A place to keep pictures of all the good fish Skitterbaits have caught.
Today I managed a yellowtail Kingfish, only a little one but sooner or later I'll be able to throw them at big kingfish.
.... on a skitterbait. Very short report ....In what is likely to be the first of many greenbacks fr this little lure, I managed to find some quality tailor busting up just on dusk further up the broadwater north of Crab island. They ignored plastics and minnows but climbed all over the skitterbait. Good news for summer! Briefly in the seaway, 10m + visibility, lots of weed on the runout and still phosphorescence at night so still tough. Some tailor around the end of the north wall, mid 40's and massive schools of luderick.
Large schools of mullet have entered the seaway on the annual winter spawning run. That means its big mulloway time, dust off those livebait rigs. I'll be doing an updated livebait article shortly.
Getting a camera into the middle of feeding fish is not easy, usually it takes many attempts and when you do you only get a few seconds of footage. The fish don't seem to be bothered by the camera though most will look at it as they swim past. The results are worth it, and they give you an understanding of how each type of fish feed and you can adjust your techniques to suit. So here for the first time ever are pictures showing whats going on underneath some of those feeding fish you see on the surface.
Giant Trevally
Giant Trevally travel in large schools, the bulk of the school stays below and helps to drive the bait, individual fish hit the surface then vertically crash dive down 2-3 metres to swallow the food. When not herding bait they hold close to the bottom.
Bigeye Trevally
Bigeye Trevally travel in large schools near the surface to drive the bait then attack en masse swallowing the bait as they go, once the bait is scattered they dive down deep and school mid water.
Tailor
Tailor drive the bait school from below up to the surface then individuals or a part of the school attack the bait, chopped pieces of bait drift back down through the water column to be picked up by part of the school below.
Yellowtail Kingfish
Yellowtail Kingfish hunt as singles or part of a small school. Their feeding style is slow and methodical and what I call mooching. Basically spotting some bait near the surface then coming up with a big open mouth and taking a mouthful then going back down.
And just for something interesting here's some manta rays that have been doing the rounds lately.
Still on the to photograph list.. Tuna, Bonito, Mackerel, Queenfish.
Most fish need to be above average size (60cm for most fish)or rarely caught to qualify. Most recent fish first.
Kane got this 74cm Golden Trevally on a Megabass Vision 110 on 31/12/13
This 96cm Barracuda took a trolled Bolt Omega on 20/8/13
This 90cm Mulloway took a double shot in the Triangle on 13/8/13
Neil got this 105cm Mulloway on a live yellowtail in the Triangle on 5/8/13
John got this 90cm Yellowtail Kingfish on a Chrome Skitter Pop 9 on 1/8/13
Jayde got this 93cm Mulloway on a live yellowtail in the north wall deep hole on 22/7/13
This 1.5 metre Hairtail was caught on 16/7/13 on a 3/8 Albino Kisu Grass Minnow
Luke got this 122cm Kingfish on a 7" Gulp Jerk Shad on 15/7/13
This 69cm Tarpon was caught on a 3/8oz CCM Ecogear Grass Minnow on 15/7/13
Andy got this 105cm Kingfish on a 2.5" Zman Curl Tail on 3/7/13
John got this 77cm GT on a Flash Pop 9 on 4/6/13
Steve got this 90cm Jewie on a macarthy plastic on 31/5/13
Jayde got this 101cm Yellowtail Kingfish on a Halco Roosta Popper on 31st May 2013
This 80cm GT took a Rapala Skitter pop 9 on 23/5/13
Howard got this 80cm GT on a River2Sea Bubble Pop 7cm on Tuesday 21st May 2013
This 55cm Cale Cale Trevally was taken on a 1/8 split tail flash j on 9th May 2013
Mick got this 65cm GT on a 25gram Gillies Baitfish on 1/5/13
Wade got this 60cm tarpon on a 3/8oz Zman 2.5" grubz in pearl 25/4/13
Wade got this very nice high 60's GT on a 30gram twistie 25/4/13
Andy got this nice GT at 62cm. 21/4/13
A 68cm Tailor caught on a Rapala Skitter POP 9cm
Jonno with a 62cm GT caught on a Halco Twisty
90cm Yellowtail Kingfish caught on a 15gram gillies baitfish
68cm Tailor caught on a Megabass Vision 110
50cm Longnosed Trevally caught on a pearl slider
6kg Blubberlip Bream caught by Thomas from Coastal Sportsfishing charters on a live herring
64cm Golden Trevally caught on a pearl slider
56cm Bigeye caught by Kane
55cm Yellowtail Kingfish caught by Kane
71cm GT caught by Brett
Thanks to Ryan Pearson for this shot, taken last weekend. A good shot of a school of bigeyes and sends a message as well.
There's some nice GT's around at the moment, thanks to the guys for letting me post the pics. March sees the GT's at thier best in the seaway so if you want a quality GT now is the time to target them.
Jonathan got this 63cm Giant Trevally in the seaway yesterday on a 30gram twistie casting into a bustup.
Steve got this 62cm Giant Trevally on a trolled xrd10 just on dusk a couple of weeks ago.
Full report on the days fishing a bit later but this fish deserves a post of its own. Dad's 74cm Tailor taken on a Rapala skitter pop 90 on 6lb braid.
I thought it's be interesting to keep all the sharked fish pics from the seaway in one place so here they are. A reminder of what lurks in the depths of the seaway at times. I'll add more as they happen.
Jayde had this GT sharked just north of the north wall on 28/6/13
Gordo had this estimated 85cm Jewie sharked near the pipeline on friday 26/4/13
Thanks to Steve for this pic, an est 85cm Jewie was sharked in the seaway on 25/4/13
A 50cm Tailor bitten by a shark in close to the mid north wall on the 13th December 2012. The shark must have been following the school, as soon as we hooked the first fish he was chasing them.
Thanks to Mick for this pic, A 60cm + jack eaten close to the boat. March 2012.
15/3/12 Another jewie est 65cm sharked in the deep hole...
27/2/12... A small jewie eaten along the runway, we lost a few other fish as well. We also had a 2 metre+ whaler chase another jewie up to the surface and came out of the water about 2 metres away from the boat..awesome!!
Small bigeye taken along the dropoff of the north wall flats, a place I've named 'Shark Alley", thats the 3rd bigeye I've had eaten in that stretch this year.
Thanks to Gordo for this pic, an est 9kg jew sharked near the pipeline.
And this is what does it.. plenty of 2 metre plus whaler sharks hang in and around the seaway.
118cm 15.08kg Mulloway caught in the deep hole in the seaway this morning on 2.7kg braid on a 3" Gulp Chart/Pearl minnow. A new personal best for me, what a fish, what a fight.
Yellowtail Kingfish caught on the broadwater flats pics.
Please note, this is a retasked post and as such the date on the bottom is innacurate. Retasked on 21st April 2011.
A top fish in anyones eyes, Garry caught this 59cm Mangrove Jack off the north wall of the seaway on a Zman swimmerz Plastic on a 1oz head.
Yellowtail Kingfish
Tailor
Bigeye Trevally
Giant Trevally
Australian Salmon
Tarpon
Mulloway
Tunas and Mackerel
Other Fish