Coral Bay Annual - what i learnt
Cards i was dealt - Weather Gods
This annual expedition to Coral Bay provided me with a splendid five-day opportunity to immerse myself in the open waters beyond the reef. Although the weather forecast was merely average, presenting a challenge with heightened winds despite a relatively calm swell. The initial two days gifted me with refreshing morning wind drops, while the subsequent three days offered a more breezy experience. Undeterred by the weather's unpredictability, I navigated through the elements, making the most of the unique conditions bestowed upon me by the whims of the weather gods.
Adapt & overcome- work harder
The five-day fishing expedition was tough and proved to be a formidable challenge, exacerbated by unfavourable weather conditions and a slow bite from the fish. Undeterred by these obstacles, I found myself compelled to exert extra effort, working harder and using multiple approaches to get the bite, however by the end of the trip i had a camera full of fish photos and and a freezer full of prime fillet.
Day 1- High hopes High moral
I headed out through the north passage and planned on fishing with in 15-20k of the reef, mainly jigging the bite was super slow, a few cobia to annoy me, slash give me some stretch. I moved through a lot of ground that i did super well on last season in the 70-80's but struggled to get the bite. In the end finding some fresh ground in the 80’s the vexed dhu drop did some damage, taking out 2 pearl pearch, one of the tastiest fish in the ocean.
Day 2- Its not looking good
I began my search in the same areas i left off the day prior, however it was much the same circumstance with a dead bite, i had noticed in the 80’s there was a considerable amount of coral spawn, making the water filthy, many times ive noted this ive also had an almost shut down bite. I moved away from this out to the 100m line, fishing with bait and a paternoster rig i found some feeding fish, but within a few drifts the weather turned making holding bottom extremely difficult, I called it early.
Day 3- Time to send it south
The Haines hunter got sent out the north passage but i moved south from there, getting out of the areas I had previously fished, in search for some areas with feeding fish. Still fishing in the 80m mark i was greeted with definite feeding fish, unfortunately the sharks were in a feeding frenzy also, taxing at almost a 100% rate. With sharks came the cobia, moving in with numbers, mark to mark they were thick, smashing any jig i sent to the bottom. With a quite bite on the demersals i actually welcomed the hot cobia bite and made the most of the action.
Solid Rankin Cod on the Dhu slow
Day 4- Getting to work to produce
i knew i had to work hard to produce, i had found an area that had feeding fish the day prior so i knew where to start my search, i sent the haines to the south passage, with a low tide of 0.2 right on launch i really had to take my time getting through five fingers reef, Navigating shallow waters with a slow drive, the Haines Hunter approached the South Passage. Despite the howling wind, the low swell provided a surprisingly smooth exit to behind the reef, from there I was greeted with even stronger winds and an angry ocean, i send to the 80m mark hard south.
With a tough bite i changed my approach from jigging to a standard paternoster rig, using mustard taiwana hooks and baiting with fresh squid caught at five fingers reef the day prior. Straight away the bite was on, working my way through school of pearl perch & moses snapper, picking up some tasty treats.
From here i moved out to the 100m mark in pursuit of some goldband snapper, with the rough water the schools sounded up very lightly on the furuno 295, rolling over the ground slowly to sound the fish was a must,. With the deeper water i used the same rigging just replacing the 24 ounce lead for a 32. After a bit of sounding and a few drifts i had picked up a few goldband for the table.
As there wasn't too much size to the goldies i decided to move back to the 70’s and search some new ground on the way home, finding a nice sounding, i dropped some fresh squid bait, getting smacked instantly a nice rankin comes aboard the haines, now i knew the fish were feeding and already had a few good ones in the esky i tied on a vexed dhu slow, dropped straight on the mark where the previous fish was hooked and boom, boated another nice rankin. Heading back to the ramp with a solid bag
Day 5 The fish start firing : the boys start singing
i knew where the fish were feeding, so the Haines sent straight through the south passage making my way to the same ground as the day prior, i had planned on using the same fresh bait approach, however as usual on my first drift if it sounds up good, il always drop a jig to see whos home !
Today, things had changed, the bite was on from the first drop, fish were on the chew! Drop one saw me hook up on the vexed dhu inchkichu, unfortunaly i didn't land the fish, next i tied on a 270 gram vexed dhu slow, little did i know this single jig would land all the fish of the day.
First i went to war with an amberjack, not quite the target species but some good stretch none the less, the drop after this saw a beast rankin cod come over the side. After getting some stretch on a few other fish and really razzing up the mark i could see some sharks moving in on the sounder and some sitting under the boat, it was time to move.
From here i had some ground i wanted to explore about another 20k further south, ¾ of the way there i drove over a small patch of ground, a very subtle sounding, i dropped the same vexed dhu slow. On this drift i had actually pulled up a little early and dropped too soon, I knew i was a bit too far off the mark, with no ground on the sounder i thought i had cooked the drift, deciding to give the jig a few twitches regardless, it was smacked, this fish went hard and up comes a solid red emperor. This bigger fish was clearly off the ledge and doing its own thing off in the sand, separating its self from the other fish holding hard on the ground often a common story with bigger models of red emperor. From here i boat another two beast Rankin cod this time fishing right on the mark, taking me to my days bag limit, its time to send it !
If its red its dead
What i learnt
You can't always jig
As much as i love to use jigs and sometimes despise using baits, you have to use what works and learn to adapt. You have to be willing to mix up techniques to find out what the fish are feeding on and sometimes this means using bait, for some days the jigs were almost untouched. This even came down to the difference between using a bottom meat with a bigger piece of bait that wasn't getting the bite, to switching to a paternoster rig with smaller hooks and smaller baits to produce a bite in slow conditions.
Knowing the basics, fishing the fish
This is a big one and even more of a necessity in rougher weather. That is knowing how to set up the drift properly, being able to time how long from pulling the boat up on the drift, to dropping the bait or jig and having it timed properly so it hits the bottom just as you reach the ground/fish on the sounder. This is a basic skill that is learnt over time but is essential for catching fish, if you spend too long with the bait or jig in the water before you've reached the ground, or worse yet having the jig hit the bottom once you've already passed the ground, you're out of the game and wasting valuable time.
Dont be afraid to move – keep tappin’
I've found over the years Coral bay can be a real place that either fires or its completely dead and has the tendency to shut down. Many of the marks that i had previously done well at this season i could hardly get a bite at, and often when i simply did some miles and got out of certain area’s and went north to south or south to north i could find feeding fish, so don't be afraid to move further or even deeper to find those feeding fish.
Also dont loose hope and just keep fishing day to day, as this trip it really went from dead fishing one day to firing the next !
