It has been a long hard road to get the SeawayFishing shop to the point where I have enough stock, tested each lure/line/reel/rod and made sure it worked/didn't break, took the photos and wrote up the detail.   I've been through hundreds of lures; some were awesome, some were good and some were just plain crap(they went in the bin!).  Some lures were suitable for Seaway Tough status and they have been listed under the Seaway Tough heading.  I have stuck with a few fish catching colours in most cases, there is no need for 10 different colours of a lure. All lures have upgraded hooks(Owner or GT-Bio) and split rings(Owner or Halco), no cheap rubbish hardware.  All lures swim properly out of the box.

Now a brief overview of the SeawayFishing Shop.  The following are the categories:

SeawayFishing Lure Sets - Sets for beginners who are new to Seaway Fishing and have no suitable lures to start with,

SeawayFishing Braided Lines in 100m & 300m Spools - Good reliable braids at decent prices.

SeawayFishing Rods and Reels - One Rod and One Reel available individually and as a set - Both adept at handline the rigours of seaway fishing.

SeawayFishing Trebles - Currently only have GT-Bio Trebles in stock, more are coming.

SeawayFishing Plastics - Only the very best in proven soft plastics for sale.

SeawayFishing Hardbodies - Includes a selection of Vibs, Poppers, Stickbaits and Minnows.

SeawayFishing Metals - Currently only selling generic 20gram Twisties.

SeawayFishing Tough Lures - Minnows and Poppers with serious hardware capable of being fished on 30lb lines without failure. Expensive.. but oh so good.

There will be adjustments to the lineup as I go along and test new lures/reels/rods/lines.\

To visit the SeawayFishing shop, click the link in the navigation bar above, or click the logo below

Livebaiting is a consistent method of catching large fish in the seaway, this Ultimate Edition will cover absolutely everything to know about livebaiting in the seaway and keep it in one place as an easy reference guide. Some parts have already been listed as separate articles but I have updated and integrated each one to reflect the latest information.

Hooked up to a mulloway just off the north wall

Tackle

Livebaiting gear doesn't need to be fancy or expensive, all you are doing is dropping baits to the bottom and fighting the fish up to the boat.  Most reasonable 4000 size spinning reels will do the job, just make sure it has a decent drag and can fit about 300m of line on it, the penn spinfisher line is affordable and reliable.  You can also use overhead reels as well, I use a Daiwa LD50H overhead for my heavy livebaiting duties.  You can go as heavy or as light as you want on the line but sooner or later you are going to hook a fish that will bust you off in the rocks and you are going to want heavier gear.  I use 30lb for small livies like herring and go up to 50lb for big livebaits like tailor and pike, even on this gear some fish still make it back to the rocks or back to the pipe.  As for rods, keep it short 6ft is ideal but you can go up to 7ft without too many problems.  There is no need for high modulus (IM8+rods) in livebaiting, IM6 or even fibreglass rods will do the job.  You might want to make sure you have a rod with a bit of backbone though as hooking large Whitespot Shovelnose and bull sharks is common and these require a rod with some power down low.  Medium Heavy rated rods are ideal.

Recommended Reels

Light(Spin)

• Penn Spinfisher V 4500
• Daiwa Saltist 4500
• Shimano Biomaster 4000FB

Heavy(Spin)

• Penn Spinfisher V 6500
• Daiwa Saltist 6500
• Shimano Biomaster 6000FB

Heavy(Overhead)

• Daiwa LD50H
• Penn Squall SQL40LD
• Shimano TLD 15

Catching Livebaits

Good quality live baits are often harder to catch than the bigger fish and it can take hours to catch enough for a couple of hours fishing.  This part will detail most of the livebaits that can be used, how to catch them and where you might find them.  Livebaits are like any fish, they come and they go so numbers are constantly fluctuating.  Always have a backup plan if you can't find any of your chosen livebait.

Pike in a Livewell

Pike

My favourite livebait and one of the biggest livebaits with an average size around 30cm. Size can be an issue, 40cm plus models are usually only taken by big fish such as metre long kingies and mulloway.  Smaller fish such as Tailor and Trevally prefer the smaller models around 30cm.  Pike can be caught around any of the weedbeds of the broadwater, particularly the weedbeds around Wavebreak and Crab island and the weedbeds at the mouth of Loder’s Creek & western side of South Stradbroke Island.  Unfortunately between May and September these weedbeds are netted on a weekly basis by the mullet netters and pike are rare during this time.  You can catch them on small minnows (rapala XR6 & XR4) & small plastics (2 inch curl tails or paddle tails)on light jigheads.  Try trolling a minnow around until you find the school, then throw plastics at them. The top half of the tide is the best time to get them. Pike can be caught around bridges and lighted jetties at night using small minnows or plastics but its not something you can rely on unless you find a decent sized school that stays in the same area.  Good places to look are The Broadwater Parklands Jetty, The Grand Hotel Ramp, Marina Mirage Refueling Station and Sunrise Bridge.  If all else fails, trolling through the canal estates around runaway bay or around Marina Mirage with a shallow running minnow such as an Rapala XR6 can pick up a couple of large ones.

Pike can also be caught offshore on the shallow bait reefs, sometimes during the day but more often at night.  You can get them on 3" Gulp minnows on 1/2 oz jigheads, small minnows attached to trolling sinkers, or large profile bait jigs.  You can also catch them on any flesh baits or white pilchards.  They are a different species but the fish still like them just as much, getting small ones can be a challenge though, the average size can be around 45cm.  The offshore pike also require alot of water changes as the water fouls quickly so keep an eye on them to make sure you don’t lose your hard earned baits.

Yellowtail & Slimy Mackerel

Slimy Mackerel and Yellowtail in a livewell

Yellowtail & Slimies are usually only found offshore on the shallow bait reefs but sometimes you can get them around the ends of the walls.  Usually caught on the 6 hook bait jigs, they can also be caught on baits of peeled prawn and any fish flesh.  They are much easier to catch at dawn than during the day or at night.  Most fish will eat a yellowtail or slimy mackerel and GT’s in particular have a big liking for them.  Weather permitting Yellowtail are probably the easiest of the livebaits to catch, slimies are alot harder to catch and not something you can rely on.  Look for the other boats east of the sand pumping jetty in 20-24m of water to find the shallow bait reefs.   GPS Coordinates for the best bait reef section I know is as follows: S 27. 57 .013 E 153. 27. 000.  Do a drift around that area and you will find the bait.

Mullet

The first thing to remember with sea mullet is that they do have a size limit of 30cm so don’t keep any small sea mullet in your livewell. You can use small yellow eye or sand mullet though, if you can’t tell the difference better not to use them at all.  Mullet are very hardy and will last forever in your livewell, they aren’t quite as good a livie as the first two but better than nothing.  Mulloway and cod will still happily take a live mullet of any size, but will hold them in the mouth for a while to descale them before swallowing, the fish spitting the bait is common. For this reason, Mullet are usually a last option for me. The best chance of getting live mullet is in a cast net, try in any of the canal estates close to the seaway.  You can catch sand mullet on a hook baited with bread, just berley them up in places like Loder's Creek and Biggera Creek and use a size 12 hook with a small bit of bread under a float.

Herring

Herring in a livewell

Herring can be caught around jetties and bridges, cast nets are preferred but they can also be berleyed up with bread and caught on bait jigs.  Herring are probably the most used livebait in the seaway but they do attract bream all the time which is annoying.  They do catch good fish though; Tailor, Trevally  and Jewies will happily eat them.  Useful if you can’t catch anything else and still better than mullet.  The best places to find herring are Biggera Creek Bridge, Sunrise Bridge, Sovereign and Ephraim Bridges, Occasionally in the eddies around the Wavebreak rock walls, Grand Hotel Ramp and the pontoon at The Seaworld Ramp.

Hardyheads, White pilchards & Frogmouth Pilchards

These small baitfish have limited uses in the seaway but can be useful for catching tarpon, trevally or tailor.  Numbers of these fish are seasonal and tend to hang around different places every year so its pretty much as case of catch them when you find them. Most of these fish can only be caught with a cast net, but hardyheads can be berleyed up with bread and caught on bait jigs.

The Rest

Squid are an ideal livie and you can catch them around lighted areas at night particularly if there is a bit of weed and rubbly bottom, such as the Broadwater Parklands Jetty, the Grand Hotel Jetty and the lighted area's near Ephraim Island.  The only problem is they wont last in a livewell and die quickly so use them quick if you get them. Even as a dead bait they are pretty good though.  Kingfish will rarely refuse a live squid.

Tailor are useful as a livie for big Mulloway, Kingfish and Sharks but make sure you use its over the legal size of 35cm, check the Tailor fishing article for more hints on those.

Decent sized Prawns are a good livie as well, but there’s nowhere near the seaway you can catch them regularly.  Occasionally they will show up just at the end of the north wall at night on a runout tide and you can use a net to scoop them up.  Using a red light will help you see the eyes of the prawn without spooking them.  Most fish will hit a prawn but Jewies seem to particularly like them.

Silverbiddies also have a good reputation, cast netting around sandbanks are the main way of catching them, but the bigger models can be caught on peeled prawns and small hooks.

Garfish are also a very good bait, and Kingfish love them almost as much as they do pike.   You can catch them around the weedbeds on the western side of the broadwater, around Runaway Bay and  put down some bread or bran berley with some tuna oil and fish with small no. 12  hooks baited with prawn or squid under a float.  They will also sit in large schools on the North Wall Flats on run out tides at night if the swell isn't too big.  You can cast net them if they are thick.

Rigging Livebaits

Pike

With a long livebait like pike two hooks are essential, the top hook goes through the top and bottom of the mouth and the bottom hook goes above the backbone along the back ensuring the line between the two hooks is loose enough for the pike to swim naturally.  Hook sizes range from 6/0 for small pike up to 30cm to 8/0 for the 45cm plus versions.

Mullet

Mullet have a very hard top of the mouth and a very soft bottom of the mouth so you can hook them through the top of the mouth if you can work your hook through the bone. You can also hook them just behind the head and down near the tail above the backbone.  Hook sizes range from 6/0 for small mullet up to 20cm to 9/0 for 40cm+ mullet.

Herring & Silverbiddies

(picture coming)

Herring are best hooked with a single hook through the nose.  With very large herring you can go to a double hook rig, once through the nose and the other just in front of the tail. Hook sizes range from 2/0 for small herring around 6cm long up to 4/0 for very large herring 10cm+

Yellowtail & Slimy Mackerel

Yellowtail and slimies can be used with a single or double hook rig, with a single hook it should be placed in the nose if you are fishing in high tidal flow or just below the dorsal fin if fishing in an eddy. With a double hook rig, the top hook goes in the nose, the bottom hook goes just before the tail above the backbone.  Ideal hook sizes are 3/0- 5/0 for Yellowtail and 6/0 for Slimy Mackerel

Garfish

(picture coming)

As a long bait and prone to attacks by tailor, the two hook north wall trace is recommended.  Break the beak off and place the top hook through the start of the beak and the second hook through the back above the backbone. I deal hook sizes for garfish are 6/0-7/0.

Tailor

Tailor are best fished with a two hook rig, the bottom hook goes just before the tail, make sure it is above the lateral line, the top hook goes just behind the head.  I recommend trimming the tail to slow the fish down a bit.  I reccomend 8/0 minimum hook sizes for Tailor.

Squid

Squid are best hooked using a 2 hook rig similar to pike.  The bottom hook goes through the skin between the eyes and the top hook goes into the top of the cape near the point.  Hook sizes in the 7/0 to 8/0 range depending on the size of the Squid.

Prawns

Prawns are best hooked using a single 2/0 or 3/0 suicide hook in the second to last segment near the tail.  This allows the prawn to flick around unhindered.  Hook sizes 2/0- 3/0

Using Deadbaits

Big deadbaits are rarely used in the seaway, apart from the odd person using a fillet of something or pilchards.  Pilchards however are too small and are more likely to hook Shovelnose Rays and the like.  Using a fillet can be maddening with the amount of bream around, they will soon strip the bait of all flesh.  The best deadbaits to use are Tailor and Pike and the best method of presenting them is to half butterfly the whole fish.  Basically this means to cut off the tail and cut a fillet down one side but leave it attached to waft around.  Mulloway and big Tailor in particular love this type of bait presentation but most decent fish will have a go.   You can fish them on both the standard running sinker rig and the north wall rig.  A slow lift and drop that keeps the sinker just off the bottom works best, just drop your bait to the bottom, then lift and drop it.  You may have to release line if the current flow is fast to make sure your bait stays near the bottom.

A Butterflied Pike

This 85cm Jewie was caught on a Butterflied pike at 9am in the morning

Modular Rigging

I use a modular rigging system when livebaiting.  This ensures that I can change sinker weights and fishing styles without having to retie knots every time you fish a different area.  You can go from the north wall rig to the standard rig to an unweighted rig in seconds.  There are a number of things you need to be able to do this.  One is pre-tied traces, those with wire between the hooks and those without in a number of hook sizes.  Secondly you need a number of Klik Sinkers in different sizes, these enable you to add and subtract weight depending on the area you are fishing when using the standard rig.  The modular rig also ensures I can change a trace in seconds if it gets damaged by fish or rocks.  The important end of a modular rig is 5 metres of 30-50lb mono then a 5mm bead(any craft supply shop will have these), then a heavy duty clip.  The bead is necessary to stop the clip from the north wall sinker rig tangling with the snap clip, so don't forget it if you intend on using that rig.

Different sizes and colours of Klik Sinkers

Traces

You will need a number of different traces for livebaiting the seaway with a mix of line strengths, hook sizes and number of hooks.  Trace strength should not be below 30lb and for large baits should be between 50 & 100lb.  Traces will need to be changed frequently due to banging around in the rocks and damage from fish so make sure you carry enough for a session.  Ideally you should match hook size to bait size, you don't want to be using too large or too small a hook on a bait. Here are the hook sizes I use for certain baits:

• Herring & Silverbiddies 3/0
• Yellowtail and Garfish 5/0
• Slimy Mackerel and small pike (<30cm) 6/0
• Medium to large Pike, mullet & Squid 7/0
• Tailor 8/0

Hook Styles

In my opinion hook styles don't really matter, use whatever you want.  I use Gamakatsu Octopus Black in sizes 2/0 - 9/0 for all my livebaiting they are super sharp and the hookup rate is excellent.  Circle hooks work but depend on how you like to fish, I would only recommend them for those who like to anchor as the sit and forget style works alot better with these hooks.  What matters most is that the hook be appropriate in size for the bait you are using which I have covered above.  All of the hooks shown in the picture below are Gamakatsu Octopus style.

A Variety of Traces showing different hook sizes amd configurations

The Unweighted Rig

The unweighted rig is rarely used but definitely has a place in a good setup.  Its use is situation specific, in other words if you see fish swimming around an unweighted livebait thrown to intercept is often eaten.  Kingfish are a classic target for this technique, but it will also work on Giant Trevally and Tailor.  Another good use for it is to cast a livebait around the end of the north wall and let it swim around in the eddy on a run in tide.  Big tailor who have been ignoring lures will often grab a unweighted live pike thrown in close to the rocks.  In the modular system all you do is clip on a premade trace, hook the bait on and you are ready to go.

This Metre long Kingfish took an unweighted pike cast to intercept a travelling school.

The Standard Running Sinker Rig

The standard running sinker rig is the most used rig in the seaway for livebaiting.  It is effective for all types of fish but care must be taken not to let it roll around on the bottom otherwise you will get snagged alot.  Drop it to the bottom, then lift it up a metre.  This will let the bait swim around half a metre off the bottom.  Care must be taken in strong tidal flows not to let the bait get too far off the bottom so you should drop it to the bottom and wind up once every couple of minutes or so.

The North Wall Livebaiting Setup

I use a different livebaiting setup for the north wall and deep hole area during a run in tide, the reason for that is the high tidal flow and rocky bottom make using the standard running sinker rig very prone to snagging.  I sometimes need to go up to a 6oz sinker to hit the bottom on days with very large tides when using large livebaits.

The rig consists of a 5 m long shock leader of 40-50lb mono tied on to the main braided line of 30-50lb. On to the shock leader goes a bead around 5mm in diameter then it is tied to a high quality clip rated 80lb or more. A standard 2 hook rig(Gamakatsu Octopus Black 3/0 – 7/0 depending on bait size and type) with wire between the two hooks on a 50cm 30-50lb trace is clipped onto the clip.   Next part is a sinker(1-6 oz depending on tidal flow) on a 1.m long trace of 12lb mono tied to a clip.  This clip is then attached above the bead.

Concentration is essential with this rig, as the main idea is to keep the sinker on the bottom and the bait swimming that half metre above the bottom.  You manage the rig by holding the sinker once the livie is attached, then swing it over the side and drop it to the bottom.  With braided lines you can feel the sinker hit the bottom each time, so very 30 seconds or so lift the sinker off the bottom and set it back down.  The sinker is sacrificial and will sometimes get stuck in the rocks but the 12lb leader on the sinker trace will break long before any of the other parts.   Simply hop it along in the current  until you start feeling some thuds on the line, then set the hook when you think the fish has it.

The Figure 8 Wire Knot and Making a North Wall Livebait Trace

Due to the large amount of Tailor and other toothy fish that hang around the north wall and in the deep hole it is highly advisable to use wire between the first and second hooks when fishing in this area.  Its quite simple and very strong to implement this into your rig but there are a few caveats.  You must use nylon coated multistrand wire and the strength needs to be 30lb and above, any lighter and it will likely fail.  You must also test it by hooking it up to a bar and giving it a hard pull, if the wire was kinked during the knot cinching it will break, otherwise it will be solid as a rock.  Its worth noting that all my traces are tested with heavy load prior to bagging, that way you know the trace wont fail when you’ve got a fish on.

Step 1.  Tying the figure 8 knot.

Cut about 20cm of wire.  Thread the wire through the eye of the hook then bring it back along the incoming wire, loop it around the wire then thread it back through the loop you created close to the eye of the hook.  Once you’ve done that it should look like the picture below.

Tighten up the loop by pulling on both the incoming wire and the tag end and it should look like the picture below.  Cut the tag end leaving about 3mm of tag.  Ensure that you slide the knot down the right hand side as shown in the picture below.   This will be the eye the mono gets attached to.

Tie another figure 8 knot to the hook on the other end of the wire.  Test both knots by hooking it onto something and giving it hard pull.  Once finished it should look like the picture below.  That is the wire section completed.  Ideally it should be between 10 & 15cm long for pike, 7-10cm for slimies & yellowtail.

Cut about 45cm of 40-50lb mono, using a uni knot attach it to the top hook making sure that it is tied to the left of the wire and tie a swivel on the other end also with a uni knot.  Your trace should now be completed, test the trace under load before bagging.  Your completed trace should look like the picture below.

Once completed and tested all my traces are placed into ziplock bags showing hook size, intended bait use, wire and mono strength.

Areas for livebaiting

North Wall

The North Wall contains 5 distinct areas for livebaiting.  They are the Deep Hole, The Runway, The Eddy, The Line and the Front of the wall.  Most people only livebait the deep hole but all areas are worth fishing.  As part of a livebait run during a run in tide I will fish The Eddy first, then as the tide begins to slow fish the end of the north wall, The Line, the Deep Hole and The Runway in turn.  Every species can be caught off the north wall.

Pipeline

The pipeline is easy to fish with livebaits, you can either anchor up and sink your livebaits to the bottom or you can drift over it dropping your livies down right next to the pipe, a good sounder is essential for this.  I think that drifting is a better method as you cover alot more ground and are more likely to find fish that aren't sitting on the pipe.  Both methods work however, it just depends on how you like to fish.  Most species can be caught around the pipe but Tailor seem rare.  Giant Trevally and Mulloway are the most common catches.

The Triangle

The Triangle is mostly sand with a few patches of coffee rock here and there.  Drifting this area is essential to cover the most ground.  Mulloway are the most likely, but Giant Trevally and Kingfish are also possible.

Northern Y

The Northern Y is mostly sand but does have alot of exposed coffee rock formations, schools of fish will often gather over these formations during the night.  Mulloway, Trevally of all species, Hairtail, Cod and sharks are all possible especially if there is alot of bait around. Drifting tends to work best but you can anchor off the the eastern side of the channel for decent results.

The Canyon

The Canyon holds Mulloway, Giant Trevally and Kingfish.  It is rarely livebaited properly but does contain some very big fish at times.  You can anchor off the the sides but drifting works best covering the edges and deeper sections of the canyon on a single drift.

Target Species

Mulloway

Mulloway or Jewies are the main target species for livebaiters, they will take most baits as long as they are near the bottom.  Concentrate your efforts near the top or bottom of the tides just as the flow is speeding up or slowing down.  During the middle of the tides concentrate around eddies or in deep holes.

This metre plus mulloway was caught on a live tailor

Tailor

Tailor are mainly caught around the north wall, in the deep hole, in the Eddy or along the runway.  They will eat most baits and unless you like losing hooks you should use the north wall rig with wire between the hooks.  They will eat at any stage of the tide but the big ones prefer it when the tide slows a bit.

69cm Tailor caught on a butterflied Pike

Bigeye Trevally

Bigeye Trevally are most commonly caught on live baits of herring but they will take yellowtail and even pike on occasion.  They can pretty much be caught anywhere but the Pipeline holds the largest amount of these fish.

Bigeye Trevally taken on a live pike

Giant Trevally

Giant Trevally can be caught anywhere but the north wall dropoff, runway and the pipeline hold the most fish.  They will eat most baits except live Tailor.    Giant Trevally will happily take baits alot further off the bottom than most other fish so if I get snagged with the north wall rig and lose the sinker, I let it drift around unweighted for a while.  A GT usually picks up the bait.

68cm Gt caught on a live yellowtail

Yellowtail Kingfish

Kingfish are a random event, you never know when they will show up or when you will hook them.  They love live pike, Squid and Garfish but will have a go at anything fishy.  Most kingfish hooked around the pipeline are lost due to bustoffs, hooking them elsewhere gives you a better chance.  If you see them feeding on surface throw a unweighted live bait in thier swim direction and you might get lucky.

This 93cm Kingfish took a live pike off the end of the north wall

Sharks

Sharks will often make themselves known while you are fighting a fish hooked on a livebait, often you will only bring up a head.  To target sharks with livebaits you need a wire trace preferably 100lb or heavier a 10/0 hook and a decent livebait like a 40cm Tailor.  If they are around they should find the bait fairly quickly.  The best area for sharks is the deep hole at the end of the north wall but all locations have sharks at times.  Look for areas out of the main tidal flow such as eddies and deep holes.

This 2 metre + Bull shark was caught on a live pike

 Other Species

There are other species that can be caught in the seaway on livebaits, these include various cod species, Trevally species, large Mangrove Jacks, offshore species like Spanish Mackerel, Cobia and Snapper, Whitespot Shovelnose and Stingrays.  All these fish are a random event and not something you can plan for but they make livebaiting the seaway an interesting way to spend some time on the water.

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If there is anything else you think this article need let me know in the comments section.  Some hook placement pictures are missing but I will add them as I can.

Was trialling a new underwater camera mount today for underwater shots of schools of fish, looked in many different places.  All I saw was Bream, Bream and more Bream, Yellow Spinefoot, Luderick, Tang's and a few assorted reef species.  Considering how many bream I see down there, bait fisherman don't even make a dent in the numbers.

Wavebreak North Wall

Broadwater Parklands Jetty

South Wavebreak Wall

Canyon

North Wall

Well another week gone and this week the jewies had centre stage.  It seemed they were everywhere,

from the North Wall Deep Hole, Runway, Line, Triangle, Northern Y and Pipeline plenty were caught in the 70 - 100cm range.  Baits both dead and alive consistently took the larger fish, but plastics and vibs pulled a few as well.

GT's were around the Wavebreak Flats, Canyon and Northern Channel but only fed on surface once a session and usually in concert with other fish like Small Mack Tuna, Kingfish, Tailor and Queenfish.  It seems that the lack of bait has the fish working together to round up bait schools.   The fish weren't fussy if you found them feeding, they would take poppers, metals and plastics.  Dawn and dusk still seem to be important but they will feed after dawn if they can't locate any bait within the low light period.




Around the ends of the walls, there were a few tailor and small bigeyes on minnows but nothing huge.  Tarpon showed up around the north Wavebreak Rock Wall on Sunday night, but were scarce around the ends of the North and South Walls so they are moving around a bit. Queenfish have been around in the channels leading to and from the seaway but not real predictable.  Small mack tuna have been off the end of the north wall but not consistently feeding.

I haven't been out much this week, only one overnighter which yielded little in the way of action except for a lone GT and a few decent Jewies.  There are millions of Pike and Tailor out on the bait reefs during the night so if you want to stock up on pike for dead baits get out there after the sun has set and use 3" plastics on a 1/2oz jighead, a small minnow on a weighted rig or an oversized bait jig.  There is also a chance of a decent jewie if you stick down a live tailor in the same area....don't use pike the Tailor will tear them to shreds.

I have concentrated on getting some content done this week and Livebaiting the Seaway - The Ultimate Edition is almost ready, just need a few pics which I should be able to get next week.  It's easily my largest and most comprehensive article yet so hopefully you will find it useful.

Only 5 days left for the Report Competition in this month, we have had some excellent reports from Howard, Jayde and Kane but there is still time for the rest of you.

Just to prove that jewies are dead easy,  I had 3 dead pike left this morning after some frustrating attempts at livebaiting the bait grounds during the night(sooooo many small tailor!!!) Here's what happened...

Bait - Butterflied Pike

1st Pike 80cm Jewie

2nd Pike 75cm Jewie

3rd Pike 85cm Jewie

Inside a Jewies Mouth

Set out to do an overnighter on tuesday afternoon about 2.00pm, met Jayde and Andy out on the water and started off around the end of the north wall.   Jayde pulled a couple of Tailor on a 7cm skitter pop so I threw out a Flash Stick 9(now known as a skitterbait) and it didn't take long before a nice tailor grabbed it off the surface. Unfortunately that was it, no more fish were hooked after that. I decided to go for a run around and look for some surface action so I headed north. Wasn't until I was driving past the weed beds north of Crab Island that I saw some bird action and a few bustups in the shallows. Headed over there and found some small tailor chasing bait and threw out the skitterbait and it was smashed straight away by small tailor. If they didn't hook up they hit it again and again even right next to the boat. Size wasn't much good with the biggest coming in around 40cm. They disappeared after half an hour so I headed back to the seaway for the dusk session. Started off throwing a Lucky Strike King hunter minnow around the north wall flats hooking 3 tailor but only landing one around 45cm. Changed to a Skitter Pop 9 but had no interest.




The outgoing tide and the easterly swell made the seaway channel lumpy and barely fishable so once the sun set I changed to a 3/8 CCM and concentrated around the ends of both the walls and the north wall flats. Had a few hits on the north wall flats but no takers anywhere else. Had a look further in the broadwater and had a troll around for Hairtail but only caught bream. Came back to the seaway just as the tide turned to run in. Worked the tip of the north wall first before doing a drift right along the length of the wall. Wasn't until I was about 3/4 of the way along that I had my first decent hookup, it ran at the boat which had me thinking Tarpon, but as soon as it saw the boat it took off on a good run. After a few more good runs I finally got a good look at the fish, a Hairtail and a good one too at around 1.5m long. Gave him a quick measure, took a few pics and sent him back to terrorize baitfish once again. Decided to do the inside drift again and soon hooked up again this time on a small jewie around 50cm. Continued to do the same drift and picked up 1 more jewie around 60cm, 5 bigeyes all small and 2 Tarpon. The technique was the same one I used earlier on in the week, cast out, quick wind in to pick up slack, then a prolonged pause, then a slow wind, then pause etc. Around 1am decided to take a break and rest up for the dawn session.

At 5am I got back into it but as the tide was now running out I concentrated around the end of the north wall slow rolling plastics along the bottom but no takers. Just as it was getting light I switched to a skitterbait and began working the north wall flats and it was soon being hit by small tailor all around the 35cm size, landed half a dozen before they went off the bite. Tried minnows and twisties after that but had no interest. Went back into the broadwater just on sunup to look around for fish. Didn't see any on the surface but I threw the skitterbait around on some shallow flats north of Horseshoe Flats and had bream attacking it. Hooked a couple but didn't land any. Went back to the north wall well after sunup and threw the skitterbait around on the flats once again and more tailor started attacking it with most of the hits coming in close to the wash about 10 metres back from the tip. These tailor were bigger than the dawn fish with all of them being between 40 & 50cm. While I wasn't getting hit on every cast it was consistent enough to spend a couple of hours there watching the tailor smacking the hell out of this little surface lure. As a matter of interest I threw around plastics, twisties and minnows as well but didn't even get a hit on them. They went off the bite around 10am but I waited around until the top of the tide just incase they would start feeding again but they didn't. So I called it a day around 12pm.

So an interesting overnighter, nothing real big other than the Hairtail and alot of time between fish on some occasions. The skitterbait is an awesome little lure, in just 3 sessions it has caught tailor, dart, bigeyes and bream. Expect to see alot of this lure in reports in the near future. Once we get into spring and the frogmouth pilchard schools arrive along with big greenback tailor, large bigeyes and more kingfish this lure will be pulling some big fish. I haven't been this impressed with a lure since the Vision 111.

Just as a side note, there doesn't seem to be alot of bait around in the seaway or broadwater during the day, though this can change at any time.  There are large bait schools coming through on the night run in tides but they are going back out again on the next run out.  I went out for a quick fish last night pulled a tailor and bigeye on a skitterbait around the north wall but there was no surface feeding by anything.  Hopefully things should improve over the weekend as we get better dawn/dusk tides and closer to the full moon on tuesday.  Less than 6 weeks left until spring!

I will be at the Victoria Point Boaties Market on this Sunday selling lures, braid and fishing gear if any of our brisbane based members wants to come and have a chat.

• Gates open 6AM to 12:PM
• Admission - By donation

Where?

            Victoria Point State School
Colburn Avenue, Victoria Point

Into the seaway at 3am, task for the morning was to spend some time looking for Tarpon in an effort to try and find the main school, not the ones and two's we have been seeing lately.  Wind was 5-10kts from the East, occasional showers with just a half meter of easterly swell.  The tide had turned to run out about 2 hours ago so the water had just begun to dirty.  We looked in all the usual spots and jumped off one fish, had a sound around for GT's(nope) before looking at some new area's.  Took us a little while to find them and a slight change of technique before we started to get Tarpon in numbers.  Lure used was the ever faithful CCM grass minnow on a 3/8th oz head and the technique was a slow roll with extended pauses.  So basically cast in, wind in about 5 metres quick to pick up slack then a pause for about 15 seconds, then about 2 metres of slow roll, then 15 seconds of pause etc.  The Tarpon would either grab it straight away or tap at it all the way to the boat.  I did manage to hook one with only about 3 metres of line out.  With the high tidal flow in this area, the extended pauses just let the plastic get down a bit deeper while still maintaning a swimming action on the plastic.  We ended up with 10 hookups and 5 Tarpon landed best going 69cm for the morning.




With first light upon us we changed tack and went to the end of the north wall, on went the 80mm Dropbear slick rigs and we began slow rolling them  across the front of the wall which has proved a good technique lately.  Dad was on to a fish on his first cast which turned out to be a 70cm Jewie.  We kept doing that for another half an hour for no more interest.  We changed to poppers around the front of the wall and I had a few hits on a flash stick 9 before dad landed a tailor on the 40cm range on a Chrome skitter pop.  That was it unfortnately, no more hits on poppers.  The sun rose and nothing else was interested, we saw a few schools of 30cm mack tuna just outside the walls on either side, plus some queenies down near wavebreak.  Had a quick look for GT's over the canyon but nothing.  Plenty of boats around the pipe chasing jewies and the hairtail have arrived, you can tell by the pack of boats sitting on the Northern Corner(Map 1). Might see if I can troll one up later on in the week.  Called it a morning around 9am.

Successful Lure’s Rundown

• CCM Ecogear Grass Minnow M  – price $12.50/10 pack – Availability – SeawayFishing Shop or Samurai Tackle
• TT 3/0H Jighead - Price $9.00 / 6 pack - Availability - Most tackle Stores
  
• Chrome Skitter Pop - Price $25.00 - Availability - SeawayFishing Shop
• Squidgy 80mm Slick Rig Dropbear colour - Price $11.00/ 5 pack - Availability BCF, Some Tackle Stores.

Fishing Gear Used

SWF Strong  LLBC702M/ML 7? Spin rod / Daiwa Ballistic 3000 Reel /12lb Yellow Spider Braid / 30lb Famell Super Shock Leader

Just a quick midweek update for those of you considering fishing the next two days.

The clear water is again making its way into the Seaway and Broadwater at high tide, visibility was 5m plus at the top of the tide today.  Fishwise, plenty of Queenfish around the pipeline and in close to wavebreak just on dawn on slugs though not fussy. A few tailor, small bigeyes on minnows on the north wall flats and the odd GT in front of the north wall slow rolling plastics just on dawn. Big Tailor on 7" jerk shads down in the north wall deep hole, but hard to get a hookup  to stick.  GT's are sulking in the canyon on the run in tides, but rarely feeding.  They fed hard on dawn monday morning, then only fed once for seconds on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Tarpon are still around the ends of the walls but hard going with them at the moment, generally pull a couple straight up then nothing else.

Doesn't seem to be much bait making its way past the triangle at the moment, though there is plenty out in front of the walls.  Typical Winter stuff, hard going but there are fish there if you put in the effort plus you never know what might happen.  I'd keep an eye in front of the north wall in the afternoons just in case the Tailor or GT's decide to get energetic.

Hit the Tarpon early Friday morn but lost the only 2 hooked (and a Bigeye) then realized the the hook had no point probably due to an earlier snag, headed out to the north wall but there was already a half dozen boats there chasing small Tailor etc so headed up the northern channel but only found more Tailor.
Fished the tide change dodging boats in the "Y" for a couple a little Jewies then spent the arvo searching the northern channel from wavebreak to the Salmon bank but apart from more Tailor found nothing exciting.
Headed back to the Seaway on sunset and pulled a 60cm Tarpon on about the 3rd cast, that was enough and back at the ramp by 7.
P.S What a ripper day for the middle of winter.

Video from monday's effort, catching Tailor  on Flash 15 Fire Redhead minnows just as the big swell hit.

Another week done with some wild weather at the start of the week but falling seas and low winds towards the end of the week, weather should be good for boating over the weekend with just a mid strength SE wind for sunday.  Some interesting behaviour by the fish this week and further confirmation of winter behavoural patterns.

Some decent sized Tailor around the north wall in the big swell early on in the week, some smaller tailor were also sighted further up north of Crab island and between Sovereign and Ephraim islands.  Now that conditions have calmed down the wall fish have probably either moved back into the surf zones along south straddie, gone down deep or back into the broadwater.  Still a chance for a couple of stragglers though.




GT's have been quite tough to get this week but trolling has picked up a couple and as the tide got closer towards the end of the day the GT's began to feed in the half light of dusk in and around the Northern Y, Canyon and North Channel East Flats.   For the first time this week I saw the winter schooling behaviour exhibited by the GT's last winter.  They would come up briefly, then go back down but sit in the same area.  Twisties dropped to the bottom over the bottom fish got hookups.  They aren't fussy when they come to the surface, poppers work great and as long as your cast is accurate gets hit straight away.  Other lures also work fine if you get them in the zone.  I haven't heard of them feeding on the surface outside the dawn or dusk period in the last week(but they may have) so make sure you have your eyes open during that time.  The birds are not on the fish so keep an eye out for any bait you see rippling during this time and stay close.

There have  also been plenty of Dart around the north wall, small 7gram slugs work fine but they have been hitting larger lures as well, I took quite a few on CCM Grass Minnows on 1/4oz heads.  Queenfish have also been around in the broadwater, I saw a few scattered fish during the week but no big schools.  Jewies have been caught at the slowing parts of the tides, the usual livies or plastics work fine(not much changes with these fish on a week by week basis).

Tarpon are still around the walls at night in small numbers and a few caught by fly fisherman during the day off the south wall.  Some small bigeyes are around the tips of the walls as well.

The water clarity is still quite good despite the swell and rain, so at the top of the tide it might be a good idea to head further up the broadwater away from the clean water.

Looking forward, the tides over the weekend look good for GT's at either dawn or dusk, but as next week goes on it will change to a dawn bite only.

Remember that the Gold Coast Marathon is on this weekend, Marine Parade will be closed both Saturday and Sunday at various times so use another ramp other than The Grand this Weekend.  I recommend Paradise Point ramp or Coombabah creek ramp if you want to stay right away from all the hassle.

I will be at the Carrara Market Car Boot sale(Gooding Drive, Carrara) on Sunday selling off some old fishing gear(lures, rods, reels, line) if you have nothing else to do and want a chat.

For those fishing over the weekend, Good Luck and may your drag scream long and loud.

As always this report is a combination of personal observation and talking with other fishermen, thanks to those who have contributed.

Into the seaway at around 4.30am, swell was still up from the South East but had dropped from its 4m plus highs down to a manageable 2.5m. Had a look around carefully, just on dawn I picked up a couple of mid 40's tailor around the end of the north wall on 20gram twisties and once the sun was up started to catch dart in the 30-35cm range.   Did that for a while then had a look at the south wall, fly guys were catching Tarpon but whatever I tried I couldn't get them to hit a plastic or a lure.  Might have to get some fly gear myself to fish the south wall better.




Had a look in the broadwater but nothing going, back to the north wall picked up some more dart and the odd tailor on 1/4oz ccm grass minnows but it was hard work and there was lots of weed.  Dad joined me once the tide turned to run in I was hopeful we might see some surface feeding but apart from some birds picking bait off the surface it was quiet.  Looked all the way from the Seaway down to Crab. Picked up a small jewie drifting a new plastic over the Canyon.  Waited and waited then decided to have another go for tailor at the north wall, picked up another couple in the mid 40's range on Flash 15 Fire redhead minnows.  Thankfully most of the weed had disappeared with the run in tide.

Then had another look around, by 4.30 had pretty much decided to go back to the wall and try for more tailor when on the way back into the seaway saw something in the Northern Y that changed my mind. Bait and lots of it, big too, large frogmouth pilchards or Anchovies(sardines) all feeding on the surface.  I had seen this before about a year ago.   So we waited, I saw one big fish come up then another.  I decided to use poppers, when they are chasing bait this big they aren't fussy and poppering GT's is awesome fun.  We did a few casts with no interest then just as the sun began to dip below the horizon a big school came up within about 50 meters.  We both cast in, me with a chrome skitter pop 9, Dad with a 14cm redhead River2sea Bubble popper, double hookup for us and both fish were duly landed after about  10 minutes(low 60's high 50's).  Then I had to take dad back to the ramp.  I got back there in no time just in time for the GT's to start feeding properly near the green beacon on the South west corner of Straddie.  Threw the popper in the it got monstered, the hooks pulled, it got hit again, missed the hooks this time.  Saw the fish on the sounder dropped down a 30 gram twistie and got hit hooked up but it broke the single hook I was using.  Another school popped up, threw the popper in got hit again missed the hookup, then got hit again within a couple of metres of the boat, landed this fish(low 60's).  Just on last light a big school popped up on the northern channel flats, I was first on the spot popper got hit as soon as it landed.  While I was fighting that fish the water police came over to 'remind' me to turn my lights on.  I did so and landed that fish another in the low 60's.   Then it got too dark, on the way back I noticed Andy fighting a fish trying to control the boat with a worried look on his face and thought to myself that looks like a good fish.. Little did I know!   Turned out it was a kingfish of 105cm, fantastic fish Andy and well fought!

I called it a day just after dark.  So a long day with as few fish here and there but the bulk of the action was at dawn or dusk.  Keep an eye out for bait or anything fishy during those times and you may get on to a fish or two.   Ignore the signs and you may miss the fish.   They might feed again this afternoon but it depends on the bait, and don't give up until that sun sets.  Just make sure you have the right lights for night fishing, red, green and an allround white are required.

Arrived at 10.00am to fish the incoming tide, wind was 25kts from the SE, swell was around 2-2.5m from the south east.  The south wall was getting pounded but the north wall was fishable.. just.  Had a few casts around the inside of the wall then moved out in front of the wall.  First cast into the north eastern corner with a Fire Redhead flash15 had me hooked up on a feisty tailor around 45cm, then every cast got hit by tailor from 45-50cm.  After about half an hour the swell was increasing and the area was becoming dangerous so I left the fish biting and came back inside the wall.  Tried a Chrome skitter pop for a while and landed 1 tailor around 45cm, switched to a minnow and pulled in a decent size dart around 45cm.




That was it for the wall came back inside and trolled around for a bit looking for schooling GT's, saw them once in the Northern Y hooked and landed 2 on the troll around 65cm using chrome Bolt Omegas then they disappeared.  Had a look further up the broadwwater, found some small tailor between Sovereign and Ephraim, and just south of horseshoe flats.  Saw some bait being pushed to the surface just south of the Cross Channels in some heavy rain, probably by GT's but they never surfaced, hooked one on a trolled Flash 25 but dropped him after he had run about 50m.  That was it.  Gave it away at the top of the tide.  Interesting day, the later tides this week should fish better.

Well we have a big swell now pounding the outer walls so they are out of bounds until Wednesday probably Thursday at the earliest. The big swells will stir up a bit of weed which may make trolling difficult, there was already a bit around.  There was alot of suspended sand at the mouth.