and yeah it were a spottie, had it on the surface a couple of times before it got off.

[DaneCross]

Over a meter long kris :o :o thats a good spottie.. would've come close to being the biggest pulled this year!! Biggest I know of anyway :-/
I'm jelous, but hopefully get even on Saturday - yes, Saturday. We're getting desperate and we're gonna go the early and get smashed coming home. Hopefully the wind holds off long enough for us to manage some of these buggers,
Dane

[jeffo]

biggest ive heard of this year so far dane is 7kg.

[DaneCross]

Hmmm, I was talkn from the bay... what about the fishing monthly report of fish to 12kg in Coffs??

[jeffo]

from what i can gather they get much bigger spotties down south?
a few years ago here there was a run of XOS spotties that went wide of us..a few of the blokes i know got spotties to 11kg on the banks. :o

[JB]

Well, as frustrated as i am about not being out there i have admit 3 longtails is a good job. Well done rob, not to mention the macs ofcourse. What strength line did u get the longtails on? I have been using only 2.7kg braid oufits so far this season for the mac tuna and the spotties , i'm gunna be in trouble if one of those jump on the line i tell ya, hopefully it dont spool me, that braid is expensive stuff.

[adamleah]

Yep..
I had a late start at work this morning...

Caught some great action fish....
My Best Day on the bay EVER!!!!!!!!

My 2 Longtails were caught on 25 Lb berkley Mono... same as spotties.. all fish cept shark caught on Robs Mackmaulers!!!

What a great way to start the day.. now I got to go fillet some fish..

Anyone wanna Help????

[mackmauler]

JB, my rod had 8 kilo and adams 10 kilo, except adams rod was a whiting rod though a very nice one ;D the blues are one of the toughest fish you can get, 300m on the first run is common with line less than 8 kilo, good luck ;D

[adamleah]

Rob and the pair we caught first up in the morning...
If my memory serves me correct .. It was a double hookup!!!

[adamleah]

Hammered...

2m hammerhead

Looks small. But the fish in the bottom corner is half a 2 -3kg mack tuna

Great stuff watching the line peel of the 4/o

Who wants to go swimming?

[adamleah]

Spotties at Home..

[adamleah]

Here are my 2 favourite 10kg things to chase.. ;D ;D

One doesnt seem to like fishing much though!!! 8)

[mackmauler]

good pics adam, that thing must look like a seamonster when your that size, no wonder she is unhappy ::)

the shark was top fun, 24kg braid fished hard on a short lever rod..they know they are in trouble from the start when you get stuck into em ;D

[bazzaman]

Guys what are the blueys like to eat???...Arent most tunas best used for bait???And if theyre good to eat hows the best way to prepare them, the same as any fish???

[mackmauler]

Bazza,

Id suggest release but in this case the fish I caught was tailwrapped and belly up and Adams being his first he can make up his own mind on their worth, the 3rd fish was released. opinions on eating them are the same as most things, everyones got one ;D imo the bluefin dont make good bait like mactuna and stripeys, the skin is so tough you can hardly get a hook through it. but in saying that you will still get good fish with it but not enough in my opinion to justify using them for solely that purpose.

as for eating them they are not bad, the fish I got went to a mate who turns them into fish kebabs and bbq cutlets with plenty of marinate and in his opinion there f**** beautiful, I find the meat stringy compared to yellowfin tuna and not as juicy so to sum up there are better eating fish but if you are after a feed and not overly fussy they can come up pretty good.

[SNAFU]

there are spanish in with spoties as i had a school of them cruising my boat for about 30 seconds on 18th then they went deep (i was over near sand hills). i think one of them broke my rod,dove under boat after charging boat as i was farting around getting gaf ready,drag too tight and rod went on side of boat ,bugger.still got my 5 spotties and had a great day though.will give it a rest this weekend and do domestic duties to keep management happy,have to impress friends from sydney.

ps went out on friday with ucky southeasterly which eased of midmorning and couldn't find a one. does the wind change muck them up like that?

[jeffo]

a wind change can send the bait into different areas and when the bait moves so does everything else ;) just gotta work out where fishes best in what winds... for example when the wind swings NE here in winter the bait always gathers in the bay at mooloolaba.