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Fishing is a great way for dads to bond with their sons (and sometimes their daughters). Last Monday we had a father and son come out on a full day charter. Both had a ball and young Josh caught a 5.5kg snapper – out-fishing his dad. Here is a photo of Josh and his dad Brett. It’s a great catch mate.

With Fathers’ Day only a few weeks away I thought we should help make it a special day for one lucky dad. You can win your dad a double pass for a ¾ day fishing charter on Fathers’ Day – Sunday September 1 (subject to weather).

To enter email us a photo (in jpeg format) of your dad with his best catch and you’ll go in the draw to win. All entries are eligible – saltwater or freshwater fish, any size or shape.

Everyone’s got a chance, so send your photos in to bookings@topcatch.com.au. Put Fathers’ Day in the subject line and include your contact phone number and address in the email. Entries need to be submitted by 5pm on Saturday August 24. The winner will be drawn on Sunday August 25, 2013 and will be notified by telephone on the same day.We’ll post some of the entries on our Facebook page. Tell your mates and get your entries in. Good luck!

Barwon banks- snapper, pearl perch, fusilier, red throat

Murphy’s and the gneerings- squire, tuskfish and sweetlip

Caloundra 9nm- squire,  tusk fish, morwong and pearl perch

Caloundra 12nm- snapper, moses perch, tuskfish and pearl perch

Caloundra wide- snapper, amberjack, tuskfish and hussar

The weather forecast is for strong SE winds on Thursday and Friday, then on the weekend the wind changes to NE 10-15knots.

How great is the Sunshine Coast weather? We’ve had some amazing warm, sunny days over the last month and the pattern has been working out so the weekends have been superb. Last weekend was great as you can see in this photo of Saturday’s sunrise. And Sunday was even calmer.

We had full day fishing charters booked on both days and our catches included snapper, tuskfish, moses perch, cobia, pearl perch, Maori cod, hussar and amberjack.

On Sunday we caught more fish, probably because the current was only running lightly but they were bigger fish on Saturday. Both days were spent on the Barwon Banks and Caloundra Wide fishing between 50 and 60 metres. The snapper ranged from 1kg up to 4kg and some of the bigger tuskfish were around 2kg. They’re not as big as we were catching earlier in the week with the lead up to the new moon when young Josh caught this awesome 5.5kg snapper. Well done mate!

But there were still some great fish and a lot of people caught their personal best in certain species.

Chris and Sarah caught these 4kg and 3kg snapper on Sunday – another great result.

Wednesday through to the weekend looks like good weather, so we’re looking forward to some more great fishing. Give us a call if you want to come out with us.

Happy Hunting!

Barwon banks- snapper, pearl perch, fusilier, tusk fish, gold spot wrasse and moses perch

Murphy’s and the gneerings- snapper, tuskfish and sweetlip

Caloundra 9nm- squire, maori cod, tusk fish and moses perch

Caloundra 12nm- snapper, moses perch, tuskfish, cobia and pearl perch

Caloundra wide- snapper, amberjack, trag jew and pearl perch

The weather forecast is for fresh south westerly winds Thursday, easing Friday and swinging around to the south east at 10 – 15 knots in the afternoon. The weekend looks great for  offshore fishing.

High tide at Mooloolaba on Thursday 08.08.13 is at 8:45 @ 1.42m

The sunshine coast turned it on again this weekend, with absolutely perfect weather and some great fishing. I love this time of year.

On Friday we headed down to Caloundra 9 Mile and Caloundra 12 Mile reefs on a ¾ day trip. We caught plenty of squire in the 1-2kg range, using bait and soft plastics. The soft plastics probably resulted in more catches than the bait. Everyone seemed to get a buzz out of catching the fish with lures and on light gear they really fought hard. Other species caught were tuskfish and pearl perch.

Douglas, who was over from America on a work exchange program, was impressed with his pearly, which weighed 2kg. It’s a pretty good size to reel in from shallow water and, as we know, these little babies are sensational eating.

On Saturday we had a full day charter casino online with a group from Emerald and conditions were just perfect. We had a late start, which was something different and although we were fishing the middle part of the day we still caught some great fish.

The bragging rights went to the girls when Noreen caught the biggest fish of the day – a 9kg cobia.

But the guys weren’t far behind with a 79cm jewfish, some nice snapper, weighing up to 3kg and pearl perch. And Tom caught a 3.5kg blue barr parrotfish, which was the best eating fish as well as the most colourful.

I took a day off on Sunday to celebrate my birthday and Monday to recover. But we are back into it today and tomorrow and I’m expecting these days to fish really well with the new moon phase rolling over on Wednesday. I’ll keep you posted on how we go.

If you want to book a trip and make the most of this awesome winter weather, give us a call and get in quick. With weather like this we can book out fast.

Happy hunting!

Here’s what’s been caught over the past week: 

Gneerings and Murphy’s Reef – squire and sweetlip

Caloundra 9 Mile – squire, moses perch, tuskfish and pearl perch

Caloundra 12 Mile – snapper, moses perch, tuskfish, pearl perch and estuary cod

Barwon Banks – snapper, tusk fish, moses perch, pearl perch, fusilier, jobfish and hussar

Caloundra Wide – snapper, tuskfish, gold spot wrasse, fusilier, cobia and jobfish

Chardons Reef – snapper, cobia, pearl perch and trag jew

It was awesome to see a few great fish hauled in this weekend. It adds a bit of excitement to the trip when we reel in a big one and we certainly got a big one this time. But more about that later.

We had full day charters booked across the weekend and on Saturday we headed for the Barwon Banks. We started in the 50 to 60 metre area at the bottom end and finished up at the top end of Caloundra Wide. We caught a mixed bag of species including snapper, pearl perch, tusk fish, fusilier and gold spot wrasse.

Tusk fish and snapper made up most of the catch, with most weighing in between one and two kilograms – perfect table fish. There were some bigger ones caught with the biggest tusk fish weighing 2.5 kilograms and the biggest snapper coming in at four online slots kilograms.

Graham (on the left) was happy with his catch and Bucko’s fish was just a tad lighter.

It was a bit choppy off the Sunshine Coast on Sunday so we didn’t get out as wide. We fished Caloundra 12 Mile for snapper, tusk fish, moses perch, estuary cod and trevally, which were fun to catch but most were happy to release them to fight another day.

The biggest fish was Lloyd’s 1.17metre gold spot estuary cod weighing in at a whopping 25kg or 55lb in the old scale. That’s a big fish and he was pretty stoked with his efforts.

This species has a maximum size limit of 1.1metres so we took some photos, popped her swim bladder and let her go. Fish this size are valuable for breeding and reproduction of stocks.

The weather looks a bit rough for offshore fishing for the next few days but the Sunshine Coast forecast for Friday and the weekend looks good. With the approaching new moon the snapper should be on the chew. If you want to book a trip and get in on some offshore fishing action, give us a call.

Here’s what’s being caught this week:

Caloundra 9 mile – snapper, tuskfish, moses perch and estuary cod

Caloundra 12 mile –snapper, coral trout, cobia and tuskfish

Barwon Banks –squire, red throat emperor, fusilier, hussar, jobfish and tuskfish

Caloundra Wide –snapper, pearl perch, cobia, fusilier and trevally

Noosa –snapper, tuskfish and the odd coral trout from sunshine and chardons reefs

 There are plenty of fish about. Head over to our facebook page and hit like page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Top-Catch-Fishing-Charters/132542573455412 and we’ll keep you updated with what’s going on or you can share your fishing tales with us.

We had some happy fishermen this weekend, with some good fish reeled in and a few taking home enough for a good feed or two for the family.

We had full day charters across the weekend. Saturday started sloppy with northerly winds making it tough, but perseverance paid off and we got on to a patch of snapper and tuskfish in about 58 metres of water, east of Mooloolaba.

Later we moved a bit deeper and caught a few fusilier, pearl perch and trag jew.

Sunday was even better – the weather was good and so was the fishing. We caught a few cobia, plenty of squire and Venus tuskfish up to two kilograms, fusilier, gold spot wrasse and Moses perch. Poddy caught this 6.5-kilogram cobia, the biggest catch of the day.

The boys got busted up a few times from some good-sized fish. We almost got to identify one but about 20 metres from the boat it snapped the 50-pound braid, before we could get a look at it. Steve kept trying but they were playing dirty and heading straight for the rocks.

Rob was pretty pleased with his catch, which included these squire, weighing between one and two kilograms. We’ve seen plenty of these around this size out at Barwon Banks and Caloundra Wide this month.

Big tides and a strong southerly set the current over the weekend, which turned the crabbing right off. We caught eight on Saturday. They bury themselves into the sand for protection during the big swells and strong currents.

We’re expecting swells up to three metres over the next few days but the weather is looking great for the weekend. The current should drop off after Wednesday’s full moon, so the weekend should fish really well. Give us a call to book a spot on the boat.

Happy hunting!

Rules and regulations for whale and dolphin watchers

We’re pretty lucky here. We get to see some of the ocean’s biggest mammals frolicking in our waters. Australia has many sites around its coastline that are ideal for whale and dolphin watching. Humpback whales travel almost the entire Queensland coast during their migration season, which peaks between July and September, and the Sunshine Coast is a definite hot spot. With an increasing whale population and more boaties heading offshore, I thought it was a good time to refresh on regulations to ensure the safety of people and whales.

The basic rule when near whales and dolphins is to be quiet and do not try to feed or touch them. These tips will help make sightings of our marine life more enjoyable and safer for everyone:

• Be alert and watch for whales and dolphins at all times.
• When in a vessel, do not approach closer than 100m to any whale or 50m to any dolphin.
• The caution zone for vessels is the area within 300m of a whale and 150m of a dolphin. No more than three vessels are allowed within the caution zone at any one time and vessels should operate at no wake speeds within this zone.
• Approach whales and dolphins from parallel to and slightly to the rear – not from directly behind or head-on.
• When leaving whales or dolphins, move off at a slow (no wake) speed to the outer limit of the caution zone (300m) from the closest animal before gradually increasing speed.
• Keep a lookout and avoid disturbance to mother whales or dolphins and their calves. Mother and calf will be close together and the calves are sometimes difficult to see.
• If there is a sudden change in whale or dolphin behaviour, move away immediately at a slow steady pace.
• Whales and dolphins sometimes form social groupings and may approach your vessel – if this happens place the engine in neutral and let the animal(s) come to you; or slow down and continue on course; or steer online casino a straight course away from them.
• Do not get into the water if you see a whale or dolphin. If you”re already in the water do not disturb, chase or block the path of a whale or dolphin and if possible, return to your vessel or the shore.

Whether you are whale watching or just on the way to your favourite fishing spot, following the rules and regulations ensures everyone should have a safe and enjoyable whale season.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a boat. You will still get a chance to see whales. When they start to migrate south the mothers and calves hang close to shore avoiding predators. Mooloolaba, Alexandra Headland, Noosa and Kawana Beach are regular haunts for humpback whales.

Enjoy these amazing creatures and stay safe on the water! Let us know where if you have spotted any whales recently.

These rules are supplied by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities and can be viewed at www.environment.gov.au.