Harvey Bay Plastics

[fish freak]

Hi all, this is only my 3 post, however I watch this site everyday and really enjoy it. I had just spent last weekend fishing with my son Leon, and my mate Kent in harvey bay. We spent the 2 days with Mark Bargenquast (a fishing guide) If you want a great day on the water with a top bloke who really knows this place backwards, then this is one charter you should consider.

When we booked the charter we were going to have a day on the barra and a day on the salt water. However with all the rain they had over xmas the marry river was to fresh with a lot of crap floating downstream, so we decided to have 2 days chasing all the salt water species.

The weather foercast was ment to be 10 to 15 sat dropping down to 5 to 10 on sunday. How wrong were they, by 9 am sat morning it was 15 to 20 so it limited our fishing close to shore to get out of the wind.

We found a few birds working and headed over to see what was happening, the sounder showed heaps of bait under the boat so we threw out some white snapbacks on 3/8 tt jigheads got them down deep and started to work them back up when our little flathead rod with 10lb braid started peeling of at a rate of knots. I landed my black tip bronzie around 6kg when my sons rod went off, his fish was alot bigger than mine as it took him quite a while to bring in on the gear we were using, finally after many runs a nice 20kg bronzie was boat side and netted. Not a bad effort on 10bl spin gear and plastics.

We left the sharks and went to chase the long tial tuna, we motored up past wathumba creek and found heaps of birds working in quite a few different bait schools. We threw 25gm slugs at them and had quite a few hook ups. we spent the rest of the day chasing them all over the place, that was the end of the first day.

Sunday morning the wind which was ment to drop, but was already blowing 15knts so we couldn't chase any of the goldies on the flats so we headed to the top of the island where we were protected from the SE wind. we found some spotties and had some fun with them. We left them to find some bigger fish as we were motoring to roonies we came accross a show of fish on the bottom, so we stopped and had a few drifts. Mark asked us if we had some bigger plastics and heavier jig heads, so after a quick look I tied on a big bozzo grub on a half ounce head and tied it to our light gear we were catchig the bronzies on and sent them to the bottom. A few jigs up and down and I get a small bump then BANG, I thoughtI was bricked but I managed to hold on and turn its head and slowly start working it towards the surface. With such light gear you can't put to much pressure or something will give ( this is one time you hope your knots are well tied, as they were tested to the limit) after a while a huge 25kg glod spot cod is next to the boat, We all couldn't believe our eyes when we netted and had this huge fish inside the boat, after a few photos we deflated its swim bladder and let it go back to that little reef we found.

Leon said, "hey dad do you have another grub so I can have a go" I said "here take this one" after we positioned the boat for another drift, Leon dropped down and a few jigs latter BANG, he is hooked up solid only this time, the fish headed back to the reef. Leon just held on and as mark moved the boat he managed to get him of and worked him up towards the boat, another beautiful cod around 15kg was on board. The wind came up so we went closer to shore and chased some more tuna. Sorry about the long report.

We have taken some movie footage and will edit it and post it soon.

Pics attached

Cheers Fishfreak

[nick-o83]

Wow, looks like you guys had a great time. Some nice fish there and a great report. Well done.

[Frank OO]

Great work boys,

It is amazing how you managed to get the sharks without getting bitten off. We were there last week end but didn't have the same luck. We caught a couple of Golden Trevalley and very small snapper but you really need to have some local knowledge.

I think it was a good idea to get the guide to take you out. By the time you tow the boat up and pay for the petrol it works out a lot cheaper.

Frank OO

[Leighton]

great report, awesome pics. Think I may have my next holiday destination

[lizard bribie]

Great Report Sounds Like You Had A Great Father Son Weekend Great Pics

[seamaid]

Nice Cod, good chewing
Plastics way to go
Cheers Ged

[seapup]

Top work boys glad to see you nailed some on the plastics!
Cheers,
Benny.