Nook Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 Hey guys, been waiting to make my first post for a while but had very little to report until the last week or so. Plenty of fun to be had out on the Hacking at the moment. I've been out three or for times in the last week. Big schools of bait are holding off a few of the rocky points and there are some decent fish chasing them. Nailed a stack of bonito and tailor trolling slugs around, and a few 55-60cm kingies as well. Anchoring and berleying up the baitfish (not sure what they are - little mackeral of some description I think, not slimies though, big, loose scales) and sending a few livies out has also worked well. The aren't huge fish but it is good fun on light gear - and it'd be perfect for entertaining the kids. Strangest catch of the week was on Friday - a livie got nailed and a three or four minute fight produced what I think was a Queensland school mackeral, 51cm. Anyone ever caught these around here? I'll try to get a pic to confirm the ID. In any case the Port is certainly throwing up some strage fish with all the bait around. Anyway if you are down south and lucky enough to have access to a boat there is plenty of fun to be had at the moment, so get out there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jewhunter Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 to the site mate & thanks for the report. The mackeral was probably a spotty & although not all that common a few are caught most years. Well done on your successful trips. Small Kings & Bonnies go hard on the light gear & are great fun. Cheers, Grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nook Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 Cheers mate Yeah I originally called it for a spotty, my mate looked it up later and said definately a schoolie so who knows. Just happy to get it on the boat! Forgot to mention in my first post - this is all well inside the Port, from Lilli Pilli baths back towards Yowie Bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 Most likely a spottie They look like this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nook Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 Well he wasn't that big! This is him (or, a version of him): Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybee Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 Hey Nook, By the photo its hard to tell if it has strips on the top of its body or just spots. If it has strips it would be a large slimy. I have seen slimy mackeral almost as big as that and they tend to be a greenish colour on top. If it just has spots then its a small spotted mackeral. They do come down this far but usually not until the warm currents arrive which we are yet to see this season. Large slimy mackeral are great smoked and spotties are great BBQ'd or in a red curry. Hey Nook, By the photo its hard to tell if it has strips on the top of its body or just spots. If it has strips it would be a large slimy. I have seen slimy mackeral almost as big as that and they tend to be a greenish colour on top. If it just has spots then its a small spotted mackeral. They do come down this far but usually not until the warm currents arrive which we are yet to see this season. Large slimy mackeral are great smoked and spotties are great BBQ'd or in a red curry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nook Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 No stripes like a slimey, just some faint spots..definately wasn't a slimey, caught a few monster slimies offshore and this guy was quite different. You can't really tell from the pic but he had a mouthfull of huge choppers and he was pretty slender. Agree on the smoked slimey. My mate cooked the spotty up last night it said it was brilliant. We had a few solid runs that ended in cut line so I wouldn't be surprised if there are more around, mixed in the with bonnies and the tailor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybee Posted February 4, 2007 Share Posted February 4, 2007 Yeh definately spotties, Maybe the bigger ones will follow real soon. We use wire traces as they do tend to bite through mono like anything. Hope you get on to the larger models soon. Cheers Jeff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nook Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 Hey guys, another update Went out again yesterday with a couple of mates and after no luck trolling decided to anchor and berley some baitfish up. We had a couple of hours of pretty crazy fishing - every live bait that touched the water was mauled within two minutes and we took turns fighting them in. Plenty of bonito and rat kings, as well as one king which just made it and some thumping salmon, the biggest of which was 66cm. Again, great fun with a couple of mates. I also hooked a decent size bronzie casting towards the shore with a live bait. He was probably in about 10 feet of water. Kept him on for about 5 mins but he was only playing around with me, would have been at least 4.5/5 feet long I reckon. I won't be swimming there again any time soon, especially with all these fish around. The fish were absolutely everywhere but wouldn't take anything apart from livies. Pillies, bait tank casualties and fresh lumps of bonito were rejected all day long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davemmm Posted February 5, 2007 Share Posted February 5, 2007 In any case the Port is certainly throwing up some strage fish with all the bait around. In strange places too. Over the long weekend I dragged a small trev off the sand in about 10" of water and in the dark the next morning a big eel just off gunamatta boat ramp. The blurter wasnt even near the channel or deep water I think he just saw how much fun the whiting were having and ventured over. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nook Posted February 6, 2007 Author Share Posted February 6, 2007 Had another crack today in the same area tonight. Baitfish still there. One more keeper kingie and some rats, one more big salmon, and about fifteen bonito (fast becoming a bit of a pest which is usually a good sign that you are getting a bit spoiled). The fish were a bit finicky today, dropping the livies pretty fast instead of running with them but we got them in the end. Amazingly I still haven't seen anyone else having a go for these fish despite numerous boats anchored within earshot of screaming drags and catching nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingpez Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Where can you get livies in the hacking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankp Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 i like to head to the area closer to jibbon beach. doesnt let me down frankp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaneMortlock Posted February 10, 2007 Share Posted February 10, 2007 Where can you get livies in the hacking? The sand bars along the straight stretch (Royal National Park side) in between Burrineer Bay and Lilli Pilli Point should have nippers a plenty - at least always did when I lived directly opposite fisherman's bay (Maianbah). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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