bay 13/02

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

went chasing macks in the bay yesterday. No fish boated to report, the schools were very small & scatttered & wary of the boats.

Reason for the post ...

Big schools of large tuna (looked like longtails from 25m away) were working the 5m ledge in the inlet in front of the Moreton Banks between the Coonungai Bank & the Boolong Bank (that's southern end of Moreton before the Rous).

also ...

those who were wondering if the ring netters are still working the bay - they certainly are. We saw 3 boats working in the paddock & approached 1 that was boating a large catch of good sized spotties. It was a good haul for those boys because they could'nt hit the plane once they'd finished - probably 100-200kg of fish.

I've met a couple of pros & they're good blokes just earning a living but it disappoints me to see a fine eating fish not handled correctly. They don't bleed them & although they don't hurl them they certainly don't slide them into the kill box - the quality has to suffer.

Best of luck for those heading out on the weekend.

chris

[mackmauler]

Chris we must of crossed paths, our track ran us through the rous along the banks there, Saw a few boats to.

They have been flogging hervey bay with nets as well, I will point out this is heresay from a mate and I am in no way responsible for the content Ive written

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

how did you go rob ? We went down to the Rous in desperation approx 10am.

Did you see the number of Dugongs in the Rous? I meant to put a warning in the original post. I've never seen that many in the Rous before. Ever where you'd look you could spot em along the green beacons before the Mt Cotton Reach - travel with care !!!

chris

[mackmauler]

Yep Dugong were everywhere.

We found the fish, hooked 1 and generally found it difficult tuna fishing, they were big fish to I estimated many over 12kilos.

You don't have a white center console with a stripe do you and merc. Saw a couple of guys coming from a northerly direction nearby.

Did you hook any.

cheers

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

yeah rob that was us. The white Nomad riding high in the water due to lack of weight in the kill box.

I gather you were the pontoon boat with the Honda waiting patiently in the same area. I hope our desperate activity in the area didn't spook em for you - once we realised they were tuna we kept moving. We encountered that ringnetter loading up about halfway back to the tip of Mud.

chris

[mackmauler]

[giantgourami]

We went out in search of Mackeral 5am from Wello . headed straight out to the Rous and searched for livies.. none found anywhere. Sounded the entire channel throwing baits and lures at anything that showed. Still found nothing....
Ended up doing the same down the Rainbow Channel but couldnt anchor due to high Current flow " I guess I need to buy extra chain" Ended up at the usual haunt catching Whiting .. they were coming in hand over hand , my mate even put a horse fly on a hook and caught one.
Got back to the ramp at 1pm to find a netter there with a boat full of Mackerel. You just have to hate that!!!!!!

I bought a big boat to catch big fish...Where are they Hiding??????
Oh well having fun trying

Oh I forgot to mention that we had about 10 dugongs around us on the Amity Banks the entire time fishing .. guess they were doing the wild thing because they were mostly hanging out in pairs

Cheers Frustrated Adam

[mackmauler]

Id like to say we needed the pontoons to float the big esky, but that wasn't the case.

Great day all the same, just to see fish like that is always a buzz.

Im all for pros earning a living just in a sustainable way, and with methods that don't result in themselves getting the lions of the catch, the fact that they are working the bay atm is not good news for the recreational fisherman.

rob