fishmaniac

Groper, as long as it is in a nice way, it's all good

Some nice reds there mate and good conditions too!

Nice fish mate, well done! Particularly on the lighter tackle. They pack some punch once they get 125cm + in shallow water. It looks to be around the 20-25kg

We spent just under 4 weeks in total between port douglas and the whitsundays. 6 days were also spent driving! Cargo05 - yes the boat is a 450 Topender powered by a 60hp Yamaha. I have not had any issues towing although i made sure everything was in good order before leaving. The trailer is from boeing (not quintrex). The boat handles well, I have always been very happy with the hull. There isn't any swell inside the reef but when the wind is up it can whip up some fairly nasty chop which you do need to be wary of when driving. I do a lot of offshore work in this boat along the cliffs and out to the shelf back home and for it's size it performs well.

Farvos, yes, I am based in Sydney. We drove to the whitsundays in 2 days. But they were long days on the road - 14hrs and 12 hrs (which included 2 breaks of about 0.5hrs each). The drive from the whitsundays to port douglas was 9hrs with one 0.5hr break. I also re-did the trailer bearings and replaced the springs and brake pads on the trailer prior to the trip. Luckyfil, we were aware of ciguatera and from what we understood some species are likely to carry the toxin and very large specimens of predatory species could be carriers. So we did not eat the big coral trout pictured or my mate's large spanish. The spanish around 130cm and trout which we captured up to 65cm were all ok to eat. The bluefin we caught were also ok to eat, considering they grow to over 20kg the 3-5kg fish we caught were only juveniles. There are also known carriers of the ciguatera toxin such as the red bass and chinaman fish. They are 'no take' species due to the likelihood of them carrying the toxin, even if they are smaller specimens.

It has been a long time since posting but here is a quick recap of my recent trip to north Queensland.... I have always wanted to tow the boat up to the northern parts of Australia to explore some of our northern fishing hotspots. It has been hard to get it together due to uni, work, mates not having the time etc. But with my brother and a few mates also heading up and the predicted el nino (weaker trade winds) I took the plunge to tow the boat up and fish with the boys and (after they left) flew the newly wed wife up to continue the expedition. We spent our time between port douglas and the whitsunday islands, targeting all fish that would pull hard. We spun up long tail and mack tuna that were busting up, micro-jigged the reef for coral trout and other reefs, jigged for red bass, GT and job fish and used stick baits amongst the shallows for GT. We also got suck into some spanish mackerel and cobia. Armed with only a set of charts we covered a lot of ground to figure out and find where the fish were holding. I covered in excess of 2000km in my 4.5m boat over the several weeks we were up there. And on the days it was too windy to head out we chased barra in the rivers and lakes or did a bit of sight seeing. We had a great time, and although the fishing was great, it certainly was not a given! We had many days where not too much happened but that is all part of the learning curve of fishing having not gone on any charters. Some of the most notable catches included 30+kg GT, 20-25kg cobia, 130cm spanish mackerel, big coral trout, job fish, red bass, big Barra. One of my brothers mate's also landed a cracker mackerel at 177cm which was extremely lucky given he was targeting other fish and had no wire trace! We went through a lot of terminals as everything up there has bloody nasty teeth!!!!! Also, it pays to have spares for everything (including a starter key for the engine - mine snapped while on the water!) There are sharks everywhere and although it is tempting to target fish such as cobia on the lighter gear it is probably not the wisest option as it will soon be sharked. I had a 4-5m tiger launch completely out of the water and took a 120cm spanish whole. We also caught several small bronzies for a bit of fun. Below are the photos of some of the fish:

I think you will find it had more to do with less boats than the tide. We kept moving away from the main pack and found a couple of schools that had tightened up and we hooked-up straight away. Then 10 boats surrounded us and the school thinned out and the bite turned off. Later when there was only 3 of us there it was non stop action for about an hour and a bit with the fish around 75-85cm

It went hard after you left mate, we ended up with around 25-30 fish. Got smashed by hail on the way in though which wasn't fun

Nice fish taken off the rocks mate. A mate who dives says he saw a small pod last week off Sydney so it looks like a few may be around!

Congrats on landing your first marlin mate!

Irrespective of political preference, marine parks should not apply to recreational fisherman until a few other critical issues are sorted by our so called leaders. 1) The most common fish that are targeted are migratory (snapper, kingfish, tuna, marlin, mahi mahi and even bream). Restricting a recreational fisherman from targeting say, kingfish which may inhabit a sanctuary zone for several weeks, only to be slaughtered like lambs by a commercial drop liner when they move on is kind of pointless. Perhaps we should look at closed seasons during breeding like they do in South Australia. Bream are such an example - which congregate at river openings at certain times of year to spawn. At this time the population is concentrated and full of eggs and very vulnerable to exploitation. 2) The current bag limits and size limits are not regulated. Now, obviously there are laws but I fish at least once a week and in the past 8 years I have been checked 2 times!!!! More needs to be done to enforce current regulations as at the moment the fishery is really 'self regulated' 3) What the hell is the point of having marine parks when our government (both labor and liberal) would allow a foreign owned super trawler to operate in Australian waters if not for mass public outcry. I suppose the right economic figure will always outweigh the need to conserve our environment We need to employ conservation techniques which have science related to specific species of fish (not just the little colourful wrass which stay on the same reef their entire life that the greenies like to look at when diving). We need to enforce current regulations and not have double standards for commercial operations the minute a few dollars are on the table!

So here we go again...... 2 years ago we faced the same issue. The government giving approval without public consultation to allow the operation of factory vessel to fish the baitfish from Southern Australian waters. Once it was well known, it faced fierce opposition and the public managed to turn this vessel around. Now they are back with a smaller vessel to skirt the laws imposed at the time. Nonetheless with a quota of 16,500 tonnes a year!!!!! Targeting red bait and mackerel - the stable food source for our tuna and billfish. Just imagine if this vessel pulled up at the carpark off port stephens and decimated the bait schools which sustain the marlin fishery. Meanwhile the average Australian tax payer has to put up with ever increasing restrictions on fishing practices. I would doubt all of the recreational fleet combined would take 10% of what this vessel will take. But lets destroy OUR stocks to send Overseas because they have destroyed their own fishery - just to make a quick buck. Last government was Labor, this is Liberal. It doesn't matter which party is in government, the only thing that seems to talk to these guys is $$$$$$$ and back room deals. Spread the word and if we are lucky we may be able to turn this boat around too! http://www.abc.net.au/landline/content/2015/s4184830.htm

Congrats on your first mate. A day for the memory bank!

Unreal!!! Nice work on a what turned out to be a great day

We got a fish on the troll and got them taking cubes at the back of the boat today. They are still there, just not as crazy as Monday by the general sounds of things

Nice work Mike, John showed me the fish you guys got, a really nice one. Well done! Andrew

Fish were taken off Bermi and JB as well. A good sign they are along a large stretch of coast. Hopefully they are still about when the next window of opportunity presents itself weather wise

Kings were caught in about 50-60m of water. Mike2153 I have used those jigs, they do catch fish but better quality jigs outfish them by a longshot when the fish are not jumping on the hook.

Nice fish on light gear!

I was out with my mate on Sunday on his boat and took my boat out with the Mrs on the Monday. Both days were very similar in terms of fishing and conditions. The water was around 23.2 degrees with a slight uphill current. Although the water was a beautiful blue colour there was quite a bit algae/coral spawn. We picked up some livies first up and headed out to some fish traps we had found on our journeys between spots in previous weeks. The dollies were queued up for a feed upon arrival on both days. They were taking just about anything that was presented in a half decent manner. We would have caught at least 30 on the first day before moving on and on the second day after getting around 10 to 15 we moved on. Live baits certainly accounted for better fish but were often gut hooked which was not good when you want to release. Second leg of the journey was chasing kings. They were not that easy to locate first up and it took some sounding around to find them. But when we did were they hungry. It was up there with some of the best kingie sessions I have had in terms of the number of fish taken. We would have easily caught 25 on both days. A few rats but predominantly between 70-85cm. Interestingly we had the spot completely to ourselves so an important point to consider is to figure it out yourself sometimes instead of following the hordes of boats. All fish were taken on good quality jigs (not cheapies that seem to be being pushed in everyone's face at the moment). But it is worth throwing a few cheapies down first up to make sure the jackets aren't too bad if you are fishing the deeper reefs! On a bit of a side note, over the past few months I have noticed a lot of conjecture surrounding facebook fishing reports. I appreciate that this can benefit fishermen through the sharing of information, but I believe a lot of it is being done with commercial interests at hand. Fishing (for me anyways) is not just about "catching lots of fish". It is about getting out with friends, meeting new people, clearing your head, setting yourself objectives and goals, and learning and refining what you know to improve your skills. The day you don't catch what you target is the day you learn the most. There are plenty of dollies around (as everyone is probably already aware) and kings too albeit difficult to find at times and they do seem to switch on and off. It is worth looking around at various reefs and don't be afraid to go for a troll in 110 to 150m of water as there are often fish traps scattered around. The dollies and kingfish do shut down under the pressure of many boats so it is worth exploring at times as often you will create some great experiences on your own accord!

Fish taken on lures and bait. Better fish were generally taken first up on live-baits. The weather looks fairly crappy this weekend but based on the current temps they will probably be around a bit longer. It has been a great season for them and there is plenty of size to the fish. If you would like some more pointers send me a PM

If you have the time it is worth looking wider and to the south for fish traps. On Sunday I was out with my mate on his boat and on Monday was in my boat, we landed somewhere around 40 fish between 70cm and 1m (most going around 75-80cm). On both days we moved on and left them biting. Plenty around, water around 23.2.

I would love to say I could find them consistently but that would be far from the truth. I am still a rookie at marlin fishing!!! Like anything it is a steep learning curve, but I've learnt a little bit more this season. The dollies seemed to be in two sized schools that day. A school in the mid 70s and a school in the late 50s to early 60s. The bigger fish certainly wisened up quicker than the little tackers. The boys wanted to stay but after two crew fell sick and had been spewing for 1.5hrs we thought it was best to head in! Yes, the marlin was caught on a live slimie which was fished around the bait I was marking. Groper, glad to see you are paying attention to my looks , it was probably the contrast from the sunscreen plastering my face!

It's been a while since my last post but thought I'd share this one. I fished on sunday for marlin by myself. It was a late start due to having my mate's wedding the night before. I got some livebaits and headed out looking for bait. I found some bait in some 24.8 degree water and worked it for a couple of hours with live baits before getting a take. Dodging another boat was difficult (as the marlin seemed to continue heading towards this boat on several occasions) while trying to maintain pressure and figure out exactly which way he was heading (due to the belly of the line in the water). Unfortunately I did not get to have a real good look at the fish when it was jumping as there were many things to be managed at the one time. Once clear of the other boat the fish started heading wider and went deep. It was a difficult 1 hour trying to plane the fish to the surface on spin gear with no harness. Once I got him back up i was about 6-7km from where I had hooked up and the final 15 mintues was just as much of a mental battle as it was physically. By the time it was near the boat about 1hr and 45 minutes had passed and I was feeling fatigued from driving the boat, keeping balance in a fairly sloppy sea and fighting the fish. I then leadered the fish with every last bit of grip and grabbed his bill, upon which time a new wave of adrenaline hit to control the fish as it shook its head a couple of times before settling down. Removed the hook, took some photos and released this great fish to fight another day. I would estimate the fish to be somewhere between 80-100kg. Taken on 80lb braid, 100lb shock leader, 200lb hook leader (6500 Catalina Spin Outfit). I headed out the next day (monday) and was onto a smaller black briefly but the 100lb shock leader snapped. I think it was the result of a bit of a step in the drag and/or a crap batch of mono. Furious is an understatement as to how I felt at this point. Anyways, something to rectify and make sre it doesn't happen again - especially given the time, money and effort that can be spent in locating these fish. It was a challenging and rewarding experience, finding, hooking, landing and releasing a Marlin on your own in a small side console. It has given me new appreciation to those others who have done this as well. However, in future I don't think I will grab the marlin by the bill if I am fishing 1-up. Upon reviewing the events if something went the wrong way you could find yourself in a lot of trouble. In no way I am I trying to have a go at others who do this on a more regular basis, but it is not a risk I think is worth taking in the future. On a side note, there are millions of dolphin fish about (as everybody knows from the reports). Last weekend we hired a bigger boat and took the boys out chasing dollies for my mate's bucks party. They had an absolute ball (especially considering most had not caught anything other than a toad fish) which was great to see.

Well done on landing your first marlin, you won't forget that anytime soon!