PHP Warning: Use of undefined constant VBA_SCRIPT - assumed 'VBA_SCRIPT' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in ..../includes/functions_navigation.php(802) : eval()'d code on line 1 Hervey Bay 7 & 8 December2013
With good reports of pelagic action coming out of Hervey Bay, my deckie and I left Brisbane Friday afternoon. An uneventful drive up saw us arrive Urangan boat ramp at 2100. Clevelandv8 (Mick) offered to meet us the ramp and lend us a map and show us some areas to fish. It was awesome to meet another ausfisher! My deckie and I rigged everything up and then got some shut eye. Up at the crack of dawn we loaded the extra 100 litres of fuel jerry cans into the boat and we were off. Heading north the water near Moon Ledge the was teaming with bait but nothing was working it. So continued to our first mark in the centre of the bay. First cast, I hook up a queenie and was having a ball with lots of aerial display when the hook straightened and the fish lost. First lesson, upgrade hooks on off the shelf jigs. Replaced the treble and started jigging again. Next up a little shark on the jig and he was replaced unharmed. 15mins later I jig up something big. First thought was shark but was having a great battle when all of a sudden the line goes beserk. Left, right, left, around in a circle then nothing. Consensus was I had a fish then got sharked. My deckie hooked and landed a shark and then the spot shut down and the wind picked up to 15-20 knots ESE. We headed north to Wathumba to try some marks up there. The whole Island north of Wathumba was on fire. The resultant smoke cloud made the day very eerie. Long story short we tried every thing. Trolled, jigged, spun but nothing. We traveled all of the way up to roonies and had a look around the corner. Not too bad so we headed out to the bombies. Nothing. Worked our way back along Platypus bay looking for GT in the shallows. Nothing. Looked for birds to show us where the tuna or mackeral. Nothing. Seems birds don't like smoke. Made it back Arch cliffs by sunset and set up the boat for a nights sleep. 0400 Sunday when head back out the first mark we fished Saturday. Nothing happening. Keep changing jigs/plastics/lures. Cast after cast nothing. Then I decide to use my duel adagio lure. My deckie tells me i am an idiot as it is a $25 lure and will probably just get sharked. Anyway give it a go, third jig i am on. Short sweet fight with some blistering runs up comes a 65cm Spanish mac. Threw him back and my deckie decided to give his adagio a go. Next thing his 8000fj stradic reel is screaming. after a short battle a metre long spanish is a long side. The gaff was too blunt and net too small so I grabbed it by the tail and reefed it into the boat. Four more hours working the bay for nix.
All up we did 154 naut miles (286kms) for 139 litres. 0.9 litre/naut Mile or 2km/litre. Had two guys (190kgs total) 90 litres fuel in tank and 100 litres in jerries. 50lt water bladder and large esky with ice and beverages (40kg) plus all fishing gear. So I am really happy with the way the boat and etec went. Bloody wind though, got back to the ramp and pulled the plug. Didnt realise how much water came over the side! economy would have been even better with out that extra water
Thanks for the great report. I had heard that the bait schools had disappeared from H Bay of late and it sounds as though that was true for you. Hopefully they will be back soon. Sounds like an eventful weekend anyway. By the way, how affected was Wathumba and up to Roonies in the strong East South Easterly? I had been led to believe it was all protected by the Island in anything that had East in it??
It was protected for about a km out. Obviously the further out you got the worse it got. The bombies off roonies were pretty bad. NE ground swell, ese surface chop and a runout tide made it a washing machine. Wathumba and platypus bay weren't too bad.
Thanks heaps for the report! I'm planning to head up to Wathumba for a few night's camping with friends and kids at the end of the week. Hopefully we'll get a couple of nice mornings to travel around the place looking for fish. We're hoping to have at least 1 good feed of fresh fish while we're there! cheers, Jono
you might need to check on camping at Wathumba. It was the epicentre of the fires last weekend. Dont think the fire would still be there but cant imagine there much left except ash.
Got back last night from a successful and adventurous weekend. The camping area on the "western" side of the creek was fine, though the other side did look a bit burnt out. The weather was very accommodating, with light winds keeping temps down and sand flies to a minimum. There were plenty of the usual creek species to keep the kids entertained. Offshore, we had a great morning on the spotties straight out from the creek. It was a bit of chaos on board with the 2 x 8 year olds, but they had a ball. Quote of the morning went to my daughter, who is a pretty independent girl (sometimes). I was holding the rod for her, as there was a decent spotty on - "let go, let go", followed instantly by "hold me!" when she felt the fish pulling and the reel screaming. Today's clean up day... Jono.
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