Mooloolaba reefs plastic and bait help anyone?

[BrandonH]

Hi all. I posted something a couple of days ago on this but didn't get 1 single reply

Can anyone give me some pointers on what palstics i should be taking out around the 30mtr mark, and how i should be fishing them???

Any info including best bait (in case my plakies don't work ) this time of year would be appricated!!!!
I am hoping for a decent snapper or two but will be happy with a good feed of anything!!!!!

Cheers N
Tight Lines

Brandon...

[Blackened]

G'day
I'll start you off. I havent tried this at all, but when I do, this is what i'm taking.

The gulps, 7'' jerk shads and the big squid, the gulp squid also come in 10''.

Imakatsu Javallons in 160.

I'd be using these unweighted on a patternoster rig, twin droppers. On hook with bait (pillies, squid, yakka or slimie) and the other with plastics.

This would be th best comparison one could make.

Dave

[BrandonH]

thanks dave

with the paternoster rig, what distance would you space the 2 rigs? and how far would you hang the 2 rigs from the main line?

Would you run the plaky on the top and bait on the bottom? haven't ever played with a 2 bait rig b4 so info here would be appricated too guys

Would 40lb be enough for the leader or should i go to 60lb? will be using my abu 6500c4 loaded with 50lb braid or 80lb handline.
I have some Javallons stashed and will be giving them a go
saw one of those BIG gulp squid at North side the other day they are soooo huge!!! but can't justfy spending $11 for one bait... it was hard enough justfting 4 Javallons at $25

my mate dosn't collect bait out there (only ever seams to use squid ) so will be taking some nice IQF pillies and a pack of squid

thanks again Dave!!!!!!

Cheers

Brandon...

[Clint06]

For a paternoster rig i use at least 60lb trace. As for plastic on top or bottom, ive tried both and normally put it on top so that pickers are less likely to wreck the plastic.
I havent had much success with plastics on a paternoster rig, i actually think bait is the better option on a paternoster. You cant maximise the action of the plastic when it is used in this way.
If your keen on using the plastics why not just use a plastic only and forget the paternoster, youll probably find the plastics are more sucessful this way.

[BrandonH]

Thanks for the info guys muchly appricated!!!!!!!!

Have found a little more on paternoster rigs to play with, but will take what you said Clint about the plastic action into account. If the current is strong it probablly won't make that much difference as it should swim against it to a degree. I will certianly have a go with a single plastic first (Javallon 160 ) and take it from there!!

will try and put all this infomation into practice and catch some nice fish hopefully and have a nice report to post too

stonking lipper in your avatar too Clint is it a yellow or red throat?

Cheers N
Tight Lines

Brandon...

[Clint06]

Yellow sweetlip Bradon...
Also, to add to what i wrote above, you generally cover more of the water column if you use the plastic by itself because it doesnt just get plonked on the bottom. You should try and let the plastic "swim" down then, depending on current and jig head weight, bring it up a bit and let it swim down again.
Fish like snapper often feed higher in the water column and often plastics get hit well off the bottom.
Good luck!

[Nico.d.R]

hey brandon , i would try bait on the bottom and 1 of those segmented plackies a metre or so of the bottom they would swim nice with the sway of the boat and the current .

[BrandonH]

Thanks guys The weather looks like its going to hold for us so I am keen as mustard to get out there and wet a line I will try the plaky only option first, but if my mate starts hooking up with bait I will have to look at my other options. I too belive these segmented plakys will swim ok against the current if its strong enough (don't want it to be too strong!!) so will have a play with that setup also

Keep your eyes out for the report sunday arvo, or monday if I am stuffed from pulling up all the fish

Cheers N
Tight Lines

Brandon...

[Nico.d.R]

good luck tomorrow hope you get a big ugly snapper and not a snap off

[mirage]

There's not much current at the moment. Float a plastic or a very lightly weighted pillie (on 2 5/0 ganged hooks and a small running sinker) down a good burley trail and you should get a feed.

[BrandonH]

Glad to hear about the current should make it easier to fish!!! Thanks Mirage
I am keen to get them on plakys if I can but have pillies ready to go too
Thanks for the luck Nico If i get a good feed i will drop some over for you on my way home

Hope it all comes together!!!
gota go to sleep now
Will let you know how i go sunday

Cheers
Brandon...

[Brad_H]

Hi Brandon,
If its any help to you I am passing on some info from a charter skipper I know who had done some testing outside of Moreton Isl with softies. He has come to the conclusion that if you use a big jig head as your weight, use a crly tail on it as any current will give the tail movement. For the horizontal droppers use a fluke tail shad (tail looks like a snake tongue) and he has best results with a colour called ELECTRIC CHICKEN. Its pink on top and a light green belly. He has tried other colours and no matter where he puts the leccy chook it gets more hits than the others, He likes the salt assassin 4" Curly Shad and 4" salt water shad (fluke tail). hope that helps you some. Good luck

Cheers Brad

[BrandonH]

Thanks brad a little late for my trip though Anyways i did try a necular chook and got one of the swim tails chomped, but no takers.. I also tried my javallons for a couple small chomps outa them but the fish wern't biting well at all probablly due to the time frame we fished...

Anyways here is the story

We didn't get a bait in the water untill 8:30am (my mate can't drive at night and isn't keen to let anyone else drive for him ) but first drop my mate got a legal parrot before I could get a floating pillie out!! unfortunatlly after that we didn't get a touch on the deck but i managed to land a schoolie at 75cms and the biggest mac tuna I have ever caught at 13.5lb fort hard for 25mins on 20lb braid was grat fun . Anyways we moved around a bit. starting on a very close reef (were the mac and tuna came from) then to murphys (not a touch) then to the 50mtr mark I had a 1.5oz jig that would bounce once before getting lifted off the bottom while drifting but seeing there were schools of bait about mid water i thought this could be ok.. the floating pillies didn't get touched out here and we did 2 drifts for one unidentified reefy about 20cms long that a dolphin ended up having for lunch Anyways on the 3rd drift we went over 2 bait schools, my mate was bringing his bait back in when it got chomped and lost his rig probablly another mack. While i was ripping my platic back up to the boat for another drop it got hit hard!! after about 10mins of fighting we see this fish come up to the surface, looked like a shark untill it hit the surface and we could see no dorsel fin I had just caught my first Cobia!!!!!!!!! and even better it was on a plastic [smiley=laola.gif].
Went about 90cms and 9.5lb (pic attached). we gave it another couple of drifts without a touch and decided to get back in close as it had started to blow up.. we anchored for 30mins b4 the wind started gusting at about 20knotts and my mate wasn't happy he dosn't like getting bounced around much these days and said that we were going to head home so I didn't get a chance to fish the bottom at a sunset or sunrise (was on the cards) and i didn't get my snapper I'm not too upset seeing i got this cobia and 2 new PB's also

to top it off me and Nico.DR fished clontarf sunday morning and i managed one squire!!! yep equal to my PB at 38cms it got a bit rough so we headed towards the hornybrook where Nico managed a grinner and a baby flathead and i got a shark all of about 20cms long!! not much biting... anyways there is always next time

Pic below of Cobia and one of the dolphin that was hanging around our boat at the 30mtr mark





Thanks again for everyones help!! it will come in handy if (hopefull more like when ) I get out there again!!!!!

Cheers N
Tight Lines

Brandon....

[shayned]

Nice work mate, glad the weather held for you.

[BrandonH]

WEll it was ok till 2:30pm and the fact that my mate didn't want to hang around for an arvo session or sun morning session was a little upsetting but then again i think i did ok

Saw the flaming riptide heading out about 2pm also, think he was heading for the banks

did you get out shayne?

Cheers
Brandon...