How to catch a feed of fish in Moreton Bay (bait fishing)

[charleville]

I have not managed to catch a legal fish in the vicinity of Mud Island.

Have read your previous comments re same, Greg and I never really thought that you were being serious. Sorry about that.

I truly wonder what the impediment can be for you because you obviously know how to catch bream.

There are some good sized bream to be caught around Mud Island.

Interestingly enough, when I have taken mullet gut to use as bream bait at Mud Island, I have also caught some decent snapper on that same bait, day time as well as night time. Snapper seem to love mullet gut.


I do recall taking a stubborn older relative fishing in a choice spot at Kalinga bank a couple of years ago in mid winter and advising him to cast right up to the edge of the mangroves but he chose to toss his line out into the deep fast flowing water on the other side of the boat.


"If they are here they will be just as much out there as they will be next to the mangroves!" he retorted.

Goodness me! :shocked:

Once again, I caught all the fish that night.


One can only offer advice. People are their own worst enemies if they choose not to take it. :rolleyes:



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[castlemaine]

Charlie,
I found that drifting with no or little lead tends to drag the bait on the top of the water so do you add more lead when you drift?
Only times I've been drifting has been with heavy snapper leads/paternoster rigs.
Lately I've been using a 2 hook ganged rig (1/0 top hook, 2/0 bottom hook Gamagatsu Gangsters). I find the Gamagatsu tend to have too long a shaft but what a sharp hook. I use one hook rigs for the kids and missus as I always afraid they may get a hooked when a fish is head shaking when it is boarded.
Cheers
Ivan

[charleville]

Charlie,
I found that drifting with no or little lead tends to drag the bait on the top of the water so do you add more lead when you drift?

Yup. You need lead when you are drifting but experiment a bit so that you only have the minimum necessary. That will depend on how fast the current is running.

If you put too heavy a sinker on, whilst it will definitely drag along the bottom, you will lose sensitivity to touch of any nibbles.

Of course, often when you drift, it is the big chomp that you will be hoping for.

Lately I've been using a 2 hook ganged rig (1/0 top hook, 2/0 bottom hook Gamagatsu Gangsters). I find the Gamagatsu tend to have too long a shaft but what a sharp hook. I use one hook rigs for the kids and missus as I always afraid they may get a hooked when a fish is head shaking when it is boarded.

Yup! They are sure sharp - which is why I like them - plus that they are a slimmer hook than other brands and with a smoother surface which means that they are easy to insert into tougher baits.

But, hey, it is just a personal preference. I am sure that a Mustad salesperson would say heaps to extol the virtues of their brand. I have used Mustads most of my life and they are good hooks which have caught me lots of fish but I do prefer the Gamakatsu Gangsters for ganging.


It won't be because of the brand of hook that people are not catching fish.





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[sleepygreg]

Just to add to Charlies last post. If you are new to fishing, or rediscovering the sport after a long abscence, don't get too carried away with the Brand v Brand debate...be it hooks, line, rods, reels. Get the best you are able to afford.....you will find no matter what the brand....a $50 item of one brand will perform just as well as a $50 item in another brand...the same with a $1000 item. This is a basic techniques thread, and some basic advice is needed. These debates are more for those that have mastered the basics and are looking to fine tune their tackle to specific target species and techniques. Though I do recommend sticking with known brands.

No matter how 'good' or 'state of the art' your gear is....if you are not using it correctly...ie presentation, location, time, tide, bait, lure.....you wont catch fish.

Greg

[Livey]

Awsome mate,

I have and always will be at heart a bait fisho, although now am tending to the live variety a lot. Love the comments on cheaper gear still doing the job. my preferred method is handline because of the feel and ability to feed line out to picky fish or those with hard mouths.

love ya work

[JRBK]

Thanks heaps for the advice Charlie.

Don't get me wrong, i love fishing, and at this stage i have no intentions of ever giving it up. I have 4 young 4 boys who enjoy it also, mainly when the fish are biting of course, but hey, thats how i used to be also.

Yes i get disappointed about not coming home with a feed. But, at the end of the day, sitting in a boat or on abeach, rock wall etc, with a line in the water, good company...how much more relaxing can you get.

Thank you for the time and effort you've not only put into the post at the beginning, but also your responses.

So far to date i've taken out the majority of my soft plastics and jig heads and will be handing them over to 2 guys i know who are soft plastic mad. I showed your post to one of them (he is not an Ausfisher), and he thought the post was brilliant. He is a soft plastic fisho thru and thru and will be getting rid of his bait fishing gear.

Cheers
Mark

[charleville]

Here is a happy ending that should be celebrated!!!!

Readers will recall that in the first post in this thread I quoted a PM from a fellow Ausfisher and which was actually what prompted me to write the few tips in that first post ...

However, every now and then, I receive a PM that will say something like this recent one, “ Do you think you could take me out for a trip to show me how to catch a feed in the bay. I am not out to find your spot X or anything, just looking for some pointers so I am not always going home empty handed. The ribbing from the Mrs is getting a bit old.”
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I am delighted to report that last night I received another PM from that same Ausfisher who said this ...

Hi Charleville,

I was the one asked you for some help with my fishing a while ago and you quoted in your recent thread in which you gave some good tips for all.

Well I am glad to say that I am finally getting onto some fish. I haven't been fishing Mud but have been using your same tips to fish Peel around XXXXXXXX and it has been working a treat. I haven't caught any real monsters but have been consistently getting a feed of legal sweetlip and squire over my last 5 trips.

My wife has gone from pulling the piss out of me to begging me to take her out for a fish. My how things have changed.

Once again, I have kept the Ausfisher's name confidential and deleted the name of his fishing spot from his message but ain't this a wonderful message to receive? :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: I hasten to add that I gave this Ausfisher no special GPS marks around Peel so he has found success entirely due to his own efforts.


I was delighted to get this reply and wish him and everyone else who has benefited from my few perspectives the very best of fishing fun going forward. Hopefully, his response will be an encouragement for others who are down a bit on their fishing luck.


Life is great! :smiley:



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[Gavfish]

Thanks for the great tips so far.

Any chance of something similar for us land based types that don't have a boat?

Thanks

Gav

[sleepygreg]

Maybe it could be put up as another thread Gav. With a bit of luck one of the land based gurus will kick off a thread along a similar vein.....just so the topic is easier to search by people after specific information. And im sure the mods would make it a sticky.

Greg

[Haines620 Mu]

Hi Charleville,
just wanted to thank-you for this excellent thread and helping others without expecting anything in return. God bless! John

[charleville]

Any chance of something similar for us land based types that don't have a boat?

Thanks Gav.

I think that Sleepygreg's suggestion about a separate thread is a good one.

I am definitely not an expert on land based fishing albeit that was how I enjoyed my fishing for most of my life. There are some people with very good land based fishing knowledge - Nugget being one of them. If you can ever get to one of Nugget's seminars on beach fishing, it would be worthwhile.


However, if no one starts a thread within a couple of days, I shall start one just to get it going.


Generally, I think that the principles that I have listed in my first post in this thread still apply but there are a few variations worth commenting on.

Land based fishing can be off a jetty, surf beach, rocks, river bank, calm salt water, etc and particular comments may apply to each but the basic principles of bait fishing will remain the same.


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[charleville]

Further to my post #52 above, I asked my new friend what had changed in his fishing style and whether there was one particular thing that he had changed that might have made the difference - or was it a combination of things?


This was his response ...

The main changes to my fishing style has been using no weight and the use of ganged hooks. I have been using 20lb braid but using 2m of 40lb leader and fishing water around 3-4m deep.

I use only one rod at a time so I can concentrate of feeling the bites which the braid helps with alot. No swivels and I cast up current and let the bait float past the boat and when it starts getting too high in the water or starts sitting on the surface I just pull it in and cast it up current again. It seems the snapper like the bait to be drifting naturally and I usually get .hit just as the bait passes the boat and they generally hook themselves so all I have to do lift the rod tip to set it.

I am thinking about experimenting with burley to bring more fish into casting range.

I reckon you are right about the dark hours too. Once that sun is high in the sky the action is over so I head home or buzz by Harries for some bottom bashing which has also ended up with an extra fish for the esky. I have just been using Snapper lead patternoster rigs there because it is so deep. I have caught two just legal snapper there in two trips.

I also reckon there is something in fishing solo. I reckon when you are on your own you tend to be quieter therefore no spooking the fish but this is just a theory. I reckon being quiet is important or it seems to be.

I have just been using pillies and green prawns from woollies. I even got a squire yesterday on a nuclear chicken plastic that I just let drift past the boat.

The only comment that I might make in relation to his feedback is that braid can be a trap for bait fishos insofar as because it has no stretch, if an over-enthusiastic lunge is made in setting the hook, the hook can very easily pull out of the fishes mouth. I am one of probably many bait fishos who have gone back to monofilament from braid for that reason plus one or two others.


I hope that this feedback from a previously very frustrated bloke who went from catching no fish to catching a feed on every trip is useful to many readers.



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[STUIE63]

Charlie that must have felt great to have helped out the ausfisher and recieve the pm saying it had worked . I know I have benefited from reading this thread and I do a completely different fishing style .
Stuie

[charleville]

Charlie that must have felt great to have helped out the ausfisher and recieve the pm saying it had worked .

Yup! Sure does!

I am as pleased as Punch for him.


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[flatzie]

Really enjoyed the read Charlie, like you I have spent most of my life fishing bait from inland streams to NQ coastal estuaries, then on to the reef, and then a 8 yr stint overseas which was great as well. Learned a lot from the Coarse fishing ideas in Europe as well, which are highly detailed bait fishing. Amazing how many Aussies turn up their nose at such techniques!
Learned to fly fish as well in Europe, and have since fished in Canada, USA, Hungary, yes even Ice fishing on the Danube! and it all has been a great learn and great enjoyment.
I totally agree with the "basics" concept and find that there are basics in all types of fishing inc soft plastics. Two days ago I fished exclusively with SPs in the Passage and landed at least 20 flathead, brought home 5 nice keepers, something I could never have done using bait for flatties. I use a basic technique on these and now only use two types and two colours.
But I am no SP purist, if it aint happening, I will quickly pump yabbies and anchor in a few sweet spots and enjoy the bream, grunter and whiting and every ray from Cairns to Sydney that turns up to eat them.
I totally endorse the concept of getting the basics right and then you wont come home too often with an empty esky, in fact you will be taking your neighbours a feed, a hobby I really enjoy, rather than stuffing my freezer with filets!
Im going to try your cast to the side and drift down idea more when chasing snapper, a species I am relatively new to, and thinking back to last year it was exactly how I nailed my first legal snap of 67cm last June out from Redcliffe.
All the best
Flatzie