 As at Monday 19th April 2004 PAGE ONE |
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OFFSHORE:
Well, every day was an absolute winner this week with light to moderate
(10 to 15 knot) South Easterlies the dominant force. The 1.5m rolling
swell did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the Easter holiday crowd,
although the  river
mouth bar did claim a number of victims towards the end of the week, as
every manner of (and lots of inappropriate) craft were seen attempting
the crossing to get at the huge Spotted Mackerel boils erupting almost
nonstop throughout Laguna Bay. Squire, Parrot Fish, Moses Perch and Spotted
Mackerel were common to the visited reefs. In addition, for those ready
to go the distance, Double Island Point produced Sweetlip and Pearl Perch
while out on the Barwon Banks the bonus species were Snapper (and lots
of them), Pearl Perch, Spanish Mackerel and Amberjack. A little closer
in, Chardon's Reef yielded Mackerel Tuna, Cobia, Maori Cod, Sweetlip and
Honeycomb Cod, as did North Reef with the added bonus of Coral Trout,
Coronation Trout, Northern Bluefin (Longtail) Tuna and, as you can see
by the photo above right, Spanish Mackerel. Melbourne visitor Tony Ranunno
boated this 9.5kg 'Spaniard' while out there on a half day
Cougar One charter on Tuesday morning. He was kitted out with
a Gary Howard rod and an Alvey 725C reel loaded with 35lb Pioneer Flexline.
The inner Reefs saw plenty of action with Hancock's Reef producing the
common species mentioned earlier, as did Sunshine Reef, but with Spanish
Mackerel, Shiny Mackerel and plenty of Sweetlip the extra draw card. In
Laguna Bay, though, the action came thick and fast and while there was
the odd Spanish Mackerel working on Little Hall's Reef and out around
Jew Shoal, it was standing room only elsewhere in the bay as Mackerel
Tuna, Northern Bluefin Tuna and (more specifically) large schools of Spotted
Mackerel hammered the bait schools relentlessly. These feisty marine speedsters
were on the boil within 50 metres of the river bar and Main Beach, in
the middle of the bay and all around the Shark nets, the drum lines and
the National Park coves and were hitting on anything shiny that moved.
Young local kids Tom and Martha Kneale (above) were out there with their
dad (and their buddy Zac) in the family's rubber ducky when they found
themselves surrounded by Spotties on Thursday morning. They had to resort
to using a couple of backup 80lb handlines, however, as (earlier) an over-enthusiastic
boaty had spooled out their only rod/reel combo's 10lb line. It didn't
hurt their chances, though, and later in the morning the kids weighed
in six 2.5kg Spotties at Davo's, all caught
on trolled metal slug lures.ONSHORE: Dart, Whiting and Bream were well represented on the the coastal surf beaches this week with Teewah on the North Shore and Marcus and Castaways beaches on the East side yielding standout results for those species.  Apart from that, the rock groynes on Main Beach and the National Park headland rocks were a good option for Spotted Mackerel for those with a good casting arm and Marcus Beach produced (as you can see by the photo above left) quality Tailor. Local Tailor specialist Ian 'Tinny' Treloar landed this 4.5kg 'Greenback' there on Tuesday night using a fresh caught Mackerel Tuna fillet on 2x6/0 hooks as his bait. He was armed with a SnyderGlas custom surf rod and a Penn 8500 threadline reel loaded with 20lb Schneider line and 80lb trace. In the river, Trevally and Tailor were the profile species this week with the hot spots being down around the river mouth (for Goldens) where Flathead, Bream and Whiting were also in good numbers, the Woods Bays (which also produced Flathead and Mangrove Jack) and Munna Point where Whiting were also on the bite. And it was Munna Point that came good for young Cooroy angler Mathew Elliot (above right) on Thursday. Using live Winter Whiting on a No.2 hook as his bait, Mathew landed two 'Goldens', the 1.5kg fish he's pictured with being his top weight. His outfit was a Daiwa Tri-Force rod and a Shakespeare threadline reel loaded with 4kg line and trace. Apart from that, Bream were active around the Gympie Terrace jetties and Weyba Creek. |
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