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

[webby]

Just to add a bit.
The fisho who successfuly catches fish most trips, know that if you think like a fish, and go to the trouble to fish the right spots at the right time, you'll improve your catch.
Successfully fishing the bay has the same three golden rules as real estate,
location, location, location, and by combining good location with the right tides you will improve your catches no end.
And what better tides are the 2hrs either side of a tide change, and with out doubt if this occurs at sunset and sunrise, your chances will improve even more, especially with some moon above.
regards

[patrol50]

gday charlie - thank you for the info in this thread and the fact that you are happy to share methods and ideas that do work in th real world - while i have a background as a beach and rock fisherman - and to be honest i have always been most comfortable with a 12 ft rod and a 650 alvey in my hands - but in recent years the beach and rock fishing has declined and the crowds continue to increase and so into a boat i go but the sad fact is the transfer of what fishing skills i have has not been quite so easy to achieve - maybe just a big difference betwen boat and beach / rock fishing in so many ways - so thank you for the tips and methodology and just so much better than so much of the stuff one reads and gets caught up in in the fishing mags etc and i will use your methods and the tips by you and the others from this time on - and the first thing i will now do is ditch the 3 baited rods in holders and started to hold one in my hands again and actively fish
my thanks again
cheers rob

[charleville]

- the first thing i will now do is ditch the 3 baited rods in holders and started to hold one in my hands again and actively fish
my thanks again
cheers rob

Thanks Rob.


I found that fishing became a lot more enjoyable when I did exactly what you said. Plus, of course, as I have said, my catch rate accelerated when the "conversation" with the fish became a two way thing.

Good luck with your endeavours.




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[Bronco1]

Thanks Charlie for the advise, some where down the line I have been over complicating this. I also had been coping heaps from the Misister of War when I would come home empty handed. I took your advise went back to the basics & the last two trips have produce results.

[charleville]

Thanks Bronco1.

I am truly amazed at the number of blokes who tell the same story as you.


I think that fishing is one of those endeavours where the investment of time on the water is more profitable than the investment of lots of money on flash gear and zillions of accessories, fancy lures etc.


The blokes who consistently do well, irrespective of whether they are bait or lure fishos, usually spend a lot of time on the water.


Spending lots of time on the water will get you plenty of plate sized take-home feeds, which is mostly what I get, but every now and then you will get lucky like my picture below shows. It is an old picture but these sorts of outings are something to dream of at easily accessible spots like Mud Island.


Click for full size - Uploaded with Skitch


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[Adivad]

Thanks Charlie, this would be one of the best and most useful threads I've read on any fishing forum. Already tried some of your tips with a degree of success and look forward to getting right into it.

Dave

[Captain Incredible]

Gidday Charlie,

Keith from INCREDIBLE CHARTERS. Given I do IT for a living, I should be bagging your simplistic approach. No way. When I have a day off (from offshore charter fishing) I fish the Pine, D Bay, or the front of Redcliffe.

Like any other bloke does when he has a day off and the Missus has a jobs list as long as a proverbial whatever. In my tinny I have Number One and Number two hooks. I use 0, 00, 000 or zero lead. I only ever go an hour or so either side of the tide change. And I fish with spinning reels with the bail arm open.

If I can source my bait on the spot or at least locally (if you can't throw a cast net then you need to learn!) then I am made.

I like to catch lots of little fish and let them go. If I accidentally catch something worthwhile then I skin, fillet and bone it out for my eighty- five year old Mum to enjoy sans bones, etc. My pleasure is why I made my passion my business- the love of the outdoors, the sun and wind on the cheeks, and the drug of the tug on the end of the line.

Please don't get sucked into measuring the enjoyment of your trips by the weight of the fillets you have brought home. Sometimes knowledge can be a dangerous thing, not only for your enjoyment, but also for the fish stocks.

The trick is knowing that you can catch 'em, and enjoying that you have left most of 'em for another day. The real thrill is the day when you finally have the awakening that you have the choice.......

Its a great journey, and it begins with little steps.

[Sea Wulf]

A top thread Bruce, I don’t have the eloquence to write such a thread. You have done a great job and this is what this forum needs more of, the average fisher person sharing their knowledge with the less experienced.

Amen to that! I first read Bruce's post some months ago and then made my first trip to Mud Island and fished the western side near the isolated danger mark for a few hours which incorporated the flood tide, slack water and the run out.

I berleyed with prawn heads etc. left over from a good feed of tigers and some old pillies from a previous trip and I tried all that Bruce suggested!

Thank you, THANK YOU! I came home with my first legal snapper from Moreton Bay after several trips trying to no avail!

I made a second trip back to the same spot the Sunday night prior to the flood in January and also scored two more and a nice 45cm estuary (goldspot) cod. I haven't been back since the flood and I know the port dredge has been operating 24/7 and pumping out around there since the flood so if anyone has fished there since, I'd be interested to know if you had any success or if you think the flood has put paid to that particular spot?

Regardless, thanks once again for helping a mug like me go and catch some fish! My wife and three beautiful daughters are also enjoying fishing with me now as a result and we are all learning together... after all, that's what it is all about! You are my hero! Cheers!

[charleville]

Thanks, Sea Wulf.

I continue to be delighted and surprised at how these few suggestions scribbled on a rainy Sunday afternoon have seemed to help so many people to get a useful shot of confidence by catching something good to show off. That was just my intention when I scribbled the notes because there is so marketing hype in fishing mags and TV programs these days that can mislead the average mug like you and me.

May your catch rates grow exponentially.

Well at least up to the legal limits anyway.



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[stoker]

charlie a great post best i have read ,would you be interested in doing a bait catching post on the different types of bait available in the bay .do you ever fish with live bait or only frozen pillis&prawns

[charleville]

charlie a great post best i have read ,would you be interested in doing a bait catching post on the different types of bait available in the bay .do you ever fish with live bait or only frozen pillis&prawns

Thank you for the generosity of your comments, Stoker.


I am probably not the best guy to ask about catching bait in the Bay.

Yes, I have caught a fair bit of bait but being a lazy bugger who really wants to spend his time fishing rather than gathering bait, I have graduated to pretty well always buying mine. I have mentioned earlier that I buy prawns and pillies in bulk from Richards Bros (who have recently moved from Bulimba to Geebung) and will occasionally buy some squid or mullet gut from a bait shop.

So, I am hoping that an Ausfisher who is a really good bait catcher might start the sort of thread that you are seeking. Also, often you will find some really good presentations on bait catching at the fishing seminars associated with boat shows. Nugget Downie or Jason Comino give good presentations in this regard. Likewise, an outstanding expert on the topic is Webby on Ausfish.


There is no doubt that fresh bait beats the frozen stuff by a huge margin. In that regard, squid works particularly well in the bay and you will find plenty of threads on Ausfish related to where and how to catch squid.

Winter or Diver whiting can be caught quickly with a tiny bit of squid on the little sets of six bait jig hooks. I have not fished for them since this year's floods but they used to be profusely available on the banks outside the mouth of the Brissie river but I cannot vouch for that since the floods just in case the sea floor has changed there.

Likewise, bait jigs will give you plenty of live bait when used around the big shipping beacons. A range of species of live bait will be found there.

In winter, at times, it can be hard not to catch tailor in the Bay when you are trying to catch other species. Snapper and indeed, tailor, love tailor flesh so a fillet taken off a legal sized freshly caught tailor is a terrific bait also.

For fish that like crustaceans, eg tusk fish, you can gather some crabs from under rocks along various shorelines. I have not done this myself - it sounds like too much hard work but the real Tuskie experts do. Likewise, it is not unusual that people sometimes use sand crabs (legal sized, of course) as bait for Tuskies. A common trick is to super-glue a hook to the back of the sand crab before sending it down. I have done this but really reckon that I can find better uses for any legal sized sandies that I catch.


A cast net will get you prawns when in season, or lots of live bait from jetties. I do own a cast net but my talents at casting are such that that also seems like too much hard work for me.


As for the idea of losing ghastly levels of sweat to dig worms with a garden fork in those places where it is legal to do so, ya gotta be jokin'!


However, it goes without needing to be said that every Queensland lad must own a yabbie pump as well as well as his Alvey. Where do you find yabbies? On sand banks and sandy shores of course where you will probably find heaps of soldier crabs as well. All good if you are chasing whiting and bream at say, Jumpinpin or in the Broadwater.


In terms of technique, there is a useful video on Ausfish on how to throw a cast net. Likewise, there are useful videos on Youtube about how to use a yabbie pump. Even with the humble yabbie pump, there is a bit of an art in using one and which is easily discernible when you watch a beginner using one versus an experienced user. The beginner will make very hard work of it. Like all things, practice makes perfect.


Sorry to not be terribly helpful but, hopefully, a bait gathering aficionado might offer a better treatise on the subject than I am qualified to do.




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[z50man]

thanks guys , a heap of good reading on this Thread

[Dicktracey]

As someone just getting back into the bay after a childhood of fishing it Charlie thanks mate, I too have the mrs asking why I cant take her too the fish
Will let you know outcome of next trip after reading this thread inside out twice now.
Have changed rig set up and have a tackle box full of entusiasim.
cheers
Dick
You should write a book mate !!!!

[Lordspink]

Just like to add my thanks, have a new secondhand boat (4.5m) runabout. Just getting out into the bay (leaving from Cleveland most days). Went out this afternoon/nite followed most advice and had a marked improvement on previous trips, a few squire all just under and a nice little fingermark all near peel island (little as in little). Not great for a feed, but much better then noting at all!

[PixieAU]

Only just noticed this thread (usually go straight to Unread Posts).

Charlie, is the first post in this thread going to b reinstated?