LuckyFil

More pics

Just back from 12 days helping some mates bring a 40 foot catamaran back from the Whitsundays. I got off at Hervey Bay, the remaining crew were sailing it the rest of the way to Sydney. A 40 foot cat is not your typical sport fishing machine but we managed to drag some lures for nearly all of the approximately 1200ks of the part of the trip I was on. Only 2 of us were keen fishos but we all enjoyed the madness of trying to retrieve a fish while bringing an 8 tonne sailing boat to a stop and negotiating a snapping mackerel up the back step with nothing more than an average size landing net! We had some long stretches with no hits but other days scored more although not always sinking the hooks . Lure losses were high losing 3 rapala CD18s with one spooled fish, one broken leader trying to drag a massive spanish up the steps and one wire trace broken - we think that fish was sharked. Strangely all strikes were on one side of the boat, not a single hit on the rod with similar lures on the other side - any theories on that? We switched sides a few days but same thing every day, only hits on the starboard side. Species were cobia, Mack tuna , Spotted mackerel, Also a spanish mackerel (no pic as we lost him on the way in but he was too big in any case - definite candidate for ciguatera), long tail tuna (very nice sashimi) and a cracker coral trout caught on bait from the little tender (interesting getting that on board while bobbing around 80 miles to sea in an 8 foot tender!!). Will try to add more pics in further post along with a few underwater shots as we did a lot of snorkelling at Fitzroy reef, Lady Musgrave and Heron Island - fantastic water colour and temp (28 degrees). Cheers Phil

Well done on picking the right conditions and following through. Its always tricky getting enough swell to create the wash they like but not too much to make it dangerous.

I use 30lb braid on a Daiwa Seagate threadline with 30lb black magic leader. It sounds pretty heavy gear but the bottom is rough and you occasionally get bigger pigs and groper there. At the business end is a small pea sinker running straight onto a double X number 1 suicide hook. My rod is a Gary Howard 7144, which I love after using a general purpose 12 foot rod for my first few years of drummer fishing which was Ok but lacked the grunt necessary for extracting the pigs when they dive hard. I also use an old Alvey sometimes with 30lb tortue line straight through which is very reliable. I prefer the threadline just 'cause I sometimes have a spin if there are no drummer about.

I was inspired by another Fishraider's post last week when he caught a nice pig and dropped another so I decided to have a go this morning after not hitting the rocks for a month or so. The low tide I wanted to get cunje wasn't till 9:20 so it meant a late start, so it was very much gentleman's hours and I wasn't too confident with the sun already pretty high , but I was happy just to have a go after the break. I tried my first wash after throwing in some bread burley but just managed a few sweep and a kelpie. It just didn't feel right so decided to treck a bit further to another wash that works better in the smaller swell. First cast and it seemed pretty quiet but at least no sweep stealing the bait. The bait was slowly being washed closer to me with each wave and when it was almost vertical I felt a small bite then some weight so I struck and it seemed like a decent fish, he lunged deep looking for cover and I knew it must be a drummer. After a bit of a tussle up comes a pig of around a kilo. I kept up the burley and fished the spot for another hour but nothing other than pickers. Still I can't complain, at least going home with one keeper. I put him on the tape when I got home and it was spot on 40cm.

I was inspired by another Fishraider's post last week when he caught a nice pig and dropped another so I decided to have a go this morning after not hitting the rocks for a month or so. The low tide I wanted to get cunje wasn't till 9:20 so it meant a late start, so it was very much gentleman's hours and I wasn't too confident with the sun already pretty high , but I was happy just to have a go after the break. I tried my first wash after throwing in some bread burley but just managed a few sweep and a kelpie. It just didn't feel right so decided to treck a bit further to another wash that works better in the smaller swell. First cast and it seemed pretty quiet but at least no sweep stealing the bait. The bait was slowly being washed closer to me with each wave and when it was almost vertical I felt a small bite then some weight so I struck and it seemed like a decent fish, he lunged deep looking for cover and I knew it must be a drummer. After a bit of a tussle up comes a pig of around a kilo. I kept up the burley and fished the spot for another hour but nothing other than pickers. Still I can't complain, at least going home with one keeper. I put him on the tape when I got home and it was spot on 40cm.

Good old bread its great for burley and accounts of plenty of drummer. Easy and cheap bait!

Nice pig there Harry and shame about the one that got away - still that always keeps us coming back! What bait were you using? Cheers Phil

Top first report Conor . I also fish the Lake for flatties but usually off the shore and more towards the back end of the Lake but haven't bothered lately. I assumed they would have shut down for the winter but obviously that's not the case! Have you found the tide makes much difference to your catches in the Lake? Looks like you got some good weather for your paddle around the Lake as well! Cheers LuckyFil

A great report and pics. I've heard from others that the sea conditions getting out to Swains can be wicked and it sounds like you had some rough stuff to contend with while there as well. The GTs an and sharks are also notorious but looks like you managed to drag plenty of good fish away from them. Have you stopped swaying yet??!!

Scatchie, that has got to be a first - catching not just a snapper but a real corker on a popper! I've heard of big snapper cruising the shallows in South Australia sometimes, I think it was around the wharves in Whyalla, and I recall the locals got them to take burley off the top on occasions but I've never heard of it over hear and certainly not 'in the wild' so to speak. That's one for the history books! Congrats on a memorable day and another good read. Cheers LuckyFil

Hi Leonard, my rod is a Gary Howard 12 foot model MT 7144. I love it after having a general purpose 12 footer previously which was Ok but didn't have the grunt necessary for this type of fishing. Wilson Live Fibre also make good rods suitable for drummer and groper. They have some models that are 13'6" if you prefer a really long rod but this can be good and bad depending on how much room you have to fish - obstacles etc. The main thing is having plenty of guts in the lower section but with a reasonably light tip to provide sensitivity. I think the broken hook was a circle not sure of the brand (wasn't one of mine) but clearly too light gauge. I use double X suicide number 1 size which I haven't had bend so far! There is a hook the old time drummer guys would only use but I don't know the model number. It was maybe 3 or 4X so would never bend no matter what! Cheers Phil

Ha that's a great bit of research Ryder . Hope I get another Bonk soon!!

Just back from a couple of sessions up the Central Coast rocks near Avoca. Son Pat and his mate had arrived the day before and had already picked up a few good drummer and an average sized groper - sorry no pics of those. So I was hopeful of catching a few after struggling to catch any decent pigs from my local rocks on the Northern Beaches. We had a good supply of cunji and several loaves of bread mixed with weed for burley which we were feeding out regularly. Despite this we only managed kelpies and small pickers for the first couple of hours. Then the sun dropped behind the cliff behind us and everything changed for the next 20 minutes. In short succession we caught 3 smallish pigs 33-35cm dropped another one that looked over 40 cm but then I hooked up to something big that ran me straight into a cave… I could still feel the tail beats so kept a steady pressure and resisted the temptation to try to drag him out as I could feel the line rubbing on the rocks. I changed the angle of the rod and laid it over in the direction I hoped might extract him and with each wave I got a little more line and then I felt him free swimming so pulled hard and got him to the surface. Then a struggle to find a place to wash him up - nothing obvious and a dead lift on what was a big pig looked dodgy so Pat got as low to the water as he could as I tried to keep the fish off the barnacles as he zigged and zagged. Eventually Pat got a hand to the line and lifted the fish up and climbed back to me with it. We were whooping and hollering as it was a beauty and I thought a pb for me. As Pat went back to get the camera I put the fish on the rocks at my feet and the hook fell out!! It was sloping rock and I was still close to the water so I dropped the rod and fell to my knees to wrap both hands around it to stop it sliding back into the water - heart pumping I carried it back to safer ground for some pics and a measure - it went 55cm and was a real fatty. I'm guessing 4 - 5 kg. Not long after this Pat fastened into another big fish that just wouldn't stop. He had his dragged locked but he couldn't make any ground, but then his line went slack - bugger! He wound in and the fish had straightened the hook and broken the last part of it right off, hmmm another big drummer or possibly groper. I went back the next day - same place, same bait, same time and didn't score a fish. Ah well that's fishing. Here's a pic. Funny how drummer still look pretty much the same even as they get bigger - they just get fatter. LuckFil

Thanks for the positive feedback. If you are ever planning a trip to Weipa get in touch and I'll give you any info I can on preparation, costs, what to take etc I started going there after reading reports on Fishraider from guys who had used the houseboat option as well! Cheers LuckFil

G'day Bruce, we met a couple of years ago up there, you were finishing your trip as we at started ours that time. Yeah make sure you keep going while you can as they are slowly making moves towards the new loader at Boyd Bay. You can see a small settlement behind the tree taking shape and once Rio starts full construction that section of the coast (the best in my opinion) will be buggered. Plenty more to be explored either side of Boyd but still it will be sad when it happens. The entrance to the Norman was totally different this year and may be again when you go in May. It was more like 3 separate channels - you could still get in but had to be in the top half of the tide. Enjoy yourself next year, we'll be there in June again as someone had already booked the week we wanted in May!! Will definitely be doing more bait fishing in the shallows for the tuskies and hopefully some of those bigger fingermark. Tight lines. Phil

Weipa is on the western side of Cape York in far north QLD. You get there by flying to Cairns then a second flight into Weipa. Its a mining town (bauxite) with a harbour set up to load the bauxite onto ships . You can drive there from Cairns but its I think about a 12 hour drive on fairly rough roads, although you see a lot more vans and campers up there since I first started going 7 years ago. There are a few guides that operate from Weipa that do fly and sport fishing as well as bait if you want to, but that gets pretty expensive using a guide so we hire the houseboat, drive and cook for ourselves and fish out of the 4.8meter tenders (2 per boat). With a crew of 6 it works out well. As you can see from the report the fishing can be hot with plenty of variety but you have to do your homework and be flexible sometimes if the usual things aren't working, but finding and catching the fish yourself is all the more rewarding.

pics attached

bugger will try again

Just back from another year in Weipa on the houseboat + 3 tenders. Every year is different depending on what's biting and the wind - it can be bad at times although it wasn't too strong for our week - the crew before us couldn't leave the harbour for 2 days due to howling winds and choppy seas at the entrance. The long tail tuna were about this year and it was great to hear the drag screaming on your 30lb spin outfit when they hit top gear - you can't believe until you experience it - you think you've forgotten to tighten up your drag before going out but its tight all right! As usual the sharks were bad with plenty of fish and lures lost to sharks some a bit too large for comfort (8 foot plus). We also found a good school of spanish mackerel one day with one of our boats scoring 10 spanish and few long tails before coming in. We kept a couple of spanish for the table and the rest were released. Also got into the Norman Creek for some fun on the jacks, fingermark, cod, trevally (various) and smallish barra. On light gear this is fun fishing. For a change we tried bait fishing for the tusk fish one day in 3 meters of water. You have to fish heavy and with locked drags to have any chance. Its lots of laughs as you watch your mate battle it out for 20 seconds - they either get the tusky clear of the bottom or get dusted. These fish are like drummer or groper on steroids . These fish were 2- 4 kg but I gather they grow up to 14kg I hate to think what one of those would do to you. Picked up a couple of decent coral trout and my first blue bastard (yes that's what they are called) a bit like a blue mowong and they also pull like trains in the shallow water. Every fisherman has to get to Weipa at least once in his life . I've hopefully attached a small selection of pics. Cheers LuckFil

Wow 40 drummer - never heard of anyone getting that many even amongst 4 fishers. Unusual to get so many small ones - what were you using for bait? Did you burley much?

Firstly thanks to "sam0216", "king of kings" and "luvbigfish" for answering my call for info on fishing this area a couple of weeks ago. We mainly fished the rocks and beaches around Pretty Beach getting a few drummer off the stones and some salmon and bream off the beaches. The drummer were tricky and there are plagues of small sweep at present who steal the cunje before the pigs get a look in, although as I say we managed a few drummer and as always dropped some better ones, many finding the rock caves before we could get them in. I suspect a few of these may have been groper as I did almost land one of them . I say almost as the hook fell out when he was on the rock shelf just 2 meters in front of me! I was tempted to jump down to that ledge but the swell was a bit too big. I discoverd that salmon come up very tasty and tender in the smoker after being filleted, skinned and marinated in the brine and brown sugar mix beforehand. I real discovery as I've been throwing them back for years after trying them cooked traditonally in the past and found them chewy and not that tasty. A mate brought his boat down for 1 weekend while we were there so we had 1 outing outside.The snapper spots we used to fish ( and had a lot of success with using SPs) are now in the marine park so we had to try unknown reefs but only pulled up red rock cod and seargent baker. So we went for plan B and drifted for flatties up near Meroo Beach. Initially it was very quiet only scoring 2 decent fish about 45cm and lots of throw backs. Then decided on a last drift about 1 kilometer north of Brush Island and straight away were on to good sized fish - I think they were blue spot flathead. We picked up 6 on the first drift all around 40-45 cm and ended up with 21 keepers between the 3 of us overall. We were in the good books when we got back to the campground with plenty of skinned and boned fillets for the six couples we were camping with! So no snapper this time but the tips from fellow Fishraiders were very helpful for this trip and future ones - definitely gave me some ides for other spots to try next time. Sorry no pics Cheers LuckyFil

Great, thanks for the heads up! Its a good spot if the southerly is blowing and I see one is forecast for some of the time we'll be there

Yeah I know the spot - I think it's an old wharf. I've spun up a few salmon off there at times - is that what you were getting?

I'm heading down to Pretty Beach this week and was wondering if any Fishraiders have been fishing in the Bawley Point, Pretty Beach, Merry Beach, Durras region recently - either off the shore or from a boat as we'll be doing both? Any info welcome. Thanks LuckyFil