kkw Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 This report is a little after the fact, but I guess not too many southerners manage to get into this species. A few weeks ago, I took advantage of the very low budget airfares to the Whitsunday Coast/Proserpine. My sister lives right near Laguna (now Mariner) Quays resort, so accommodation, transport and boat were not going to be a problem. My brother in law, Colin, took a week off work and we managed to go out fishing 5 days of the seven I was up there. Glorious weather, but not much in the way of fish. It was the same reports from up and down the coast. Strange. One morning, we anchored up on the Mackeral patch in Repulse Bay, and the sounder was showing schools of fish and bigger fish and a BIG fish continuously. Nothing was touching the pillies, apart from trevally and the odd sweetlip, so I tied on a lure, which flashed brilliantly with every twitch. Within 30 seconds, I was on. Landed a smallish, average sized Wolf Herring or Ribbon Fish as they are more commonly known, and got hit every cast after that. Colin persisted with his pilly bait for a few more minutes, then asked if I had any other lures. Naturally enough, all the other boats came racing over and started trolling so close, that I was finding it hard to cast without running the risk of getting my line run over by these $%%@@#'s. As expected, the school went away, and so did the boats. Pulled the anchor up and went to another little peak Col had marked on his sounder and dropped anchor again. Wasn't long before we had the wolfies hitting the lures again, as well as a couple of school mackeral. I had one larger than average herring on and it had pretty well thrown the towell in and was coming quietly to the boat, when it found a new burst of energy and went nuts. I thought it didn't like the sight of the boat, when suddenly a big streak of silver and olive green shot past the boat, hit the herring and left me with a head and belly flap. I didn't even feel the jolt as it bit cleanly through the fish and swallowed the snack. A big Spaniard was the culprit and he hung around for a little while longer but couldn't be tempted. As per usual, the other boats came racing over, but a few well chosen words kept them out of casting range. A few came over and dropped anchor within a couple of boat lengths, but the action died down again. Colin hooked a big Qld Groper which could be seen in the clear water, but he was just swimming around slowly, seemingly unaware of the 15lb line. Col snapped him off, and he swam lazily over to the couple fishing in their little 12 footer and took the ladies bait. She did the lady thing and squealed, as she hung on to the buckled over rod. Don't know what breaking strain she was using, but the boat started to move away and kept going. I guess they cut the line in due course. Col said that this groper was a regular on the patch, and the hooks and line must be small annoyances to it, as it gets 'caught' by someone on almost every outing. The Wolf Herring has an array of projecting fang like teeth that arm the jaws; it is a brilliantly silvery, ribbon bodied fish, with spectacular leaping ability. They grow to 1.4 m (4.5 feet) in length, The Wolf Herring has little value as a food fish, but is prized as bait for reef fishes, Mackerel, and Barramundi. This lot were destined for Col's bait freezer. Can't wait to get up there again. Good fun. Amongst the Wolf Herring are a couple of big pike and a legal sweetlip. A couple of the trolling lures which were used a jig lures for the Herring. Colin leaning back into the groper and making no headway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Nice catch of wolfies They are a great bait for spaniards trolled with set of ganged hooks stuck in them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robeebee Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 (edited) a great catch there mate don't you hate it when you find the fish and every boat around comes to you ? Edited October 29, 2008 by robeebee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPL Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Good stuff, too bad about the fishing though. Did you fish LB at all? Its pretty good up that way, when its hot its hot. I have never hooked up to a Spanish mak but have hooked up to once of those big cod, they go hard don't they. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkw Posted October 29, 2008 Author Share Posted October 29, 2008 Yes I did do a couple of LB sessions of an hour or so. First spot was across the road from my sisters place, off the 'beach'. Used poppers for whiting. No luck, but the ones caught on prawns were a bit on the small side so I wasn't concerned. Get much bigger whiting down here on poppers. Second session was at high tide, off the Laguna breakwall. Got smashed by Mangrove Jack, on 12lb line. No chance at all, and it was frustrating to see them cruise by within a metre and smash into balls of small herring. There are some big fish swimming around the structure there. Can't fish inside the marina, but on the ocean side of the breakwall is o.k. Quite shallow, even at high tide. The Jacks must live amongst the breakwall boulders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh88 Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Bummer you couldn't get into any good macks. Those wolfies are the ones that jump into your boats aren't they, know they make great baits for spaniards especiallly. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPL Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 (edited) Yes I did do a couple of LB sessions of an hour or so. First spot was across the road from my sisters place, off the 'beach'. Used poppers for whiting. No luck, but the ones caught on prawns were a bit on the small side so I wasn't concerned. Get much bigger whiting down here on poppers. Second session was at high tide, off the Laguna breakwall. Got smashed by Mangrove Jack, on 12lb line. No chance at all, and it was frustrating to see them cruise by within a metre and smash into balls of small herring. There are some big fish swimming around the structure there. Can't fish inside the marina, but on the ocean side of the breakwall is o.k. Quite shallow, even at high tide. The Jacks must live amongst the breakwall boulders. Sounds good, i never got a chance at the Jacks only the GTs, grunter and smaller Mackeral up round the rockwalls, if you want some good spots send me a PM. Edited October 29, 2008 by RPL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogtooth Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Top Report there, The lures you were using were the old malcom florence lures . Pity the spanish macs wern't keen to jump on you hooks .. Cheers Dogtooth John... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braidbuster Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 Those Wolf Herring are a Top Marlin live bait too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkw Posted October 29, 2008 Author Share Posted October 29, 2008 Top Report there, The lures you were using were the old malcom florence lures . Pity the spanish macs wern't keen to jump on you hooks .. Cheers Dogtooth John... Yes they are. They are still available. I have a half dozen in my tackle box. Don't know how they would stand up to a mack attack though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p o ylop Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 A top report mate, with luck i will get up there one day to have a crack at the big bad macks, and get in to so of those mangos as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now