Seaway and Broadwater Report Overnighter 20th-21st March 2013

After the previous days efforts I decided an overnighter was called for as I wanted to try and get some more tarpon.  Arrived at about 12pm to a blustery 20-25kts ESE wind, the swell had gone around to more of an easterly between 1 and 2 metres as well making things decidedly more rough out the front of the walls.  Still never let it be said that challenging conditons have ever put me off. 




First up I chased some tuna inside the seaway, they were flighty though and soon disappeared.  Saw some bird action out in front of south stradbroke, and headed over slowly.  It was borderline too rough, so much so that I had to brace myself against the seat which has never happened before.  Still the fish were there and there was bait stacked 5 metres deep for hundreds of meters.  I landed a couple of tailor around the 40's and a couple of tuna around 60cm on 15gram gillies baitfish but the wind increased in strength up to nearly 30knots and things just got too hairy so I headed back to the seaway.  On my way back past the north wall I sent a rapala XR10 right into the wash, hooked up instantly and about 10 seconds later the fish got a burst of speed and busted me off on a rock.  Tried a few more casts then headed into the broadwater.

Once in the broadwater around 1pm, the wind was still blowing hard from the east and there were occasional showers.  I checked out some bird activity just north of the dredge in the northern channel, there was alot of bait around so I stuck around for a bit to see if anything would happen.  Sure enough 20 metres away from the boat up popped a massive school of GT's,  First cast with a 15gram gillies baitfish and I hooked up a good fish and soon had a nice Gt around mid 50's in the boat. The school had gone down so I hung around watching the birds.  About 20 minutes later they popped up again this time in front of the north wavebreak wall.  Unfortunately I was still on the northern side of the dredge and remember this is a 6 knot zone now(and the water police are very active through there).  So by the time I had dawdled my way over there the school was gone.   I stuck around there and soon enough the school popped up in the same place, one quick cast and I was on again and soon another mid 50's GT in the boat.  Waited and waited and about half an hour later they came up one last time half way along the north wavebreak wall.  First cast and hooked up again, and this one was a real screamer it took about 100m of line on the first run, then doggedly fought all the way back to the boat that one was in the high 50's but forgot to measure him.   That was it for the GT's, the tide peaked around 3pm and I never saw them again despite hanging around for another hour.

Took a run around looking for anything else but it was quiet, rain got heavier as the afternoon wore on so I trolled around for a while but got nothing.  the seaway was unfishable due to the easterly winds, swell and outgoing tides so I took a break until 11pm, the next run in tide.  At 11pm I got back out there and fished the walls hard for hours but only managed a couple of touches.  Plenty of fish on the sounder in places but nothing biting.

At dawn I moved out to the north wall, swell was down and the wind had dropped right off so I started edge fishing with a megabass vission 111.  No joy with that so I decided to try a new range of lures I have been given to test.  Mainly shallow running lures but there were a couple of sinking stickbaits and a bent minnow type in there as well.  First up was a shallow running minnow type called a Lanky 120mm in a qantas colour.  A few casts around the front of the wall, it swam well and cast well and using a 3 jerk pause retrieve I soon hooked up on a good fish which after a spirited tussle had a nice GT of 45cm at the boat.  Pretty good catch for a new lure, don't often get GT's on shallow runners around the wall either.  Did a few more casts then switched to a Thunder Sinking Stick bait 110mm in a yellow chrome colour.  It cast well and the action on the retrieve was good, cast it into the wash and worked it back with a jerky retrieve and I hooked up again, this time on a little bigeye.   Switched to another lure this time, a Thunder Sinking Stick Bait in Pink and chrome.  Worked the inside edges of the walls using the same jerky retrieve and hooked up again this time on a tailor around 40cm, it gave a spirited fight and managed to tie a knot in the leader.  By now the sun was well up and the action slowed so I decided to head back in the broadwater and spend some time looking for surface feeders on the runout.

Drove all the way up to little crab and drifted back with the tide looking for fish, saw some fish busting up not far away which turned out to be tailor around the mid to low 40's, managed about 5 of those on Gillies 15's before they disappeared.  Nothing else showed itself for the next few hours so I headed out to the seaway for the start of the run in tide.  Didn't see any bait or fish, though there were some sulking on the bottom.  The start of the run in yielded nothing so I headed back to the north wavebreak wall to see if the Gt's would show again.  Unfortunately it was not to be, plenty of bait and birds but no fish.  Called it a day at 3pm.

So overall not alot of fish caught on that last day, the day before despite the foul weather had many more active fish.  I talked to a few others on the last day and they were doing it tough, most had caught no fish at all.  Its interesting to compare the results and conditions on those days.  So far this year, foul weather fishing has yielded some great trips as long as the swell has not been big enough to stir up the weed.  Something to keep in mind.

Successful Lure's Rundown

1. Gillies Baitfish 15gram in white - Price $4-5 - Availablity Kmart, BCF, Most tackle stores
2. Rapala XR10 in Glass Ghost - Price $20.00 - Availability most tackle stores, Anaconda, BCF
3. Lanky 120mm in qantas colour - Price: contact supplier - Availability: email luckystrikeft@gmail.com
4. Thunder Sinking Bait 110mm in yellow chrome - Price: contact supplier - Availability: email luckystrikeft@gmail.com
5. Thunder Sinking Bait 80mm in pink chrome - Price: contact supplier - Availability: email luckystrikeft@gmail.com

Fishing Gear Used

1. Samaki Allure SA-701SM 7' Spin rod  / Shimano Stradic ci4 4000 reel / 10lb white Stren Sonic Braid / 30lb Famell Super Shock Leader
2. Pfleuger Patriarch XTR PPS68ML-XF 6'8" Spin rod / Team Daiwa Advantage 2500A reel / 6lb yellow Fins PRT Braid / 20lb Famell Super Shock Leader.