Originally Posted by
Blane11
Your second fish is a sharphead perch - lepidoperca magna.
Okay - thanks for that
They certainly are good eating. Try fishing shallower.
So in the 230 to 300m range?
Just a couple of quick questions:
What baits were you using?
I am putting top half of pilchard into squid tube - reasoning is pilchard gives the flavour and smell as I cut through the guts and the squid tube gives some durability and not using a whole pilly keeps bait size small enough so it doesn't helicopter on decent
Did you only use circle hooks?
Yes I do except when in shallower water I have a snapper rig with smaller chemically sharpened circle hooks ideal for snapper but would straighten up on an ooglie for sure - too delicate.
How long were your drift intervals?(time wise)
Drifts I am doing vary with drift speed but nothing like an hour - say 20 minutes to 30 minutes and over 500m to 2km depending on drift speed.
When you encountered the pickers, were you losing baits?
I only encountered pickers on this trip others none and yes losing half the baits or all the baits - squid with pilly and sometimes mullet fillet
I've found that anything that stays on the hook is way better than soft baits. If we do send down pillies (and we do occasionally) we do it on a set of gangs. The best bait we have found is mack tuna, fresh is best, and if we pick one of these up early it almost guarantees a bar cod provided the conditions are fishable. Second preference is slimies closely followed by squid. Don't be afraid to use live bait either, bar cod love live slimies!!!!
I would do more prospecting around that 230m to 300m mark. It seems to be a sweet spot. I've also got a fairly decent chart in my gps, and the number of gullies, pins, and ledges that it doesn't show is astronomical. I only run a 600w transducer so drifting is the way I find a lot of my marks otherwise I don't pick up the bottom after 300m.
The other fantastic source of information for deep dropping and especially jigging in this deeper water is the WA forums. Those guys over there take it to a different level.
Also, we don't stop our drifts just off the targeted marks, some days we find them stacked up right on a rock ledge, other days the sounder says they are there, but we don't get fish until we are a good 500m off the mark and out on the flat. One spot we fish is dead flat and appears barren, but consistently produces fish. Some of our drifts can last an hour, and as long as you have some tuff bait on and it's near the bottom, you're in with a shot.
Circle hooks are the other area that can be difficult to master. The temptation to try and set the hook can be frustrating. As well those large circles that you are using kind of eliminates a lot of those pickers, but in that 230m mark these can be snapper and the delicious flame snapper. We have been trying some octopus hooks with great success. Maybe mix up your hook patterns to see what works on the day.
The nannygai you have caught and the sharp head perch are good indicators you are in the right spots and not far off cracking that big one. Keep persevering and the rewards will come. Oh and that sharp head is a good sized one.
Sorry for the long post, can't believe I just did it with the phone.
Cheers
Brett
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