It's been an interesting week on the water with a bit of variety in the fishing.  The here today gone tomorrow nature of the seaway was very evident this week and those of you only fishing for GT's should remember that, they could leave at any time.

Monday/Tuesday Overnighter 22nd/23rd April

On the water at 3pm, just in time for the run in tide, the bigeyes came up over the pipe first but finicky none were landed, then the Gt's came up near the point of the triangle near the cardinal mark but they were finicky too.  It wasn't until they came up near the Canyon that I hooked and landed one at 66cm.  They came up a few more times but no more hookups.  Dark settled in shortly after and the sky was clear and the moon nearly full.  It wasn't long before I heard some pops on the surface near the pipeline, that's classic bigeye surface feeding behaviour so I put on a Rapala Skitter pop 9 in chrome and proceeded to land half a dozen bigeye trevs from 45-50cm before a bigger fish took it home to the pipeline.  Once the tide slowed they went of the bite and I spent the rest of the time working the walls for tarpon but no joy.




At 4am the next morning I met Rob and we had a look around but it was all quiet until just on dawn when I hooked a decent Tarpon on a 3/8oz ccm grass minnow that jumped off at the boat.  We tried the edge fishing around the north wall but it was quiet  still.  We saw the kingfish a few times but as usual no hits.  At the top of the tide we tried for a jewie and managed 2 around 60cm in quick succession on 1 oz 7" jerk shad in pearl.  That was it for the morning and it was a long wait through the day until the next run in tide.  This time I had Wade in  the boat, pretty much the same as the afternoon before, bigeyes first around the pipe but no  hookups then GT's around the canyon.  I hooked up first on a 20gram twisty then got busted off about 30 seconds later, then Wade hooked up and landed a 63cm GT on a 30gram twisty.  I hooked up again only to pull the hooks. Grrr.

Dropped wade back off at the ramp then waited for the bigeyes back over the pipe and they were on the job straight away and the action was heavier than the previous night with heaps of bustups and bow-waving fish chasing reasonable size bait.  Hooked and landed a dozen or so bigeyes on poppers(Rapala Skitter pop 9, Zip baits POP , stickbaits(Lucky Strike thunder 80mm) and minnows (Lucky Strike King Hunter 100mm).  Lost one Skitter pop 9 in chrome and 1 King Hunter 100mm in green to rampaging behemoths I couldn't stop on 20lb braid, both made it back to the pipe after epic battles.  Once the tide turned to run out the action petered out and I called it a night at around 10pm.

Thursday Afternoon 25th April

Went out in Wades boat, the plan was to hit the GT's first, then try for bigeyes then have a go at some tarpon.  I joined him at 4pm and the bigeyes turned up first in the channel leading south from the pipe, managed a couple of hits before we got distracted by the GT's near the Canyon.  We managed a double hookup his on 30gram twisty and mine on 3/8oz squidgy flick bait and landed both fish despite the fish wrapping the lines around each other.  Trying to get two angry Gt's in the one net at the same time is not easy... His was an exceptional specimen that would have been in the high 60's and mine would have been around 60cm, no measure in the boat so we will never know exactly.  That was it for them, they came up a few more times but only halfheartedly.

We moved into the seaway for dark and did a few drifts but the difference was obvious, on Tuesday the sounder was stacked with fish, on Thursday the sounder was bare, not a fish or bit of bait to be seen.  No surface feeding either, we tried the channels leading to the seaway in case they had followed the bait into one of them but saw nothing.  We came back into the seaway near the top of the tide and began throwing lures at the walls.  Wade was the first to be hooked up on a Transam and he promptly got busted off.   Then I hooked and landed a 55cm Tarpon on a 3/8 ccm grass minnow.  That done I switched to a new plastic I've been thinking of using for Tarpon for a while, thats a 3/8oz Zman 2.5" GrubZ  in Shimmer Pearl colour.  The action got hotter and we were getting multiple strikes per retrieve. That lure caught the next 4 Tarpon including one of Wades all from 55cm t0 63cm. We only jumped off 2 fish so that was quite a good retention rate.  They went off the bite as the tide turned to run out and we called it a night at around 11pm.

Friday Morning 26th April

After only 4 hours sleep I headed out again, this time with Dad.  On the water at around 4am, we had a look at the pipe first, lo and behold the bigeyes had returned, you could see them on the sounder but they weren't active so we worked the walls again.  Wasn't until first light that dad hooked a good tarpon on a 75mm white Squidgy slick rig but lost it at the boat.  Next up was a Jewie around 55cm quite an odd catch working the edges.  Then just to prove the first one wasn't a fluke he pulled in another Jewie in the Mid 60's on the same lure.  No more fish after that so we had a look around the end of the north wall and spied some fish working a little bit north, turned out they were Watsons Leaping Bonito and we got a few before moving back into the seaway.  Nothing over the pipe so we headed to the Canyon, the GT's and kingfish came up twice only and we were in the wrong spot both times so no fish for us.  We headed offshore to look for tuna and found plenty of mack tuna in varying sizes  just offshore from surfers.  We landed about half a dozen before they disappeared and called it a morning at around 9am.

So quite a variety in species there and some excellent quality among them.  This weekend has exceptional morning tides for GT's and Kingfish so it would be worth going out to have a look for them, but there's also a few other species kicking around that are a lot of fun if you can catch them feeding.  I have a lot of work to do here so I will leave it all to you guys.  Enjoy!

Successful Lure’s Rundown

• Halco Twisty 20/30 gram in chrome – Price $5-7 – Availablity Kmart, BCF, Most tackle stores
• Lucky Strike Thunder 80mm Stickbait in Pink/Silver – Price: contact supplier – Availability: email luckystrikeft@gmail.com
• Rapala Skitter Pop 9cm in Chrome – Price $14-25 – Availability Ebay, might get lucky in a tackle store.
• Lucky Strike King Hunter 10cm in redhead/white/green – Price: contact supplier – Availability: email luckystrikeft@gmail.com
• Ecogear grass minnow M in Chika Chika Muroran – Price $7-10 per pack – Availability Samurai tackle.
• TT Headlockz 3/8 oz jigheads 2/0HD – Price $8.00 – Availability – BCF, some tackle stores.
• Zipbaits ZBL Popper in Shocker - Price $20.00 - Availability - Don't Know.
• Zman 2.5" GrubZ in Pearl Shimmer - Price $8.00 - Availability - Tackle Warehouse, some other tackle stores.

Fishing Gear Used

Samaki Allure SA-701SM 7' Spin rod / Daiwa SOL II 3000H reel / 20lb Yellow Sunline Momentum 4×4  / 30lb Famell Super Shock Leader

Another fish alert for you, this ones is for all the lure fisherman who like to use poppers.  A top opportunity to catch some nice fish on surface, there's also some bigger fish around if you can land them. 




There are decent bigeye trevally (45-55cm)smashing bait on the surface in the area from the seaway tower to the green and red beacons west of the pipeline once the sun goes right down(6.30pm), they are doing that until the tide changes to run back out. All you have to do is listen or look for the bustups then get a cast in there quick, blind casting also works in that area. They are very aggressive and will hit a popper repeatedly if they don't hookup. Poppers from 5-10cm all work but the hookup rate is better on the smaller poppers.  Stickbaits and minnows also work. There are some bigger fish in there as well I was busted off by big fish three times the last two nights, despite hooking them on 20lb gear.

Oh and for the few of you who haven't been chasing them, the GT's and kingfish are still around at the top half of the tide near the canyon, the size of the GT's is increasing too, but the kingfish are as uncatchable as ever.

Welcome to the SeawayFishing Lure Reference Guide Part 2 Slugs and Slices.  Here you can find details of all the lures that I and others use when fishing in the seaway.  If you see a lure mentioned in a report look it up here, all these lures have caught fish in the seaway.  This page will be updated as new lures are found.  Lures are listed in found order. Other lure types will follow shortly.  If you have a lure you think should be included let me know.  Hooks on the lures are upgraded versions, though as you can see some have been on the lures for a while.




Slices

Halco Twisty

• Weights - 20 & 30 gram
• Length: 6.5cm & 7.5cm
• Type: metal slice
• Diving depth: on retrieve 0.5-1m
• Castability: Excellent
• Hooks: Stock hooks are adequate but will straighten on heavy gear.  Replace with Owner st66 #4/2
• Swimming action: fast wobble
• Areas of Use: Dropping down into deep schools, Edge fishing the walls with care, north wall flats, surface feeders, dropping down around current lines or alongpipeline.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Yellowtail Kingfish, Australian Salmon, Tuna, Bonito, Mackerel.
• Cost: $AU 6-8
• Where to Buy: Most Tackle Stores, Kmart, Big W

Surecatch Knight

**** Note*** Spanyid Raiders are basically the same thing but the chrome coating on the Spanyid line is poor and they corrode really fast.

• Weights - 40, 65 & 85 gram
• Length: 8cm, 10 & 12cm
• Type: metal slice
• Diving depth: on retrieve 0.5-1m
• Castability: Excellent
• Hooks: Stock hooks are adequate but lack penetration.  Replace with Owner st56 #2 - 1/0- 2/0
• Swimming action: slow wobble
• Areas of Use: Dropping down into deep schools, north wall flats, surface feeders, dropping down around current lines or along pipeline.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Yellowtail Kingfish, Australian Salmon, Tuna, Bonito, Mackerel.
• Cost: $AU 6-8
• Where to Buy: Most Tackle Stores, Kmart

Slugs

Gillies Baitfish

• Weights - 15 & 25 gram
• Length: 6cm & 7cm
• Type: Slug
• Diving depth: on retrieve 1m
• Castability: Excellent
• Hooks: Stock hooks are rubbish and need replacing.  Replace with Owner st66 #4/2
• Swimming action: fast wobble
• Areas of Use: Dropping down into deep schools, surface feeders, dropping down around current lines or along pipeline.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Yellowtail Kingfish, Australian Salmon, Tuna, Bonito, Mackerel.
• Cost: $AU 4-6
• Where to Buy: Most Tackle Stores, Kmart

Gillies Pilchard

***Note** the chrome colouring on the Gillies Pilchard comes off really easily, recommend storing them separately!!

• Weights - 15, 25 & 40 gram
• Length: 6.5cm, 7.5cm, 8.5cm
• Type: Slug
• Diving depth: on retrieve 0.5-1m
• Castability: Excellent
• Hooks: Stock hooks are rubbish and need to be replaced.  Replace with Owner st66 4/2
• Swimming action: Slow wide wobble
• Areas of Use: Dropping down into deep schools, north wall flats, surface feeders, dropping down around current lines or along pipeline.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Yellowtail Kingfish, Australian Salmon, Tuna, Bonito, Mackerel.
• Cost: $AU 4-6
• Where to Buy: Most Tackle Stores, Kmart, Big W

Rio's Live Chrome

***Note** the blue colouring on the Rios Live Chrome Series comes off really easily, recommend scraping it off anyway, the pure chrome underneath works better.

• Weights - 5 gram only at this stage, will be trying the other weights shortly
• Length: 3.5cm
• Type: Slug
• Diving depth: on retrieve 0.5-1m
• Castability: Excellent
• Hooks: Stock hooks are acceptable.  Replace with Decoy Y-S81 #8
• Swimming action: Fast wobble
• Areas of Use: Casting at finicky fish chasing small bait, dropping down into deep schools, north wall flats, surface feeders, dropping down around current lines or along pipeline.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Yellowtail Kingfish, Australian Salmon, Tuna, Bonito, Mackerel, Dart, Lesser Queenfish
• Cost: $AU 6-8
• Where to Buy: Some Tackle Stores, BCF

River 2 Sea Sea Rock

• Weights - 7 gram
• Length: 4cm
• Type: Slug
• Diving depth: on retrieve 0.5m
• Castability: Excellent
• Hooks: Stock hooks are rubbish and need to be replaced.  Replace with Decoy Y-S81 #8
• Swimming action: Fast wobble
• Areas of Use: Casting at finicky fish chasing small bait, dropping down into deep schools, north wall flats, surface feeders, dropping down around current lines or along pipeline.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Yellowtail Kingfish, Australian Salmon, Tuna, Bonito, Mackerel.
• Cost: $AU 6-8
• Where to Buy: Most Tackle Stores.

Well the introductory phase of SeawayFishing's paid memberships is coming to an end, on the 1st of May the price for a full year of membership will rise to $100.00 and 7 day memberships will rise to $20.00 so if you were still thinking about it get in now before the price goes up.  Considering the content I have delivered in the last 6 weeks I think it still offers value for money.

The Guided Seaway Fishing Tutorials will also increase in price by $50.00 to $300 for one person plus $150 for another person.  Most of my tutorial students so far have gone on to catching many more fish in the seaway as a result of the time I spent with them so if you are struggling with consistent seaway catches it might be worth it for you.  Those who have already contacted me regarding the tutorials will still get theirs at the current rate($250) regardless of when we organise it.

Comments are welcome below, but keep it clean.

Early on in the week, the swell was huge around 4 metres, thankfully that has now abated and it has gone to the other extreme and there is less than a metre of swell around the walls.  Fishwise  the GT's were scarce from sunday through to tuesday with only 1 caught that I know of at the base of the swell on the north wall dropoff, they did show in numbers at the right time on wednesday 10.45 - 12.30, first at the pipeline then just south of the canyon. All GT's seem to be in that 62-63cm size. They also showed up 4 times on thursday ay 11.40 - 12.10 then disappeared.




The big kingfish showed up on thursday, a couple of times near the nth Wavebreak Yellow X but then moved down to the area west of the dredge and started rounding up balls of white pilchards.  Noone hooked any however.  There seems to be a bit of variation in size now too with quite a few kingfish in the 60-70cm size as well as the metre long versions.    I did see some 60-70cm specimens around the north wall and pipeline chasing bait on surface during the run in tides.

Plenty of small tailor on surface just on dawn offshore from the seaway mouth and some decent tuna offshore from surfers.

Bigeyes hanging around the pipeline as well, look for the school on your sounder then drop a 30gram twistie down to them. On thursday just as the clean water reached the pipeline on a run in tide big schools of bigeyes came up to feed on surface a few times, kingies were mixed in with them.

Decent size tailor chasing bait on the wavebreak flats but hard to get them to eat. The usual undersize jewies on plastics at the tabletop on the start of the run in tide. Not much eating on the morning run out tides, the run in tides are seeing much more action regardless of the time of day.

So overall, plenty of bait around still, the run in tides seem to be providing the most action, the sea is flat as a tack and as such edge fishing isn't yielding any fish.  Keep an eye out for bustups get there quick and you might catch any one of half a dozen species.  Best lures were 20gram twisties.

SeawayFishing Boat stickers are now available for purchase.  The dimensions of the sticker are 28cm x 7.5cm, blue printing on a white background, matt finish.  Price is $15.00 each or a set of 2 is $25.00.

These stickers will be used as identification for some onwater giveaways of lures and fishing tackle starting on the 1st of May 2013.

Once paid for these stickers should be dispatched within 2 working days and you can expect delivery within another 2 working days.

Once the onwater giveaways start I will pick a boat at random, you will then get to pick a number out of a bag which will correspond to one of the giveaway items. Only boats showing these stickers fishing in the Gold Coast Seaway and Broadwater will be eligible for the giveaways.  Prizes include hardbody lures from Lucky Strike Fishing Tackle, Daiwa Reels,  Ecogear Grass minnows, Pearl Slider's and much more.  More details of the giveaways will be released as we get closer to the 1st of May.

Click this button to buy a set of 2 Stickers @$25.00 via paypal

Click this button to buy one sticker @15.00 via paypal

Click add to cart, then press checkout and you will be taken to paypal.

You can also purchase these by bank deposit, bank details as follows.

Bank: NAB

BSB: 084273

Acct No: 136889769

Please use your account ID(username) as reference on the bank deposit. Please send me a message using the contact form containing your Account ID(username) and current postal address otherwise I won't know who to send it to.

SeawayFishing Map 3 Pipeline to Outer Seaway Walls 

SeawayFishing Map 3 The Outer Walls

To see a larger version of this map, right click with your mouse and choose ‘view image’

Been a busy week so I'm just going to condense all my reports into one.  
Monday 8th April afternoon - On the water at 3pm, headed straight for the canyon, bottom of the tide but there were a few tailor kicking around near the dredge.  Had a look around the seaway but all quiet, went back down to wait for the clearing tide.  At around 4.30 the kings showed up, first cast nothing, second cast I put in front of a group of 5 fish that were swimming past the boat and one grabbed it, then proceeded to bust me off me in less than 30 seconds.  They continued to come up every 10-15 minutes or so for the next hour, but noone hooked any more, then the GT's showed up just as the sun set. Only one was hooked and landed by Gretsch on a big halco roosta popper.  After the sun went down I spent some time looking for tarpon, hooked 4, lost 2 on the hookup jump then the other 2 next to the boat.  Landed 1 bigeye around 45cm, all on 3/8th oz ecogear grass minnows in CCM.  End Report.




Thursday 11th April Morning - On the water at 4am, wind was 15-20kts from the SE, swell was 1.5m from the SE.  Spent some time looking for tarpon, took us a while to find them but when we did we proceeded to lose all 4 hooked... Bloody Tarpon.  Drifted the end of the wall with minnows, was trialling a new minnow a Lucky Strike King Hunter 100mm in Qantas colour, similar to a rapala xr10 but the action is more of a shimmy(which I prefer) rather than the excessive wobble of the rapala.  Didn't take long before I hooked and landed a tailor around 45cm, dad using a rapala landed a bream around 35cm.  We then got distracted by by some action down at the pipeline and headed down there.  Turned out they were decent schools of tuna up to about 65cm and every cast was a fish for about half an hour.  I was using a thunder 80mm stickbait and dad was using a twistie..  Interestingly I managed to get the camera into the bustups and while it was still too dark for decent video, it was good enough to show that bigeyes and GT's were hunting under the tuna schools and picking up the scraps the tuna were missing. So keep that in mind if you see tuna over the pipe, let your slugs sink  a bit deeper and you may end up tangling with a decent GT.  Once they went down we headed over to the canyon and saw a few kings on surface but they went down and didn't return.  Spent the rest of the time messing about with video and looking for fish, plenty of bait everywhere but no fish into them.  End Report.

Friday 12th April Morning -  On the water at 3.30am with Mick, the wind was howling at around 25knots from the SE, swell was 2m from the SE and it was the bottom of the runout tide.  Conditions were not conducive to good fishing so we sat it out until dawn, just on dawn the tide changed to run in and the seaway became less angry.  Just as it got light some tuna popped up over the pipe, I hooked something and then proceeded to get busted off on the pipe.....grrr.  5 minutes and about 3 bustups later they disappeared.  Headed down to the canyon and found some kingfish but same story as yesterday, 2 bustups for about 10 seconds then gone.  Headed back out into the seaway and spotted some birds in close to the north wall, that means big tailor so we headed up there and sure enough tailor were working the bait right into the rock edges on the incoming wave.  We both hooked up then dropped both fish, then another hookup for both of us, Mick landing a small bigeye, mine was the right fish a quality greenback tailor  at 68cm on a rapala skitter pop 9cm in chrome.  By the time that fish was photographed and released conditions were going to hell, the wind increased to 40 knots and the rain began pouring down.  We took a breather while that passed then the wind dropped off enough for us to get back there and we worked the wall edges both hooking up twice and both of us losing the fish.  Then they went quiet, chased some tuna further out but no joy there came back in for the top of the tide.  A bunch of fish popped up on surface in close to wavebreak for about 15 seconds but we got no hookups.   Messed around a bit more waiting to see if the fish would turn on once the tide started to run out but no joy.  End Report.

So what we have so far this week on the morning run in tides is some very short time surface feeding, not sure whats going on there, with so much bait around they are probably full and they are just 'topping up'.   Water temperatures are falling, down as low as 22.5 at the bottom of the run out, but increases to high 24's during the run in. Tons of bait around as usual seems to be mainly white pilchards but a few schools of froggies, but they are spread from marina mirage through to Sovereign Island with lots around the Triangle and the Dredge.  GT's have not shown up at all the last couple of days and the kings are only feeding for a couple of minutes at the most.  There are opportunities out there but they are very shortlived, pay attention or miss out. It will be interesting to see what happens during the weekend tides.

Successful Lure’s Rundown

• Halco Twisty 20/30 gram in chrome – Price $5-7 – Availablity Kmart, BCF, Most tackle stores
• Gillies Pilchard 40 gram in chrome – Price $4-5 – Availablity Kmart, BCF, Most tackle stores
• Lucky Strike Thunder 80mm Stickbait in Pink/Silver – Price: contact supplier – Availability: email luckystrikeft@gmail.com
• Rapala Skitter Pop 9cm in Chrome - Price $14-25 - Availability Ebay, might get lucky in a tackle store.
• Lucky Strike King Hunter 10cm in redhead/white - Price: contact supplier – Availability: email luckystrikeft@gmail.com
• Ecogear grass minnow M in Chika Chika Muroran - Price $7-10 per pack - Availability Samurai tackle.
• TT Headlockz 3/8 oz jigheads 2/0HD - Price $8.00 - Availability - BCF, some tackle stores.

Fishing Gear Used

Samaki Allure SA-701SM 7? Spin rod / Daiwa SOL II 3000H reel / 10lb Yellow Sunline Momentum 4×4  / 30lb Famell Super Shock Leader

So, the Yellowtail Kingfish, one of the top tier predators in the seaway and broadwater, commonly seen at lengths around 1 metre, occasionally hooked and but rarely landed.  Sleek, powerful torpedos of muscle that will make short work of any weakness in tackle. Dirty fighters from the second they get hooked, the first run will see them in a headlong rush to the nearest bit of structure, if they can't break your tackle they will use anything they can find to do it for them. Beacons, coffee rock formations, rock walls, mooring lines and even the outboard leg of your motor are fair game.   To read the full post click here.. Restricted to paid members only

Thursday 4th April

After my less than stellar effort on tuesday in perfect conditions I decided to pick a day at the other end of the extreme with 25-30kt winds and rain. That day was Thursday and going by the tide an afternoon session was called for.  We got on the water at around midday and had a look around, wind was around the 25kt mark, swell was still quite small at around a metre from the SE, but there was a metre of wind chop on the top in exposed parts. Water at the bottom of the tide was quite good, a couple of metres of visibility. I had a brand new reel to test out today, a Daiwa TD SOL II 3000, one of the new generation small high speed reels and a perfect size for seaway work. Capable of holding 300+ metres of 10lb braid, just incase you hook that seaway monster.

We headed out to the end of the south wall and immediately noticed birds and fish working a big ball of bait right off the end of the wall, we tried a few casts but couldn't get close enough so we headed out into the rough water. Despite multiple attempts to get close enough to the carnage the conditions proved to be too much, we did manage a couple of hits but no hookups. Those fish went down as the tide started to push in and we moved over to the north wall where we found some queenies and bigeyes feeding.

We left those as the cleaner water started to push in and headed down to wavebreak to see if the GT's would turn up. We waited and waited and they finally showed at 1.45. Rather than try and catch the GT's myself, I left that to dad and concentrated on trying to get the camera right into the bustups and capture footage of them feeding. After a couple of false starts I managed to get the camera right into a major bustup and even had them feeding around the camera. Over the next hour they came up 4 times, dad managed to land 3 Gt's from around 45-55cm and lost a bigger fish at the boat.

By 3pm they were done and we moved back into the seaway where we found a ball of frogmouth pilchards in close to the tower on the south wall. They were being attacked by small bigeyes, we didn't hook any but I did manage to get the camera right into the ball and get some great footage.

From there we moved back up to the south wall tip where another ball of froggies had gathered, they were then smashed by mid sized bigeyes, we cast in there but the lures were constantly fouled by baitfish they were so thick, we did manage to land one bigeye which was deformed. Then we got distracted by some bird action over by the north wall, when we got there it was rough and the strong winds meant we had to keep the boat in reverse the whole time. We copped a couple of waves over the stern including one big mother which had us both soaked, lucky I have a bilge pump! The fish there were big tailor, we landed 2 around the mid 50's and lost two which would have been well over 60 before some spearfisherman showed up to spook the fish.

From there we moved down to the pipeline which had fish busting up all over it which turned out to be small mack tuna around 60cm, managed a couple of those before they went down. As the sun began to set schools of bigeyes popped up and began smashing into baitfish good size fish too with most around the mid 50 mark. When they went down, the tuna popped up again, this time in a big school which stayed up, every cast was a fish for about 20 minutes. Then just as the sun went down the bigeyes popped up for one last time before a heavy downpour saw them sound.

Once the sun had set we worked the walls for a while and picked up a few more mid 50's bigeyes then called it a night around 8.

Friday 5th April

Just wanted a casual fish today but was interested to see if the previous days action would be repeated, couldn't get on the water until 3pm so I knew I'd be a bit late. The changes in conditions were obvious, the swell was larger and now from the south east and pushing in the seaway and the wind had swung around more to the east. It was obvious where the action was when I arrived, all over at north wavebreak. While there I met a few of the SeawayFishing members Outcast, Jethro, Kane, Gretsch, Twitchy good to see you guys out there.
Anyway I put on a 25gram gillies pilchard and chucked it into a bustup and was soon rewarded with a feisty GT in the mid 50's. Next up I was saying hi to the water police as I was bringing in a cast I'd thrown into a bustup when less than a metre away from the boat a big kingfish smashed it and boy didn't that reel scream when he took off... right around the boat and around the beacon about 50 metres away, that hookup lasted all of 10 seconds. After that the kingfish turned up in bigger numbers and I concentrated on trying to get the camera into them without pissing off all the other boaties..If I did sorry about that, but analysing feeding behaviour footage will enable us to find a better way of catching them.

Once that seemed to die down went back into the seaway and had a look around, certainly less action than the previous day and all the bait seemed to be spread out around in the Triangle, it wasn't balled up like yesterday. No fish came up so I worked the wall with a 80mm thunder stickbait and on the first cast hooked up on another fish which turned out to be a GT around 50cm. Successive casts yielded nothing so I went down to the pipeline and the bigeyes came up briefly just as the sun set. That was pretty much it, called it a night just after 7pm.

So two days, two vastly different experiences and a good example of how quickly things can change in the seaway. There was much more GT and kingfish action on the friday than the thursday though as they pretty much fed from about 2.30 to sunset. But the rest of the fish did a no show on the friday, don't know why. Still tons of bait around, maybe they were still full from the previous day or maybe they did their feeding in the morning.

Successful Lure’s Rundown

• Halco Twisty 20/30 gram in chrome – Price $5-7 – Availablity Kmart, BCF, Most tackle stores
• Gillies Pilchard 25 gram in chrome - Price $4-5 - Availablity Kmart, BCF, Most tackle stores
• Lucky Strike Thunder 80mm Stickbait in Pink/Silver - Price: contact supplier – Availability: email luckystrikeft@gmail.com

Fishing Gear Used

Samaki Allure SA-701SM 7? Spin rod / Daiwa SOL II 3000H reel / 10lb Yellow Sunline Momentum 4x4  / 30lb Famell Super Shock Leader

Another fish alert, this one you won't want to miss!! Some seriously awesome opportunties out there right now. I just came back from one of my best ever trips

The southerly winds have pushed massive schools of frogmouth pilchards into the seaway, schools of predators are balling them up and smashing into them.




Highlights -

Big tailor(50cm+) smashing the froggies along the north wall (start of the runout)
Good size bigeyes (avg 55cm) smashing the froggies at the end of the south wall and around the pipeline(bottom and top of the tide)
Mack tuna schools (55-65cm)smashing the froggies over the pipeline(dusk)
Mid size GT's smashing them around north wavebreak.(last hour of the run in)
Big schools of queenies chasing them off the front of the north wall.(during the run in)

That was an afternoon trip, should be the same tomorrow, fish came on the bite around 2.30-3pm and we moved from one spot to the next catching the different species.

Just as a sneak peek, rather than try and catch GT's I spent the time trying to get my camera into the bustups, and the results speak for themselves, what we see on the surface is nothing compared to whats going on underneath..

Giant Trevally during a bustup

Despite my reservations about going fishing just after the easter break I decided to give it a shot anyway, the forecast wasn't great with 15-20kt SE winds but the swell was from the south so I thought it might be just right. 
Got on the water about 4.30,  and to my surprise conditions were excellent, a light SW breeze and almost zero swell.  Perfect conditions almost, thats not always a good thing though my experience lately is that the worse the conditions the better the fishing.  But still I was there so I gave it a go and it was a nice change from the almost constant howling wind I've been through the last few months.  Had a cast around, managed a few nudges but nothing solid and dawn arrived.  Tried minnows, then poppers got one small tailor on a rapala skitter pop 9, then switched to plastics but nothing on that.  Saw a school of bigeyes come up just off the front of the wall, up for 2 seconds then straight back down again which set the tone for the rest of the morning.  Had a look around other areas but all quiet.  Spent some time fooling around getting some underwater video including testing a new rig I designed to cast the camera right into a surface feeding frenzy, that should be awesome when I find one that stays up for long enough.




Waited for the start of the run in tide and right on cue the bigeyes popped up again off the front of the north wall, but they came up for 2 seconds then went down again.  I did manage one bigeye around 40cm before I moved down tto wavebreak to look for Gt's and Kingfish.  I met Shamus(gretsch) there and had a chat while we waited. Right on time(10.15) they popped up just south of the yellow x right around the boat,  but the same old story, up for 2 seconds then down again.  I did get a number of casts in with gillies 15's and plastics but didn't tempt one which was odd.  Shamus managed to hookup twice on twisties but got busted off both times.  Around 10.35 they came up for the final time then left.  Not much of a bite that one, 20 minutes in total.  Boat traffic was quite heavy though so maybe that put them off.  Stuck around for a while after that but despite tons of bait no more action.  Called it a day around lunchtime.

So pretty ordinary day, only 2 fish in the boat so probably one of my worst trips this year.  Plenty of fish around but but very flighty and only feeding for seconds at a time before sulking on the bottom.

The difference between my and shamus results with the GT's is interesting, I'm starting to think that on sunny days you are better off with a highly reflective lure like a twisty, but on overcast days a baitfish profile like a gillies might be better.  Anyone else care to weigh in on that?  Whats your experience?

No fishy pics today so I'll just leave you with some pics taken with the new castable camera rig.

Video from Thursday 28th March showing prelude, hookup, fight, landing and release of 90cm Yellowtail Kingfish

Welcome to the SeawayFishing Lure Reference Guide Part 1 Minnows and Stickbaits.  Here you can find details of all the lures that I and others use when fishing in the seaway.  If you see a lure mentioned in a report look it up here, all these lures have caught fish in the seaway.  This page will be updated as new lures are found.  Lures are listed in found order. Other lure types will follow shortly.  If you have a lure you think should be included let me know.  Hooks on the lures are upgraded versions, though as you can see some have been on the lures for a while..




Minnows

Megabass Vision ONETEN(110)

• Length: 11cm
• Type: suspending shallow twitching minnow
• Diving depth: 1 metre
• Castability: Excellent - weight transfer system
• Hooks: 2 of the 3 need changing, the middle hook(katsuage) is good.  Replace with Owner st56 #6 or Decoy Y-S81 #6
• Swimming action: Fast shimmy
• Areas of Use: Edge fishing the walls, north wall flats, large surface feeders.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Mulloway
• Cost: $AU 25-35
• Where to Buy: Samurai Tackle, Ebay

Megabass Vision ONETEN plus ONE(Vision 111)

• Length: 11cm
• Type: Suspending Medium diving twitching minnow
• Diving depth: 2 metres
• Castability: Excellent - weight transfer system
• Hooks: Excellent, but use on less than 15lb braid only.
• Swimming action: Fast shimmy
• Areas of Use: Edge fishing the walls, north wall flats.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Mulloway, Yellowtail Kingfish
• Cost: $AU 25-35
• Where to Buy: Samurai Tackle, Ebay

Rapala Xrap  XR10

• Length: 10cm
• Type:  suspending shallow diving minnow
• Diving depth: 1.5 metres
• Castability: Good
• Hooks: Seems to be a bit of variation around in hooks, Replace with Owner st66 #4 or Decoy Y-S81 #
• Swimming action: Fast wobble
• Areas of Use: Edge fishing the walls, north wall flats, trolling shallow suspended fish, large surface feeders.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Mulloway, Hairtail
• Cost: $AU 20, can be bought as cheap as $11 each from US sellers on ebay
• Where to Buy: Most Australian Tackle stores, Ebay, BCF, Anaconda

Rapala Xrap XRD10

• Length: 10cm
• Type:  suspending medium diving minnow
• Diving depth: 3 metres
• Castability: Good
• Hooks: Seems to be a bit of variation around in hooks, Replace with Owner st66 #4 or Decoy Y-S81 #4
• Swimming action: Fast wobble
• Areas of Use: Deep edge fishing the walls, north wall flats, trolling midwater suspended fish.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Hairtail
• Cost: $AU 20, can be bought as cheap as $11 each from US sellers on ebay
• Where to Buy: Most Australian Tackle stores, Ebay, BCF, Anaconda

Bolt Omega

• Length: 10cm
• Type:  medium deep diving minnow
• Diving depth: 4.5 metres
• Castability: Good
• Hooks: Good, VMC heavy gauge, replace with Owner st66 #2 or Decoy Y-S81 #4 for a sharper hook.
• Swimming action: Fast wobble
• Areas of Use: trolling deep suspended fish.
• Species: Tailor, Bigeye Trevally, Giant Trevally, Mulloway, Hairtail, Flathead
• Cost: $AU 15 - 17
• Where to Buy: Selected TackleWorld stores

 Stickbaits

Daiwa Dorado Slider 140S

• Length: 14cm
• Type: suspending stickbait
• Diving depth: 1 metre on retrieve
• Castability: Excellent - heavily weighted
• Hooks: Excellent Owner st46 #1/0
• Swimming action: slow sink, side to side, needs rod work
• Areas of Use: Edge fishing the walls with care, north wall flats, large surface feeders.
• Species: Tailor, Giant Trevally, Kingfish
• Cost: $AU 25-35
• Where to Buy: Online tackle stores, Ebay

Daiwa Over There 130S

• Length: 13cm
• Type: fast sinking stickbait
• Diving depth: 2 metre's on retrieve
• Castability: Excellent - heavily weighted
• Hooks: Excellent Owner st66 #1
• Swimming action: slow wobble on sink, darting side to side, needs rod work
• Areas of Use: Current line fishing, north wall flats, large surface feeders.
• Species: Tailor, Giant Trevally, Kingfish
• Cost: $AU 25-35
• Where to Buy: Online tackle stores, Ebay

LuckyStrike Thunder Series 110mm

• Length: 11cm
• Type: sinking stickbait
• Diving depth: 1 metre on retrieve
• Castability: Very Good
• Hooks: Need changing, I suggest replacing with Owner st66 #4 or Decoy Y-S81 #6, #4 on back hook
• Swimming action: slow sink, side to side, needs rod work
• Areas of Use: Edge fishing the walls with care, north wall flats, large surface feeders.
• Species: Tailor, Giant Trevally, Kingfish, Bigeye Trevally
• Cost: $AU 15
• Where to Buy: email luckystrikeft@gmail.com

LuckyStrike Thunder Series 80mm

• Length: 8cm
• Type: sinking stickbait
• Diving depth: 1 metre on retrieve
• Castability: Very Good
• Hooks: Need changing, I suggest replacing with Owner st56 #8 or Decoy Y-S81 #8
• Swimming action: slow wobble on sink, side to side, needs rod work
• Areas of Use: Edge fishing the walls with care, north wall flats, medium surface feeders.
• Species: Tailor, Giant Trevally, Kingfish, Bigeye Trevally
• Cost: $AU 15
• Where to Buy: email luckystrikeft@gmail.com