MyFish 26-1-10 (Great way to spend a holiday)

This week I decided to take the time out from fixing people to recharge the batteries for the up and coming 2010 year which, by going by the previous, will be as busy as ever.

Just by luck(no not really, I timed it that way), a good mate of mine Jordan Bennie had a few days off also meaning I had a reliable ally to get out while the weather was good. Jordan is relatively new to the breaming game but with every outing is growing in confidence and knowledge of the finer details of fishing like tackle choice and knot tying which for a rugby frontrower, poses some challenges!! This has never slowed JB who has more than often shown me a thing or two.

Going by my last post, we thought it would be a great idea to return back to Redcliffe with the presence of bream, estuary cod and snapper in the area to see if we could at least get some table snapper for tonight's dinner.

We started down the bottom end of the peninsula this time to see how the area was fairing due to the restricted green zoning placed on the area last year. We started to fish shallow close to the recently refurbished Woody Point jetty working our way to the deep as the tide began to ebb. We both started the day throwing my go-to lure the Jackall Chubby Deep with JB using the Brown Suji shrimp colour and myself throwing the clear shrimp colour. Keeping the lure close to the bottom, it took JB only three casts to be on the board with a nice personal best 29.5cm fork bream. As JB doesn't get much fishing time during the year, to see him catch a good fish is priceless. Soon after that he was on again this time a smaller bream followed by a flathead who taught JB a lesson by spiking his soft 'office worker' hands!! Haha.


After nabbing a few more small bream, we decided to go out deeper to 7-9ft of water to see if we could find fish feeding back off the shore during the receding tide. JB stayed with the Deep Chubby option, where I decided to try a new tactic in the hope to nail a good snapper. I changed to a Jackall Squirrel 61 which is a longer suspending hardbody lure diving 4-5ft which would be ideal when chasing bigger predators. It didn't take too long till the squirrel got smashed while pausing on my slow rolling retrieve and after a great fight I pulled a nice 37cm fork snapper much to our delight. After another half a dozen casts, I was on again and this fish was angry!! After some big runs and heavy head shakes, my money was on a big estuary cod, but as it got closer to the boat our dinner was just about to get better!! And there it was a cracker 39cm fork snapper, being much more fatter than the last, had inhale my lure and there was no way of losing this bad boy.

After this we took advantage of the glassy conditions to venture to the top of the peninsula up to Castlereagh Reef. Joining some locals, we threw shallow running hardbodies over the top of the bommies using a Zipbaits Khamsin SR and Atomic Crank 38.Using these lures over the top of the bommies gives you great scope as one is floating and the other is suspending letting you fish different columns of water.
This only proved to catch us some small bream until we approached the outcrop at Scarborough Reef where we encountered some pesty cod. JB pulled a nice 35cm cod cranking over a bommie to find another bigger cod following it up to the boat. DAMN COD!!!

We then moved south hitting the shoreline trying to see if any bream were still feeding in the shallows. Jordan had changed his lure back to a deep diving chubby in clear shrimp as the water clarity had dropped due to the wind direction. This bought instant success as JB's lure got nailed with this fish showing great fight. With JB fighting hard, I backed the boat out to deeper water to give him a chance of not being busted off. This ended up being the bream of the day at 32cm fork length and Jordan's new personal best and if you want to see the definition of happiness look at his picture!!! He was over the moon.

We then moved further south to some reef which was to be our last port of call as the wind was picking up. Now the next 30 minutes proved to be an expensive fishing exercise. After catching two bream and two little cod within a handful of casts
we proceeded to get busted off several times loosing lures to big fish. I swear JB was so annoyed, i thought he was going to swim home in disgust as he lost a certain big bream. Well that's fishing.

All in all a cracker day had by the two of us. I love nothing more than putting people onto fish as all they normally hear is my stories and see my pics. Fishing with Jordan is always a pleasure as the day goes so fast with the constant sledging and 'man-banter' that goes on. As you can see by my blogs, I have no real secrets when I fish as I don't mind sharing. Being secretive about techniques, lure choices and locations (what irks me the most is people who black out their photos!!) is really a personal thing but I believe what goes around comes around so sharing will ultimately be rewarded and at the end of the day IT'S ONLY FISHING!!

Enjoy the summer and happy snappering,

Grayson

PS. Please checkout www.fishin.com.au for some awesome lure specials and great range. You won't be disappointed!!

MyFish 21-1-10 (Oh Reddy, you're so much fun)

After a bout of bad weather mainly consisting of SE and NE winds, the weather started to settle a little and gave me an opportunity to get out to the old stomping grounds of Redcliffe.

Since my inception to the Breaming fraternity (and when the Morgan Bros pulled a 4.99kg bag!!) Redcliffe has been earmarked as one of the Breaming meccas of SE Qld.
Personally, it's pretty tough to resist a 10min drive from home to get amongst some awesome fish on light gear.

This day my fishing partner was my dad Joe, who had been on holidays and busting for a fish. We set out early to catch the rising tide and try to beat the late morning rising winds. With the water at a sultry 26.7 deg, I thought we would have a great chance to pick up some fish on topwater chasing their breakfast in the shallows. So while rigging my lines for the proceedings, Dad started fishing before i could even blink leaving this rookie still in the blocks!! Then on dad's third cast for the morning his deep diving chubby got smashed with line peeling off at a rate of knots as this freight train was in a BIG hurry. After several runs and several guesses as what it could be (I called an Estuary Cod) it turned out to be a cracker snapper reaching 42cm to the fork!! Now call me old fashioned, but aren't snapper caught in 10-15ft of water in winter??? Bizarre, as we were in 5.7ft of water in the middle of summer cranking hardbodies chasing bream!! With that start to the morning, it would of taken the death of Darryn Lockyer (from Brisbane Broncos) to wipe the smile off my dad's face as the arrested snapper was in the livewell and going to be tonight's dinner.

With all that excitment, I finally rigged up my Dog X Jr ready for battle to find some shallow chasing ravenous fish and I wasn't disappointed. In quick succession, this rookie was back on the scoreboard, as I pulled nine bream with the biggest five being 33cm fork, then 29cm, 28.5cm, 27.5cm then 27cm. Not bad if we were in a comp situation (but it's always the way!!)
My dad chimed in with three bream also caught on topwater, as it was the first time he's fished this technique and was learning quick.


One of the disadvantages of fishing in summer is by the time 10am hits, your boat turns into a 4.3m frying pan and you start to feel like lucifer with your rod being a pitchfork!! So we decided to sneak around the corner to change reefs but also to get back into the breeze which was a welcome relief.

On arrival to our next reef, the tide was at the top covering majority of our bommie leaving 3-4ft of water on top with 7-9ft drops on either side. Unless you are a Reddy local, this can only mean one thing....Cod time. These filthy lure stealing menaces are prevalent throughout the Redcliffe reef system and can be awesome fun if you can get them out of their holes!! It didn't take too long till dad was onto his first fish which fought with much angst, giving dad a good fight for his money. It turned out to be one of these cod at 34cm, with only dad's 8lb leader saving him from certain lure theft. Straight after that I was on also with this fish running in an arc like pattern meaning a bream was on the line. With several runs and it feeling weighty, I knew this was a good fish and once landed went 32cm to the fork and my day was topped off. I picked this fish up on an Atomic Deep Crank 38 in Ghost Gill Brown using a 5ft, 6lb yamatoyo leader which allows me a little stretch to set the hooks and minimal visibility. In saying this, my 6lb leader was no match for the fish I hooked three casts later which ran like Usain Bolt and left me scratching my head holding a shredded leader asking 'What just happened!!'

We then decided to call it a day as the sun was beating us up and after a great topwater session in the morning and dad's snapper, what more could you really ask for. I always love fishing with my dad as he was the one who introduced me to it at a young age and the fact that now I've grown up, I can beat him!!! On volume, not size!!
Love you Dad.


Happy Breaming,

Grayson

MyFish 7-1-10 (First Fish for 2010)

After a lengthy break (two weeks seems so long!!) from fishing over the Christmas holidays, I thought it better be time to dust off the gear,spool up some new line and venture out to the bay islands for a looksey.

My partner in crime today was my cousin Nigel, who is my regular comp partner and self confessed 'learner' when it comes to breaming. Mind you he's one of those guys who just happens to pull a fish at the right time when we are having trouble filling our bag.

We ventured out to Peel and Goat Islands' as it's been a long time between visits to this bream mecca to see if we could find some bream on topwater. As the tide was just reaching the bottom, we started on the southern side of Peel Is and worked our way around with the increasing south-easter. I started the day throwing the trusty Megabass Dog X Jr in GP Avocado colour where Nigel stuck to the gun colour Modena Bone. Being the bottom of the tide this proved to be really tough, as we had a few little strikes but only one taker with Nigel landing a fat 22cm fork bream. Soon after we decided to move the the western side of Goat Island to get out of the wind and fish some sheltered waters ideal for topwater fishing.

With a combination of smooth waters and the turning tide, it wasn't long for Nigel lure to get smashed by a nice 26.6cm to the fork bream giving him a great fight in shallow water. This basically flicked the switch, as the barometric pressure rose and showers were imminent, the fishing really fired up.Surface hit after surface hit the bream were ravenous as Nigel and I went fish for fish for a cracker 30 minutes. We ended up with 10 bream with 6 legals, biggest being 30cm to the fork then one 29cm, two 28cm, one 27cm and Nigel's first 26.5cm. What a hot patch!! We then did another drift over the same area only to get some undersize bream which gave us the sign to head home.

All in all, another great topwater session at the Bay Islands had by all. This was Nigel's first topwater experience and one he'll never forget. Topwater is one of the most exciting kinds of fishing that really makes you addicted to the sport. It does have it's pros and cons though, as your hook up rate is less but the fish tend to be better quality and very aggressive. So stock up on some topwater lures and give it a go this summer, you'll soon see what I mean.

Happy Breaming,

Grayson

Special thanks to Ferdinando and Maria at www.fishin.com.au for their continual support through 2009. Please check out their website for some great bargains and latest lures.