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Rhos Gibson.
I’M sure you have all had one of those fishing trips where everything went to plan. The weather was good the fish cooperated and the company was great.
I recently had the privilege to be invited on a game fishing trip out from Mooloolaba. Sam Cardell, co-owner and manufacturer of Reel Mate arranged the trip aboard Steve Sherman’s “Mazara”.
Mazara is a 36ft Riviera Pro Tournament design and an absolute pleasure to fish from.
We headed north to some grounds off Noosa where Steve had encountered bait and sailfish the day before. On board were fishing writer Rod Harrison, head of Platypus Fishing Lines Don McPherson, fishing identity Nadine Clarke and Fishing World Field Editor Mark Williams.
It always gives me quite a deal of satisfaction to help an angler catch their first billfish. On this occasion Sam, Nadine and Mark were hoping to tag their first sailfish.
With schools of bait rippling the surface, dolphins and tuna crashing through the middle of them and free jumping sails everywhere it was enough to make your hands go sweaty just thinking about what was about to happen.
To be honest I can’t remember how many billfish we tagged for the day. I think it was seven sails and two black marlin.
You know you must be having a pretty good day when an angler pulls in a good sized dolphin fish and is disappointed because they were hoping for a sailfish.
Again I don’t know how many dolphin fish we boated but it was well over ten. I know many of you would agree with me that mahi mahi is one of the nicest eating fish in the sea so I was looking forward to lighting the barbecue that night.
It is a very special day when you can enjoy game fishing action like this and I was happy to be a part of it. Many thanks to Sam from Reel Mate.
For those of you who are already using the Reel Mate spooling device for filling your reels I can tell you that the success of the product has been outstanding.
So much so that the company is releasing another new product early this year. I can’t say too much now but watch this column for more details.
The game fishing activity has been nothing short of incredible so far this summer season. There are excellent numbers of black marlin, sailfish and dolphin fish as was evident from the trip I just spoke about.
However if you include the various mackerel species, wahoo, cobia and tuna to the list you end up with a smorgasbord of fishing action.
It is all looking good for a brilliant tournament season and you can expect a great attendance of boats and anglers at the upcoming club events.
LIGHT TACKLE TACTICS
The vast majority of anglers fish light tackle at this time of year and consequently the size of the lures and hooks used is proportionate to the line size used.
If you’re fishing say 6kg line it is almost impossible to apply enough pressure to set the hook if it is too large. However if you select a hook that is too small it generally won’t be have a wide enough gape and therefore can tend to pull out of the fish or even bend under pressure. That is why hook selection is a vital part of the lure rigging and live bait rigging process.
Peter Pakula has achieved a reputation for producing top quality trolling lures that catch fish. He has released a new smaller style pusher model to accommodate the light tackle angler.
Called the “Pakula Uzi” the 5 1/2 inch lure can be trolled from any position on the boat and at a range of speeds. There is a range of the usual Pakula fish catching colours and Peter is also making up matching hook rigs to suit this new range.
If you’re looking for a new lure to try you can see them at Fisherman’s World at Kawana Waters, Gold Coast Fishing Tackle at Southport, Fishing World at Mackay, Mullet Gut Marine in Toowoomba and Barra Jacks in Rockhampton.
MOOLOOLABA BAY
The bay at Mooloolaba has been a good hunting ground for mackerel anglers in recent times. Spotted and school mackerel have been frequenting the area and successful anglers have been using a number of methods to catch their target.
Floating pilchards rigged on a set of ganged hooks is an excellent method of catching mackerel. The only drawback with this style is that you have to wait for the schools to come to you, which at moment doesn’t take long.
However if you want to go searching for the fish the favoured technique is to troll small minnow lures and metal headed Christmas trees.
It is also advisable to have a casting rod handy, rigged up with a high speed metal casting lure such as a Raider. This gives you the opportunity to start casting into a school of fish should they come within range of the boat.
BOTTOM BOUNCING
The bottom fishing scene has also been active with the Barwon banks and Wide Caloundra producing some excellent catches.
Full moon this month is on the 2nd so you may find that the fishing will be better during the second half of the month.
The close in reefs have also been yielding their share of mixed reef fish. I fished Murphys Reef a couple of weeks ago and then motored in to the blinker on the Gneering Shoal. For a total of three hours fishing I returned home with a bin of quality fish - sweetlip, Maori cod and parrot.
ESTUARY
The river systems are reasonably quiet at present with only a smattering of whiting and flathead to talk about.
Mangrove jacks and trevally are also being picked up on lures from around the motorway bridge in the Maroochy River and the co-op jetties in the Mooloolah River.
Because of the hostile environment where these fish inhabit the rate of lure loss is extremely high. However the thrill of the hunt is enough attraction to get anglers coming back even though there is a good chance they wont be returning home with the arsenal of lures they went with.
No doubt you have all been putting your Christmas presents to good use and with school holidays continuing this month there will be no doubt be an abundance of young anglers trying out that new rod and reel.
Please take care during the holiday period and good fishing.