Bay Spotties - fly report

[Duncs]

Hi All

Had a top session this week chasing spotties around the Rous Channel on fly. Had trouble getting hit with wire on but they 'love' mono... lost 4 flies and the braided loop off a brand new cortland Little Tunny line in as many casts. Brilliant line - for the four casts I got with it. Luckily I had another line in the boat. I ended up with 4 fish around the 75cm mark.
The fish were patrolling the edge of a sandbank in 2-3m of water. All I had to do was wait 20 seconds for a pod of fish to launch a raid on the hardyheads in the shallows, cast, strip like mad and watch the long green rockets smash my fly. Best fun I've had in ages. The worst bit about the day was having to give back the Scott S3 8wt that I was loaned > > Its a sensational rod for long accurate casting. I actually found myself casting too far on some occasions - not a problem I've really had to contend with before

Still no longtails to be seen around these parts, though a customer dropped a 15kg yellowfin (baitfishing) at the boat on wednesday. Said he was fishing around some big bait balls just north of Harry Atkinsons, so they could be worth some investigation over the weekend.

A couple of local fishos have been wading the flats along the front of redland bay over the last couple of weeks and consistently scoring nice bream, tailor and small barracuda, using Bass Tags and small gurglers. The Bass Tag is a large red tag style fly on a #4 hook tied with a spun deer hair body. You can find more info on it in a fairly recent edition of flylife.

Hope everyone gets a fish this weekend

Regards

Duncan

[Steady]

Hi Duncan

Thanks for sharing! This is a generous update on some fly options in the Bay. I've been fly fishing the bay for only a year out of the Yacht Club at Shorncliffe. A few good tuna on the ocasions I could get out. Send me a personal message and I'll fill you in directly about about where, when , how, etc. I've struggled to find other reliable options though. I'm keen to work the bay out a bit better. Do you get out for waft very often?? Do you find fly productive?

Peter

[mabo]

hi peter there had been a stack of long tail and mac /t up at bribie 3 weeks ago but i herd they have moved on 2 weeks ago there were a few at the sandhills but no luck i'm still hopefull there are a few around for the weekend any idears?

CHEERS JOHN.

[Steady]

I won't get out in the bay proper till Monday. Taking the nephews out to drown some yabs on Sat. They're so excited they could burst.

When I get out I think I'll hunt the northern end of the bay along the southern edge of the sandbanks maybe upto 4 beacons if the weather is good.

I was out on a bautifully still day not so long ago and just drifted up the flats in front of moreton from the Blue Hole to Tangalooma in a foot and a half of water. I've seldom seen water so gin clear. Flathead after flathead after flathead. If you're not tired of catching these a sparse yellow and white clouser will see you fill the run out with good fish on long presentations, some sight casting.

See you out there.

Peter

[Duncs]

Hi Peter

Its probably a good thing that you won't be out till monday as the redland bay challenge is on this weekend. They pack up about lunch time monday so the bay will quieten right down after that. I've had some reports of longtails and mackerel working the inside of Stradbroke from the Pelican banks to Goat Is. I have seen some big longtails on the North Western side of Peel pop up just on dusk when I've been snapper fishing over the last couple of weeks. They only seem to be visible for 15 minutes on dusk, very big ones, some over 20kg in pods of 5-6 fish. Haven't had the time to chase them properly lately, but I intend to do so in the coming weeks. I also want to catch a decent snapper on fly this winter. that fish in the report that Scott Mitchell has been posting about the place has got me inspired! Last year I got a couple of small ones but I think some of the deep fly techniques for bass would also do well on the snapper in the bay.

Good luck for monday

Cheers

Duncan

[Steady]

I managed to get out on Friday out of Cleveland, which is not really my usual wafting ground. With a loose plan to pester the pylons around Dunich I looked in on the marker pylons South of Peel just near past South West rocks. On the drift of the runnout, I let an overstuffed yellow and white clouser down at the marker on the end of a 9wt shooting head. Two 6-7kg snapper follow it back up from 25ft. I had them at the boat, in plain view, following my clouser around sucking on the bucktail without taking the hook. Very frustrating. I tried a range of flies with the yellow clouser producing the most interest. A blue backed white Lefty's Deciever also drew some attention.

If you do get your snapper let me know how you got him. Not sure about what has gone on in the rest of the Bay, any news??

[Duncs]

Peter,

The snapper that I have caught on fly so far have been little ones. I got then on size 2 or 1 tandem hook flies - all on the rear hook. The fly was my version of a dogtooth fly - kind of like a shaggy flashy profile fly. The fish were caught deep on near dead-drift retrieve. My experience of snapper on soft plastics leads me to think that a jerking retrieve attracts the fish, but they usually eat it when its falling, particularly the larger fish. Although I got my fly caught fish on the tail hook of tandem hook flies, they seem to smash the head end of the soft plastics pretty hard, leaving big teeth marks in the jig heads. I have tied some 10cm long 'mud' things with heavy eyes and a rattle to try and imitate the plastics we use. Might have to do some in yellow as well!

Cheers

Duncan