So your mates have invited you out on a reef fishing overnighter; but you've never been offshore shore before. No problems, here's a down and dirty on the basics so that you can at least understand what they are talking about.
First time anglers might get confused with all the equipment and the many options that seasoned crews will talk about using on a fishing trip; in this article with the south-east Queensland reef fishing season upon us, let's look at the equipment basics for anglers to consider.
There are a number of scenarios where I like to reef fish at anchor on an overnighter.
Out in Moreton Bay or Hervey Bay there are plenty of islands to fish around, most of these would fall into the category of a shallow water fishery (if not very shallow). As well there are the main islands of Moreton Island and Fraser Island respectively. Along the inside of these islands there are quite a few likely spots for reef fishing that also make great overnight anchorages, the inside ledge of Moreton Island from Cowan Point up to Comboyuro Point including the area out the front of Bulwer is an example of such. Other spots are the close in offshore reefs; Shallow Tempest on the eastern side of Moreton Island is one that springs to mind. These spots can either be the focus of a specific trip, or they are great as an overnighter on a Saturday night when you are out for the entire weekend.
For more serious trips where the excursion is specifically a night fishing trip, in good weather crews may head out to the deeper water reefs in the afternoon and fish all night to return after the dawn session the next morning.
If you ever get the chance, being anchored up for the night inside the Great Barrier Reef is one of life's bucket list reef fishing experiences.
Be it on a primarily marlin fishing trip out of Cairns, or a week long charter boat reef fishing trip out around the Swains, the fishing is often amazing and not to be missed when you anchor up behind the reef overnight.
BEST TIMES
The best fishing times during an overnighter are close to the turn of the tide when the run (current) slows enough to let you get your baits down with the least weight (sinkers) as possible. The other best times are dusk and dawn. However it can be important to differentiate your fishing strategies from the dark to the light. For example, out on a northern Queensland reef, just before dawn, I may drop a live bait down in the hope of a red emperor while it is still dark. Soon after though, in the grey light I'll slip the surface floater out with a live bait. The plan is to tempt a big Spanish mackerel. Once the mackerel line is set I'll switch to a bottom basher with flesh baits to seduce a coral trout.
Switched on anglers will be up an hour or so before dawn to ensure that their gear is ready and 100% rigged before the fishing opportunities present. It's the guy who is stumbling around and still tying his knots who misses the often narrow bite window. It is handy to know these times when the action is likely to start, that way you to get ensure that both yourself and your equipment are ready to go.
SURFACE FLOATER
Many crews put one line out (sometimes a second) as a floater specifically to target mackerel. This outfit is rigged on wire and is most productive around the grey light of dusk and dawn. It is common to put the live bait out under a balloon at dusk but to then bring it in once it gets dark as such baits tend to end up getting sharked once the sun has completely gone. Incidentally, at night most anglers try to get their live baits down deep closer to the bottom in order to hopefully avoid prowling sharks; I've caught quite a few mackerel by employing this strategy (and quite a few sharks too).
If you are into tuna (think sashimi) then put out a surface live bait on a mono nylon type trace. Tuna are more likely to bite throughout the day (although dusk and dawn are often still the best times). Accordingly one strategy can be to fish your live bait(s) on mono traces during the day and then switch to wire trace for your live baiting for mackerel at dusk and dawn.