Tag Archives: 1770 beach and rock fishing

1770 – Wreck Rock – Dart & Slatey Bream – 9 April 2015

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By Thursday, the rain had passed over but the wind had picked up considerably. I was up early and decided to try fishing at Wreck Rock. The tide would only be low enough to reach the rocks I wanted to fish from, for about 90 minutes.  The incoming tide would then force me back.

I arrived in the pre-dawn light and walked out to the beach. The sky was gradually turning orange and the wind had dropped right off. It was very light and cool, from the south-west.I walked out on to the rocks on the north edge and picked my way out as far as I could go. The wind had dropped but the swell was up and although the water was warm the cold breeze was nasty.

I knew there would be dart around and predictably, my first cast with a 3” GULP Lime Tiger Minnow soft plastic was just what they wanted. I pulled the first small dart out of the water just after 6.00am.I was sticking with a light 12lb fluorocarbon leader but went with the slightly heavier 1/6th ounce, size 1 hook jighead to counteract the swell.

The dart kept coming but I was hoping for something more significant so I put on the GULP Mantis Shrimp that had caught the slatey bream on Monday. I fished this around for 20 minutes with only a few small hits from the dart. I swapped back to a GULP 2” Shrimp soft plastic in the Banana Prawn colour. This instantly caught the dart again.

I decided to change up to a bigger profile again and tied on a GULP 5” Jerkshad in the Peppered Prawn colour. I cast this one a fair way out towards some a nearby bommie. On its way back to me it was swiped at by a couple of Long Toms, but I did not hook them.

I hit the same area with a few more casts and suddenly there was a quick tug and the reel started screaming. The rod bent over and the fish took plenty of line in a blistering initial run. As soon as it paused I checked the drag tension and realised it was actually quite tight. I tried to get some line back but the fish immediately set off again and snapped the leader. Trevally or maybe a Mackerel, either way a 12lb leader was not going to stop it. I re-rigged with the heaviest leader I had in the bag – 20lb fluorocarbon and cast back out. I peppered the area with casts but whatever it was had moved on.

 

The wind was now picking up again and the incoming tide was forcing me back along the rocks. I swapped to a GULP Green Camo 4” Minnow and carried on fishing. The dart kept hitting this one and then something slower and heavier grabbed it. It turned with the swell and took a bit of line. It then started swimming away faster, once it realised it was hooked. After a few minutes I pulled it up onto the rocks with the aid of a breaking wave. It was another good sized slatey bream with bright orange markings behind its lips.

I decided to keep this one for supper and so I retreated to the dryer rocks to bleed and clean it. By the time it was gutted the tide had come up further and the wind was really starting to blow so I gave up for the day.

1770 – Getaway Beach and Wreck Rock – 3 November 2014

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Monday

By a lucky twist of fate I found myself stuck in Gladstone for a few days – so I disappeared to 1770. Gavin and Kim at Loka Santi – http://www.lokasanti1770.com.au – had an apartment free at a good rate, so I decided to stay there, again.

The weather looked unpredictable and that was how it turned out. On Monday a strong south-easterly blow appeared from nowhere and brought some rain with it. I started just after dawn at Getaway Beach where I caught a few small stripey perch and dart, mainly on small soft plastics. After a few hours, I did not have much to show for my efforts, so I went off to find some breakfast.

High tide had been at about 5.30 am so by lunch time I could get to fish my favourite spot at Wreck Rock. I arrived at about 11.30 am and wandered out onto the rocks with my NS Blackhole light rock fishing rig. It was lunch time so I kept things light – 10lb fluorocarbon leader, 1/8th 1/0 jigheads and GULP 3” Minnow soft plastics.

The sky was grey and it started to rain. Fortunately the rain dampened down the wind. I caught a steady stream of dart and even a couple of whiting, but there were no bream or trevally around. The rain stopped and the wind picked up again. The water felt much warmer than a couple of weeks earlier which may explain why the tailor and bream had moved on. By about 1.00 pm I was soaked through and decided to call it quits for the day.

1770 – Flat Rock at Baffle Creek and Wreck Rock – 23 October 2014

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Thursday

On Thursday the seas were still up and low tide would not be until about 2.30 pm. The wind would hopefully have dropped by then and I could try fishing the beaches and rocks again. In the morning I decided to drive back out to Flat Rock on Baffle Creek and see if I could have some more fun with the Tarpon.

It takes about an hour to drive south from 1770, down the four wheel drive sand track, past Flat Rock, Middle Rock and Wreck Rock beaches, across Deepwater Creek and on to Flat Rock boat ramp on Baffle Creek.

By the time I arrived, the sun was already up and the insects were humming in my ears. You need plenty of insect repellent in these parts! The wind had dropped away and the tide was coming in. It would be high at about 9.00 am.  There were a few surface strikes and the bait was jumping around. I worked through a few different soft plastics on the light rod. The usual minnows, jerkshads and shrimps did not work, so I swapped to a Watermelon coloured GULP Minnow grub. I slowed the retrieve and let it flutter around in the current. After a few casts, there was a solid bite and I hooked up. The fish headed for the rocks and immediately tried to get under them. I was still fishing with 14lb leader so I tightened the drag and pulled it out. It was an estuary cod – about 45cm long. I released it and after another hour with no luck, I went off to the Baffle Creek Township, to find some breakfast.

The wind had dropped off so I decided to make my way to Wreck Rock to fish the last few hours of the run out tide. It would not be possible to get out to the spots I like to fish there, until two to three hours before low tide, from about 10.30 am onwards. So I drove back up the sand track and stopped for a nap in a shady spot. I woke to some rustling and found a mother emu and three chicks walking past. This really is a very unspoilt spot!

I drove on to Wreck Rock and walked out on to the beach. The sun was out and there was no one else around. The wind was now a 10 to 15 knot north-easterly and the swell was dropping. I decided to stay with the light spinning rod and 10lb leader. It was the middle of the day and I thought the fish would be fairly picky.

I started fishing on the calmer side of the rocky peninsula that sticks out to the north of the little bay. I put on a 1/8th ounce, size 1 hook jighead with a 2” GULP Shrimp soft plastic, in the Banana Prawn colour. After a few casts, the first taker was a small stripey perch, this was followed by an equally small bream. Both these fish where sitting at the base of the rocks in a few feet of water. About 20 minutes later, I dropped a bigger bream, as I tried to land it.

It was pretty warm so I decided to risk getting wet and wandered a bit further out along the rocks. I wanted something chunkier to throw out into the breaking waves, in front of the rocks and I chose a GULP Jerkshad in the Waremelon Pearl colour. I also upped my jighead to a slightly bigger 1/6th ounce with a 1/0 hook. I cast this out in to the gaps between the rocks and let it sink for as long as I could before hopping it back towards me. I lost a couple of rigs to the rocks and gradually moved further out as the tide dropped. At about noon I was almost at the end of the rocky peninsula. I cast clear of the rocks and let the jerkshad sink. On the drop, it was slammed and line started peeling. The swell was still significant and this fish new how to use it. As soon as I applied some pressure, it took off. There were rocks everywhere and I had a 10lb fluorocarbon leader on the end of a very light, fast action trout spinning rod. Patience – Patience – Patience would be necessary. I got a little line back and tightened the drag, very slightly. I watched the swell and used the waves to steer the fish towards me. I took several tries but eventually I had it out of the water and at my feet. It was a trevally, about 50cm long.  I love to eat fresh trevally, so I killed and bled it and put it in a keeper pond, about 10 metres back from the shoreline.

A climbed back out along the rocky peninsula and put on another Jerkshad soft plastic. This time it was in the green and orange Lime Tiger colour. I cast around for another trevally but could not find any out the front. I started casting into the foamy water right at the end of the line of rocks. Small dart kept attacking the soft plastic just as it reached the rocks and on a few occasions they almost beached themselves trying to eat it. On the next cast there was a solid hit and then a clean bite off. I re-rigged with 14lb fluorocarbon leader and put the same soft plastic/ jighead combination on again.

I cast out wide again and let the jighead sink but then I added some urgency to the retrieve, a few quicker, more violent jerks. This did the trick and just before I got the soft plastic back to the rocks, a fish grabbed it, dropped it, and then grabbed it again. I felt the hook set in the jaw and then the fish went ballistic. I knew it was a Tailor before I could see it and I suspect this was what had bitten me off, before.

 

Light rig bent over
Tailor from the foamy wash

I pulled up a wriggling 40 cm tailor – I photographed it and released it. I shortened the mashed soft plastic then cast it out again. After a few jerks of the rod tip I had caught another slightly bigger one. Over the next 20 minutes I caught 4 more and dropped a few. The biggest was about 45cm. I am not sure how long they would stay in this area, but I suspect they are nearly always around until the water really warms up.

By 1.30 pm I was soaked and the fish seemed to slow a bit, as the wind and swell picked up again. I waded back towards the keeper pool, where I had left my trevally but I could not find it. Then I saw a big brahminy kite circling the shallows, about 50 metres away towards the beach. I watched as it swooped and plucked up the trevally – which it or another bird must have dropped halfway back to its nest. It struggled to get airborne again but eventually it got its full wingspan deployed and made it to the tree line. That was the end of my fish supper.

I decided to give up for the day and drove back up to 1770.