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Luring Cooktown

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2019 at 8:41pm
Originally posted by HARTE HARTE wrote:

You are certainly getting your share of windy days Martin!
I hope that changes soon and you get a chance to get out for a decent fish in 
great conditions. Thumbs Up
Cheers Graham

Thanks Graham. We have some days next week with a predicted 50 kph with gusts up to 65 kph. In these sorts of winds we can't find a sheltered spot on the headlands as the winds swirl around them. Lakefield National Park is still closed, unless I go in from Laura which makes it twice as far then the dirt roads are still stuffed from the wet season.

Desperately thinking of fishing locations that I can get into or are not flooded.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Seaweed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 May 2019 at 4:16pm
Yes, looks like the SE Trades have kicked-in, we're getting ours here now, dry is upon us.
"Always Merry and Bright"
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 May 2019 at 9:16pm
Well I have been trying (some say I'm very tryingWink). I was hit by a little barra of about 50 cm but no hook up a couple of nights ago.

Nobody is getting much while fishing , a few small trevally and the occasional barra while bait fishing. The 2 local guides only had 1 charter each in the past week so things are very dismal at the moment.

A flick around the wharf this afternoon for nothing. Then this kid (turns out to be a pro trout fisherman), using half a trevally as bait hooks up to something huge. 40 minutes later, and with aching arms and back he releases an estimated 200 kg groper which swam away wondering what the hell just happened.   Not what you would call lure fishing but interesting all the same
 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 May 2019 at 9:14pm
Before I go on about today's efforts. I'll explain (as explained to me by a friend that fished professionally around the Cape and then got his "guide" qualifications) why the winds are so unpredictable in Cooktown.
Cooktown is in the zone where a lot of the weather systems terminate usually the "highs"- that is stopped by another weather system from the north (often a low). This causes a conflict zone of the two differing systems - that is winds, think of it like a current line of air. Now while the meteorological models can predict the weather systems, they cannot, with much degree of accuracy, predict exactly where these two systems will meet but just the basic area - Cooktown is usually in "that area". Cairns just 200 kilometres further south may experience weeks of great calm days, where as we may only get one or two days of good weather. Most of our good days up here is when the systems are weak so it doesn't have that strong "current line of air".

I had been watching today's wind predictions for a few days. Yesterday was pretty good but the tides were in neap with very little rise and fall. So I was banking on today's winds to stay down low. The tides were still in neap but he fall between high tide early this morning to 9 am was 0.9 of a metre. The rise from 9 am to 1 pm was 0.1 of a metre. The plan was to get to the reef early to fish the bigger run of water then to burley up mackerel after low tide. Things were working out well until the winds blew up at 9:30 am instead of the predicted 1:30 pm. 

I scored the usual small pretty reef fish on all of the lures I used chasing coral trout. A 41 cm coral trout latched onto a small HJK Lure, released as too small for me. I drifted over some deeper bommies so I changed lures to a deep diver Creek Freak made by Darren Ringlestein (Steiny -DJR Lures) and was rewarded with a very plumb 60 cm coral trout . This lure was lost 2 minutes later by something to large for my 8 kilo braid. Back over shallow water and I changed to a 75 mm Illusion Lure Wedgetail. This lure got monstered and straight into the reef. On went that pink jointed Murphy Lures stickbait that was smashed on my last trip out. On the first cast I watched a trout of about 50 cm shoot out of a bommie by 8  metres, smack the lure off the surface, and before I could but any tension on the line, double back towards me and went under that same bommie that I was drifting over. Luckily I  got it back by applying steady pressure in the opposite direction the fish went in at.

By this time it was low tide and the wind was (as mentioned) coming up early. I opted not to burley up the mackerel and took a slow troll home. I picked up a nice 89 cm spanish mackerel to top things off. By the time I neared the harbour, things were starting to get uncomfortable, not unsafe but not nice.

the 41 cm trout on the HJK Lure


the 60 cm trout on the DJR (CONTRARY TO THE PHOTO, THE FISH WAS 60 CM, THE ANGLE OF THE PHOTO MAKES IT LOOK LARGER) bloody capsEmbarrassed
 

I forgot to mention that I also used a Mark A Lure - a baby herring, but the hooks were too small and I missed too many fish (my fault, I replaced the old hooks with smaller new ones). But one of the pretty fish I got today.
e of 

The little Illusion Lure Wedgetail that was lost a couple casts after I got this nice stripey


It was a 16 cm Wedgetail that nailed this 89 cm spanish mackerel


Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote steiny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 May 2019 at 11:01pm
Well done mate...champion!
cheers steiny
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote hooknose Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 May 2019 at 6:36am
Keep it up Marty, better dig out your raincoat again mate 😄
Keep up the good work mate 👍
Cheers Steve R !!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodsncods Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 May 2019 at 6:54am
you can bring my coral trout, mackerel , and stripie fillets with you when you come down for the expo ...mick
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 May 2019 at 5:34pm
Originally posted by rodsncods rodsncods wrote:

you can bring my coral trout, mackerel , and stripie fillets with you when you come down for the expo ...mick
                                                                                         Doesn’t look like I’ll get out again before the expo , going into withdrawals ATM
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 May 2019 at 8:12pm

Well the wind is still blowing it's bum off and the forecast is still lousy for the next 10 days -  then we leave for the Lure Expo. So it  doesn't look good for a fish anytime soon.

River is dirty from Cyclone Anne, even though we didn't get much rain. No spot to hide from the wind off the rocks. I may be able to get a fish in at Palm Cove jetty when I go to Cairns tomorrow.







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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 10:04pm
Haven't fished at all in the last few days. Made a couple of trips to Cairns with the trailer and brought back a cubic metre of silky oak reclaimed from a demolished building and over of cubic metre of 15 year old seasoned red cedar. I'll have some of these timbers for sale when I go down to the expo.

Did a wharfy this morning in the rain and spoke to one f the regulars - nothing had happened in the last few days. Apart from Mike who hooked a 2.2 metre croc at the wharf on a soft plastic. Wal and I heard all about it when we went around for dinner this evening. Seems that that has been the highlight for the past week.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2019 at 10:11pm
Forgot to mention that according to Troy from The Lure Shop (used to work at Bransfords), the Bloomfield River is firing for mangrove jacks, finger mark and barra with lots of bait in the river. As this is only a very short river of about 9 kilometres from the waterfall to the mouth, it clears very quickly.

So if you are coming up this way before the wind slows down, head to Bloomfield. There's a nice little caravan park there, a little IGA Supermarket, a back filled wharf, a couple of gravel boat ramps and not much else.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jun 2019 at 10:09am
Still travelling around after the Lure Expo. But keeping an eye on the weather in Cooktown. I’m not missing out on much. When I get back I’ll put up a post on my latest adventures. For some reason I cannot upload photos off my phone despite going through the process
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Jun 2019 at 9:26pm
Well still windy in Cooktown, but at least Battle Camp Road to Lakefield National Park is open. So today Mike and myself had a day trip  there. Mike had not had much experience walking the north Queensland rivers chasing fish so I had to start teaching him how to do it safely - that is, how not to get eaten.
 
At the first area we went to there was a camp packing up. They had a car topper tinnie in the water and said that the water temperature was 24 degrees celcius. Not ideal as I prefer between 25 and 32 degrees, but we tried anyway. After a couple of hours of hard walking through the thick riparian bush for without much of an opportunity to cast a line, we headed off to another spot.

Upon arrival it was obvious that this next spot had been heavily visited and fished judging by all of the footprints and the rubbish left behindAngry. Walking further away from the parking area I found a little "inlet". Quite a few hits from little barra before I hooked up on a Roland Davies "wax's" minnow. I had forgotten to crush the barbs and could not get 2 barbs from one treble out from the corner of it's mouth. As it wasn't seeming to hinder it, I cut the barbs off the little fish of about 38 cm away and it happily swam. 

I then put on a Rick Levinston (Codzo) Levo Lure for a couple of hits from rat barra before I snagged it. If I'm lucky I'll be the first there when the water level drops to retrieve it.

Mike went further ahead and landed a 50+ cm barra, as he was unsure if it made the required 58 cm he released it. He then dropped a smaller fish in it's mid 40's - both on an Illusion Lure 12 cm Wedgetail.

I fished some water that Mike bypassed having a couple of barra ghost the B.O.B.s lure I had on. One fish was in excess of 75 cm, but the barra were still quite lethargic. 

So that ended our day, a little fish each and some other action. Water needed to be a bit warmer. The "inlet" of most of my action was in the sun, shallow, and most of the sides had a sand bar entering the water, all conducive for heating the water.

As the river here shallows up throughout the dry season, we expect the water with less depth to heat up faster producing more fish.

My little barra

Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MadDogLures Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jul 2019 at 8:24pm
Well done Martin Thumbs Up 
Life is fishing!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Jul 2019 at 12:08pm
Not having much happy fun joy ( saw that as part of a translation from Chinese to Enlish ) at the moment. Yesterday was good to get to the reef, but a 3 am drive to Cairns for an appointment today meant that I wasn’t going to knock myself around . Now Saturday looks great and I’m going to an auction. Well it’s still a few days out so things may change for Sunday
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jul 2019 at 10:12pm
Well yesterday's weather was supposed to have been good until about 9 am. So at 6 am I headed out towards the reef, by 6.30 am the 19 kph winds turned into the 30 kph winds 2.5 hours early. The plan was to get in a couple of hours on the reef then come back trolling with the south easterlies. 

(When I drift the reef a light wind is advantageous as use of the electric outboard is easy and limited. In a strong wind it gets difficult trying to keep a good drift using the electric more then actually fishing. And that is exactly what it was like yesterday.)

So I arrived at the reef after trolling out as there is always a good chance of a pelagic from tuna species, mackerel species, cobia, small black marlin (we have had numerous hits and 1 brief hook up before). In a stiff wind in my 4.6 metre "WOOKIE", I don't like getting bashed out by the swell too much anyway. But nothing this time. First cast using a WAX Lure (the same one that I got that little barra at Lakefield NP last Friday) and I got smashed by a big spangled emperor only to be cut off on the reef. My 7 kilo outfit was no match for this 70 cm plus specimen (sorry RowlandCry).

I then tried a variety of lures for not much success. I could not raise a decent fish until a B.O.B. Lure got smashed by another big spangled emperor only to be lost beside the boat. Upon sussing the lure out, 3 barbs of the 2 trebles were broken off. A bit of a troll off the reef's edge only raised an undersized spotty mackerel that saved me the effort of getting it off the lure by letting go beside the boat. The highlight of the day was a 1.2 metre Long Tom that chased down the Gilhop lure in mid flight from 20 metres leaping out of the water in 3 metre jumps to get to it and smashing the lure as it hit the water. Their eyesight must be amazing for it to spot the lure in mid flight and then to pin point exactly where it was going to land. (My casts aided by the wind were easily 60 metres.)

My trolling back home after 3 hours on the reef saw 2 hits from something using a shallow and a deep diving 16 cm Illusion Lure Wedgetail. 

B.O.B.s lures,including a tiny grinner that attacked a lure bigger then itself
     

Gilhop Lures next made by Gill Hopper
 

the big Long Tom -  part shot only of the fish to show the lure


Lik Lures, can't remember who made this but I got it at the Lure Expo. First photo is of a coral trout of 15 cm, surely the smallest ever caught on a lure?LOL

 

MFL Lure, made by one of Billy Stringer's mates in Townsville


All up I got over 20 fish, just nothing to really brag about.

I attended that auction today and was out bidded on a house that went for $87,000. Every time I bidded, I kept on thinking of the 3 years of hard work in doing up the house and cleaning the yard. If you think that is a cheap house, think of a jungle - yes an actual jungle for a yard, and a moss covered house with the jungle starting to grow on it. With the expenses that would have incurred in the resurrecting of this property, I passed in at $65,000 (and almost got it, hammer about to fall) as  I could get a house elsewhere.

Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote scotch&dry Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 2019 at 3:39pm
where abouts was the house at marty?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jul 2019 at 8:19pm
Originally posted by scotch&dry scotch&dry wrote:

where abouts was the house at marty?

Rossville, backing onto Wallaby Creek, about 3 minutes drive past The Lions Den Hotel.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jul 2019 at 9:04pm
Picked up a package from the post office today - 3 bibless lures from Gary Ransom to try.

I went down to the wharf to give them a quick test swim to see the action - all with a nice tight shimmy action that will make great trolling lures for the pelagics. During the testing of the smaller one, an undersized spanish mackerel surprised me by smashing it - totally not expecting it especially in the middle of the day.
 

The Endevour River is starting to get to a good colour again with more schools of bait coming back in. Over  the last few days more small GTs and spanish mackerel are being caught and the surfsace activity is starting again. Time is hit the early mornings again me thinks.






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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote hooknose Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jul 2019 at 9:36pm
Get into em Marty 😁👍
Cheers Steve R !!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ducks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jul 2019 at 10:40pm
How many houses do you need big fella? Itchy feet already?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jul 2019 at 6:23pm
Originally posted by Ducks Ducks wrote:

How many houses do you need big fella? Itchy feet already?
                                                       Got a rental property that’s funding most of my retirement at this stage. But I’m not in my own place to live in.                             Well now that the river has just about recovered from the last minor flood, guess what? It’s raining again, this is proving to be a wet dry season. Hope we don’t have another flood no matter how small as it would only take the river fishing backwards again for a while
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ducks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jul 2019 at 6:39pm
Oh I thought you had bought a place when you moved up. My bad.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Jul 2019 at 10:46pm
Originally posted by Ducks Ducks wrote:

Oh I thought you had bought a place when you moved up. My bad.

I did, but I'm renting it out so I don't have to work. Living on a shoe string until I access my superannuation in either 3 or 8 years time. The price I pay for retiring early.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Jul 2019 at 7:31pm
Yesterday I went out to Archer Point chasing Mack’s, GTs, anything- not a touch.     Today I had plans on hitting the reef as the winds were supposed to be down...... NOPE. So I trolled around the river mouth to Blackbird Patches as you can usually pick up a few spotty and school Mack’s with the possibility of a Spaniard or a golden trevally. Not a touch so after getting sick of being bashed by a short sharp one metre chop, I tried inside the river for a barra or a mangrove Jack. I then tried outside the river mouth again. By 1 pm I was loading the boat on the trailer without even a touch.                           Back at the boat ramp I spoke to the Lure Shop charter crest, they took their clients out past Egret Reef and got them onto a heap of spotty mackerel and a 40 kg cod on bait. It’s alright going out in that weather when your boat is anorher2 metres larger and a lot more comfortable. Wind predictions for the next 10 days up here are not very nice. Hoping to line up a trip to Lakefield NP over the weekend.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote samurai Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jul 2019 at 4:16pm
Hey Martin, have you ever wondered why all the trees in Cooktown grow with a leanWinkLOL   
Cheers Warren                                                                                                                                                       
Any Brand Of Lure Is Only As Good As The Fishermen Using It.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Jul 2019 at 7:52pm
Originally posted by samurai samurai wrote:

Hey Martin, have you ever wondered why all the trees in Cooktown grow with a leanWinkLOL  
Cheers Warren                                                                                                                                                       

LOLLOLLOL ..... well ...... now that you mention itWink.

Lined up Ed - Scotchndry for a session at Lakefield tomorrow. So here's hoping we'll find the fish. The water levels should have dropped at little since the last trip, and we have been having some warmer weather so I'm hoping the water has warmed up a little (22 degrees at 6 am this morning)  and the fish are active.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Jul 2019 at 10:55pm
Ed and I headed off to Lakefield this morning and arrived at our chosen spot at about 9.30 am. There were other people there already and later we found out that they  were 2 days into a 3 day trip there. They had pretty good success on rat barra and lost a few bigger, legal sized fish.

As expected, the water levels had dropped by about 30 cm. The air temperature at that time was at 23 degrees,but it soon heated up. We had a series of small barra with the occasional larger one follow or  short strike the lures, a clear sign that the water was still not quite warm enough. Ed was the first to nail a rat barra on a Twin Rivers prawn. By this time I could feel the temperature rising and the sun really started feeling hot. I had an easy 70 cm barra just nip at the tail treble then it disappeared. A few flashes and short strikes later and I hooked onto a 50 cm barra using a Lobby Lure. That's generally how the barra fishing went for most of the bite. Lots of half hearted interest with the occasional small fish. Apart from Ed getting creamed by a big barra that hit his 12 cm wedgetail minnow nearly at his feet losing the lure, and me having 2 barra , one at least 65 cm (on the Lobby Lure) and one at least 70 cm (on a Mark A Lure)  spit out the lure on the jump. At least Ed didn't loose the biggest fish of the day - himself. A treble barb buried itself into his hand during a slip on the bank. Luckily for him, the barb had almost exited the skin so with a bit of pushing Ed got the barb through. I then cut the barb off with my Leatherman multitool and Ed just reversed the rest of the hook out.

All looked like that we were going to have a good chance of pinning one of these good fish until about 1 pm. I looked at Ed and he confirmed that he too felt a sudden drop in air temperature signalling a drop in barometric pressure. From then on we headed back to the car stopping off at our successful spots on the way. I only had one flash from a rat barra and a little "something" that rattled the lure without hooking up, Ed only had a follow from a rat barra.

Final score for the day - me 2 rat barra and a small catfish, Ed 3 rat barra, a small catfish, a tarp[on, a freshwater long tom and himselfBig smile

Ed (Scotchndry) with his first barra.
 

My first bnarra on a Lobby Lure
  

Ed's long tom on the 12 cm wedgetail minnow (Illusion Lure) that was later taken by a big barra


my second barra on a Mark A Lure


Ed's second barra on the Twin River Prawn
 


catfish also like Twin River Prawns
 


catfish also like B.O.B. Lures
 

the Twin River Prawn again wih another barra
J
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote scotch&dry Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jul 2019 at 10:05am
thanks for showing me around Marty I had a great time ,no big fish but was still a fun day
Ed.McC
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jul 2019 at 7:44pm
Was a fun day Ed, we will have to do it again.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote LOBBY Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Jul 2019 at 9:25pm
Great to see that small Grebe lure worked for you Martin but I was pleased to see a small barra hanging off it. Was expecting to see a sooty.Thanks for trying it for me .Oon.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Jul 2019 at 8:38am
A barra if at least 65 cm through that lure during a jump Don. Then I snagged it and it floated back up and I was able to retrieve it again. I’ll be trying it in more areas as well including sorties - if it survives long enough
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17 Jul 2019 at 8:11pm
Last Wednesday night / Thursday morning we had a diesel spill of an estimate 2,000 litres near the wharf. It was during the run in tide and the slick went all the way up to the Marton boat ramp with apparently a lot of dead fish. It wasn't until at least 12 hours later that an oil boom was but in place in a small section near the waterfront park. The photo shows the effectiveness of that oil boom.


I was hoping that the fishing wouldn't suffer much from it, but I have only heard of a small feather trevally and some bait fish caught since. The smell of diesel even nearly a week later is awful, so much so a lot of the locals are now not fishing it and the tourists have left, new ones are not staying long. 

Hopefully not much environmental damage has really been done. This boom was removed this afternoon, not that it soaked up much as we are all sure it was placed there mainly to placidate angry locals.We have had many small spills before that angered many locals, usually with the re-fuelling of pro- boats and large pleasure boats. Hopefully now something positive is going to be done to mitigate spillages in the future.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jul 2019 at 8:34pm
How long can this windy weather continue? I had been following 4 apps on the phone and 3 out of 4 of them, including BOM app said that today was going to be 17 to 22 kilometre / hour. We (Shaun - Charlo to Adam Memory and myself)rounded the head of the Endevour River to find at least 30 kph winds. As the near metre wind swell was more "rolling" then a short "chop", we decided to continue to the reef, but at a trolling speed for mackerel as it was the perfect time of day - pre dawn, for them. 

Half an hour into the troll and building clouds into a rain squall appeared close to the reefs we were going to. We decided to troll down the coast past Blackbird Patches which normally  produces all types of mackerel, to fish the Annan River. By the time we went past the patches, the winds had increased to cause the metre plus wind swell to shorten up. We continued on into the swell because we would have an easy ride back going with it.

Once inside the Annan River we started trolling and flicking lures. This is a fairly shallow river and it took a bit of effort to find deep enough water to travel in (only a small high tide today at mid day), we were often in water less then .8 of a metre, and that was the channel.(Shaun scored a little feather trevally on a plastic fizzer going in) We came to the deep hole at 4 metres deep that was supposed to be the place for queenfish. We flogged that water with poppers and fizzers for close to an hour - nothing (love the C.R.A.F.T. poppers, you can make them pop like a rifle shot). We worked our way back to the river mouth for a small GT that took a Lively Lure that Shaun was trolling. As he was flicking his fizzer (that sounds rudeWink)  to passing snags, he graciously let me wing it in, not that it was much of a fight though.

After we worked our way through he river mouth that went from a 6 metre deep hole to about a metre deep (no high tide), we trolled back, past Blackbird Patches again back into the Endevour River. On our trip home, the winds had picked up even more causing a larger and shorter chop still. But as we were going with it, it was a pretty easy ride. We still didn't raise a scale off anything on the trip home. Water temperature was around 19 - 20 degrees all day. Air temperature, even out of the wind was not much higher if higher at all. As an indication, Shaun made his annual migration north again from Manilla near Tamworth, where it really gets cold for not being an alpine area - and Shaun stayed pretty well rugged up. Me? I was cursing myself for not wearing long pants and a tee shirt under my two long sleeved shirts.

The 2 little trevallies
 

As we rounded the heads into the Endevour River, Shaun commented on the still lingering smell of the diesel spill. My nose has since become desensitised to it so it doesn't worry me as much. Still the local regulars  are not fishing the wharf area and tourists are not staying very long. Checking the wharf later in the day and I could still see diesel leaching from the rocks.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote scotch&dry Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Jul 2019 at 9:15pm
so pissed off about this the endeavour was finally coming nice and clear and the baitfish were turning up in big numbers ,we didn,t need this mate
Ed.McC
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