SEQ Travelly fishing

[Alex_B]

Hi guys, i've wanted to target Trevor's for a long while but never got the chance or had the knowledge, so i though i might try my luck on em' befor summers out,

If i remember correctly down here (sunshine coast) we get some golden's but mainly silver's. What size should i expect in kg/cm? i have some gear i would think is appropriate >> 10-20lb rod + abu 5600C5 with upgraded drag and gears + 50lb braid, and i was thinking maybe, using my modified 6500C3CT mag + with either 7ft 6kg or 11ft 15-30lb + but only has 14lb spooled.

would be landbased from say Caloundra to Maroochy Rv. Was thinking that i'd use the 6500 with a livie and maybe the 5600 with a lure (maybe livie too), but it isn't blistering retrieve though (i think 6.3:1 on a smal diametre spool is a little slow? yes/no) also have old largish shimano threadline.

now the thing i'm a little stumped on is where to get livies/appropriate bait from nearby? have a dragnet and will have castnet in a week or so (as long as i can get it back of my brother :-) plus i've got an old alvey bait-trap i'd be willing to try somewhere

Well i've read early morn and late afternoon is good, but with the recent winds late afternoon may be out. i've also read about a few possies to try out, so is there anything else i need to know?, or that you'd like to add,

any other keen trev fisho's from these parts? is my tackle suited to the sizes we get down here,

Alex

[Rowdy]

Hi alex,

I'm no expert on the sunshine coast but I have spent a bit of time chasing trevally up there. # I usually use lures though and I do fish from a boat. #In the mooloolah river my pick would be the weir at the end of the parrearra channel. #Last time I was there there were loads of small bigeyes around with the occasional decent GT, I got most of them on a silver bubble pop65. #You can also fish off the bridges crossing the river but these are pretty much a bait position as its hard to work a lure when youre so far off the water. #Any gear will catch trevally, I only use 6lb fireline whcih is more than adequate. #You dont need a blistering fast retrieve with trevally either, most of my biggest ones this year were taken on a slow twitching retieve. #Dawn and dusk are the times, I wouldn't waste your time
after 8am in the morning. At night theres still a good chance of catching a decent sized bigeye as they do feed actively at night.

Craig #

[Alex_B]

Thanks for that Rowdy, by the way nice job on the website there i've been reading through it all excellent information even though for fishing the goldie,

i'll keep reading

cheers,

Alex

[robgps20]

Gday,
If you were to use 50lb braid on estuary trevally I'd say you wouldn't get as much enjoyment out of landing it on say 4 or 6lb fireline. I'd go your lighter combo, 14lb will be heaps more than enough to handle the trevally you encounter in estuaries. With the lighter line they provide a good battle and have some nice speed and test the smoothness of the drag. You won't be undergunned using 14lb, and as Chris said he uses 6lb fireline and finds it more than adequate.

Cheers
Rob Russell

[Alex_B]

i was hoping that there some, errrrr lost barrier reef GT's down here.

i've got a little hardbody-z daiwa with 6lb fireline so that should go well then.

Three of us went out this morning despite sleeping through 10mins of an alarm some how and waking up late, go the first cast in @ 6:20am 100m from the mouth of maloolah rv. and worked my way up to mouth and continued working the area with no hits flashs etc other bait users wern't even getting littlies on bait, so moved to motorway bridge spot where parrerra channel starts good bunch of casts around bridge walked down to the weir few casts along the way and there and unfortunatly nothing time was 8:10 packed up and left,

little dissapointing but nice shaft/beamlike sunrise there on the drive,

were using metal slice, 10+ strech and 1.5oz baby squid jig

probably try again tomorrow or tonight with livies,

cheers,

Alex

[Rowdy]

Alex...the trevally will surface feed at the weir(if they are there...) between 4.30am and 6am at the moment. Look for them right up against it. You had the right plan but you need to be fishing when they begin to feed, I'm afraid that means getting up earlier


Craig

The pic shows a bunch of trevally surface feeding at peak time

[Alex_B]

didn't got out again,
but, yes well the plan was to have the first cast in @ around 5:15am but er that didn't happen

sounds like they already had breakfast long before we got there, a boat is definatly an advantage, working on that now

off for a bit more reading on your site, hehe,

cheers for the help,

Alex

[Rev.Zeeke]

G'day Alex.. i live in Maroochy and fish the river a fair bit.. if your targetting trevally.. i find them on the blowiest nights you can find with a half moon.. also on a full moon... after a while you get sick of catching them.. nothing to write home about but the average fish is 60cm.. good fun for me on 4lb line using soft plastic lures..If you ever manage to get up here.. give me a buzz and i'll see what i can do and take you out for a fish if your up for it

Tim

[Alex_B]

sorry for latness of reply but i thought i get out a few times before having a winge

got out on Oz Day first cast in @ 5:30ish at start of channel walked up to motor way bridge and peaked round the corner of the channel, whoa dude major action, started hot footing hit to where "they" were feeding after numerous misdirected casts from the airdrelene (spell) fish surfacing feeding and jumping (looked just like in that pic) finally got one real close to a recent surface using small 18gm metal, jigged/twitched it for 10m or so then helloooo whoa little 2kg rod doing the (uglystick butt to tip ad) towed some meters of line then a huge magnificant jump with the sunglistening of it's body a huge tarpon i mean huge a good 70cm, but as tarpon are known for shook the hook at the end of the jump kept winding in with big flashes behind. another cast had a ton of hits with 1/2 to 2 second hookups, got one, no, hangon, yes, arrgh, come on now, whup yep.....nup kept casting but they were on the opposite side and my brother had a home made poper that must of weighed only 5gm with a beefy rod so he got nowhere near the action and the car was a good 1/2-1km away no going back. after some frustration of a few casts with a bunch of hits, then no more even though they continued on feeding and turned off like clockwork @ 6am, I take a look @ my lure as i was about to hook it on the rod and see one of the trebles barbs is bent right back, well no-wonder i couldn't hook any more of those hard mouthed tarpon, and even a bigish chunk right through the paint on the battles scarred erskine metal.

Out again this morning with a box of 25 shinny new trebles 8) and got there @ 4am great for tying knots eh! but there was rubbish all action, and didn't see any of the thousands of baitfish which linned both sides of the channel the previous day but @5am or so a tarpon jumped about 20-30m away, and as i made sure i was always walking along with the bail open and fingers ready to cast punched the same worn in metal with new trebles exactly where he was closed the bail jig, jig, whoup....yup got one, he steadyed then proceeded to spool me , only kidding took out a few meters off the daiwa i gained some, then he took some back etc, battled around for all of 30sec all fun on light gear, size was >40cm but <50cm swiftly released. other catches were baby moses (few of them around guarding there ground) and a baby cod by the others,

little dissapointed in missing all the action on oZzy day but will try again some time. didn't see any form of trevally's in there. but on ozzy morning in all the feirce action there were rather large dorsal fins visible at time similar to tarpon and gt shape,

any tips on landing more of these tarpon? apart from sharp hooks - should i use a bigger lure (and black, to help in forming a sillouhte (spell)) in the low light conditions? as there metals are only 10-18gm 50-60mm, but one of was using a bigish 30gm until a windknot caused a snapoff,

tight lines all

Alex

prolly a few spelling mistakes in here but i'm tired-as so do your best to understand what i'm saying

[Alex_B]

Rev, which river do you speak of maroochy or maloolah? i'll contact you if i feel the need any good moon phases/tides in coming week or have we just gone past em?

cheers,

Alex

[mackmauler]

Alex, they are always hard to get in, single hook soft plastics are the best for me, I've also got a few good ones trolling manns 20s so many hooks they get stuck all round the back of the head, no gettin off then, not usually

Fly fishers have good success, probly the less weight around the hooks the better, no leverage for them to shake it.

Rob

[Alex_B]

thanks for the tips there rob, and he was hooked on the top of the head i thought i might have got a direct hit with the lure when i casted it and maybe hit him on the head when i got the first look. My thoughts after the first morning was yeah soft plastics should go allot better as there is no split ring for the lure to pivot on and maybe help in loosing the fish,

hmm, i've got some spare time for a little while 1-3 weeks - maybe we can organise just a trip out locally ->goldie to sunshine coast. Were you still interested in going the haul to 1770 this summer?

below is the culpret that made the fight all of 2 seconds with only moderate drag on a 1500 size daiwa ???

Alex

[mackmauler]

Worked that hook over

The action has been pretty good around here Alex, scrapped the 1770 plan a while ago for that reason, Keep an eye on the weather, if it looks good next week Ill be in touch.

Rob

[Alex_B]

Worked that hook over

my thoughts exactly 8)

i've put off uni for 6mths / 1yr to get some money together and some fishing together too, might do something @ tafe too late now though i think.

If the trains allow me to get there early enough i'll be there with sunscreen on (severe burnage on oz day due to being in sun from 10am-1pm, worst possible time of day )

what's on the board, one of those marlin or sailies i've seen you grasping recently look the goods , but i'd be happy cathing anything on the bite,

be sunsafe all 8),

Alex

[mackmauler]

Big longtail are the fish of the month, off bribie, I could pick you up on the way, Had enough of the billfish See what happens.

Rob