Black Head, Ballina.

[Lancair]

Due to a misunderstanding between myself and the alarm clock I was off to a later start than planned. Crossing the flat Richmond River bar as the sun crossed the horizon, the first thing I saw was a pod of Humpback whales playing, a half mile out to sea.
Being late, Blackhead already had half a dozen boats either drifting or at anchor by the time I got there. A few drifts to work out the drift line and the first of what was to be many Red Harry's came up, but not on-board. About the 4th drift the line came up solid and a short tussle followed, but 14lb braid and 20lb leader won and the following fish was boated. He fell for a 7" Smelt Jerk Shad.


A quick pic and he was released. Can anyone tell me what he is ? ? I first thought of Mangrove Jack but the yellow fins and marking more like Moses Pearch, but the colour ? ? Never caught either before so what ever he is, its a PB

Apart from more red harry's or rock cod, the only other fish was a small colourful reef fish which swallowed a 5" jerk shad.
These fellas were cruising by all morning, must have seen a dozen or more whales.


Also saw the water boiling, with what appeared to be bonito ? Small ish and very fast, chasing surface baitfish. Sent the plastic I had on, out into the pot and came up solid quickly, but just as quickly half the shad was gone and no hookup. By the time Id got anything else rigged they were gone again.

Others out there caught some squire, some mates stopped by on their way back fom Lennox Point with 2 really nice big snapper and an 80cm Jewie. Fishing the same plastics as me, just different location. So I went for a run to Lennox point, (more for a quick sounding to maybe find some structure to mark for future earlier morning trips) had a quick throw and lost a few more shads to some toothy critters. So while nothing to get really excited about, it was a beautiful morning to be on the water. As you can see from the whale pic, the water was flat as.

Andrew

[Cobia Kid]

deffenitly a mose perch, not bad on the tooth either wen pulled up at that size, GOOD WORK!!
cheers
jamie

[Lancair]

Thanks Cobia Kid.

Its a PB for Moses Perch at 42cm. And its the largest fish caught on SP too.

Ill try again for snapper tomorrow morning. Ive got the alarm clock sussed now, so should be there well before sunrise.

Andrew

[stonecold]

Good going mate. I spent the week at the Evans fishing classic and will post a report when I get recovered. Managed some great fish over the week although not big enough to take any prizes. I think its the only year when you could get out to sea and fish every day of the comp. The weather was fantastic.

Cheers