07/10/10
Jim, Damian & Wayne Full Day Trip
Jim had a leave pass again after the birth of his daughter and Damian was still awaiting the delivery of his new boat so the boys rounded up Wayne and they got a trip booked in. We met in the dark at the Coast Guard Boat Ramp at Mooloolaba to head down close Caloundra way to chase the snapper on the soft plastics. Andy P from my trip a couple of weeks previous had been bagging out every trip but we couldn't take a trick. The weather was glamour but with sun bright in the sky it was time to head wide.
The first reef produced a few tusk fish and pearl perch as well as some trag jew. Once we got back to undersize pearlies every drift went tried another spot. It looked good on the sounder but didn't produce. Off to another spot. It took a while to warm up but it fished consistently well. We got our bag of pearl perch here as well as some more big parrot and a couple of nice snapper. The stand out was Jim's 62cm pearly that also took drag on the Saltist 40H/T-Curve 400 combo.
This was the box when I did a count on the pearlies.
This is how it ended up.
Wayne's snapper on a soft plastic.
Back at the ramp. Some of Wayne's fish are allready in the plastic bag. We ended up with 37 keepers for the day after taking a while to get going.
06/10/10
Half Day Afternoon With Martin With SQCS Out Of Mooloolaba
Cecilia and her son Martin visiting from NZ booked in for the afternoon. The whales put on a good show on the way to the baitfish grounds to chase sailfish. Jigging bait and the dolphins put on a good show as they banged away on the video and camera. We ran to the pilchard schools and marked two sailfish on the sounder early on but didn't get a bite. We did watch a boat beside us hook up and fight one though. The dolphins and birds put on a good show for the afternoon, hearding the pilchards around at a great rate of knots which they enjoyed. We hung in for the dusk bite but it didn't happen and we missed the mid day change of tide bite swapping customers over.
06/10/10
Half Day Morning With Corey, Dave & Vaughan With SQCS Out Of Mooloolaba
I talked the boys into chasing the sailfish while they were red hot. We missed getting slimey mackerel but jigged up some yakkas pretty redily and were one of the first boats at the pilchard schools to start fishing for the sailfish. Strait up I marked a pod of sailfish then a few more individuals but mid morning I couldn't find one even though boats all around us continued to hook up. It then became apparant why we were having no luck. Corey had bought bananas along! He didn't know they were bad luck in boats. He ate one and threw the rest overboard but the damage had been done by the evil bent fruit. At one Stage Jason Preece had a double hookup of sailfish on and asked us over to take one off his hands as he had lost a lot of line concentrating on fighting his girlfriend Ashleigh's fish. Vaughan got to fight this one and all the boys got a picture with it before we gave the rod back to Jase.
A nice sail close up.
We had to head in to pick up the afternoon customers just as they started to fire up on the midday change of tide but were were travelling. That is how the cookie crumbles.
05/10/10
Half Day Morning With Andrew With SQCS Out Of Mooloolaba
Andrew was up on holiday from NSW with his two boys. They were lucky to land in a middle of a red hot sailfish bite. We assembled at the Coast Guard boat ramp at Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast at 6:00am. The weather was great with no sea on top and only a rolling swell. We got the live bait grounds and jigged up a tank of Yakkas. We headed to the pilchard schools where one boat had allready tagged one. It took a while to sus it out but I started marking sailfish on the Furuno left, right and centre. Long story short we ended up with four sailfish for the morning and probably played a shark until the hook snapped. The bait dissappeared on me but I kept working the same GPS track and marking fish. Nearly all the sailfish we marked at 21m or less we got a bite from. It was like clockwork. There was one at 38m and it was about the only one we didn't get.
04/10/10
Half Day Morning With George With SQCS Out Of Mooloolaba
It was always going to be a suck it and see trip after the weekend produced 84 sailfish for 24 boats in the SCGFC Spring Shootout Tournament. The fish would either be on or gun shy after that much attention. The weather was the other factor. What would it be like.
The boys assembled at the Parkyn Parade boat ramp at Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast at 6:00. Heading out the surfers were having a great time in the swell at Point Cartwright but we made good time with an offshore breeze. The swell was big but a long way apart. We got to the bait grounds and eventually jigged up enough live bait to head to the pilchard schools.
Once there it only took 5mins and we were hooked up on our first sailfish of the morning. That is how the morning went and we only had one period of about 20mins where we weren't fighting fish. All the boys got their first with George being a local now but the other boys will have stories to tell once they get back to NZ.
George and his first.
One of the fights.
A good story to take back to NZ.
Good colouration.
They are big fish when they start getting that hump. 40-45kg estimated.
In total we ended up with 5 from having 7 on and saw about 9 in total. It helped being the only boat out there and I was able to work the one edge of the big bait school. We surfed the big swells home cracking 30knots on the big faces. A top morning had by all!
27/09/10
Half Day Morning With Dave With SQCS Out Of Mooloolaba
Regular customer Dave was back again to head out on a half day with a couple of tourists from NSW. We started off looking for the bait and cobia I had found on my last trip but forgetting my Furuno sounder and Lowrance GPS plotter which I remove every night so they don't get stolen was a fatal mistake. I struggled on with the dash mounted Navman equipment I have. The cobia couldn't be coaxed so I headed up off Noosa to reef fish.
The fish were on straight away up here with tailor and flathead the main catch like last time in this spot. We had to sit through double header after double header of grinner but a grass sweetlip and some good pearl perch and venus tusk fish also found their way to the esky. I think a little cobia had to be released as well. We tried a couple of spots here like last time and pulled a keeper here and there.
25/09/10
Full Day With Bruce, Mark & Tim Out Of Mooloolaba
Regulars Bruce and Mark were back again with new guy Tim. Bruce is a school teacher so finally getting a trip that wasn't blown out during the school holidays was a bonus for him. We had a try here and there but didn't really kill it so ended up on one of my reliable spots. It wasn't red hot in the norhterly but we chipped away both on the drift and at anchor. The surface current was running hard such that the floaters and soft plastics went way out the back but when you came tight the sinker or jighead was straight under the boat. You usually get a fair few snags this way. A good snapper came on the plastics to Tim while the boys worked away at the pearlies on the bottom. In total they ended up with a trag jew, one big snapper, seven big pearl perch and seven good parrot.
20/09/10
Morning Snapper Trip With Rob With SQCS Out Of Mooloolaba
Rob and his two sons booked in for this one. It was a tough morning of tough fishing and a bit of swell so before too long both of the boys had succumbed to seasickness. Rob ended up with a nice grassy on plastic before the rain set in, the swell and sea got up and the boys were totally over it. Glad I came in as the rain didn't let up at all once it started.
19/09/10
Full Day With 2xJohns, Brad & Wayne With SQCS Out Of Mooloolaba
Old contact Johhno teed this one up. Along with him were son John Junior and his brothers Wayne and Brad. We jigged up some live baits then went fishing for kingies. A boat on each spot didn't help but we did manage one keeper king and some throw backs. Reports of a Redcliffe boat having found bulk bait on the billfish grounds had us pumped so we headed there. We started jigging three slimey mackerel at a time in a 300m area even though we had struggled to get a few yakkas in the morning at a different spot. "Dream Catcher" had allready dropped a marlin or a sailfish and decked a cobia. We set up a drift and before long John Junior was into a good cobia that went 12.6kg on 15kg line class. Thanks to Matty for calling us over.
17/09/10
Morning Snapper Trip With Mike &Julie With SQCS Out Of Mooloolaba
This was actually a mid day mackerel trip for a trip they had won at Riverfest at Noosa. I always give away a free charter to the Noosa Yachties fishing club as they go out with me a bit. This was about our fifth attempt at getting out due to mechanical failure when my main fuse went one time at the boat ramp and also bad weather as they were visiting from Hong Kong. We missed the bite from one schooly mackerel and that was about it. A bit different to the weeks previous where the mackerel pros had done real well in this same spot. At least I still got to spend a bit of my birthday on the water.
12/09/10
Half Day Afternoon With Damian With SQCS Out Of Mooloolaba
Damian and mates booked this one in but we didn't have much luck. As soon as we got to the bait grounds for the afternoon session my heat alarm started going off. It would pump water with a bit of fast idle on but not at slow idle. Luckily the temperature gauge was still down and I hadn't cooked the motor but I called Coast Guard for a tow just the same. The boys had a quick fish but we weren't over any bottom and pulled a succession of pinkies. When pulled apart the stainless steel pump housing had let go and the part was replaced under warranty.
12/09/10
Half Day Morning With Steve With SQCS Out Of Mooloolaba
Steve booked this one in with a couple of mates. We started off soft plasticing down off Caloundra and ended up pulling a couple of squire and one grassy. While this was going on I had to listen on the radio to the good billfishing that was going on with my mates in the SCGFC that were taking advantage of the good weather and getting into the marlin and sailfish.
10/09/10
Sailfishing on Ymer
With a day off due to no bookings, good weather and reports of a few marlin and sailfish I headed out for the day on "Ymer", my mate's 34' Black Watch game fishing vessel. Also out were Channon and his dad Mal. Brooksy the skipper put us over some bait but it was very sketchy and only Channon seemed to be able to jig it up on the bait jig he was using. Eventually we got three live baits in the water and then it was my sinker bait off and going for it. In the blink of an eye a sailfish was up and doing a merry dance and I was on. We tagged this fish after some good jumps and manouvering by Brooksy. A while later we saw a freejumper then it popped up behind Askari that was trolling by. We could see this clear as day then it kept coming and Channon's rod went off. This was a different fish being a black marlin but we had clearly seen a sailfish. We missed this one and went back to trolling. The rest of the afteroon was filled in by Mal catching his first cobia and mack tunas. The mack tuna became a pest but we couldn't get through them to the billfish. Still an enjoyable day.
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