Mooloolaba Offshore

[CamH]

Was going to go out to the 18 or 21 mile to try for a few sailfish but the water on Sunday (29-06) was very choppy and not much good if you want to get somewhere fast. Don't think it would have been worth the effort anyway. I trolled for about 3 hours out past the blinker without a single strike from anything. Trolled 2 Pakula Uzi's and a bird teaser for a while then changed to 1 Uzi and 1 swimming gar and finally tried 1 swimming gar and a deep diving lure. We usually at least get a mack tuna or 2. Looks like the water temp is getting too low for the billfish now. I was told there was heaps of bait around the 18 mile on Friday/Saturday.

[craigie]

Hi CamH,

Hows that Awesome TrailCraft going ??

Have you opened up the throttle on her yet to see what she will do ??

Any more Red Emperor come over the side ??

Cheers mate.

Craig.

Still dreaming of being a TC owner before the end of the year ?

[CamH]

Hi Craigie,

Yeah got to give it full throttle and got to about 30knots at 5000rpm. Thought it might go a bit quicker than that but it's plenty to get where I want to go. I reckon with a few less people on board (had 4) and the motor trimmed out a bit I might get a bit more.

We haven't got any more reds yet (legal ones anyway) but we've had couple of 3-4kg snapper come up and some nice parrot as well.

I'm trying to get into a bit of light game fishing at the moment but I think the cooler months aren't all that flash for it. I'll keep trying to get a bit of practice at the techniques and hopefully by later in the year I can bag a sailfish or 2. In the mean time I'm going up north in september, 1 week at Balgal beach (just north of Townsville) and a week at Kurramine beach near Mission beach. Haven't been to Balgal before but it should be good as there a number of Islands within about 20 miles with plenty of reef so looking forward to bagging some nice coral trout and the likes along with a few pelagics.

[craigie]

30 Knots, 4 up at 5000 rpm is very respectable and so are 4 kg Snapper

The trip up North sounds great, If you start catching fish you may not want to come back

I saw your boat on a Chatboard based in Victoria, It's a top rig, do you have any other photos from different angles or of the interior.
I've forgoton is it a 5.3 or a 5.6m ??

I'm just trying to find out every scrap of Info before I purchase mine.

Cheers
C.

[CamH]

Got some more photo's (couple of interior I think) I can get for you. I don't own a scanner and they are not on digital but I can get them scanned in by a friend at work. I'll get them done and post them on here for you.

I was using that victorian fishing site before I found this one which is 100 times better I reckon, especially with mostly QLD users and topics. I reckon you get a good idea of how much better the fishing is up here when you look at some of the topics on their chat board.

Yeah really looking forward to some fishing up north. I think I'll always want to get back to the Sunshine Coast fishing though now that I'm starting to try my hand at some billfish, which I think should be starting to get going again by about September/October.

Keep a look out for the photo's in the next couple of days.

[Smithy]

The Sailfish should come in any time now. Last year they were hot in July/August at the 24 mile. Previous to that they were at the 18/21 mile in about September. Before that they were best in October and that is why the Sunshine Coast Game club ran the Sailfish Shootout in October last year and it will be on again in October. In the red hot years of 98-99 a Sailfish was caught in every month of the year out of Mooloolaba but the peaks were May/June '98, October/November '98 and October '99 and all of this action was in at the 12 and 18 mile. Those couple of years were when Peter Pescell on the little red Express "Bad Habit" and Michelle Jansz/Temminck on "Reel Capture" as well the crew on "Reel Sport" were catching 90-100 Billfish a season.

Have a look at the tag info on the Sunshine Coast Game Clubs website for hot times of year.

http://www.scgfc.org.au/

The little Blacks are mostly a summer fish but the Sails are nearly year round. At the moment you would expect 60-90kg Blacks out on the 100m line and deeper, Striped Marlin from about 80m out, Blues from about 150m out and the Sails could be here already and no-one is yet to find them. It is all about time on the water and they could be anywhere from Double Island Point to Cape Moreton and even wide of the shelf. When the come in and there is bait present they are usually on the Barwon Banks or west of the banks from about 12 mile off Mooloolaba but in the same latitudes as the banks. The little summer Blacks can be found in closer like Chardons off Noosa, the 50m line which used to be called the 10 mile, the back of Murphys down to Caloundra 12 mile then down to the Moreton Trench.

[CamH]

Thanks for the info Smithy. I thought the sailfish should be OK this time of year and I know the captures were excellent in July last year for the SCGFC. I'm only new to this but I was talking to Wayne (I think) who runs the Maroochydore fishing tackle shop and he was saying captures were good in winter last year because water temperatures were so high but this year the sails are gone and should be back about Sept/Oct when the water warms up a bit and they come in to breed.

I've just about given up trying to interpret all the info as I seem to get a lot of differing opinions from just about everyone I ask. I guess the local fishos are the ones in the know and you can't argue with their results so I'll keep trying at every opportunity I get. Thanks again for the info. I'll post some reports if I have any success.

[Smithy]

Like you said "I've just about given up trying to interpret all the info as I seem to get a lot of differing opinions from just about everyone I ask." Don't get too wrapped up in water temp etc., just accept that when they are in they are in and when they are not they're not. A bit of local info is the go and you should get a hint from here or the Marlin Bar. I got in on the hot bite off Mooloolaba last year from a tidbit of info on the Marlin Bar. The only other thing about Mooloolaba is Bait=Billfish. Any time spent on the water trolling and punching bait balls into your GPS will pay off in the future.

[gavsgonefishing]

What Smithy says is spot on, there is so much info out there, you can spend all your time worrying about where when, what to use, what is better, and why before you get the bum of your boat wet. The very best thing is to put the hours in and get out there.

A couple of basic things you will need to get right is the wind-ons, biminis, drag setting and basically a reliable setup that won't let you down once you have hooked up. If you want help with this sort of thing give me a yell. A proper sounder doesn't go astray looking and interpreting the bait.

A selection of pushers will help you out, you can drag them around the spots mentioned above until you have located the live bait, then work those liveys around the edges .

You mentioned before dragging the uzis around. I would prefer to have an uzi out on shotgun and a different selection of pushers on riggers and the corners. Variety is a great thing.

Learning to rig your gar and mullet on skipping or swimming pin rigs is the easy and productive.

You have most of your battle won once you have your gear set up properly.

The biggest thing is just to get out there, and don't be afraid to look for new ground

[CamH]

Thanks for top advice Gav and Smithy. I totally agree with what you are saying. I'll just get out there every opportunity I get and give it a go and make sure my homework is done on my gear. I'm in the process of going through Peter Pakula's 'Between The Lines' CD which is a great reference in itself but I appreciate any hands on advice I can get from you guys as well.