# Scarby/Redcliffe 05July13 Big T



## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

Hit the water well before first light&#8230; couldn't see any of my markers, so was fishing blind for a while.

Thought I'd troll for jew for short period, but that didn't reduce the jew-fish population at all, so had just begun a drift for snapper when a stinkie quietly motored up beside me and much to my amusement (?) literally threw the anchor over, followed by the rattle of chain. 

That kind of decided me regards staying in the area&#8230; I paddled closer, then banged my paddle about 20 times against the yak, then paddled to places far off! My thoughts process produced this&#8230; if noise attracts the fish, then my extra noise would really help the nice fellow in the stinkie, and I'd let him catch all the snapper that it produced&#8230; I'll just leave him to it. ;-)

I really am a thoughtful bloke, eh? :lol:

So, some kilometres away, I found another likely spot, and almost immediately the over-head outfit tore off, giving me the definite impression of big fish on!

However&#8230; the fight settled down and became quite dogged and extremely strong, and regards to bringing it to the surface, immovable. Big fish, my arse! This is a turtle&#8230; and a big one!

Greg, a newbie kayaker I've met a couple of times recently, had come into view and was interested regards my bent rod&#8230; I told him what I thought it was, and he reckoned that perhaps I should stop using jelly-fish as bait. I wasn't nearly as amused as Greg seemed to be, but it was funny, really. :lol:

A short while later, it surfaced and yep, big dark-coloured flippered thing, so at the first opportunity, I cut the line and began retying new leader to braid.

Greg moved off to do his own thing, and another kayaker approached&#8230; this was BeeJay, I think from Noosa Yakkers&#8230; Trev had told me that he probably would be in the area today, and this was our first meeting.

As he approached, I caught a small tailor that didn't appreciate my fumbling attempts at releasing him and bit me on the palm of my left hand. Of course, I very gently slipped him back into the briny, (perhaps not so gently) and went about stopping the bleeding.

Damp hands don't take very well to gauze tape, so had to use a band-aid type to get some adhesion&#8230; didn't work all that well either, but parts of it stuck, so better than nothing.

I chatted for a while with BJ, then decided that this spot wasn't really appealing to me anymore, so headed off for places in the region of Redcliffe North. I tarried at another spot on the way, and after an extremely slow drift, hooked a 65cm snapper. 

Truly, I really like people&#8230; but the two blokes in a tinnie that saw me hook that fish, up-anchored and zoomed over to where I hooked it, and heaved the anchor over&#8230; they really didn't endear themselves to me at all. 

After I took a photo of the snapper, measured and released it, I paddled closer to them and told them that their action was the epitome of bad taste, plus some other terse comments, then vacated the area.

Paddling past Shield St Reef, I noticed there was a couple in a two man kayak and four in a craft I couldn't describe properly&#8230; looked something like a canoe, definitely not a kayak&#8230; could have been a dinghy, but I know it had four in it, (with not a lot of free-board) I think one adult and three youngsters. Anyway&#8230; they were really close to where I wanted to fish, so I just by-passed them and headed off to Redcliffe Point.

I dropped two fish on the way, (think they were tailor) and trolled on right down to the Lifesavers' Hut and back to where the old marker buoy used to be&#8230; attempted a drift there for a while, but the bite was so furious, I almost dozed off. I noted that my drift had taken me absolutely nowhere, so completely enthused, I wound in the two lines and trolled back North, picking up another tiny tailor on the way&#8230; I treated this little feller with heaps more respect than I did the first one. ;-)

As I passed the Redcliffe Jetty and Its protective rock wall, I picked up the company of another yakker called Matt. This was his first time at Redcliffe, so he tagged along with me as I trolled North. He told me that although there was no structure showing on his sounder, he was seeing some largish fish.

Normally that would be enough to have me doing a drift over the area, but my enthusiasm had waned terribly and no&#8230; it's getting to around mid-day, and I'm going home. Matt decided on tarrying in the area, so we parted company.

Matt called out then that he'd found some interesting bumps and bait-fish as well, so that explained why the bigger fish were in the vicinity. Go for it Matt!

Awa' hame, Jimmy!


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## Tunatonight (Jun 29, 2013)

Good reading and nice fish


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## carnster (May 27, 2008)

Nice one BK. I despise the crowds as well and will go somewhere else away from them all where possible.


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## WadsYak (May 20, 2013)

Good report nice fish, just interested do you eat fish? because I see you release your catches in your reports. Good work mate.


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## bruus (Aug 27, 2010)

Nice work Jim, I was a bit worried your turtle drought was getting unbearable for you. Nice to see your back in form.


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

WadsYak said:


> Good report nice fish, just interested do you eat fish? because I see you release your catches in your reports. Good work mate.


Yes, WadsYak... perhaps twice a week we have a fish feed, but I usually don't take snapper home. Jew and grunter are the favoured flavours at my place, and because of their size, I don't have to take many other fish home. I have this thing about catching fish and giving it away... if we all did that, there'd be none left to catch.

Tuna... definitely a take-home species... they're wonderful to eat.

I would like to hook into a wahoo or cobia... one of them would go well on the plate... but they're pretty scarce around Redcliffe, for me that is.

Cheers, Jimbo


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

bruus said:


> Nice work Jim, I was a bit worried your turtle drought was getting unbearable for you. Nice to see your back in form.


Yeah, Daniel... pretty soon I'll be back into the double hook-ups again, eh?

How did you go today?

JImbo


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## WadsYak (May 20, 2013)

Thats good I never take home more than I need to feed the family aswell, though I usually dont catch more than that anyway :lol: . I have never caught a grunter and if they are better than snapper im very keen to get one.


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## Wrassemagnet (Oct 17, 2007)

I feel for ya Jimbo, maybe you could raise a banner or something to warn those tinnies not to drop anchor where the fish are - something like "drifting without an anchor caught me this fish, don't drop your anchor if you want one too". Or you could just borrow my new lifejacket -










Nevertheless the mojo is still strong and attracting the Turtles and you remain tasty to the Tailor so the big jewie and grunter must be just around the corner as it seems wrong that the fish continue doing all the chewing


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

WadsYak said:


> Thats good I never take home more than I need to feed the family aswell, though I usually dont catch more than that anyway :lol: . I have never caught a grunter and if they are better than snapper im very keen to get one.


Everybody's taste is different... but snapper rate well below jew and grunter for my wife and I, but I love catching snapper... they're quite a buzz... although the jew and grunter are no slouches either...



Wrassemagnet said:


> I feel for ya Jimbo, maybe you could raise a banner or something to warn those tinnies not to drop anchor where the fish are - something like "drifting without an anchor caught me this fish, don't drop your anchor if you want one too".
> Nevertheless the mojo is still strong and attracting the Turtles and you remain tasty to the Tailor so the big jewie and grunter must be just around the corner as it seems wrong that the fish continue doing all the chewing


Jim... I only give them the bird if it's totally inappropriate to speak it... usually they get the full burst! ;-) I've already caught more grunter this year than most other years, although I don't target them intentionally, just jag 'em when snapper fishing.



Lazybugger said:


> Hook a turtle ........ Check
> Abuse some boaties ...... Check
> Catch a lovely Snapper ....... Check
> 
> ...


 :lol: :lol: :lol: got me, Lazy!

Cheers all... Jimbo


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## bruus (Aug 27, 2010)

Not much luck today, did a paddle with Trev and caught a sand flathead off the eastern edge of the green zone. I was pretty happy with that though, got away from the congestion around scarby and saw a couple of dolphins smashing into bait. I'm not sure how Trev ended up but he had landed a Grinner.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Well today was like Queen Street .... about 15 yak fishos. Bruus (Daniel) and I decided to go for a long paddle/chat into the Woody Point Green Zone and almost to the Woody Pt jetty. It glassed out for two hours, while I had a nap and Dan caught a little flatties on SP.

Later I saved a donut by catching a Pete (grinner). We parted ways as the caffeine was calling Dan,and I continued for two hours to get dizzy paddling round Flag and Beacon reefs, in up to 16 knots, for zilch, except for an unusual and intriguing encounter with the Coastguard. The wind and swell were at their it's roughest, and still trolling, I heard the sound of a motor approaching behind me. It was the Redcliffe Coastguard in a small inflatable..2 POB.

They asked, "Are you heading in now?"

I replied, "No. Not really (I was quite comfortable in these conditions)."

They said, "We think you had better, as there is a strong wind warning for up 25 - 30 knots developing."

Now I thought this was strange, as the 3.00 am marine forecast that morning, had predicted only 10 - 15 knots, and at this stage was spot on. Conditions had actually abated a little in the past few minutes. I pointed this out to them (politely), asking the time of the expected increase in wind. They said, "Soon." Such a change in the forecast could have happened since I read it at 3 am, but the current conditions gave no indication that was likely soon.

What was also strange was that since Daniel had gone for coffee over an hour ago, I had been monitoring channel 16, which I generally what I do when on my own, changing only to other channels at the request of Coastguard/VMR. If a strong wind warning had been issued this would have been broadcast on 16, with advice to change to 67 for the actual warning. No such broadcast was received in the hour I had been on 16.

They departed with a repeat warning, "Well we've told you."

As soon as they had gone, I called Redcliffe Coastguard to request the latest marine forecast. It was for 15 - 20 knots, so not a strong wind warning at all, and conditions I was still quite comfortable with. I did relate the info I had received from the inflatable, but the base made no further comment.

My guess is the two in the inflatable somehow formed a notion that I shouldn't be out there all alone in a kayak in those conditions (all the stinkers had gone home). They were possibly training, or simply erred a bit on the cautious side of the forecast, I suppose in case I wasn't capable.

A related incident occurred a few years ago when I paddled out to one of the Solitary Islands in a sea kayak, knowing there was a big southerly coming. I reached the island just as it started to puff up to about 15 knots (from 10 knots), and suddenly a 7 metre cabin cruiser with two huge outboards came belting up to me to *'get to shore mate' *as a 25 - 30 knots southerly was just about on us.

I thanked him for his concern, failed to convince him I'd be fine, and off he went with a roar seeking shelter himself. He was right about the timing cause ten minutes later it was 20 - 25 knots and increasing. There were some great surfing rides back to shore over the next 45 minutes  . My belief is that many boaties might think kayaks are unseaworthy, but I believe that with skills training and the right craft (a sea kayak), you can be more seaworthy than many power boats in rough conditions.

Nevertheless, in both cases, it is good to see others concerned for your safety at sea.

Trip report section: One 37 cm tailor for dinner, caught two minutes from landing, after nine hours on the water.  On an hourly rate the tailor was about $ 120/kg.


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

hay jim,

more fuel for my tailor on the top, snapper on the bottom theory.

i'm sure the way snapper like those virtually unweighted plastic shads just wafting down, must be because they are used to gobbling the scraps falling from above as the pelagics create the food.

your opinion on whether the better snapper hang off the bottom. bottom bashing from boats rarely produces a good fish in the bay. the bottom seems inhabited with moses perch and a variety of juvenilles.

i think the kayak does well as it allows the plastic or bait to go thru the water column very slowly. an anchored boat just cant achieve this. once you anchor you need a bit of lead and then you have an unnatural bait.

jim, i did some research last wednesday avo on this and i'll post a report tonite. but your technique certainly works.

? if, (as my theory says) the bigger snaps are off the bottom a bit or at least come up to nail a wafting bait, and if, redcliffe is a rubbley bottom (i presume not too sharp) then 
is it not a really good idea to go ultra light in braid and leader to produce a more natural presentation,
how light would yo go in leader. if your kayak is light and you set your drag up right, i would imagine you could go down to maybe 6 lb?

thoughts.


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## Wrassemagnet (Oct 17, 2007)

Pete I'm not THE Jim but I thought I'd toss another log on yer fire as I've caught snapper on 1/4 Oz 3 inch paddle tail tossed into the middle of what were obviously surface feeding pelagics and allowed to sink slowly - nailed about half way down I'd guestimate, no action imparted from my rod at all as it sank. Has also happened on a piece of squid on the same jighead weight in same circumstances.

Trev I'm always impressed by the conditions you are comfortable in, many years of experience and a ton of fitness go into that. I'm nowhere near comfortable above 15 knots and I can't imagine ever being so. Love your work.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Wrassemagnet said:


> Trev I'm always impressed by the conditions you are comfortable in, many years of experience and a ton of fitness go into that. I'm nowhere near comfortable above 15 knots and I can't imagine ever being so. Love your work.


Jim

Don't know about the fitness Jim, but maybe the fatness adds a bit of ballast! :lol: I do have fairly reasonable cardiovascular fitness though, and that does help for long paddles, particularly in the rough.

Over a lifetime in the water, I have spent a lot of time ... body surfing, whitewater, surf (kneeboards, WW and surf kayaks), sea kayaks and 2.5 years on fishing SOT's. Probably a few thousand hours. It does all add up and make you more relaxed, but _*even more valuable IMO is professional skills training*_.

*It is quite possible to spend a lot of time paddling, and have incorrect technique with something so basic such as forward paddling*. For rough water conditions a professional can teach more advanced skills, such as low and high bracing, forward and stern rudders, skulling braces, edging and leaning, draw strokes, backwards surfing and paddling, etc. IMO, professional instructors are worth engaging. Of course there is a financial cost for their time, but the benefits for any paddler can be immense, and last a lifetime of paddling. I think this is worthwhile investment for _every_ paddler, so not just those competing, because the techniques they teach _can also help prevent injuries_.

Another factor is the kayak. I currently paddle (mainly) a Hobie Adventure whilst kayak fishing, which is very stable (not fast though) in all sorts of sea conditions and wind directions. I'm sure your green machine would be way faster, but would require more balance than the Adventure. If you ever get a chance have a go at a sea kayak, do it - generally they are the pick for overall seaworthiness (providing you have the paddle skills). There are plenty in that fraternity who regularly go out in 25 + knots, and play in breaking surf.

Some of the kayak fishing fraternity are behind the sea kayakers groups/clubs from the outset, because:
1. there is no 'club' atmosphere, where learning skills can be fostered, and mentoring is often available
2. we often paddle/fish alone, so do not have the 'group safety umbrella'
3. we broadly speaking have less seaworthy kayaks (mainly a factor if conditions suddenly get unexpectantly worse than forecast)
4. broadly speaking we give lower attention to safety skills such as practicing re-entries
5. the carrying of safety gear survival gear and comms

These are some of the reasons Dru & I have organised Safety Days... current one taking registrations: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=61703


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## WhipperSnapper (Jun 2, 2012)

Another very entertaining report  shame about the stinky's


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

grinner said:


> hay jim,
> 
> more fuel for my tailor on the top, snapper on the bottom theory.
> 
> ...


It might seem a bit crude, Pete, but I only use 30lb braid and 30lb leader... have been taken to the cleaners too many times in recent years to fish light, and when the fish of a life-time takes my offering, I want to have a few tricks going my way, not his/hers. I have noticed, however, that my ratio of legal fish to undersized has improved, and if the heavier leader helps in that aspect, great! I've also been using 2/0 Head-hunter extreme jig-heads, so that probably also stops the littlies from hooking up... so saying, how the hell did a 21cm summer whiting hook itself yesterday on that hook?

I like the way you approach your fishing... thinking all the time... if I was a big snapper, I think I'd come up to nail a wafting bait.

Aren't we led to believe that old men snapper get their grotesque lumpy looks from diving their heads into rocky/coral outcrops in search of mussel type food? That, I believe would place them really close to the bottom, eh?

However... some of my best snapper have been caught right on the bottom, and almost equally, some high up in the water, although that's not really far from the bottom when you realise that most of my fishing is done in no more that 6 metres of water. Another aspect to include in the equation, I suppose, is that the water clarity where I fish is not all that great... sometimes when Westerlies have been hammering us for weeks in a row, water clarity is truly terrific, and that's when you hear lots of grizzles that the water's too clear. We're a funny lot, us fishermen!

Yesterday, I got a couple of snapper on the drop! on the elechick that was destined for the bottom. I thought that was strange, as I trolled to that spot using a Zman flat-tail... although it (my mid-water lure) was still in the water, the elechick (my bottom hugging lure) got both fish almost on the surface!

When you reckon you've really solved it all, Pete... PM me... I won't hang by the short and curlies waiting! ;-)

I hope I haven't confused the issue, but it surely appears that this is the case.

Cheers Pete... Jimbo


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

Wrassemagnet said:


> Pete I'm not THE Jim but I thought I'd toss another log on yer fire as I've caught snapper on 1/4 Oz 3 inch paddle tail tossed into the middle of what were obviously surface feeding pelagics and allowed to sink slowly - nailed about half way down I'd guestimate, no action imparted from my rod at all as it sank. Has also happened on a piece of squid on the same jighead weight in same circumstances.


THE Jim to not THE Jim :lol: That paddle-tail would have been working its little tail off as the lead-head pulled it down, eh? Dunno about the piece of squid, tho'.

Nothing like snapper hitting on the drop! Keeps the heart ticking over!

Cheers Jim... Jim


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Inspection of stomach contents of Redcliffe snapper can reveal just about anything, they are a truly an adaptable scavenger, but they will also hunt.

I think if the tailor are around the snapper will follow them for a cheap feed, they aint silly. I had an extremely memorable session at Redcliffe about 5 years ago with my mate in a tinny. We found a patch of tailor feeding so voraciously that we struggled to get a plastic to sink past them, when we did, we were guaranteed to catch a snapper, not little fellas either, all well above 60 and a few in the 70s. So this situation certainly throws some weight behind Grinners theory but there are so many other factors involved. Personally I catch probably 50% of my fish on a deadsticked plastic with usually 1/6 or 1/4 jig drifting behind me and more often than not this is either bumping or very close to the bottom as it snags up regularly. So the fish feeding on the bottom too, but in saying that I have also had first hand experience of someone catching a snapper on a popper (not lucky enough to do it myself yet though), it was clearly working prawns on the surface up against one of the many reef walls and was actually sight cast at the time.

There are so many variables it is hard to make solid theories on the fish in this area. One thing I've found is that they do move around in schools, often only small schools of maybe a few fish, they just seem to graze moving from feeding spot to feeding spot and never in one locale for too long. The other is that certain areas seem to fish well one year and then aren't real flash the next or many years after. One such spot of I know of is just starting to fire again after 3 years with very little action despite constant effort, I just cant get the time to get out there  .

Kev


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

BIGKEV said:


> Inspection of stomach contents of Redcliffe snapper can reveal just about anything, they are a truly an adaptable scavenger, but they will also hunt.
> 
> I think if the tailor are around the snapper will follow them for a cheap feed, they aint silly. I had an extremely memorable session at Redcliffe about 5 years ago with my mate in a tinny. We found a patch of tailor feeding so voraciously that we struggled to get a plastic to sink past them, when we did, we were guaranteed to catch a snapper, not little fellas either, all well above 60 and a few in the 70s. So this situation certainly throws some weight behind Grinners theory but there are so many other factors involved. Personally I catch probably 50% of my fish on a deadsticked plastic with usually 1/6 or 1/4 jig drifting behind me and more often than not this is either bumping or very close to the bottom as it snags up regularly. So the fish feeding on the bottom too, but in saying that I have also had first hand experience of someone catching a snapper on a popper (not lucky enough to do it myself yet though), it was clearly working prawns on the surface up against one of the many reef walls and was actually sight cast at the time.
> 
> ...


They even eat jelly-fish... yep... if they eat that, they'll eat anything.

As well as snapper, honker bream will feed beneath the tailor. That must have been a truly memorable session, Kev... lots of times now, the tailor hit and run and you're lucky to get a couple, then they're gone. I've also experienced the snapper below the big bite, but not of the sizes you speak.

I reckon that 85% of my snapper catch is from the bottom, but some days the bottom rig is not touched, and the mid-water rig takes the lot. I'd love to know the real reason for this, but I suppose there's got to be some intrigue, or boredom could set in. ;-)

Certainly, they move about from area to area, knocking off anything that looks right... and what I used to regard as my prime "go to" spot, absolutely certain to get a feed, hasn't really fired in the past couple of years, but very occasionally comes up with a nice snapper.

I've sent an email off to Dave Bateman re the tailor and your/our concerns, and am awaiting his answer.

Cheers Kev... Jimbo


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