Wednesday

Wednesday morning was cold, cold, cold, and really cold.  It was the first time this year that I have really felt it. It was a solid 15 knot south-westerly at 5.00 am. The moon had been full the day before and it was pretty bright.

I wanted to see if the Tailor were around at Bribie, before dawn. Tailor will often come on the bite in the dark, just before sunrise or just after sunset. I usually find it tough to fish in the dark but when the moon is as bright as it was on Wednesday, it almost feels like daytime.

I decided to try the area around the drain beside the Seaside Museum. Low tide had passed 4.45 am. So at about 5.30 am the tide was just starting to run in.

I need not have bothered to get up so early, as nothing happened until just before first light. At about 6.00 am,  I was retrieving a GULP 4” Minnow in the Smelt colour, on a 1/8^th ounce, #1/0 hook jighead, on 12lb leader. I had let it sink and I was hopping it back along the bottom towards me. I felt it stop dead and then the weight of the jighead just disappeared. It was a clean bite off – something very toothy.

I re-rigged with the same soft plastic and carried on fishing. I moved up and down, casting along about a 15 metres section of the coffee rock ledge. I decided to drop down to a GULP 2” Shrimp soft plastic, in the Banana Pawn colour. This is a bream favourite.

At about 6.25 am I felt a few bites when the plastic hit the bottom. On the next cast, I paused for a long time with the soft plastic just sitting there. As soon as I lifted it the fish struck. It made some determined runs but I pulled it up, over the ledge and safely onto the sand – it was a 32cm bream.

I continued casting in to the same patch and at about 6.45 am, I caught another good bream. This one was nice and plump and a bit bigger, at 34cm. I returned to the same spot and continued fishing. About 10 minutes later the soft plastic was grabbed again, as I lifted it off the bottom. This was a much more powerful fish and it took plenty of line in its initial run. I moved as close as I could to the edge, so that my line would not get caught against it. The fish made about four good runs and then it started to come towards me. It swam straight over the edge towards the shore line and I tightened the drag, a little. When it realised its mistake and started back towards deeper water I turned its head and pulled it slowly and steadily up to the sand.

It was a handsome Jewfish. I measured it at 58cm. Once again, it had completely swallowed the jighead and soft plastic, so I cut the line, as far down its throat as I could, before releasing it. By now I the tide was getting too high to fish along the edge and I was freezing, so I gave up.

The weather is still consistently bad but at least there are a few fish around.