Best place to go for some shark fishing

[Mr__Bean]

G'Day all,

I have just moved up to Brisbane from Victoria, when in Victoria one of the things I enjoyed was the offshore shark fishing in Bass Strait.

I am hoping to find similar places around Brisbane but seek input from you guys on where to head (I am on the north side).

I have the boat and gear, I have done the berley, now wait on the right weekend weather and the initial direction to head.

Where would you guys head? I am in an 8 metre platey.

Piccy's of the messy job (shark berley) below.

First comes the fish heads and frames, 5 buckets (25kg):




These are then processed through an old garden mulcher:




End product, 25kg of shark berley ready to be put back into the 5 litre buckets and frozen. Looks disgusting but works fantastic:




So, as I said, worst bit is done. Just looking for a head start from you guys on where to head.

Thanks,

- Darren

[mackmauler]

What size and type are you after? that mix looks great the sharks have been really thick in recent wks offshore you wont miss. for tigers and whalers id recommend shallow tempest at night or just out behind sth passage bar to the north. the banks is good so is the caloundra 12 mile.

[slyham775]

oh man you better head out far away cos i not want you to get all the shark in the area ...... cos we want to get all the good fish,s ...... i still not want any shark at the in side cos i has caught the good size and i end up getting sharked .... so i hope you,ll do a good job to get those shark outside to your feeding area so i can get the good size in the boat grin .... and good lucky dude ....

[Wild_Thing]

So you catch or buy your burley?
looks like alot of trevally their , they usually hang together.
Sharks are everwhere the quality fish are but never chased em usually [smiley=furious2.gif]em when your fishing lite they come in for free feed.
I'm sure you'll do fine with that brew even in the canal.

[Mr__Bean]

What size and type are you after?

That is also something I need to learn up here, what is on offer and what is worth eating. I am not really interested if they don't freeze well. I am used to getting Mako, 7 Gill and Blue Shark and I keep them up to about 2 metres.

So long as they are immediately bled, gutted and well iced they have all been very good to eat, in fact my kids prefer it to the stuff at the chip shop (as long as you buy chip shop chips to have with it of course).

So what is the pick up here? What is it like and how well does it freeze?

Thanks again,

- Darren

To me, these are ideal size (I am 6 foot 4):

[Wild_Thing]

You my want to check the mercury levels in shark flesh before you go feeding to much of it to the kids.
Black king has a similar flesh white firm meat & without the mercury!
If i were you (And im not) I'd be targeting them they freeze realy well.
I thought you were chasing sharks for the sport not to eat
Didn't you chase snapper back home?
Mabee you should try dirty old pearl pearch or red emperor you mite change your mind.
Even trevally isn't bad eaten fresh!
Cheers Payney

[Mr__Bean]

Hmmmm, Mercury.......now you have me thinking.....

Where I fished previously, offshore Victoria, it hadn't been a problem as long as you kept the smaller sharks for the table. Most of the fish and chip flake is caught out there on long lines.

I hadn't considered if there may be a higher mercury content up here.

Is it a bigger problem here, and is it the same risk for sharks caught at sea as it is for those caught in amongst the bay and rivers? I know they can easily move around so this may be too simple a question, but you have me thinking now.

I was happliy taking sharks 20- 30nm out into Bass Strait, but would think twice before taking one home that was caught in the Yarra River or a large one in Port Phillip Bay.

Is it a bigger issue here?

I do hear what you are saying about the other fish available up here, but am a newby to all that and have no idea where to find the right spots for them yet either. No I didn't spend much time chasing snapper, whilst they were plentiful in their season we soon became sick of it.

The fish heads and frames were bought, and I got ripped off at $2.50 per kg but until I get out a few times there are no scraps or by-catch of my own to make the berley.

- Darren

[shut_up_and_fish]

gday mate,

mate and i have hooked up to some tigers around 5 foot inside moretn island around the bulwer ledge about 500m from shore..........in about 25m of water..........have also hooked up to some big boys aswell with no chance of stopping them...........recently i have been hooking up landbased to what i believe to be big sharks up at the mouth of noosa river.............120lb leader straight through on big live mullet.........yet to go back up and try out the 80lb braid and wire leader.....for your eating size moreton bay would offer plenty enough but not sure on the whole mercury thing..........

[truggah]

coast canals

[Louis]

G'day Darren,


I imagine that with an eight metre boat you might not be interested in the smaller sharks which I chase.

But just in case you are, I'll tell you of my favorite shark spot.

I put in at the Manly boat harbour and go directly out until I'm between Green Island and King Island and drift back and forth with my lines out.

I always have luck hooking up small whalers between early December to early March. You should average around 6 sharks per four hour trip and the beauty is it takes literally about 2 minutes to get to at wide open throttle.

You probably wouldn't want to go through all the effort of launching your eight metre job for that but it is ideal for quickie trips in the tinny etc.

Hope this is of some help to you.





Louis