Made a last minute decision to hit North Stradbroke yesterday to try out my new rod which as yet hadn't even got wet. So a quick pack and off I went for the 10 30 barge.
Arrived at the causeway before 12pm and saw 3 whales sitting around 400 - 500m off and about 500m down the beach. With I lot more sand on the beach than in recent trip I wandered down in the hope of a decent photo opp. Not to be as all they wanted to do was surface and blow air, none of the usual tail or flipper waves antics they often turn on. A shallowish gutter in front of me got a few specky casts with metals but no takers, with me becoming more interested in grabbing pippis I was standing on while casting. Time to wet the new rod, so slipped on a pippi and launched her into her new career, a gentle tug and her first ever cast returns a nice dart. Next 3 casts produce nothing and it's getting close to the top of the tide so I wandered off south intending to work my down as the tide dropped.
Only got 1.5km south of the causeway when I came across a nice deepish gutter with sporadic white water that looked worth a few casts. First cast produced a dart as did almost every cast after that. A few chops and changes back to metals didn't get any interest nor did a few other things I tried so back to catching dart with a slight distraction as a small eagle tried to swoop one I threw back but missed. I donated one to him a few minutes later when I noticed he was sitting on the dune watching, but he was quickly joined by 2 others that fought over it for a short time. This in turn attracted the attention of another small one and a big one which soon sorted out who's fish it was going to be.
By now the shadows were creeping down the beach so a few more unproductive casts with metals despite some positive shows of small baitfish breaking had me changing to bait. This was supposed to be a tailor catching trip so I slowly started to set up my usual two rod attack that never quite got the chance to be put into action. First cast and backing up to put the rod into the holder so I could grab the second rod a nudge resulted in a hookup and a solid chopper hitting the beach. Rebait and off it goes again, with the spacing between fish not frantic but regular.
Not having taken the time to put my warm gear on before dark the shorts and tracky top weren't enough to stop me shivering so with more than enough fish to keep the family and few others happy I decided to leave them biting and head off to the land of warm beds and caffiene.
I couldn't have asked for an easier day with the fish cooperating almost to the point of being boring and conditions near perfect. The new rod has better than 50 fish (most released) on her after only one day out and once I get used to the softer strike think she should make a good addition to the arsenal.
Size wasn't great with dart topping out just over 40cm and solid tailor all around the same size, but they are still tasty.
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so have cut back a bit on the number of trips I have done in previous years. You can get a discount if you are a member of RACQ but wifey usually has the card so I always miss out doing these no notice trips. Give them a bell if you aren't a member of RACQ as I think there are discounts for other clubs and associations but don't know which ones. If you are booking accommodation over there some of the real estates also have discount deals with the barges.
