Mud Island Wed evening 31 May.

[charleville]

I often wonder if I need a fishing coach just as Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, Leyton Hewitt etc all need their coaches on a continuing and ongoing basis. #

Well - er - #actually #I am not in that class of anything, let alone fishing but perhaps I do need to refine my techniques. #

This must be the case as I have seen some terrific fish on Ausfish caught by the soft plastic brigade #on #a pretty regular basis on some pretty light gear and they actually #land them. #They must know what they are doing! #

On the other #hand, I have lost count of the number of times that I have hooked up with freight trains and have not been able to land them. #> > >

Take the past two nights at Mud Island. #Sat on the Grazier at sunset for some wild action 5pm – 5.30pm following sunset at about 5pm. #After being attacked by some savage squire bites right on sunset last night I thought #that #I would be bagging out and would have to go home early. #

But time after time, I had break-offs (40lb trace), hooks spat out, dropped fish at the boat and I am ashamed to say it but a couple of losses due to gear malfunction. #

Well I can fix the latter one with a #bit of TLC and as for fish dropped at the boat, well I should use a landing net #a lot more but #on a dark night as a solo fisher, I cannot see the fish that well to get them into it anyway. #Even when I can see them, #there is no guarantee that whilst I am messing around grabbing the net that they won’t swim themselves into slack line and drop the hook just like the nice flattie hat I lost at Mud on Tuesday #afternoon did. Bugger! #

I also started to frig around with hook sizes and shapes last night to improve my chances. #You see, I was getting lots of action on half pilchards #which were #quite thick and made my 1/0 hooks look a bit small in terms of how much hook was actually exposed. #Add to that that they stayed pretty well frozen most of the night #and I suspect that #there was not really enough softness in the bait #for it to collapse around the hook when #the fish chomped at it. #

Ah well I guess that I shall just have to keep practising three or four times per week. #

As seen below, the catch #from last night is a feed but that is all. # The smaller squire is just legal. #Also caught #a legal tailor from my floater out the back of the boat.

Tuesday #evening’s #effort yielded just a couple of good sized tailor but once again lots of dropped opportunities. #Did not bother taking pix of any of the tailor – legal but not inpiring.

On Tuesday, I drifted #around the eastern side of Mud from about 12.30pm through to sunset with only a dropped #flattie worth talking about. #Anchored on the Grazier for sunset and enjoyed hot action for until about 5.30pm and then slowing action for the next half hour after that. #

Last night, I just went #to the Grazier at #sunset and fished a couple of hours . #Once again, hot action 5 – 5.30 pm, slowing for the next half hour and then totally shutting down when the dolphin came around #soon after that.

Caught lots of crabs on my line on Tuesday and although I am not really a crabber, I did drop one pot at Mud last night just to see what #might appear. #Alas, just four undersized females. #

Gorgeous nights on both occasions but the #holistic experience shows me that there is so much to take in when fishing. #For instance:-

• Why is it that I had the Grazier totally to myself on Tuesday evening but there were seven boats out there last night? #
• Why is it that there can be such micro-climates on the trip home at 8.30pm. #Flat seas between Mud and St Helena, slightly choppy down the west of St Helena, then absolutely flat sheet glassed out conditions from St Helena to the Manly leads and then a slightly rippled surface from the leads into the boat harbour. #
• Why is it that #it is a lovely cool but not cold temperature all the way back from Mud until reaching about 1km from the Manly leads when It gets quite cold? #
• Why is it that #out on the water at night ther are so many un-sea-like smells to be enjoyed. #On Tuesday night I could smell barbecues between Mud and St Helena. #Last night, for a time I could smell freshly cut timber, then charcoal smoke , then a smell like hair conditioner? Fascinating. # #
• What do the guys sitting in the radio room at the Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club do between calls. #They #sub for the Manly Coast guard and other VMRs mid-week until 9.30pm. #I was the only person that I heard talk to them on Channel 88 all afternoon and night over the past couple of days. #I hope that they have a library of good books there. #

Ah, there is just so much to learn and so little time… #

[Az]

I would be stepping your hook size up, and once I swapped to gamakatsu hooks my hookup rate improved dramatically compared to the old mustards i used to use, just a couple of things to consider and i know its difficult but once you have the fish to the side of the boat don't allow any slack line to form and have the drag set correctly try and swim/guide the fish into net with the rod and get yourself the biggest net possible to make things easier.. sounds easy ey

either that or if he's big enough you may have a better shot with the gaff

but I think step up your terminal tackle a bit and if your getting reefed you may have to try and hurt the fish a bit more at the beginning

[thepartyisover]

Nice fish, and nice job there charlie

cheers steve

[Adamy]

Hey Charleville.... I think you're thinking too much Oh sometimes the reason the Placcy guys are getting them is they (we) often catch them midwater - on the drop - where you are getting yours on or nearish the bottom using bait. Otherthing is they apply plenty of hurt early on to stop the fish getting back to the bottom... but thats just a theory I have - I havent tangled with the truly huge... but some day soon hopefully

[Blackened]

G'day
as for hooks...... gamagatsu octopus circle 5/0. Work your way up to 7/0 for these winter months. About $27 a pack of 50 from graheme at wello pt. marine.
Dave

[T1]

Hey Charlie

I once read a post from a fellow AusFisher who did well (bagged out in 3 hours) at Mud on Bait anchored up. In fact Brent (Aquarius) drifted past him on that particular morning. He said that he fished his baits unweighted as most of the good fish was mid water while on the bottom u just got the vermin... Hence, u may want to fish your baits without lead and see what results u get.

Also, i too used to fish with 1/0's until someone corrected me and advised me to use 3/0's. Must admit that when i do use baits, i do find the catch rate better now! I even use 3/0's for pretty much most of my palstics.

Hope this helps mate! Take Care T [smiley=thumbsup.gif]