A few longies from the rocks

[mattooty]

Have been pretty quiet the last few months other than a jew report so thought i'd finally stick up a few pics of my landbased season. Ended up with close to 15 odd fish over a period of a month with most between 10 and 16kg. Only small buggers but havent chased the bigger run of fish which are running now.
Rig used was a 6ft trace of 40-60lb black magic trace connected to 8kg-15kg mainline via an double uni. Had a float free running through to the hook using the joining knot as a stopper. Used a 6/0 mustad big gun. Baits used were yakas, slimeys, and gar. A mate got one on a herring and saw one taken on a jew sized mullet (pushing 30cm).
I used my daiwa saltist 50h on a cut down 4120g built by member Ryansrods. Ryan got some good fish this season as well with alot of jew thrown amongst them.
Best day was a hookup in under 5 mins, got it to the rocks where it wore through the leader, tied on another hook and tossed out and was hooked up before the knot hit the float. That was a 12kg fish and was closely followed with a repeat performance with a 14kg fish.
Anyway, ill let the pics do the talking.

[Keechie]

Thats some great fish you caught there, i would love to catch fish like that from the stones. keep it up.

regards,
keechie

[abbot_86]

some great captures there matt ,well done,are you fishing the stones at yamba?? does it fish well all year round?? cheers nick

[mattooty]

Yeh its the yamba breakwall. It only produces longtails from about mid march to mid april then they start to slow down and are rarely caught after june. Jew are always around and willing to munch on a livey.

[Horse]

Thats not a bad effort. The LT's have pretty much avoided Moreton bay this year for some reason. hopefully there will be a few spare Jew in July when I am heading back to Woody Head

Cheers

Neil

[Freeeedom]

Some great fish there Matt. I'm heading down to Iluka for another week again soon, but I'll be chasing smaller pelagics than that mostly - how have the tailor been going?
Cheers Freeeedom

[Tony_P]

Some nice fish there matooty, maybe one year I'll have to stop fishing the river for a while and have a crack at the longies. Looks like a lot of fun. Are the longtail tuna good on the chew?????

[ryansrods]

nice fish matt thought id add some pics of the 17 fish i caught over that 2 week period

[mattooty]

That last pic was a good fish mate! I didnt see to many fish over about 16/17kg this year hey!

Freeeedom: They're starting to turn up, not going off their heads yet but enough to warrant targeting them. How long are you down for?

Tony_P: When i clean them i take out the top shoulder section from both sides of the fish and the rest went into providing mud crabs to supplement my fish dinner. I really enjoy them as a fish as they're relatively easy to cook, easy to prepare and dont have a strong taste. Its alot harder looking after a longtail on the rocks than in the boat. Even if you say you're going to walk it straight out onto ice you have to allow it bleed out time, the 20-30minute odd walk with all your gear plus a 30lb tuna, and the time it takes to either get home or to the nearest servo for ice.
But in saying that, if you keep them wet then they will last alot longer.

[frankgrimes]

Great fish fellas - That rock wall looks awesome to fish from!!

Mick

[ryansrods]

yeh matt not to many big fish this year my bibbest was 21kg and caught 2 20kg fish the day before that and longtails are abit like boots cook your tuna in a pot of water with an old leather boot when cooked turf the tuna and chew on the boot much beter eatin than longtails ha ha

[Matt_Campbell]

yeh matt not to many big fish this year my bibbest was 21kg and caught 2 20kg fish the day before that and longtails are abit like boots cook your tuna in a pot of water with an old leather boot when cooked turf the tuna and chew on the boot much beter eatin than longtails ha ha

Ryan
If you dont eat them, what do you do with them?

[ryansrods]

well matt if there still alive when i get them to the rocks i cut the line and let them swim away if there dead i give them to a professional trapper for bait my dog even turns his nose up at longtail out of the 17 longtails i caught this year 11of them swam away i got 1 taxidermind the remaining 5 got donated for bait.

[ryansrods]

i forgot to add that all these longtails were caught while chasing barries become a bit of a nucense somtimes

[nuggstar]

some awsome pics there dude.