Started off at the seaway at 4am. Minnows and slugs thrown at the wall landed 6 tailor. All between 30cm and 35cm. Sunup came and with that, so did the birds. Too many birds, stupid mutton birds flying everywhere made it near impossible to find the birds that were following fish. Eventually found a few schools of tuna but couldn't get close enough for a cast. They were very surface shy and by 7am the winds picked up considerably and we decided to head back in. Back into the broadwater and in search of surface action on the incoming tide. No luck so we threw a few plastics around the rock wall and landed 2 small moses perch and a cale cale trevally. My 1st ever I've caught so a new species for me.
Arrived at the seaway at 4am and had a scout around the North wall. Casted minnows the whole length down the inside of the wall till dawn without a touch. Soon spotted birds making their way towards bait just in front of south straddie. We weren't far behind and the 1st surface action we came across was mainly small bonito (millions of them). Gave them up pretty soon after catching a few and decided to chase the smaller faster moving bustups. Finally got within range and 1st cast with a twistie got nailed by a 55cm striped tuna. Landed 4 more striped tuna for the morning. Biggest going 57cm. A few smaller mac tuna in the mix aswell. They slowed down at about 8am. The 1m swells, NE winds and dark skies didn't help our cause, as alot of our cast were untouched when the cloud cover was really thick.
Went back in to look for GTs and spotted them just once in front of crab island. Only a few came up for 10 seconds or so,we did manage two cast with no strikes. That was at 8.40 so i'm not sure if they were around and feeding earlier on the run in tide or there was too much boat traffic and it kept them down. Waited till about 9.30 before calling it quits.
Went for a 4.30am - 9.30am session. Threw minnows and slugs at north and south wall before dawn only to manage 3 strikes and 2 small tailor. Pretty disappointing, after sunrise saw plenty a big tuna surface action on the way down towards mermaid. Didn't get close enough to put in any quality casts. All look to be about 60cm - 90cm models. Headed back towards stradbroke and found some salmon busting up, did manage some good cast but nothing. Followed the school for about 2 hours on the incoming tide. From in front of stradbroke they busted up 3 times, then to the North wall where they stayed up for quite some time (the school getting quite big now) busting up about 5 times. Managed to cast 7 - 30 gram slugs into the school with out a touch. The last we saw of them they were in the broadwater close into stradbroke island. They busted up another 4 times but very quickly. Managed a hit on a squidgie wriggler on the last bustup only to drop him. All salmon were 50cm plus... cant believe we couldn't catch just one. Very frustrating morning. Got such a good look at them plenty of times which makes it even more frustrating. In between chasing the school around, we did manage 3 tailor biggest going 46cm and about half a dozen bonito. Also got a good look at the small seal thats hanging around the seaway. Got very close and took some bad quality photos. The Seal looks injured as there looks to be some open wounds.
Overall... average and frustrating morning of fishing... seeing too many big fish unable to hook on. The salmon are definately here though... hope they hang around like the GTs did.
After reading Craigs Saturday arvo post, My brother and I got inspired to hit the seaway this afternoon.
Hit the water at about 3.15pm. Cruised the water between crab island and wave break island looking for action. Spotted a few birds diving but no surface bust ups. Moved to the seaway and was surprised to see plenty of birds circling just around the mouth. The water was quite choppy but still fishable, just had to keep an eye on the swells coming through. Didnt take long before we saw small patches of bust ups and put a few cast in. No hits just yet so i decided to wait until the slug was deep down before cranking it up. Straight away my lure got hit and from there till about 4.45pm, the action was pretty consistent. We landed 6 GTs between 58cms - 68cms. The GTs hit the surface a fair few times and stayed up for a few minutes at a time even. We were catching them deep down when they werent seen on the surface aswel which was great fun. Between me and my brother we hooked up to about 15plus fish. Had one fish on fighting for about 1minute before the shogun 60lb snap lock clip gave way (so stopped using the clips today and started tying the lure straight to FC leader). Also had what could have been the fish of the day, i think was a kingie because took all my 100yards of 20lb braid, wanted to chase whatever it was but my brother so happened to hook on to a GT at the same time so all i could do was lock the drag up and try to turn it. No good, lost the speedster. Also my Saragosa 4000 reel drag system got busted up during that attempt. Couldn't believe it. Another fish i had on today also snapped my single gamagatsu lure hook in half.
Crazy arvo but great fun. Plenty of hookups and some lost gear. Headed back to ramp about 5pm.Hope they stick around for more action next time.
Headed out Saturday morning at about 5am. Did a few drifts along north wall with plastics and slugs for nothing. Back into the broadwater where we spotted Craig amongst the 1st bust up. 2nd cast hooked onto a 46cm GT. That was pretty much it for the surface action besides 1 more bust up. Headed out to the inshore reefs and did a few drifts for nothing as well. Quite lumpy outside.
Went out Sunday morning at about 5.45am. Perfect conditions inside, stayed in the broadwater for about 1hr before deciding to hit the northwall. Did not see 1 bust up at all. Pretty disappointing. Fair few birds and bait but no fish. Left at 8.30 having only caught a small reef fish using a vibe against south stradbroke wall.
Average weekend of fishing but better being out on the water than working.