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Winter holiday fishing

by Top Catchon 8 July 2015in blog

The weather for this school holiday period has been nothing short of sensational and, apart from some cold mornings over the weekend, we are looking pretty good for the next week too. The forecast is for westerlies pick up strength but at this stage I think we will be out there fishing as the swell is forecast to be minimal. Hopefully it fires up the snapper and we keep catching fish like this 7  kg model landed on Sundays’ full day charter. Well done

7KG SNAPPER FROM CALOUNDRA WIDE

Snapper are the target this time of year with this season just getting started we are looking forward to the next few months with the larger fish moving in as the water temperature continues to drop. So we have had plenty of trips on with a mix of ½, 3/4 and full day charters. The full day charters to the banks and Caloundra wide have been most productive with pearl perch, snapper, tuskfish, moses perch, hussar, fusilier, spangled and red throat emperor, gold spot wrasse and maori cod coming from both reefs. The picure below shows 2kg/50cm pearl perch. There are a lot around in the 40-50cm range which is good forthis species. Well done Tom!

DECENT PEARLIES FROM CAL WIDE

The shorter trips have been spent in a bit closer on the Caloundra 9nm and 12nm reefs as well as murphies reef. Once again snapper and pearl perch are boated along with quality tusk fish, maori cod, grassy sweetlip, moses perch and king fish. Best results on the inner reef belt  this past week have been in the mornings with most fish around the 50cm mark. The boys below are enjoying their holidays showing off snapper to 52cm and a cracking 58cm /4kg venus tusk fish caught on murphies reef.

SNAPPER AND BIG TUSK FISH FROM MURPHIES

There is still some availability for charters over the next week of holidays so if you would like to join us for a trip head over to our contacts page and flick us an email or give us a call until then………..        HAPPY HUNTING !

 

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Holiday fishing

by Top Catchon 1 July 2015in blog

Hi All,

Can’t believe the year is half over! It has gone quickly and with the holidays underway there is plenty to look forward to. With some schools starting their holiday period over a week ago and the weather being OK we got offshore quite a bit on a mixture of ½, ¾ and full day charters over the past week. All reefs’ fished reasonably well catching species such as snapper, pearl perch, cobia, cod, tusk fish, moses perch, hussar, grassy sweet lip, fusilier and gold spot wrasse.

Snapper 29.6.15

The pearl perch were definitely the most active species this with some quality specimens, around 3kg and 50cm, coming from all reefs. Snapper are the other winter target species and there were some caught around the 5 and 6kg mark and once again they seemed popping up on most reefs. The picture below shows a decent snapper coming from only 3.5nm offshore on a half day charter. Well done Darren.

fishweekend 29.6 029

The next picture shows some pearlies that were boated on the full day trip last Thursday. They were really firing this day in about 80m of water on Caloundra wide. We did cop a few showers but didn’t stop anybody and most punters were rewarded with their bag limit of this top table fish.

Pearl perch 29.6.15

The coming 2 weeks look pretty good for offshore fishermen and holidaymakers apart from this Friday so make the most of it. We do still have availability (mainly mid week) for charters over the holidays so if you would like to join us drop us an email or give us a ring and we will get you in on the action. Until then

HAPPY HUNTING!

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The full days are firing at the moment – Mooloolaba fishing

by Top Catchon 11 June 2015in blog

It’s a bleak and rainy day here on the “Sunshine” Coast so I thought I had better take the opportunity to update the fishing report and thankfully there is a bit to report on! In between the strong south/south easterlies we have managed to get out for a few trips. Mainly full day charters to the Barwon banks and a half day charter to Murphys reef. The full days are firing at the moment with the middle section of the banks producing good size and quantity of fish. Some big snapper to 6kg starting to come through and best results were achieved using light gear and soft plastics. The picture below is of two 6kg models caught on Berkley power baits on Mondays’ trip. Well done boys!

snapper to 6kg and trevally to 3

Other species caught on the Barwon banks during the last week included lots of tusk fish, red throat emperor, moses perch, hussar, gold spot wrasse, trevally, pearl perch, amberjack to 6kg, fusilier and spangled emperor to 6kg. Conditions’ were a little uncomfortable at times, especially on Wednesday, but everyone was rewarded with plenty of action. The pictures below show the biggest fish from Wednesdays’ trip, which were amberjack and spangled emperor op to 6kg. Well done guys!

6kg amberjack and 6kg spangled emperor from the banks

Our half day charter was spent on Murphy’s reef which is still fishing well. Species caught were school mackerel, moses perch, squire, pearl perch, tusk fish and hussar. Still no big snapper in close yet but it won’t be long now that they are coming through the outer reefs. Sunday is our next half day charter and we still have a few spots left and although the weather looks to keep us in port for the next couple of days it does look come good Saturday afternoon ready for Sunday. If you would like to join us for a trip head over to our contacts page and flick us an email or give us a call until then- HAPPY HUNTING!!

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Fishing report 1st June 2015

by Top Catchon 1 June 2015in blog

Well what a weekend! A huge contrast to the previous few with virtually no sea or swell and only light winds conditions were ideal and have been so for most of the week. We got plenty of fishing in, doing full day charters to the Barwon banks and half day charters to Murphy’s reef catching the mixed bags of reef fish the sunny coast is known for. From coral trout and mackerel to snapper and big tusk fish we are so lucky this time of year and the mix of colours are amazing.  The picture below is from Fridays’ half day showing a 4kg coral trout and 2kg tusk fish and school mackerel.

coral trout, tusk fish, school mackerel murphys reef

So from our half days on Murphy’s reef species caught are sweetlip, squire, coral trout, tuskfish, school mackerel, maori cod, hussar, moses perch and pearl perch. This reef has been firing for a while now and with the inner and outer gneerings right next door it gives plenty of options for all types of fishing. We have caught almost everything in this area from marlin and mackerel in summer to big snapper and pearl perch in winter.  The picture below shows off a maori cod about 3kg, well done Stephen very good eating!

3.5kg maori cod taken on murphy's reef
The Barwon banks’ is a regular go to area on the full days, this reef is huge. Over the past week we have fished the middle to northern section and depths from 28 to 55 metres the diversity here never ceases to amaze. Species caught here were tusk fish, fusilier, red throat emperor, maori cod, moses perch, pearl perch, hussar, trevally, pearl perch, coronation trout and squiry-snapper to 3.5 kg which the photo is shown below.

snapper up to 4kg from the barwon banks

Still no big 8-10kg trophy snapper boated yet but it will be any day now and with good numbers of squire now is the time to put some hours in on the water. If you would like to join us for as trip head over to our contacts page and flick us an email or call to see what’s available and we will get you landing your own top catch until then HAPPY HUNTING!!!!!

 

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Big cod on the bite

by Top Catchon 27 May 2015in blog

Hi all, the weather pattern over the past few weeks has been a little ordinary with the weekends throwing poor conditions for offshore waters but the good news is it looks to change this weekend. The current forecast is fantastic with light winds and virtually no swell Hooray!!! Maybe the usual calm winter weather is finally here.
The past week we have managed to get out on Wednesday, Friday and yesterday (Tuesday) with reasonable results. Last Wednesday we did a ¾ day charter and it started off well we caught snapper, tuskfish, pearl perch, moses perch, hussar, trevally and morwong. After 2hrs things went a little quiet so we headed a little deeper to fish a couple of wrecks where we get cobia but they weren’t chewing all we could bring up were big grinners- bait wasters. So we headed back in to the reef to salvage some time and added a few sweetlip and mackerel to the esky.
Friday was a full day charter and we headed out wide to fish the barwon banks. We worked the shallow areas chasing those colourful varieties. Some nice eating size snapper were boated along with big spangled emperor. Other species included tuskfish, red throat emperor, gold spot wrasse, fusilier, pearl perch, trevally and maori cod.
Tuesdays’ trip was again a ¾ day trip and we headed south this time starting on Currimundi reef targeting school mackerel. We got a burley trail started and nailed a few before the sharks caught on to us and join in on the action. We then headed to the Caloundra 12nm and caught sweetlip, moses perch, tuskfish and some big cod which are pictured below. Well done to regulars Steve and Angelo both getting some big fish but Angelo got the bragging rights this time with his measuring 1.05m and weighing in at 14.5 kg.

8kg gold spot estuary cod caught on the caloundra 12nm  14.5kg gold spot estuary cod caught on the caloundra 12nm

Due to a cancellation we do still have spots left this weekend so if you would like to join us for a trip head over to our contacts and give us a call or flick us an email and we will make something happen. Until next time HAPPY HUNTING!!!

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Lots of different sunshine coast reefs’ were fished last week

by Top Catchon 17 May 2015in blog

Unfortunately we won’t be fishing for the next few days. The massive high in the great Australian bite is generating strong to fresh S/W to S/E winds and a fair swell to go with it especially once you get a couple of mile offshore. So if you’re keen for a fish in coming days you will have to stick to the estuaries. This is very unfortunate as the fishing the past week has been hot!

Recent trips included ½, 3/4 and full day charters so a lot of different sunshine coast reefs’ were fished. The most productive was murphy’s reef, right on our doorstep, which seen us getting into a wide range of species including pelagic like cobia, king fish, amberjack and spanish mackerel as well as the bottom feeders coral trout, snapper, parrot fish, tusk fish, maori cod and pearl perch. It just goes to show that you don’t need to “do the miles to get the smiles” at this time of year. The picture below shows Tom, a regular customer, with a 5kg amberjack and a 5kg cobia well done!!

cobia and amberjack from a half day

The barwon banks’ was fished earlier in the week and numbers of fish were great but the size was a little down on previous trips. We have been working the bottom end for the past month or so and doing reasonably well on numbers and with some big fish coming aboard as well. Species caught were snapper, pearl perch, tusk fish, gold spot wrasse, amber jack, maori cod, hussar, moses perch and fusilier. We might have a look further north on our next full day to try for some bigger specimens. The picture below is of a quality pearly boated by one of our regulars Wayne. Well done mate

big pearl perch from a full day

The next couple of photos are of coral trout caught on a half day. We get quite a lot this time of year and they should stick around for the next couple of weeks.

5kg coral trout on a halfday

weekendin 11.5.15 049

So there is plenty going on at the moment and snapper season is only just getting started, a great time of year for fishing offshore in Mooloolaba. If you would like to join us for a trip head over to our contacts page and flick us an email or give us a call – until then HAPPY HUNTING!!!!!

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Snapper season is just starting

by Top Catchon 6 May 2015in blog

How about the weather lately, it’s been crazy, hopefully now things will settle into a normal winter pattern. Some calm and cool mornings would be nice! In between the storm cells, troughs and cold fronts that have been hitting south east Queensland the fishing has been quite good. The cooler temps have done wonders to the bottom fishing with good catches of snapper, pearl perch, kingfish, and amberjack and on certain days even the prized coral trout. It is not isolated to certain areas or reefs either, reports all reefs in close and out wide have been quite good for these species. We are looking forward to a great winter season.

Snapper

The size of the snapper are from 1-4kg so no trophy fish yet but numbers’ are good – very good signs for this early in the season. Pearl perch is another species which have been in good numbers lately in fact we have been getting good catches right through summer and plenty in the 2-3kg range which are great size for this quality eating fish. Ok so now for the big trophy fish the first picture shows an amberjack weighing a whopping 21kg after tax (shark bite). A great fighting fish providing a nail biting 15 minutes and mike was very unlucky to have a shark take bite only metres from the boat, well done mate!

21kg amberjack minus tax (sharkbite)

This next picture is of a whopping gold spot estuary cod weighing over 30kgs (scales bottomed out) and measuring 1.38m and it was successfully released, after a few photos of course. Lukes first fish and what a way to start! Well done mate

30kg cod
cod over 30kg
Here is what has been caught over the past couple of trips:
Barwon banks– snapper, pearl perch, moses perch, amberjack, tusk fish, gold spot wrasse, hussar, fusilier and maori cod
Caloundra wide– snapper, tuskfish, trag jew, pearl perch and gold spot wrasse
Murphy’s reef– snapper, pearl perch, coral trout, moses perch, hussar, king fish, school mackerel and estuary cod
Caloundra 9nm & 12nm– spotted mackerel, mahi mahi, sweetlip, squire, pearl perch and tusk fish

High tide for Wednesday 5th may is 9:10am at 1.48m

If you would like to join us for a trip head over to our contacts page and flick us an email or give us a call until the happy hunting!!

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Fishing report weekending 13th April

by Top Catchon 14 April 2015in blog

Hi all

It seems weather forecasts were a little out over the past week which made it a little harder than usual to plan trips. Conditions were unstable, patches of brilliant sunshine and flat seas mixed with rain periods and sloppy seas however we did get a few trips’ in, some in less than ideal conditions, and we were rewarded. Once again Murphy’s reef and the Barwon banks were the reefs’ that fired. These two areas have been fishing superbly for the past two months. Some of the standout catches for the week were coral trout, pearl perch, snapper and sweetlip all of which are top table fish.

The 1/2 and ¾ day charters were spent on Murphy’s reef bottom dropping on the inside and outside edges and both sides of the reef produced quality fish. There were snapper to 4kg, coral trout to 6.5kg, sweetlip, tuskfish, school mackerel, hussar, some good size moses perch, gold spot estuary cod, morwong to 5kg, gold spot wrasse and the king fish are still hanging around in good numbers. The pilchards and local squid did most of the damage with a few kingy’s and cod taking live yakka’s and small fusilier. Well done to the boys in the picture below boating some quality coral trout 5kg and 6.5kg.

5kg coral trout from murphies coral trout 6.5kg from murphys

The banks are where we have been going for our full day charters and the deeper sections of the bottom end were targeted this week. Species boated were amberjack, rosy jobfish, pearl perch, fusilier, big tea leaf trevally, snapper, tusk fish, gold spot wrasse, moses perch, kingfish and small mac tuna. It is good to see the snapper coming through and numbers will only increase over the next two months as the temperature starts to drop. All ready we are starting to get plenty around the 3-4kg mark so I think the snapper season is going to be a good one, I can’t wait! The picture below shows amberjack to 5kg which gave the boys’(and their dad) a good fight well done boys.

amberjack to 5kg from the banks

Hopefully the fishing keeps firing for the last week of the school holidays and there is still spots left on various charters so if you want to keep the kids occupied for a day and yourself head over to our contacts page and send us an email or give us a call. Until then happy hunting!!!!

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Mooloolaba Easter fishing

by Top Catchon 10 April 2015in blog

Well we are very thankful for the weather received over the Easter long weekend. It wasn’t looking too good this time last week but the rain and wind stopped Friday morning leaving us with perfect fishing conditions, and the Sunshine Coast reefs fished well too.  Pelagics’ like mackerel, kingfish, amberjack and big trevally were boated as well as some tasty reef species like coral trout, pearl perch, squire and tusk were pulled up from the bottom. The spanner crabs were hungry as well especially on the full day trips with hauls of up to 64 keepers. The current was quite strong out wide on our full day charters’ but it didn’t seem to stop the fish everyone had a good bag of fish and crabs to feast on over the Easter break.

We had ½ day charters on Saturday morning and afternoon and tried 3 different reefs- Currimundi, the Caloundra 9nm and Murphy’s. Fish were put in the esky from all but the afternoon session on Murphy’s was probably the most productive some quality kingfish 5-8kg, squire, sweetlip, tusk fish, hussar and moses perch all coming home with us for dinner. They might have liked the hours leading up to the full moon rise. The 9nm provided tusk fish, sweetlip, squire, coral trout and morwong and we had school mackerel, big estuary cod and moses perch from Currimundi reef. The picture below shows a beautiful coral trout caught on a cut pilchard, well done mate!

beautiful coral trou from the cal 9nm

The full day charters were spent on the Barwon banks and the variety of species caught never ceases to amaze me. There were good numbers of amberjack in the 3-5kg range some nice size pearl perch, rosy and green job fish, squire, lots of tusk fish, big trevally to 7kg, kingfish, fusilier and moses perch to name a few. The picture below shows a 4kg green jobfish which are pretty rare for our reefs and top of the table as far as eating is concerned well done Greg!

green jobfish banks

This last photo is an 8kg king fish that took a live yakka on a paternoster rig. One of our regulars Doug and his son Jai were very impressed, good work boys.

8kg kingfish from murphy's

If you would like to join us for a trip head over to contacts page and drop us a line or call anytime. We do still have some availability for the remainder of the holidays. Until then HAPPY HUNTING!

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Getting ready for some Easter fishing action

by Top Catchon 31 March 2015in blog

Hi all,
Sorry I didn’t update you last week but we took the opportunity get away camping on Bribie before the Easter rush. It’s a hidden gem, I hadn’t been there before but enjoyed it thoroughly and the fact it’s on our doorstep makes it very appealing for future getaways. We only had 2 nights and with the kids fishing opportunities were limited to just 3 occasions but they were very productive! There were heaps of swallow tail dart during the day. Some big whiting to 40cm and bream at dawn and a huge 63cm permit or snub nose dart at dusk which put up a great fight on the light gear.

got this 63cm permit or snub nose dart while camping at bribie last week

Some good times but now back to business the offshore scene has been going great. The past fortnight has been some big numbers of fish put into the esky as well as some quality size specimens as well. Murphy’s reef for the half and 3/4 day charters and the deeper sections of the Barwon banks for the full day trips have been the pick of the reefs and are going off! Lots of squire coming through with fish up to 4kg being landed. Also plenty of king fish, amberjack, sweetlip, moses perch and trevally. There are still a few Pearlies on the full days and we have got into some schools of trag jew and fusilier as well. And all that is just to name a few, below shows a decent 10kg cobia caught on the Barwon banks.

10kg cobia from the banks

And this picture shows Kathy, one of our regulars, rewarded with some snapper to 4kg from Murphy’s on a ½ day trip. I tried to get her to hold the 5 other fish she had caught in her mouth for the photo but she wasn’t into it ha-ha

some nice squiry snapper to 4kg coming through

So lots of action over the past 2 weeks and the fishing is looking good for the upcoming Easter holiday period. We do still have some availability for charters over the next 2 weeks so if you are interested id book in now before things fill up!! To do so head over to our contacts page and flick me an email or call 0429013012.
Until then HAPPY HUNTING!!!!!!

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