Jump to content

Bate Bay


Yowie

Recommended Posts

After travelling south in my caravan, and finding the fish were not prone to bite that well (though I could have pulled out a million carp in the river at Bairnsdale, Vic) it is good to be home.

Headed out yesterday with my mate in his boat, anchored on the edge of a reef in Bate Bay, a couple of hours before sunset.

Burleyed up, the baitfish were scarce but my mate foul hooked a Mado, so he cut off the little fillets. I thought, fresh bait at least, so we put on a fillet each and lowered to near the bottom. Little pickers at the bait, probably more Mados, then my rod buckles over and the line peels off. Definitely a kingie worth keeping, and it keeps pulling line, until gone. By this time I was guessing it was beyond the reef bottom.

I was fishing a short leader below the swivel, the line was faintly scuffed above the swivel, and the hook was missing, what looked like a bite off about 40cm above the hook. Rather than a reefing, I was thinking of being sharked. No more kingies after that.

The yakkas turned up in big numbers, and big ones in that lot, so pulled a few for cut baits. Burleyed away and the reddies turned up, all just under size except for a 35cm one for me. They disappeared on sunset, and just a few reef rubbish fish about. During that time I pulled up a sgt baker over the 50cm mark, a trag just over size and an amberjack about 30cm. My mate had nothing to keep.

On dark, a few tailor turned up. My mate pulled one at 42cm, and I pulled a few in the low 30's. Nothing else on the bite, so we headed home.

No photo taken.

Edited by Yowie
  • Like 13
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Little_Flatty said:

Good to see you back in Sydney safely Yowie. Shame about the king getting sharked, would’ve topped off a nice feed of the other fish.

Thanks Mike. It is a shallow reef, usually the kingies hit the reef and that is the end. I let this one run with lighter drag to get away from the reef, and I still miss out.

5 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Good stuff Yowie, nice bag of fish. Hopefully a few fish around for more trips.

Well done

Thank you, will be trying again in the near future.

4 hours ago, Rebel said:

Welcome home.

Top report.

Well done.

Thank you, good to home - though I don't mind travelling about, even to Mexico (Victoria) 🤣

3 hours ago, bessell1955 said:

I guess it may well have been a shark that bit your line off.

Not the usual miss from a kingie, the line not shredded, just scuffed a little.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

Stewy said “you mean the springer buckled over”? 🤣

Stewy, is he related to you? I have not seen any posts from him since, maybe 2022. :074:

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like a kingy to me. Probably scuffed you on a bit of reef. They’ve been munching on the baitfish hanging around the edges of the local reefs. At least you brought a few fish home for the effort. 👍


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A bit of a tough return to your stomping grounds Yowie. Disappointing when the places you visit let you down, but we all know that fishing can be like that. Hope that you had a pleasant time otherwise on your travels. Won't be long before you get the "feel" back and start hammering those fish close to home. Thanks for the report.  bn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, big Neil said:

A bit of a tough return to your stomping grounds Yowie. Disappointing when the places you visit let you down, but we all know that fishing can be like that. Hope that you had a pleasant time otherwise on your travels. Won't be long before you get the "feel" back and start hammering those fish close to home. Thanks for the report.  bn

Thanks b.n.  Nothing like "home" fishing.

Just happened to be that way, sometimes "away" fishing is good.

Some of the dead carp on the river bank at Bairnsdale were 60cm or slightly bigger, so plenty of specimens there. In a small pond off the river, I recon there were 100 or so carp, 30cm or less, just cruising about. A hand grenade would sort out that problem. 🤣

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

I let him out 3 weeks ago and here is his post!! His last trip in the Polycraft as it has been sold.

Would not be complaining about that lot.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, jenno64 said:

Nice work Dave, you got a feed and had a bust off to keep you coming back for more, good to be back in the 'hood:)

Thanks Rob, a mixed feed of sorts.

My mate called me a short time ago, fishing from his wharf in Gymea Bay, pulled up a 48cm reddie. Told him it would look good on my BBQ. :074:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...