Seaway Weekly Wrap Up Saturday 4th May 2013

Another week passed, some interesting behaviour from the fish.   Some fish numbers continue to increase while others may be tapering off.   Have done some experimenting with other lures on GT's this week and it was moderately successful so you don't need to stick with just slugs if you want to try something different.

Sunday - Monday Overnighter 28-29th April 2013

On the water  by 6pm just in time for dark, I headed out to the seaway in good conditions, less than a meter of swell, light winds and a clear sky.  First up I checked for bigeyes over the pipe but nothing there, so spent some time working the walls for Tarpon, the first 4 jumped off, the next two I landed both around 63cm on 3/8thoz grass minnows in CCM, so good solid fish.  They went quiet after that so at the top of the tide I worked the pipe a bit with  7" pearl jerkshads and picked up 2 jewies around 65cm.  Once the tide started to run out s few bigeyes popped up and I landed a couple on skitter pop 9's but they disappeared after that.  Took a break until dawn.




Once dawn arrived I worked the walls for a bit but nothing there so I headed back to the pipeline for the incoming tide.  Some tuna popped up briefly before I headed down to the Canyon for the GT's.  The GT's turned up right on time  and today they were hungry with multiple bustups lasting 30 seconds to a minute.  Got some GT's 60-65cm on Twisties, 3/8th oz 80mm  squidgy flickbaits in pearl and pilchard colours and flash J in Glow silver.  Some kingies around but noone hooked any.  Called it a day at the top of the tide.

Tuesday 30th April 2013

Went down only for the GT's but today they were fussier, bustups only lasted 15 seconds.  Wanted to try minnows on them today, hooked 3 fish landed one about 63cm on a Rapala XR8 in Chrome taken on a on a blind cast.  Had dad with me but he didn't hook any, some other boats missed out as well.

Wednesday 1st May 2013

Went down only for the GT's again, had Mick with me today.  Not quite as fussy as the day before, Mick had a good day landing 4 GT's up to 65cm and one bigeye.  I managed continue my losing streak dropping every fish I hooked, some days you just can't win.

Thursday/Friday Overnighter 2-3rd May 2013

On the water in time for the run in, the wind was forecast to get up to 30kts today so I was interested to see how fish behaviour would be affected. Some bigeyes came up over the pipeline for about half an hour, I landed one then concentrated on getting the camera into the bustups. Once they went down I waited for the GT's unfortunately they were a no show, you could see them on the sounder but they never came up and plastics drifted through them were ignored.  I headed off looking for other action and found some kingfish around the next set of markers north, had a couple of hits on gillies baitfish 25 but no hookups.  Headed further north and found schools of tailor hitting white pilchards, landed half a dozen before trying to get the camera into the bustups.  Around dusk I headed back into the seaway against the now howling wind, very wet conditions.  Worked the walls for a bit but the outgoing tide and strong winds made for difficult fishing.  Got nothing so I took a break until the tide started to come back in around 10pm.

At 10pm I with the tide now moving in I moved into the seaway again, checked out the pipe but it was a desert so moved onto searching for tarpon.  The wind was howling from the South east at around 30kts making things difficult but pushing the limits is what I like to do.  Stuck to the south wall and worked my way along with a squidgy slick rig 80mm in dropbear, my rule of thumb is when in windy rough conditions use a bigger lure than usual and the slick rigs have a wide aggressive wobble.  About half way along I started getting the typical tarpon nudges and soon hooked up, then it promptly jumped off.  Due to the wind I had to keep the motor in gear with the direction set at maximum angle just to stay in place.  Then began one of the most awesome Tarpon sessions I've had in a long time, from 10.30pm to 2.30am I was constantly hooked up, landing fish, rerigging and repositioning.  Nearly every cast was a hookup, a jumpoff or a landed fish.  such action takes a heavy toll on terminal tackle and I had to constantly retie new leaders and cut off worn sections.  as it was I still got worn through by 3 fish.  Size was excellent with the smallest being 55cm, the biggest a slab sided bar of chrome at 66cm with at least half those landed being over 60cm.  Landed well over 20 fish, jumped off easily twice that many.  I managed to try a few different lures as well, the Lucky Strike King Hunter 100mm(a minnow) in a pilchard colour landed the biggest fish as well as quite a few others, unfortunately all those hooks dont mean a better hookup rate, the tarpon still nudge it alot.  I tested the Zman 2.5" grubZ and 3" minnowZ extensively just to see how they would hold up.  They did end up being torn up but lasted around 10 fish which is alot better than most plastics.  Still not something I would start out with though if fish are scarce, there are better prospecting plastics out there.  I was also testing a custom rig designed to stay attached better than a standard jighead rigged plastic and it worked... once the initial jump was over.  Losing fish on the first jump is common but this rig removes all those that you after the first jump and near the boat, more about that rig later.  At 2.30am they tapered off and I went looking for other fish.  No joy on that so I took another break until dawn.

At dawn I started working the walls, managed a decent tailor on a plastic and had a good look around, found some bigeyes working in close to the northern side of wavebreak but other than that it was quiet, messed around a bit with the camera for a while until the tides changed to run in.  Waited for the surface action, saw the bigeyes come up twice briefly but the GT's didn't come up.  I did manage to get one about 60cm on a squidgy flick bait on a 1/4oz head.  Called it a day at around 1.30pm.

So, what we have at the moment are GT's that are still around the canyon but reluctant to come up, that may change as the tide gets later in the day. Bigeyes which are feeding in multiple places(pipeline, north wavebreak) at multiple times(dawn, run out tide at night,run in tide during the day) Kingfish around the which are still hard to catch and even harder to get on camera(next set of beacons north from the canyon) Tailor around Crab island and the Horseshoe Flats and Tarpon around the seaway walls occasionally during the day but easier to catch during the night.  Plenty of fish around still so get out there and take your chances.

Successful Lure’s Rundown

Halco Twisty 20/30 gram in chrome – Price $5-7 – Availablity Kmart, BCF, Most tackle stores
Rapala Xrap XR8 in Chrome Spotted Minnow – Price $20-25 – Availability, CSPM is rare, other colours can be found in tackle stores, BCF.
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.
Squidgy Flickbait 80mm in Pearl and Pilchard - Price $8.00 - Availability Tackle stores, BCF
Zman 3" MinnowZ in Pearl - Price $7.95 - Availability - Tackle Stores, BCF.
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

Successful Lure’s Rundown

Halco Twisty 20/30 gram in chrome – Price $5-7 – Availablity Kmart, BCF, Most tackle stores
Rapala Xrap XR8 in Chrome Spotted Minnow – Price $20-25 – Availability, CSPM is rare, other colours can be found in tackle stores, BCF.
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.
Zman 3" MinnowZ in Pearl - Price $7.95 - Availability - Tackle Stores, BCF.
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 Green Sunline Super PE  / 30lb Famell Super Shock Leader