Tag Archives: Gulp Watermelon Pearl Minnow

Ballina – North and South rock walls – July 2020

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As we moved from June into early July, the COVID 19 virus restrictions eased up a bit and, if you were not getting married, buried or going to an all-night dance party, life pretty much returned to normal. Victorians continued to face restrictions and the Queensland border remained closed to visitors from outside the state, but in the little town of South Golden Beach the organic chai turmeric lattes and kale smoothies still flowed.

For most of the month the swell stayed strong (often well over 2m) and the wind was predominantly from the south-east, south west and west. Early in the month, in the run up to the full moon we had a few days of very calm conditions, but these were exceptional. The sea temperatures continued to drop and at the end of the month an offshore east coast low passed and dumped a lot of rain into the Richmond and Brunswick river catchments.

Lots of bream in July and one lucky Luderick

I did some of my best bream fishing in the run up to the full moon on the 5th, but I caught plenty of them all through the month. I caught a lot of fish over 35cm on small GULP soft plastic minnows/ shrimps. The Watermelon Pearl or Smelt colours seemed to work best on the minnows and the Peppered Prawn for the shrimp pattern. I loaded them on a 1/6th or ¼ ounce jighead and stuck with a light leader (12lb to 16lb fluorocarbon).

On the calmest day of the month I fished at Flat Rock, south of Lennox Head. I was generally casting off the south side of the rock platform. As long as I could get my soft plastic beyond the fringing reef, I caught good sized bream on almost every cast. I also caught a very small school jewfish (about 45 cm) in this spot and was sawn off a couple of times on the reef.

Flat Rock produced when it was calm enough

When it wasn’t calm enough to fish the rocks (which was most of the month) I focused on the Richmond River mouth, fishing both the south and the north walls. In the first half of the month the birds and dolphins were constantly smashing into the ever-present bait schools. At the mouth, the most vigorous feeding seemed to take place as the tide turned to run in and the salt water started to push back up the river. As long as the bait was there so were the tailor and I caught a few but none over about 40 cm. I also caught a few small trevally and even a Luderick during a couple of north wall sessions.

Plenty of tailor and the odd trevally
Plenty of bait usually means plenty of tailor

But late in the month the passing east coast low and the wild weather that followed seemed to wash out the bait and the tailor with them.  By the end of the month the river was a brown soup during the runout tide. This was perfect for the jewfish/ mulloway fisherman and they were all in position most mornings and evenings around the new moon on the 21st and again for the last days of the month.

Good conditions for mulloway / jewfish in the lead up to the full moon
There were jewfish / mulloway around the river mouth

I did catch a couple of school jewfish  – one at the beginning of the month which was just under legal size and so I returned it to the water and one in the dirty water later in the month, that was just on 80cm. I kept that one for dinner. In between I hooked and got a look at several more that either buried their noses in the rocks or bent my jigheads and freed themselves. I caught both of the jewfish I landed on GULP 4 inch minnows in the Smelt colour. I am still not patient enough to persist with the heavy gear for hours and wait for a big jew bite.

The swell had really limited the rock and offshore fishing in July but the fish were definitely there. August should be good.

Bribie – the old oyster jetty flats – 26 May 2014

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Monday

On Monday I had a late morning fishing session at the usual spot at Bribie. The weather was perfect – light south-easterly breeze and clear blue skies. Winter days like this are hard to beat.

I started fishing in my usual spot – beside the old oyster jetty at about 11.00 am. Low tide would be at 1.37 pm, so the timing would be pretty good. This spot most consistently produces fish in the last few hours of the run out tide.

I started with a GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad soft plastic, in the Curried Chicken (red back, yellow belly) colour. The water was clear and there was no missing this lure – it stood out very clearly underwater. Just to the north of the jetty, I found my first fish of the day – a 45 cm flathead. The fridge is empty so I kept this one. I caught another smaller one, a few moments later, then moved south of the jetty.

The underwater terrain is changing here very quickly. I think it must be the more consistent south easterly winds which start to cut channels and drains in the sand banks. I was now fishing much shallower clearer water so I decided to swap soft plastics. As mentioned in my previous post, I am all out of GULP Watermelon Pearl 4 “ Minnows, so I started off with the same shape and size,  in the Smelt colour (white and silver/grey).  It is a fairly good imitation of the small mullet and whiting that are everywhere at the moment. After a few slow sessions, I have dropped down to consistently using 10lb fluorocarbon leader. Lighter leader nearly always means more bites, but you have to play the fish more carefully, if you want to land them.

 

The Smelt Minnow soon found the fish – a 45cm one at first and then a bigger, 55cm version. The tide was running out quickly and would soon start to slow, so I decided to try a bigger hard bodied lure. I chose the MARIA – MJ1-70F, this is a floating diving bibbed minnow with a great action. It has the added bonus of being pretty tough, which helps with flathead. It only took a couple of cast to stir up the biggest fish of the day – a 62cm flathead.

As the tide ran down I walked back across the exposed flats and was amazed at the seafood buffet of whelks, worms, and soldier crabs that litter the area – no wonder the fish like it here.

Yeppoon – Emu Park – 29 October 2013

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Monday

Up early and back out to Emu Park to see if I could find more fingermark. I had the replacement Berkley Dropshot and the Shimano Stella 2500 was pretty well suited to it. I upped my leader to 14lb fluorocarbon, mainline was original fused Fireline, rated 8lb.

I have probably said this before, but I love the original fused Fireline in the fluoro/yellow colour. It casts well, I can see it in low light and it is extremely tough. The only downside is that I need a new spool of it after every 5/6 sessions, when its starts to fray and breakdown. I have tried Berkley Exceed and Nanofil but these are not an improvement on the original. Just make the original more durable please Berkley.

I arrived just after 5.00 am and there was a bit more water over the rocks and the wind was up. It was an easterly, blowing about 10 knots. There were a few clouds around, but rain was unlikely. The moon was a waning crescent with the new moon not due for about a week. The tide was running out and would be low just before 10.30 am.

The first fish was a tiny striped perch who grabbed the soft plastic, in close to the rocks. Next came the obligatory small cod. I fished for 30 minutes and caught a few more small cod. Perhaps the Fingermark had moved on.

Just after 6.00 am I found them again – maybe they were having a lie in. The first one made a tentative nudge at the soft plastic lure as it sank (a GULP 4” Minnow in the Watermelon Pearl colour), then it (or one of its companions) followed it in to the shore and thumped it right at the edge of the rocks. It took off and the added strength of the Berkley Dropshot was immediately apparent. It was a good size fish so I actually loosened the drag a little to avoid straightening the hook or pulling it out, and let the fish wear itself out. A minute or two later I had it at my feet. It was another very nice fingermark, well over 50cm long.

I released it, tidied up the soft plastic lure, re-positioned it on the jighead and cast it out again. Two lifts of the rod tip and bang, I was on again. It was another slightly smaller fingermark. The fish were definitely eating now. I released it and cast out again. This time the soft plastic did not reach the bottom. A fish walloped it and took off for New Zealand. A couple of times I felt that I might be slowing it down, but it was probably just pausing for a rest. I gradually tightened the drag but it did not make much difference. This fish was big and I could not really apply any pressure. Eventually the line went slack and I pulled in a bent jighead.

Another great start to the day at Emu Park
There was a bit more chop
First fish was a mini Stripey Perch
The biggest fish of the morning at about 55cm
They fight hard and dirty
I was having fun with these fish
Headlockz look tougher than they actually are
The swell assisted in landing a few fish
Watermelon Pearl did well
Good quality but not as big as the day before
The fingermark kept coming
Another one
There is always a cod
Greedy, greedy, greedy

The jighead was a TT Headlockz series; 1/8th ounce , size 2/0 hook. These carry a GULP Minnow 4” soft plastic very nicely. I have however, straightened a few of them. I think the heavier gauge hook necessary for the Headlockz system gives the impression they are heavier duty than they actually are. In my experience the original fine gauge Tournament Series TT/ Gamakatsu jigheads (in the orange backed packet) are actually tougher than the Headlockz. Having said that, I would probably not have landed this fish with a 6/0 heavy duty jighead – it was just too powerful.

I re-rigged, this time with a bigger GULP 5” Jerkshad but after 10 minutes, this produced nothing. I swapped back to the smaller GULP 3” Minnow first in Peppered Prawn and then in Watermelon Pearl colour. I caught three smaller fingermark on each, over the next 30 minutes. It seems lure size was important to these fish.

At about 7.30 am I caught a small estuary cod and that was it – everything suddenly went quiet. I tried a few different soft plastics and moved to a few other spots around the headland, but it seems the fish had shut down again.

Another great session and a good way to warm up a new rod.