Scott Goleby with the Dorab, or wolf herring he caught from Moreton Bay at the weekend.
From the Beach
Arriving at daybreak to catch the low tide at Moggs Creek, early last week, Ray Millman was hoping to do better than he did on his previous trip when he couldn’t catch a decent salmon for love nor money.
This time however, they were well and truly present and taking his 42-gram, Savage Sea Missile on almost every cast. And, since the largest of his fish were around the 2 kg mark, he only kept eight for the long walk back to his vehicle, releasing the rest.
Corio Bay/Bellarine Peninsula
Cooling temperatures did not dissuade snapper aficionados Stan Owen and Jason Treloar from making an early morning start on the bay, and their usual approach again paid off, this time within the inner harbour.
Despite the threat of rain on Friday morning their patrol along the edge of the Corio Channel paid off with the capture of two snapper, each around 5 kg, after a promising sounding off North Shore.
They probably would have caught more save for the short duration of unusually timid bites before their quarry went quiet on daybreak.
Simon Werner, while on deckhand duties aboard Adamas charters over the weekend, welcomed two clients with an unusual request – for this time of year anyway – and that was to jig for kingfish.
While most kingfish are captured in the warmer months, their clients wishes prevailed, and in a usually productive area off Point Lonsdale – during the warmer months anyway – they put in the hard yards, finishing up with two kingfish of 62 and 65 cm.
While I don’t have the usual number of local reports this week, I do have a couple of interstate reports that should be of interest.
Murray Stewart with the 109 cm king threadfin salmon he caught from the 80 mile beach in WA (Picture: Linda Stewart).
Upstate West
Geelong fishing Identities Murray and Linda Stewart, whom we featured last week with Linda’s sailfish capture offshore from Broome WA, stopped during their trip at 80 Mile Beach – which is between Broome and Port Hedland – where Murray broke out his light surf fishing outfit.
On a stretch of beach outside of the marine park, he found the fishing a bit slow, but on winding in to check his bait he came up tight on what turned out to be a king threadfin salmon that put up a valiant 20-minute fight before he was able to beach it.
And it made quite an impression at the nearby fish cleaning facilities where locals were somewhat astonished that this 109 cm, 11.5 kg threadfin, was caught on only 4 kg breaking strain line.
John Goleby with the golden trevally he caught from Moreton Bay QLD, after exiting the Brisbane River estuary (Picture: Scott Goleby).
John Goleby holding out the mackerel tuna that he caught in the estuary of the Brisbane River that he caught (Picture: Scott Goleby
Upstate North
Brisbane fishing enthusiasts John and Scott Goleby – whose fishing origins began in Geelong – took advantage of a break in the weather last weekend to duck out from the Port of Brisbane boat ramp.
Navigating downstream they spied fish boiling at the surface that they first identified as tailor, but John soon realised they were in fact, mackerel tuna.
So, after a quick lure change, John hooked one that Scott eventually scooped into the landing net to find the hook on John’s lure had almost been straightened.
Buoyed by their catch, they headed out onto Moreton Bay where, initially at least, there wasn’t much doing. So, Scott switched to bait fishing while John continued casting various metal jigs and vibes.
This was a move that paid off with John’s rod loading up with the weight of a powerful fish that he fought on full drag to minimise the chance of it being taken by one of the sharks that this water is noted for, eventually being rewarded after 15 minutes or so with the capture of an 8.2 kg, 91 cm golden trevally.
Later, Scott hooked an unusual Dorab, or wolf herring, adding a thrilling twist to their day, as they returned to the boat ramp, excited by their catches and eager for their next fishing trip.
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