Potts Pt. O/N 3rd & 4th Oct.

[bluewater2]

My son and I fished a comp. Fri. night, 5pm weigh out 11am weigh in. Ran over to Coochie to drag the bait net however the wind was SE 15 gusting to 18 which made the southern side of coochie a bit ordinary. Had one drag for 1 Hardy Head, gave up in disgust and ran over to Potts Pt. to get out of the wind. Nestled in close out of the wind was quite pleasant, deployed two reef anchors out the back to stop the boat doing 360's and to save on the tackle, wind now SE 17 -22 knots and increasing peaked at 19 gusting to 24 knots at 1 am occording to the weather station on the Banana Bank beacon, love technology don't you. Just jump on the net go to the Bureau site, click on Current Observations, click on Banana Bank and there's the history for the last 72 hours. High water was 4.01 pm and the moon bite was 5.15pm, not the best as it was still light the sun set being 5.49pm. Managed to pick up 9 Bream with our club weighing in only fish 26cm and over 5 went back and 4 stayed for the weigh in, the biggest being 33cm. or just over the lb in weight. As the tide dropped I moved out a little on the edge but had no luck. Almost on low water there should have been another minor moon bite so I moved in close without touching the rocks and settled in to see if I could add another few bream to the tally. Along came a small Mowong of 33cm so I put on some fresh Mullet as they like it and pulled 2 more the biggest 50cm weighing 1.78kg which also earn't me 20 bonus points for a Mowong over 1.5kg. As the tide turned I moved in as close as I could and jumped into the cot for a few hrs. kip until 4.30am, not long after that as the eastern sky was getting lighter I picked up a 33cm Grassy Sweetlip. Species for the trip was to be a mystery with the specie being drawn out of a hat at the weigh in, to my surprise Sweetlip came out and yours truly picked up another 50 points for the sweetie. As the sun got up i moved over to the back of Coochie as the wind dropped for awhile to S. 7 to 9 knots, caught a few small Sweetlip and a 33cm Squire all released and then the fan came back on by 8.30 am SE 13 to 17 knts. Ran down to Pannikan to see if I could land a flathead to add another specie's to no avail. 10 am off to the weigh in, came in second with 159 points pipped at the post by 169 points. My catch was 5.1kgs. Some 600gm whiting weighed in and a good few flathead from the Pin area. All in all a great night. Even with the boat pinned with 3 anchors I still used up 20 Mustad 540's. Ah well that's the price you pay for fishing dirty country. Until next time tight lines.
Bluewater2

[allniter]

hi bluewater2, i'm new to this bleedin computer stuff but thought i'd join in anyhow. I read with interest 3rd/4th trip as i bob around that area quite frequently. Wondering if you have had much success with squirey/snapper around macleay or coochie as i'm hooked on catching these. Summer months seem to be more fruitful for larger specimens in this area, with only FRESH bait otherwise i might as well fish in the pond at home. Night fishing is the only way to go, regards, allniter.

[bluewater2]

Hi Allniter,
At times in close you can get good Sq. up to about 55cm, have had others on but in the shallow water you don't tend to land many. They hit like freight trains when they do hit and the occasional rod has exited the boat at great speed. Out off the Orange Bouy at Coochie has held good snapper at times but nothing over 8 to 10 lb. I have over the years caught Mangrove Jack, Travelly, Mowong, Bream, Flathead, Sweetlip and Squire in and around Potts. I like to burley pretty hard with old pillies , leftover prawns, small hardies, pellets etc. This seems to attract the fish in close. In 1998 I took out the heaviest Bream in our club with a fish weighing 1.36kgs caught on a whole fresh Gar fillet on a mustad 540 2/0, dam thing was 50 odd cm long. Also had my fair share of Cod from the shallows, recently picking up 3 in one night. I fish right in close in 3 ft of water you have to be very careful though in a glass boat, I used to have a 12 foot tinnie and used to get into a foot of water at low tide and fish unweighted baits as close as I could, picked up many a bag limit of Bream this way. Most rocky outcrops if fished on dark nights around the moon bite will produce good fish. I never let my fluro shine on the water in close that seems to spook them, noise however doesn't seem to bother the Bream with many a good Bream coming immediately after pegging reef anchors around, they seem to be attracted to the disturbance. Best time to fish is an hour after the top of the tide. Hope this helps hope to have a disk burnt off the last trip and will post the pics from the other night. Live Hardy Head are deadly on Squire in shallow water.
Bluewater2.

[allniter]

hi bluewater2, thanks for extra info, we usually spend the time to catch whiting in the arvo to use as bait for that night, the larger squire luv the heads, also fresh whole squid and fresh tailor strips. we use 3/0s with oo leads,15lb mono and sensor tip rods seem to be the go. used to try and hook every bite but now just wait for the ratchet to go off if their anything decent.we're trying to figure out if they get larger this far south. would like to try hardyheads- is it sth western side of coochie with a cast net? might catch u out there on a moonlit night in future somtime?we have mostly had success on run in tide - know any run out tide spots,dropoffs i guess regards, allniter

[bluewater2]

Hi allniter,
The back of Coochie fishes well for Squire to 10 lb, i'st of the run out, sound around and find the drop offs, usually also pick up sweeties. On the southern side of Coochie between the barge landing and the red cliffs is the best spot for hardies, if using a cast net soak some pellets and throw them out to attract a school and throw over them. Bonito strips are also good, one of the guys in the club got a big snapper recently on a strip of salted bonito on a snelled rig of two 1/0's the hooks were half way to its bum but held on. will be out Friday night, probably at Peel in a 42 footer so hope to catch some good snapper on the full moon.
Bluewater2