Broke my Bank Cherry
Also broke my spirit!
Bro and I headed outa Mindarie at 11am Saturday and headed to a coral patch in the 40s and drifted some promising sounder action for a 47cm snapper and a scorpion fish on a jig! Few other boats were in the vicinity and they knicked off so we called it and headed to the bank where it raises up to 30m.
Didn't see a thing for miles but then started seeing floats and a few other boats so begun to sound around and we were getting pretty excited and pulled in a 33cm Blackarse but the bite was terrible and I reckon I had two half decent hits all day.
Called it a day and 'one more drift' and chucked a cuttlefish tentacle on my drift bait rig and started cleaning up throwing the bait in the water and my rod buckled over. Brought up a size pinkie with my bros line wrapped around my rig so he grabbed the gaff and as he reached out his line got snagged on the bottom and his braid sheered through my 30lb line and we watched in horror as the luckiest snapper on the bank swam away.
All up we did about 45 miles over 5.5 hours for one Blackarse but at least the 19 mile trip home was pleasant sitting on 28kn the whole way.
If anyone wants to offer some advice on the ground I was hitting I'll be all ears.
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
.thumbnail.jpg "Last ditch effort before cyclone")
Bucko
Posts: 144
Date Joined: 08/05/10
Hey Jack, Sat was slow for
Hey Jack,
Sat was slow for us too, I did 80nm for 4 pinkies and we didn't get them until after 2pm, started fishing at 8.30am.
If I was you, when I was in 30m I would decrease the size of your range to say 10 or 15m and use the shift same as you are now.
That way, everything is magnified.
Top sounder shot looks ok to me, some fish there.
Just a slow day mate.
Cheers
Bucko
Posts: 144
Date Joined: 08/05/10
Oh yeh, bottom shot does not
Oh yeh, bottom shot does not excite me, but sometimes the fish are hiding on holes etc, so might be worth a try.
bsir
Posts: 574
Date Joined: 24/04/11
Screen
Id run the bottom closer to the bottom, and look at the 20m above the bottom (range and shift).
Im a bit lazy ad reckon with my 585 for anything under about 70-80m i just leave the thing in Auto. When I get deeper i go to manual mode.
Top image looks good to me, and agree with Bucko, the bottom image doesnt excite me too much....but depending on how much stuff i am seeing on the bottom, i might have a drop.
Interesting that you run a drift bait rig while drifting. I havent tried that. Do you throw a small lead on it as well to get it down?
sea-kem
Posts: 14959
Date Joined: 30/11/09
I would think so to get away
I would think so to get away from the shitting Mutton birds lol.
Love the West!
johnno67
Posts: 408
Date Joined: 12/03/10
Same
I went out Friday and bagged ot by 12.30 left the fish on the bite.
then I went out Saturday fished the same ground heaps on the sounder but very little biting 1 size baldie.It has seems to be much the same over the last couple of months hit and miss.
Ryan C
Posts: 1575
Date Joined: 08/07/10
sounder
you were not alone , we intimately looked at at least 30 spots from 9am till 5.15 pm for the Bag limit in my post 1/2 hr ago , 1 cuttle, 2 occies , i more baldie - undersized a 20 cm dhu and a tarwhine - good conditions but nothing biting - John f' finding an apparently breeding school of dhu at the end of his day co incides with my mate Joffa who found the same last week off mindarie with a big school of dhu in 34m - it appears theyve vacated most lumps off Mindarie And are schooling on a few particular spots.
sea-kem
Posts: 14959
Date Joined: 30/11/09
It's that time of year eh
It's that time of year eh Ryan, schooling up and very picky. I'm just justifying my sadness for not being out there :P
That first pic Frosty is very promising, but if they're not on the chew fageddaboudit
Love the West!
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1035
Date Joined: 15/08/11
Have fished similar area out
Have fished similar area out of Mindarie before as well over the years, looked great on the sounder but always quiet. Quickly learnt to fish the area on a change of tide and bang, my catch rate went up, fish are on the bite just as quickly going off the bite. I also started using livie's, was fortunate enough to find a spot that regularly holds slimie's and yellowtail, drifting a lively has turned up all sorts of surprises over the years, normally using livie's lightly weighted when there is little current and wind.
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18020
Date Joined: 11/03/08
not much fun and can be
not much fun and can be frustrating when you see fish there but they arent biting, Saturday we did well but sunday they werent interested. but thats fishing.
losing a fish like that would be so annoying. its bad enough losing them boatside when you can just about reach out and grab them.
better luck next time
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
sunshine
Posts: 2600
Date Joined: 03/03/09
Much lower gain in that depth
I have the same sounder and seldom set gain above 4.8
would also have zoom to ten metres not twenty. The fish you are targetting will be in the bottom 5 metres
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8140
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8140
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Cheers lads and yeah I was
Cheers lads and yeah I was fishing the dead zone with a bite time and high tide ending as I was launching and the next bite time starting as I was retrieving but still wanted to get out and give it a crack and explore beyond where I've gone before. That first pic is the one I pulled (and subsequently lost) the snapper out of and I had been adjusting the range but had grown lazy by that stage in the day and it was still set for the 45m area I was just before then. Would have stayed longer if it wasn't for a family BBQ and then the buggers ate dinner without me anyway!
The drift bait rig is one I adaped from Ryan Thipthorp's rig with snelled 6/0 circle hooks with a running #5 bean sinker and a crimp about 20-30cm up and I usually chuck a whole squid on it. I'll pitch that out first and then jig next to it and it's served me well with some nice fish but you need a drift of no faster than 6knots or it'll end up 100m away very quickly.
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
bsir
Posts: 574
Date Joined: 24/04/11
6 knots?
A 6 knot drift?
F*ck!
Anything over 2 and im thinking about an anchor, or a beer because it means the winds up or the tide is moving too damn fast.
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8140
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Haha forgot the decimal
Haha forgot the decimal before the 6
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
jeffh
Posts: 38
Date Joined: 08/02/10
sat fishing
went out saturday on the water by 7.30 am went out about 8nm fish biting till about 10-10.30 then shut down Got our two dhuies released 5 size dhues got 4 baldies and a breaksea, had 4 people fishin so was great day back at ramp by 2.30
sea-kem
Posts: 14959
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Nice! What depth were you at
Nice! What depth were you at Jeff?
Love the West!
Belly Fish
Posts: 499
Date Joined: 09/03/12
Saturday morning was slow
We got our 6 cat 1’s in an hour between 2pm and 3pm. Up until then it was pretty much dead