jgrant666 Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Decided to git up Lion island again this weekend after dropping a couple of tailor on our last outing. due to family commitments Sunday had to be the day despite the weather looking marginally better on the Saturday. managed to get the family up at 5am (despite the usual protestations from our eldest......), and out the door by 5:25 - a new record. Had the boat prepacked ise & bait pre-bought, and lunches sorted so we made it to Apple tree bay by 6am and were in the water shortly after. it was an absolutely beautiful morning, the usual cowan creek fog didn't materialise and the wind was barely blowing so the water was as calm as I've seen it, making for a gorgeous & quick run down cowan creek as the sun poked its head over the hills around us. Conditions remained brilliant out in broken bay so we started drifing the southern side of Lion island in about 12m of water right on high tide, gave it an hour but not much doing (except for losing a couple of rigs to peoples bloody crab traps, the island was littered with them for some reason ! ), so we decided to try the north side instead. by now it was about 8am and the tide had turned & started to run out, and one our second drift I was on! Managed to land a 40cm snapper and my first legal table fish for the family! Very glad to have finally christened the boat. not long after the rod I had hanging off the back with an unweighted pilly on ganged 4/0 hooks goes off - had a wire trace on it this time round after last trip's bust-offs so that fish was mine. turned out to be a nice 40cm Tailor who put up an impressive fight before going into the esky with the snapper. a Couple more drifts saw another just legal snapper go into the esky, and another tailor (presumably) smash our floating pilly, but unfortunately my eldest was in charge this time - poor bloke got frustrated and loosened the drag instead of striking so it became his 'one that got away' - I'm sure he's learned his lesson though. Unfortunately though we'd gotten pretty distracted by the fish and then losing more rigs to the bloody crab pots all round the island and lost track of the time - and the wind! By 11am the predicted noreaster was really starting to blow and the swell was picking up so it was time to get going and seek somewhere protected. Kinda kicking myself as I'd set a 10am limit for myself to head back in based on the predictions on seabreeze, meteye and willy weather but who's watching the clock when the fish are biting Eh! Had an interesting run back up broken bay with the swells semi quartering us and me still getting used to the throttles (which on my boat don't seem that responsive, something to get checked out over winter when I get the motor serviced) , but we made it back to calmer waters fine excepts for my white knuckles and the wife with cramps on her arms from holding on for her life Pulled into Jerusalem bay to get out of the wind, tried a couple of different and likely looking spots but only managed a couple of very small snapper & bream which all went safely back to keep growing for next time. Lunch, a swim & snorkel to get the kids to burn off some energy, then back to Good ol' apple tree bay to retrieve the boat. The kids were NOT impressed when we made them scale & gut our catches - it's amazing how kids can work themselves up into almost being sick when they want to isn't it?!?!?! But they have to learn and hopefully next time they'll be better with it, especially if it's their own catch they're cleaning (I was the only one to hook anything this time round - normally the mrs is the 'chosen one', but that's fishing isn't it!) Either way a great day was had by all and I'm sure the ice creams on the way home helped smooth over the kids' having to touch the icky gross fish guts back at the ramp. I'd heard that tailor is a bit iffy as an eating fish so decided to make up a nice thai yellow curry with out catch which was delicious, and all the sweeter knowing we'd caught the fish ourselves (although by the time you factor in the bait, fuel, and rigs lost to the bloody crab pots it would've been cheaper to go to the fish shop!!!)/ Was actually pleasantly surprised by the tailor though (and of course snapper is always lovely) so may just fillet and do it simply next time I get one Snapper were caught on paternoster rigs done on 20lb leader with 3/0 circle hooks and pilly fillets, the tailor were caught on unweighted pillies on 2 4/0 ganged hooks to a 30cm wire trace then 15lb mono. Interestingly barely even a bit on the prawns and bait & go nitro squid we took as well - generally those have been the gun baits but this day all the action was on pillies! Makes you wonder if fish are in the mood for certain foods like we are sometimes??? Anyways thanks for reading and for all the helpful tips I've had from fellow raiders - I'm sure I've got my first legal catch sooner than I would have otherwise if it wasn't for your help!!! will post some pics up later, the mrs was on photo duties as I was too busy driving the boat and catching fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayo Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 more than likely pro lobster pot marker floats around lion island. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amkr Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Good stuff! Glad to hear you got onto some fish, good size tailor too - would have been a fun fight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgrant666 Posted October 26, 2015 Author Share Posted October 26, 2015 more than likely pro lobster pot marker floats around lion island. Ah that makes sense then. I wonder if they catch many round there, Might just have to invest in a couple of pots as the Mrs has now decided we need to provide a seafood feast for christmas! I don't suppose you know if there's any special restrictions on pots round there for recreational fishos other than the standard DPI ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 4myson Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 We did a troll around Lion Island yesterday mourning & you were right about the floats , they were scattered everywhere!!! I think we even trolled past you guys as well ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgrant666 Posted October 26, 2015 Author Share Posted October 26, 2015 We did a troll around Lion Island yesterday mourning & you were right about the floats , they were scattered everywhere!!! I think we even trolled past you guys as well ... If it was me and the wife plus two boredish looking kids then that was us Pop over and say hello next time! Any luck with the trolling? Did you come in from further out - I think I remember seeing you now that you mention it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 4myson Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 Yeah we were in a White Seafox , it was just me and my son .We got nothing on the troll outside or inside .We were heading to Juno to meet up with some friends.We'll definitely will pop over next time ..at least you guys got a nice feed of snapper..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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