Bluewater

I took a day charter from Port Douglas a little over a month ago. To put it briefly, it was a trip of a life time. The day began with an approximate 8kg Northern Blue Fin on the second cast, a truck load of Big Eye Trevally on jigs, a 15kg GT and a 22Kg Spanish Mackerel!Also had a Black Marlin follow a jig to the boat. I’ll let the pictures tell the story. Bluewater

Any one had a trip with Akoonah Charters in Port Douglas? Considering taking a day trip with them whilst up there in September. Bluewater

Nice catch mate, is that a "stinger hook" you are using on the plastic? If so how often do you hook up on that hook?

Yeah there are a few rare catches around at the moment. A mate of mine recently caught a small Cobia in Brisbane Waters.

Well done Austral!

Bait, Tailor and Bonito fillets.

Fished Broken Bay on Friday. Plenty of schools of Tailor and Bonito mixed in, caught a heap of each. Kept a few for bait then hit the estuary of Brisbane Waters and ended up with 5 Bream to 37cm. All in all it was slow at times however I ended up with a feed.

Well done mate. Nice place Lobster beach, I often drop the family of there too and head out for a quick fish.

Worm.

I recently fished in a fishing comp. Whilst fishing near the Rip in Brisbane Waters, I managed to hook this Whiting which measured 43cm and is a PB for me.

Well done Austral, there are certainly a few nice bream around at the moment. Bluewater.

Yep I anchor up, I caught these fish on the northern side of the bridge.

Decided to take the old man out for a fish on Thursday so we hit our local water way. Started up in the Broadwater in search of Bream which didn't eventuate but we managed to pick up a just legal whiting and some big fat Blue Swimmers on hand lines. As the tide was quite low, I decided to gather some nippers and then moved to the Rip. It was there where we managed to catch ourselves a niece bag of whiting and Bream. All and all a great day out fishing and I managed to show the old man up (again). Final count,5 bream from 25 - 36cm 3 whiting 27 - 37cm and 4 large crabs.

Took the family down to visit some relo's at Narooma last week. I was lucky enough to fish on two occasions. First trip was on a charter to the infamous Montague Island. Given Montague's reputation as Kingfish heaven, I had my self syked up to do battle with some monster Kingy's. However due to recent rains, the majority of the Kingfish population had taken shelter elsewhere. Therefore after a live bait session, the skipper requested the deckie to deploy the Christmas tree lures in search of a few Bonnies on the troll. To say that the Bonito were on fire was an understatement. We could literally see the schools of bonito fighting each other off to be the first to grab the lure, these fish ranged from about 35cm to 70cm. Over the next hour, the five of us on board caught 28 of these arm stretching fish, all the excitement literally left me bruised and battered (note to self, take gimble belt next time). We then left the Bonito biting to try our luck at some bottom bashing. During this session I picked up my first Kingie, albeit a rat, on a plastic. I also managed a couple of half decent Snapper and a Mowie. On the way back to port we were also able to bag half a fish bin of decent sized sand Flathead. All in all, a fantastic days fishing and I can highly recommend a trip to Montague Island. A few days later, I borrowed a relo's tinny and with some advise on where to fish, I headed out for some bread and butter fishing on a local lake. Over about three hours I picked up six Bream, five over the 36cm mark and one a few millimeters short of 40cm. All fish were caught on nippers and all fish were quality. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on board the Charter (slack I know) so there are no photo's of that trip however I have attached a few pics of the Bream.

Interesting, does this mean that problem has been rectified with all newly purchased motors?

Had a chat to a local Merc dealer today and asked him what his thoughts were on Etec engines. He claims that they have a habit of exploding! Anyone ever heard of this or is it just a matter of scare mongering from a rival dealer?

Great report, those Kings sure know how to fight even the small ones! Did you get the squid from Clareville as well? Bluewater

Hi guys, I'm taking the family up to Nambucca Heads in February for a short break. I've always wanted to do some offshore fishing at SWR's so thought I would make the short trip to the area from Nambucca and head out on a charter. Can anyone recommend a charter boat up there, there are quite a few to choose from? I will probably need to join another group as I will be on my own.

I also have stories from older family members who use to fish Montague back in the 50's & 60's. They beach launched a 12ft wooden boat with a six horse power out board. Headed straight for the island and handline fished for 20kg snapper. They would'nt return until the boat was almost taking on water due to the extra wait of all the fish. They use to complain about the pesky Kingfish that were soo thick some times that they could'nt get their Snapper baits to the bottom because these 25kg Kingies would keep stealing their bait. They would sometimes cut their lines once these kings were hooked because they were too much "hassle" on their 80 pound handlines! How times have changed.....

I'm just basing my thoughts on assumptions, assumptions that if you took the fish trappers and the prawners out of the system, things could only improve. Surely Sydney Harbour is a testament to how effective this course of action is. If the Hawksbury could become as prolific with fish as the Harbour, then as I said, I am willing to trade off one of my fishing spots with NPW (loop hole free of course).

I agree whole heartedly with these comments. Maybe we could turn the proposed threat of Marine Parks in to a positive for us. Maybe this is a chance to get rid of pro's in enclosed waters in Sydney all together. In my local waters of the Hawksbury, Pittwater and Broken bay, almost every week day you'll see several pro's pilaging these enclosed water ways untill there is nothing left. Some may have a go at me for this however I would even be prepared to give up one of my fishing spot's to a no fishing zone (eg Lion Island) if the new regulations bought out all the pro's in my area. Maybe we would then see our water way return to its former glory of regular catches of monster Jewies, Kings and Snapper.

Nice work there Gibbo, but when are you going to catch some real fish?

Have'nt fished there for years but try on the eastern side of the container wall right in the corner where the wall meets the beach. There's a little rocky outcrop and just wide of that there is some Kelp Beds, that's where you will find them.

Looks good mate. I'm heading up there in February, can you give me the details of the charter operator? What was the cost? I know I'm asking for alot, but can you recomend where to stay up there? Cheers in advance.

Ok guys, I know this topic has been touched on before but I'm yet to see whether it can be used or not. As you all know the Central Coast is on Level 4 Water restrictions and therefore we are not permitted to wash boat, trailer or even flush the motor. Therefor I am laying out the couple of thousand dollars to have a tank installed. Now once we get a bit of rain , I'm sure I'll have enough water stored to flush the motor with but I'm not sure if I will have an adequate supply to wash the whole boat all the time. My parents live around the corner and they have Bore Water. The water has a relativly low salt content however it does contain a bit of sulphur. The question I pose, can I use the Bore Water to wash my aluminium boat and trailer? I asked my mechanic and he was non comittal........ Please help. Regards Bluewater