Well here we are on the last day of the year that was 2010.  Its been an interesting year with some really bad weather and almost constant rain.  We've had a couple of floods and alot of strong winds but despite all those challenges we still managed to catch some good fish and the seaway continued albeit reluctantly to yield a few more secrets.  SeawayFishing was launched in June and I'm happy with the progress of the site so far, its turning into a decent resource for seaway anglers, feedback has been very positive so it will continue in 2011.  Firstly I'll go through my top fish of the year then I'll do a month by month summary starting from June.

• Best Tailor 63cm
• Best Mulloway 70cm
• Best Giant Trevally 58cm
• Best Bigeye Trevally 57cm
• Best Tarpon 63cm
• Best Yellowtail Kingfish  55cm
• Best Mangrove Jack 50cm

Nothing exceptionally huge there, bigger fish were hooked but as usual earned thier freedom.

June

June was the month I finally managed to catch a few Tarpon. Tarpon require a dedicated approach but the rewards are there if you put in the effort.  June also saw some excellent Giant Trevally action on the flats when the conditions were right.  Small bigeyes on poppers and Jewfish on vibs were also around in numbers.

July

July was pretty much a repeat of June saw more Tarpon hit the deck along with the usual small Bigeyes and Jewies.

August

August saw some quality tailor hanging around but the cold water temps proved to be quite challenging.  Some more small Jewies and Bigeyes as well.

September

September saw the water temps improve and also saw the first run of decent bigeyes.  Poppers started to catch fish once more and some excellent popper sessions were had around the end of the north wall.  More quality tailor also showed up with a few fish over 60cm.  A few more Tarpon were captured along with more Jewies.

October

October saw the first of the floods and half the month was wiped out with dirty water.  The second half of the month fished well with more Tailor, Jewfish and Bigeyes.  The yellowtail kings also showed up as well.

November

Early November saw low temperature levels and sulking fish, small tailor and bigeyes were the only fish caught.  The Froggies showed up in the last 3rd of the month and brought with them massive surface feeding schools of Tailor and Bigeye Trevally.  The bigger fish were around but at the end of the north wall where most of the time it was too rough to fish.  Strong Easterlies made fishing difficult. 

December

Early December saw the big schools of Bigeye Trevally holding over the pipeline, quality was good with most fish over 40cm with a few over 60cm.  It also saw some quality tailor landed fishing the washes and some nice Jewies fishing the bottom.  Schools of bigeyes and tailor also fed on the surface on the north wall flats when conditions were calm.  Schools of tailor were feeding just outside the shorebreak  on South Stradbroke.  Mackerel also showed up in numbers on Palm Beach and Mermaid Reefs.  Large schools of Australian Bonito and Slimies also showed up on the narrowneck arti and Scottish prince wreck.  The last week of the month was wiped out with floods and dirty water only fishable offshore or at the very top of the tide.

Conditions

• Wind: NW  5-10  knots
• Preceeding 3 Days Wind : NW & SE 5–15 knots
• Barometer – 1001.9 rising to 1002.2
• Swell: 1.m NE Swell
• Water Clarity 0.1-2m
• Tide : BOM: Low tide at 06.14 am, High tide at 12.41am  ( 0.25-1.43) Actual bottom of tide 03.00am
• Time Fished: 05.30am to 08.30am
• Moon Phase: day before the first quarter.
• Water Temp 23.9-24.4 Degrees C

Notes

Rain Periods, Heavy Overcast. Chocolate brown water in the seaway due to dirty water runoff.  112mm rain in the preceeding 24hrs, 200mm+ in the preceeding 48hrs.  Spotted Mackerel feeding at mermaid reef.

Report

Headed straight down to Mermaid Reef and despite getting out there a bit late(5.30am) the mackerel were around.  It started off a bit slow with just a few surface hits then they just went berserk for a couple of hours.
I've never seen fish feed like that before, one behaviour I did notice towards the end was the baitfish were hiding as close as they could next to the boat while it was sitting still.  As soon as I moved the boat as little as 5 metres away the mackerel would tear into them as the baitfish were suddenly out in the open, almost as if the mackerel were waiting for me to move.  That behaviour happened quite a few times.  Don't know how many fish I landed, I stopped counting after about 15 fish.  I tried poppers for a while and managed 2  spotties on them, lots of hits with no hookups though.
Size was ranging between 65 and 75cm, not huge but heaps of fun regardless.  Lost about 10 lures today though, best lure was a 25gm Gillies baitfish, I used raiders as well but towards the end as they were getting a bit fussy the gillies was definitely the better lure.  At around 8am they stopped feeding on top so I moved back to the seaway.

Had a couple of casts at the seaway at around 8.30am but the water was chocolate brown and there was lots of weed, 2 different tides at once too.  The top layer was running out and the bottom layer was running in.  Would have been better at the top of the tide.

Conditions

• Wind: sW  5-10  knots
• Preceeding 3 Days Wind : NW & SE 5–15 knots
• Barometer – 1007.9 rising to 1011.8
• Swell: 0.5m E Swell
• Water Clarity 0.5-2m
• Tide : BOM: Low tide at 01.13 am, High tide at 08.08am  ( 0.03-1.67) Actual bottom of tide 03.00am
• Time Fished: 03.45am to 07.00am
• Moon Phase: day of the full moon.
• Water Temp 22.5-23.2 Degrees C

Notes

Sunny,  Water a bit dirtier than yesterday, yellowtail kingfish feeding east of the pipeline on large baitfish, maybe slimies or yellowtail. Water temps dropping.

Report

On the water by 3.45am, I moved up to the flats hopeful of a repeat from yesterday but unfortunately it wasn't to be.  I managed about 5 tailor & 5 bigeyes before I moved off looking for other fish.   Found some big fish hunting bait over the pipeline, mainly bigeyes around 45-55cm with a some kingies hunting some big bait.  Landed plenty of bigeyes but couldn't hook a kingie unfortunately.  After they went quiet I moved offshore looking for tuna, found a few scattered schools but frustrating difficult to get a cast into.  Moved close inshore and found some big schools of tailor busting up just outside the shore break.  Fished these for a about 90 minutes and landed over 20+ fish, with multiple hookups per retrieve if the hooks didn't stick.  Size ranged from 35cm up to 50cm.  Great fun.  After they went off the bite I called it a day at 7am, way too many boats on the water today.

So another top day with plenty of surface action, not as good as monday but still quite good.  The water temps are dropping and the water is getting a bit dirty which may be having an effect.  No more fishing now for a few days, my hands are covered in cuts and scratches courtesy of the bigeyes, need to give them a few days to heal up.

Conditions

• Wind: W  5-10  knots
• Preceeding 3 Days Wind : NW & SE 5–15 knots
• Barometer – 1000.9 rising to 1001.8
• Swell: 0.5m E Swell
• Water Clarity 0.5-3m
• Tide : BOM: Low tide at 00.31 am, High tide at 07.27am  ( 0.08-1.60) Actual top of tide 08.00am
• Time Fished: 03.45am to 08.00am
• Moon Phase: 1 day before full moon.
• Water Temp 23.2-23.9 Degrees C

Notes

Sunny & overcast,  Good water quality at the top of the tide, large schools of bigeye trevally and tailor feeding on the surface on the north wall flats.

Report

On the water by 3.45am, we had a quick look around before heading to the flats on the north side of the north wall.  I decided on this location because the swell was down, the water temp was up and previous trips have shown alot of fish are holding there during the calm weather although not many fish have been caught to date.  Once we arrived there the sounds of fish hitting the surface greeted us.  First cast with a 100mm feed popper and I was on with a nice bigeye trevally of about 55cm.  Two more quickly followed before the first rays of dawn started to show.  From then on it was action packed fishing for the next hour as schools of Bigeye trevally and tailor gorged themselves on the many schools of bait.  From single fish to massive schools of hundreds of fish all you had to do was get a cast in there and you were on, hooks that pulled were immediately hooked up again as fish fought for the lure.  Most fish were around 35-45cm but a few fish went over 50cm.  As the sun came up the fish went off the bite and we moved into the seaway and over the pipeline we found more bigeyes busting the surface, we landed 5 more fish here including one big fish of 62cm.  Unfortunately the camera battery was flattened filming the earlier bite so no pics of that fish.  We moved back to the north wall and tried poppers again and hooked up immediately with 4 more good tailor from 45-55cm, and some more bigeyes around 40cm.  After that we moved offshore looking for tuna, we found some scattered fish down around mermaid reef but they refused to eat anything we threw at them. We messed around a bit after that but gave it away at around 8am.

So an exceptional day, lots of fish landed with a few nice specimens, both slugs and poppers worked well.  I love summer seaway fishing! Not many still shots as the camera battery went flat after filming early action.

Conditions

• Wind: SW  5-10  knots
• Preceeding 3 Days Wind : N-NW 5–150 knots
• Barometer – 1004.8 rising to 1006.5
• Swell: 0.5m NE Swell
• Water Clarity 0.5-6m
• Tide : BOM: Low tide at 11.37 am, High tide at 05.21am  ( 0.43-1.30) Actual top of tide 06.00am
• Time Fished: 03.45am to 09.00am
• Moon Phase: 4 days before full moon.
• Water Temp 24.2-24.7 Degrees C

Notes

Sunny & overcast,  Excellent water quality at the top of the tide, visibilty up to 6 metres, alot of dirty water runoff once the tide started to run out.  More aggressive behaviour by the fish.  Some big bait schools north of the seaway just behind the break line.

Report

On the water by 3.45am, moved straight up to the north wall to fish the edges.  Din't take long before the fish got interested and in quick time I had managed 2 bigeyes at 40 & 45cm and one tailor at 45cm on a Rapala XR12.  Switched to poppers (tackle house feed popper 100) and caught one bigeye at 50cm & one tailor at 52cm.  Moved down to the pipeline and found some fish busting up, switched to 20gm twisties and was soon hooked up into some quality bigeyes.  Managed 7 from 45-57cm before they went quiet.  Moved back to the north wall and drifted along the side casting 2ogm twisties to the edges, after a couple of minutes as the lure neared the boat a big bow wave came up behind it and smashed the lure with the fish nearly getting airborne, the bright yellow tail was a dead giveaway and I was hooked up into a big yellowtail kingfish.   The line melted off the reel and the fish headed around the back of the boat and headed towards the south wall, when youre used to catching bigeyes you forget how much power a decent yellowtail king has.  There was no way I was stopping it on 6lb braid so I had to let it do its thing, with the line now looking quite depleted he shook his head and the hooks pulled, leaving me to wind in quite a bit of line.  After that I switched to plastics and fished on the bottom for a while, landed 1 jewie at 53cm but otherwise it was quiet.  Moved into the broadwater looking for active fish and found a decent school of bigeyes busting up around a beacon, caught 7 of those but the size was a bit small around 25-35cm.  Moved back down to the seaway and went offshore looking for tuna, found a few small patches of fish but they were pretty skittish.  Moved close inshore investigating some bird activity and found a mixed school of tailor, dart and longtom attacking schools of bait just behind the shore dump.  They were hungry too, from them I managed another 15 or so tailor all around 40-45cm, 3 dart from 35-36cm and a longtom at 50cm.  At around 9am I decided to call it a day.

So overall a very good day on the water, lots of active fish, lots of bait and some surprises.  With the full moon on tuesday I'd expect it to only get better.

Conditions

• Wind: W  5-10  knots
• Preceeding 3 Days Wind : SE 10–20 knots
• Barometer – 1009.1 rising to 1011.1
• Swell: 1.5m E Swell
• Water Clarity 0.5-1.5m
• Tide : BOM: Low tide at 9.21 am, High tide at 03.37am  ( 0.53-1.07) Actual top of tide 4.30am
• Time Fished: 03.00am to 07.00am
• Moon Phase: 6 days before full moon.
• Water Temp 23.5-24.4 Degrees C

Notes

Sunny, schools of bigeye trevally in most locations, small bait schools.   Good water quality at the top of the tide.

Report

On the water by 3am,  moved into the basin and found some active bigeyes, got 2 small ones on ZBL poppers before they shut down.  Moved back into the seaway for dawn, moved up to the north wall and started off with a Rapala Xrap XR12 and worked the edges.  Didn't take long before it got smashed by a good fish which turned out to be a 57cm Bigeye Trevally.  Nothing after that tried a few different lures around the edges but moved back into the seaway to the pipeline.  Found some more bigeyes there busting up sporadically and cast some 20gram twisties at them.  Soon hooked up on a good fish which screamed off, a good fight and about 10 minutes later a good bigeye (60cm+)was circling the boat, one last lunge and the hooks pulled!.  Never mind, back to the action, fish were still coming up every now and then and I managed 3 more fish over 50cm in the next 20 minutes before they shut down.  Moved back to the north wall and tried plastics for a while, had one chopped in half but other than that it was quiet.  Moved around the front a bit and found a good school of fish and quickly caught 3 more bigeyes between 40 and 50cm before they shutdown.  Moved back into the broadwater and searched for fish, found some further up that were active and caught a couple more small ones before moving on.  Called it quits after that.

Not a bad day overall with some good fish caught but its a pity I couldn't find a school that stayed active.  All the schools shut down after a few fish were caught.  Plenty of bigeyes around though and some really massive schools.  Tide still wasn't quite right though, next few days should fish well for them with early morning runins.

Conditions

• Wind: N  5-10  knots
• Preceeding 3 Days Wind : NE – NNW 5–15 knots
• Barometer – 1008.6 rising to 1010.3
• Swell: 1m NE Swell
• Water Clarity 0.5-1m
• Tide : BOM: Low tide at 6.49 am, High tide at 01.26am  ( 0.46-1.24) Actual top of tide 2.30am
• Time Fished: 01.00am to 07.15am
• Moon Phase: Day of the  first quarter moon.
• Water Temp 21.2-25.9 Degrees C

Notes

Scattered Clouds, Lumpy NE Swell. Phosphorescence in the seaway at the top of the tide. Some suspended ribbon weed around the north wall.  Dirty water runoff from half tide down  Lots of bait schools close inshore from the seaway to the arti.

Report

On the water by 1am, we moved into the seaway.  Unfortunately we were met with a high level of phosphorescence and water around 22 degrees, we gave it a quick fish before deciding to head away from there and look for warmer water.  We didn't have to go far before the phosphorescence lessened to a point where it was fishable again and the water warmed up a bit, we also found the fish.  We threw around some poppers and landed a couple of small bigeyes, then lost a few more before they shut down.  We moved on tried a few other spots, plenty of fish around but nothing that we could tempt.  We moved back into the seaway for dawn, unfortunately the seaway was a mess with the runout and big pressure waves so we messed around the pipeline a bit.  Just as the sky started to lighten bigeyes started to  hit the surface.  We had loads of hits and the fish were bowwaving the lures but hookups were rare.  Dad managed one fish around 45cm, once that fish was landed they spooked and we had no more hits.  Tried drifting the north wall but caught no fish there.   We moved out of the seaway and headed south looking for tuna, by the time we got about level with the artificial reef at narrowneck I decided it was too lumpy to continue that so we headed to the arti and found some birds over a patch of fish feeding.  They turned out to be a mix of Tailor, Australian Bonito and big Slimey Mackerel.  Fishing was easy one cast with a gillies baitfish and you were on, if the hooks pulled another fish would grab it.  All the fish were small though, average size would have been about 30cm.  After catching 20 or so fish we switched to poppers and caught tailor with multiple strikes per retrieve, all good fun but would have been good if the fish were a bit bigger.  After an hour we moved on and checked out the Scottish Prince wreck.  Same thing as the arti, loads of tailor, slimies and bonito.  After catching more of those we headed back in, saw some more small tailor busting up in the seaway but they were quite scattered so we gave it away.

Not a bad trip probably over 40 fish landed but only 1 was over 40cm, lots of baitfish schools just offshore the next strong SE blow should see them coming in the seaway.  The north wall was a write off with dirty water, weed and lumpy dangerous swell.  The bigeyes are in numbers over the pipeline they should fish better later in the week when we get the early morning run in tides.

Conditions

• Wind: E  5-10  knots
• Preceeding 3 Days Wind : ENE - NNE --15 knots
• Barometer - 1014.5 rising to 1017.1
• Swell: 1m E Swell
• Water Clarity 1-1.5m
• Tide : BOM: Low tide at 11.21pm, High tide at 06.13am  ( 0.01-1.54) Actual top of tide 7.30am
• Time Fished: 04.00am to 08.15am
• Moon Phase: 4 Days before new moon.
• Water Temp 22.9-23.8 Degrees C

Notes

Overcast, Lumpy E Swell. Some schools of baitfish around the north wall after the tide change.  Some suspended weed around the north wall initially but it cleared.  Lots of fish on the sounder around the north wall at the top of the tide.  Only a few small bait schools around wavebreak.  Dirty water in close to the north wall, cleaner water about 20 metres out.  Well defined dirty water line.

Report

On the water by 4am we headed up to the north wall for dawn.  Started off with shallow running minnows & poppers but soon found that the level of weed made them impossible to fish, the water was also quite dirty.  Tried slugs as well but no good.  We moved around a bit checked out wavebreak, the pipeline and a couple of other spots for zip.  Moved back up to the north wall to check on the water quality and it had improved slightly so we started throwing around 30 gram twisties.  Soon picked up a few smallish tailor around 30-35cm.  On a hunch I switched to a megabass vision 110 in a qantas colour and started working the washes.  Wasn't long before it got hit by a decent tailor which got airborne a few times and put up a decent tussle.  That fish went 55cm, another tailor around 52cm followed shortly after.  Dad managed  to drop a nice one next to the boat before landing a decent tailor  of 56cm after a spirited fight.  We landed a few more smaller tailor after that and dropped a few as well.  It went quite for a while so we messed around for a bit while we waited for the tide to slow.  As it did we sent down the big plastics hoping for a jewie, I got hit on the first drop but dropped the fish.  Dad hooked up on the next drift and soon had a feisty 73cm Jewie in the boat, which was his biggest so far on a lure.   I hooked up and had the runt of the litter, a small fish of 62cm.  We moved around a bit and dropped down again and dad hooked up again and soon landed another jewie at 75cm, which is a quality fish.   Went a bit quiet after that so we moved around again while we waitied for the tide to start running out.  Once it did I managed another tailor on a plastic this time, and dad hooked yet another jewie this one going  74cm.  The waves at this time started to crest (runout tide + E swell = bad news) and we got hit by a decent wave over the stern so we decided to call it a day.

So a pretty good day overall, some very nice fish landed but no sign of any surface feeding.  I put that down to the northerlies we had the previous days before which not only dirties the water but seems to slow the fish down a bit.  We still worked pretty hard for the fish we did get but there are loads of fish around.  Another strong SE wind pattern should see the fish up on the surface again and feeding aggressively.