Does size matter

[Portacol]

From 2004 to 2010 we travelled the east coast of Oz. I had a 3.27m Portabote. From Snug, Tasmania to Burrum Heads Qld, I have had the boat in rivers, estuarys & bays. Funny thing is that when I have fished from this boat I have had my best catches. 103cm Murray Cod, a 45cm Redfin & Blue Nose Bream and I know you people up north will think this is ordinary, a 75cm Flathead out of Port Phillip Bay that blokes down there have said that they have fished the bay for 50 years & never seen a flattie that big.
Now I fish out of a 4.5m & a 7.4m boat & do not do so good.
Could it be the shadow of the boat or just me not getting it right. Is there anyone else that has found a difference between boat sizes. The yak guys would probably have some good input here.
Just a word of advice, if you are in a Portabote & an ocean going tug goes by, get the Fffffffffgoooodnessakes out of there!

[nigelr]

possibly the noise of the outboard Portacol....just a theory I tend to subscribe to....I swear mine attracts sharks if I roar up to a mark instead of creeping up to it lol!

[Portacol]

Tend to agree nigelr, stealth is best. But an interesting thing, one time I was fishing a narrow river about 5m wide & no more than 2m deep. I caught a plastic up in a tree & backed the boat up to retrieve it. I was right beside the bank & it took me a few goes to get it back, then I just wound the motor open & got out of there. The water was all stirred up & dirty & I thought what if that stirs up food. Cast the plastic back into the stirred up water & on the first twitch, bang, caught a bream. I wonder if anyone else has had that sort of experience. I will add that this was not a high traffic area, but a quiet piece of water that cuts the corner of the Maria river at Blackmans Point

[Gon Fishun]

Just an assumption that you are not taking the bigger boats in to places where you took the little boat where all the fishies are.

[wirlybird]

no with a but and yes with a maybe

[Portacol]

Funny, could try but the KC would be like a cork in a wine bottle. The Osprey would go through but would have to breathe in to turn around.

[tunaticer]

I would dare to say that maybe the Portabote has less waveslap than your othewr two boats. I have noticed almost everytime a tinny drifts near me whilst im in my kayak, the bites shut down, then when they are 50 metres or so away they start again. The fish around Redcliffe are very attuned to wave slap noises and shuts them down on feeding from my observations.

[Portacol]

Now that's interesting tunaticer, the Portabote was very quiet on the water. What depth of water have you been in when you have noticed the change in bite? Were you moving or holding ground?

[tunaticer]

Generally drifting in waters from 4m to 30m most noticeable in 15m or less of water.

[Portacol]

What species do you find this happens with? Does this happen in a quiet area & do you find any difference in areas of high traffic? Why I ask this is that I have caught flatties in front of a caravan park in 5m of water trolling a hard body lure with jetskis and boats towing skiers & biscuits blasting around all over the place.

[tunaticer]

Snapper especially, but have noticed similar results with macks, tuna, reef fish and squid.
Bream, flathead and whiting all tend to bite harder and faster with boats racing past for some reaqson i do not understand, maybe they just gulp it before the wash from the boats rips it away from them??

[Portacol]

Thanks for that tunaticer, I have used sea anchors to slow down drift & really only thought about the convenience of how the lines played out. The boats would be more stern to the waves & there was a lot of slap & bang happening. Next time I will see if moving where the rope is tied of will make the boat quieter. Also on the Osprey I have a Minn Kota & maybe I could use that to change the direction of the boat during the drift.

[WalrusLike]

If you drift with the sea anchor on the bow cleat wouldn't that make things quieter?

Maybe the lines would be too far forward then... Not sure?

[Portacol]

I think your right WalrusLike, I normally end up drifting in a manner that suits my lines because I fish as light as I can, slow the boat & use pea sinkers & spread the rods along the downward drift side & stern. Drifting bow on could be done by a couple of rods out first with pea sinkers & then another couple of rods with heavier sinkers to keep them separated & avoid tangles. Maybe an advantage to that would be a reduced profile presented to the wind making the drift more controllable in less than ideal conditions. The cat would get tunnel slap but maybe could be offset by running a line to the port or stb bow cleat to give it a bit of angle to the weather.
p.s. Just as an aside, speaking about cats, Go Cats! Of course that was pretty much lost on our friends from NSW & QLD but may touch a nerve to some sand gropers at half time.

[Portacol]

Hmmm, starting to think that maybe reducing the imprint of a bigger boat could be an advantage. Would painting the bottom of the boat to look like the sky be a good thing to do? Do not take that one too seriously.
But I am definitely going to take stealth more seriously.