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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodsncods Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jan 2023 at 11:59am
you don't have a real job so get a hair-cut. . . .mick
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jan 2023 at 8:48pm
Originally posted by rodsncods rodsncods wrote:

you don't have a real job so get a hair-cut. . . .mick

Why?……. Even the hairdresser doesn’t want a job
Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Feb 2023 at 1:47pm

The first few photos are of the coming of the dawn while heading out to the reef this morning. THAT basically sets the tone for this report .   Cry

A fresh westerly wind helped push me out very early this morning. I picked a very early start as the wind forecast was for it to swing around to the north mid morning. So my plan was to troll out to the first line of reefs with the wind at my back, drift the reefs then make it back before the stronger northerly hits.

That WAS the plan but nobody told the wind. Instead it stayed westerly all morning increasing in strength. Now this was a bummer because I would have had a different game plan if I knew I was going to have westerlies the whole trip. Westerlies do not give me a good drift over the first reefs and I didn’t go further out incase the winds actually do change to the north. Still, it was good to get out.

The fish were quiet as expected with this wind in these first reefs but I managed an undersized coral trout on a very small Ganesy lure. I then tried a Kuttafurra lure and got a 41 cm trout which came home. A few smaller species and a metre long shark came up. The shark rolled over onto the line and wore through the line. One the troll home I had a hit on a larger Kuttafurra which left me with some tooth marks in the lure and a mackerel tooth. How nice of that mackerel to give me one of his teeth after loosing a few at the dentist last week. 

So that was the trip, pretty uneventful but it calmed the addiction a little.





The Kuttafurra Lure





Couldn't upload a couple of photos as I accidently had the camera on "live" mode.

I'll try the Ganesy Lure - nope sorry, was also  "live "


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sudanraghu2210 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Feb 2023 at 6:03am
Good Morning !! Martin

You have  additional Talent of photography apart from angling. 

Superb capture of early morning sun riseThumbs Up  

Have a great day !!

Regards, Raghubir
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2023 at 5:56pm

A good run out to the reef this morning. The weather did what it was predicted to do – mostly. The winds strengthened up between rain events but it stayed a south westerly . My choice of reef was spot on and the rain helped to hide me in the shallow reef. Total glass out days gives the fish a lot of scope to see you. Rainy or days with a chop helps to hide you.

As the tide was over half way up, I had a period of time of slow water movement that quietened the fish down. Except for the 60 cm spangled emperor – these seem to like the dead water at the very top or the very bottom of the tide. When I snagged this fish I shot a cast over a large sandy area right on dead high. Spangleds hunt over the sandy stretches so I had the right time of the tide and the right area for them and was handsomely rewarded. Chinamen fish are another species that hunt on the sandy / rubble flats during the dead water of both ends of the tide as well.

My troll home saw me with a big bonito (just checked Grants Guide to Fishes, these things grow to 4 feet {yes it’s an old book} or 120 cm, this one was 59 cm) that fell to the Kuttafurra lure that was hit by a mackerel on my last trip. I was also hit by a mackerel on the Ganesy mackerel lure as per the photos. Now I know this was a mackerel as it too left me a tooth as per the last trip and the Kuttafurra lure.

I came home with a 44 cm coral trout for my niece and the bonito she is going to use  as crab bait. The 60 cm spangled emperor,  the 49 cm coral trout and 49 cm flowery cod went back as did the 59 cm giant trevally. No I didn’t keep any fish for myself …. and yes I am sick of eating fish (give me steak).


Ganesy lures first


another photo after the mack attack


I chose this coral trout to keep for my niece as it was raining and I didn't want my paperwork for the fish tagging to get wet


At this size giant trevally are still pretty good eating and make great nummus and curries, but it too went back


I know people who will walk past coral trout for a spangled emperor. I haven't eaten one though but I've tagged a few and given a few away



I'm having connection issues so I'll put the Kuttafurra caught fish in another post, in case I loose it all.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2023 at 6:18pm
The Kuttafurra caught fish. The smaller species liked them as well, I didn't take a photo of every one of those.





Another smaller species but on a different lure (and because I love the colours of this fish)




Coral trout




A couple of photos of the flowery cod




A saddletail, these things can grow quite large - but they often carry the ciguatera poison. There is a bloke in town crook with this, he's in his 3rd month now and still has numb hands and face. He ate a piece of very big coral trout, just one of the reasons why I limit the largest I'll take to 56 cm.


The bonito, I like water shots and I knew this fish was securely hooked


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chep Buxley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2023 at 8:12pm
Great photos and story. It looks like lure colour isn't very important?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sudanraghu2210 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Feb 2023 at 11:33pm
Wow !! pretty fishes caught, seems all of them are of legal size Smile

Regards, Raghubir
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Feb 2023 at 7:38am
Originally posted by Chep Buxley Chep Buxley wrote:

Great photos and story. It looks like lure colour isn't very important?

I don’t believe it makes much of a difference, especially on the reef. When you think of all of the different coloured fish on the reef and given half the chance they would all get eaten pretty quickly if they weren’t careful.

If I was pressed for coloured on lures then I would go black- might be mistaken for a squid, yellow and black- might be mistaken for a stripey, browns- might be mistaken for a variegated emperor. Also lots of bait fish are white or silver or grey - think of whiting, hardiheads, pilchards ( from the side), garfish.

The most important things for me is that the lure stays in the water when I give it a vigorous rip, doesn’t foul up on a long cast, as well as casting weight. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote puglee62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Feb 2023 at 10:39pm
very nice Martin,i never knew Bonnies grew that big wow!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Feb 2023 at 4:50pm
Originally posted by puglee62 puglee62 wrote:

very nice Martin,i never knew Bonnies grew that big wow!

Took me by surprise as well, I thought a near 60 cm model would have been at the top end of their size not half grown
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Feb 2023 at 6:50pm
I missed out on a few reef trips lately- weather variabilities as compared to the weather forecasts. I passed off on one trip out because the evening forecast’s changed to rough. I went fishing at 2 am for a couple of hours and it was very rough. When I woke up at 10 am, the water had glasses out and apparently it was like that since 6 am - missed opportunity.

We are having a good wet season this year with a daily average at home at around 75 mm. The last couple of days has been a little drier and the water is starting to clear up as per the photo below.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Feb 2023 at 6:54pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Feb 2023 at 1:57pm
Not much in the way of fishing here at the moment. We are finally getting a good wet season. I am currently house sitting a 400 acre property spending g half of my nights here. From 9 am yesterday morning to 9 am this morning this place has had in excess of 130 mm (5 inches) , rain gauge only goes up to 130 and we had another30-40 mm after that filled. So far today we have had close to 75 mm or 3 inches and it doesn’t look like the rain is letting up. We have had good rain nearly every day for the last month but the last 2 weeks it had really stepped up.

I came out last night expecting the rain to ease, well the weather forecasts said it was going to. I only brought a little bit of food out here but it looks like I might be here for a couple of days now as the driveway is flooded with overflowing swamps next to it. Luckily I previous brought in about a ton of rock and gravel to build up the worst bogs in the driveway .

I was planning on walking to the river chasing barra once te water has one down a bit but the track going in is flooded and now connected to a swamp just 300 metres away with a 3 metre croc in it. That bloke will be on the move looking for one of the many pigs or wallabies here.

I got one of my friends out here bow hunting the pigs ( with the owner’s permission) and he has got a few and seen some over 120 kilos. These pigs have been digging right next to the house and are causing some damage to the infrastructure:

I had been trying the lures at the waterfront with hits from tarpon and barra. The only hook up I have had is from a small barra that threw the lure at my feet. Just waiting to hit the river behind this property. The bow hunter tells me there are some deep billabongs close by that hold good barra. Just not going to Wade in the water to get there.

The property

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chep Buxley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Feb 2023 at 4:41pm
If the croc doesn't get you, the hogs will.........Thanks for the update.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sudanraghu2210 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Feb 2023 at 5:57pm
Martin, wow what a fabulous place to spend time love the location.

Please share more pics incase you have taken .Thanks for sharing.

Regards, Raghubir
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodsncods Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Feb 2023 at 6:29pm
i think i've been there martin. is the owner related to an elder in town?. . . . .mick
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tony Mc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Feb 2023 at 7:30pm
Good time to bring out the wake baits
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2023 at 1:42pm
Originally posted by rodsncods rodsncods wrote:

i think i've been there martin. is the owner related to an elder in town?. . . . .mick

No the owner is a 78 year old lady that built the place with her husband over 30 years ago. It’s next to that camping site where that bloke Booker was taken by a croc ( Mick, do you remember Ron Booker from Coles DC? It was his brother).

Raghubir, I’ll take some more photos when I get back out there. I managed to get back after a couple of hours of little rain. Being up on a rise the water in the driveway goes up fast and comes down fast.

Reading comments in some of Cooktown Facebook groups, some people got over 13 inches or 340 mm of rain from midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodsncods Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2023 at 2:56pm
Originally posted by horrorhead horrorhead wrote:

[QUOTE=rodsncods]i think i've been there martin. is the owner related to an elder in town?. . . . .mick

No the owner is a 78 year old lady that built the place with her husband over 30 years ago. It’s next to that camping site where that bloke Booker was taken by a croc ( Mick, do you remember Ron Booker from Coles DC? It was his brother). no , but i've  had a sleep since thenConfused. . .mick

 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tony Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2023 at 4:36pm
What an awesome spot Martin, hard to beat! 

Yep I wouldn't fancy wading the water anywhere around there Stern SmileLOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2023 at 6:38pm
A couple more photos- a bit overgrown with all of the rain. But the owner has already paid for a gardener to come next week.

This place runs off solar panels with 4 x 600 amp hour lithium batteries and only needs tank water. She did have a line going to a spring but that was damaged by wild pigs and she hasn’t fixed it because she doesn’t need to.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2023 at 6:47pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2023 at 6:50pm
I have sold my house in town and looking at a couple of places just outside of town. I may not get views like this but the council rates will be cheaper and if I do it right then I’ll also go fully off grid as well.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tony Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2023 at 8:58pm
Nice plan Cool  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sudanraghu2210 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Mar 2023 at 4:14am

Hi Martin !!

Thanks for sharing more pics of the location, hope u had a great time . What an angler need, is a peaceful place to live in nature, away from cosmopolitan environment surrounded by water bodies. 

I stayed at such place near Sydney during my visit in 2018 only missing was water bodies . There was one small river down the valley dried up with small water  patches at some places, here is the only pics i have right now.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Mar 2023 at 7:00am
Dodging a few rain showers this morning and I finally broke this season’s barra drought. There were the odd scattered barra boofs along the rock wall at the waterfront but I noticed one rock where a barra was consistently smashing the surface. Third cast around this rock and a 68 cm, fat and healthy smashed the lure then peeled off line in between the dozen or so jumps. I was standing on a couple of small rocks and was feeling a little unsure with my knee so I took it easy as I lifted the fish up and walked it over the rocks. At this stage the fish had 2 points from both trebles in it so I knew it was securely attached.

The reason I used Per Johannsen’s Banana lure- the water was still dirty with a few mullet swimming on the surface. This banana lure swims just under the surface and creates a small bow wave just like the mullet, and it paid off.

A quick photo, a tag in it’s back and it was back into the water. 


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodsncods Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Mar 2023 at 7:26am
f&ck that, neck it, fillet it, roll it in flour with salt and pepper, quick fry it in butter . . . .mick
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p.j. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Mar 2023 at 8:10am
First thanks again fore using my Lures Martin. 
Actually your reason to use the topwater (almost)Banana LOL is the same reason I use it after the Sea Trouts here
The way it make the pressure wave through the water works  Big smile

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chep Buxley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Mar 2023 at 5:26pm
Congratulations Martin & Per on the barra!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Mar 2023 at 1:08am
Originally posted by rodsncods rodsncods wrote:

f&ck that, neck it, fillet it, roll it in flour with salt and pepper, quick fry it in butter . . . .mick

You get sick of eating fish up here - GIMMEE STEAKBig smileBig smileBig smile
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A later start to the reef today but still a good run with a nice gentle westerly breeze helping us eastwards. We approached the first reef and started a troll. I had my niece’s boyfriend with me and he stated that he had only ever caught a couple of small trevally on lures before. He had been a pro fisher / crabber / trawlerman and when fishing it was always bait fishing.

I went through some of the basics of trolling and shallow reef lure fishing , setting drags etcetera and my Kuttafurra lure got hit. A few metres of line peeled off then nothing. I called the fish for a small tuns, most likely a small bonito.

As we neared the reef I pointed out some features and ways to fish them, that is types of lures to use, how to use them and what to expect. A bit of a troll later on and Shannon had placed the rod he was trolling with in the rod holder outrigger style. We had checked the drag to make sure it was heavy enough to set the hooks and light enough so as not to break the neck on the rod holder. I always remembered how Debbie Dare said not to use this type of rod holder on Glenn Lyon Dam as you have to troll with a locked up drag and the cod can hit so hard it breaks the rod holder. (Are you picking up what I’m putting down here?).

Well yes, that did happen. Despite having what I would normally call a relatively light drag, it was hit so hard that the neck on the rod holder broke. Shannon was halfway through rolling a cigarette and he just threw the tobacco down and dove onto the rod, half over the side of the boat and just managed to grab the rod only centimetres above the water – good save (especially as it was a brand new Ugly Stik and a brand new reel that I gave him to use). He felt a heavy weight on the end of the line then the fish let go of the Ganesy mackerel lure. As  we were in 15 metres of water over reef, I suspect a big reef fish line a huge coral trout, reef mangrove jack or something similar.

There wasn’t anymore excitement trolling after that while we headed towards a “hump”. This hump comes up from 35 metres to 11 metres. We stopped just before it and dropped some very heavy and large soft plastics that a mate had made. Despite a great showing of fish on the sounder, we couldn’t tempt a fish.

After a while we headed to our target reef. It was now an hour after dead high tide so I figured that the fish on the shallow reef should start getting active. Shannon was using another brand new outfit that I gave him to use (one outfit for trolling and one to cast lighter lures). I showed him my rip and wind style and pretty soon he had a just legal coral trout on board using  DJR Creak Freak made by Steiny. He opted to tag it and back it went. A few moments later he had an undersized coral trout on board. That too was tagged and went back overboard.

Things got very uneventful for the next hour and I asked Shannon if he would teach me how to catch coral trout on lures (LOL). Just after that I caught a stripey and a remora on a Kuttafurra lure. We then decided to try another, smaller reef nearby. We threw out the Gansey and the Kuttafurra mackerel lures to troll over. Almost there and I saw a school of baby bonito breaking and jumping clear of the surface. We trolled towards them in the hope of hooking up with what was feeding on them. We were both hit almost simultaneously, and simultaneously we were both busted off, I think it was more bitten off with bites to the swivel connecting the wire traces to the main line.

We back tracked back knowing fully well that there was a chance that at least one of the lure might float back up. (An advantage of using barbless hooks.) Well this worked as I spotted the blue Kuttafurra lure but the white / red headed Ganesy lure could not be found.

 Soon afterwards we were on the reef and drifting / casting over it.I had caught plenty of trout on this reef in the past 6 months. All I caught was a couple of small longfin cod. We persisted and after another hour we noticed big surface smashes near a large dark patch on a shallow part of the reef. We used the electric outboard to make our way over there and we could soon identify the cause of the smashes as very large trevally. As we got to the dark patch, it was an extremely large school of hardiheads densly packed. They had plenty of opportunity to swim off so we figured that it was a breeding aggregation of hardiheads and the trevally were taking advantage of it.

I sent into a fray of boiling giant trevally a Fishes Fishes stickbait. It was immediately set upon and I was hooked up. Under a heavy drag and using 30 kilo braid and 40 kilo wire trace, line just peeled off and the drag screamed like I would not have believed. The reel, a Finn Nor 80 LT (no longer available sadly) has previously stopped 120 cm Spanish mackerel in it’s tracks. I had the drag screwed up tighter and this GT was screaming off sending a rooster tail of water coming off the line – then nothing. I wound in and the 40 kilo multistrand wire trace had broken off at the crimp. Shannon and I both saw the fish in the 1 metre clear water, we both estimated this fish to be easily in excess of my 130 cm bucket list GT.

Shannon let fly with a Headland Lure made popper. He was soon monstered and his line took off but he was soon busted off on his 30 kilo line. I suspect that the line had touched a piece of coral that cut him off. But his line had also rooster tailed off and was of similar size to my lost fish. Luckily this popper soon floated back up but by stickbait did not.

By this time the GTs got spooked by us and evacuated the premises. We put the electric motor on spot lock and jumped overboard to cool off. We were hanging around the area hoping that the GTs would come back to the hardiheads but they never did. As this massive school of hardiheads had stayed there without moving away now that the predators had left is more of an indication of them being in breeding mode. This school would have easily been about 3 acres (2 hectares?) in area.

We started a troll again around the eastern end of this little reef sticking close to the sharp drop off of the reef’s edge. Shannon was using a Souther Cross Jew Ass lure made by Patrick Jones. He was bumped but it didn’t leave a mark. I was using the previously rescued Kuttafurra mackerel lure and I was hit big time, taken into the reef and busted off. I back tracked again and – found that lure again. Only when I got home I discovered 2 teeth imbedded into the lure.

We trolled back down the edge of the reef again for no other action and thus ended the fishing for the day.

Not much in the way of fish but a very eventful and entertaining day. Now if only Shannon would teach me how to catch coral trout on lures.

Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Mar 2023 at 1:29am
Photos now

Shannon with the only 2 coral trout caught today using a DJR Creak Freak (still reckon it should be Reef ChiefLOL)




One of the small longfin cod I caught on a Kuttafurra lure


The busted rod holder



The busted 40 kilo multistrand wire


The twice rescued Kuttafurra mackerel lure with the teeth still embedded





Martin-

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Another action packed day!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Mar 2023 at 4:19pm

I had Shannon back out on the reef again today along with my nephew. Now these two are predominantly bait fishermen and they wanted to drop some baits in deep water. As we entered the second set of reefs we slowed down for a mackerel troll while we scanned the sounder screen looking for suitable bottom. We did have a deeper section in mind that my nephew had smashed the nannigai before, but past the second set of reefs the winds and chop came right up and we figured that it would have been too uncomfortable.

During this troll I had out a Beardy lure similar to the big pink thing that was severely chewed up a couple of months ago (but this one was pilchard coloured) Shannon was trolling a Southern Cross Jew-Ass made by Patrick Jones. Half an hour into this troll the Jew-Ass takes off and soon Shannon had a nice 71 cm spotted mackerel in the boat. Continuiing on with the troll Andrew (nephew) was watching Shannon’s rod and said that “something happened”. Winding in the line it was evident that there was no lure, the wire was bitten through. We circled around but could not find it floating.

We didn’t find any suitable ground until we approached a reef’s edge in 24 metres of water. On went the spot lock on the Minn Kota and a over went the baits. Shannon and Andrew being old school trout fisherman (Shannon an ex pro fisher) were using handlines, I stayed using a rod with a 2 hook rig on. A few small reef fish came on board and a couple of decent red coral trout. Things got a little quiet so using the Minn Kota we motored around to try a different area. Each area produced at the most two keepable fish, mainly coral trout (reddish/pinkish from living in deeper water) but also a few flowery cod as well. I tried a strap of sour strawberry lolly and it was constantly picked off by little fish but it didn’t catch anything. You got to try these things. Anyway I didn’t get any photos of fish caught on bait, and to be truthful, I was getting bored with bait fishing.

Andrew sugested that we donate the rest of the bait to the fish and try luring the shallow reef flats (good boy, he knows how to get invited back out again LOL). I gave Shannon a shallow running First Strike lure and I used a Ganesy Lure as we were fishing in water around 2 metres deep. Shannon soon boated a nice 55 cm passionfruit trout and I managed a just legal fish.

We couldn’t get a good drift with the water’s current and the effects of the nice little breeze. We were constantly drifting off the reef’s edge into deeper water. We started a troll over the reef. Shannon was given a deeper diving DJR lure and I was using a Kuttafurra lure. Now Shannon kept me busy with the trout and stripies that he was catching and I barely had a chance to had the lure in the water. When I did get to swim my lure, it was diving too deep and I broke it off twice on the reef but managed to retrieve it both times. Shannon had a ball with that lure. As you can see by the photos it was pretty flat and very clear. Andrew was happy to just play “spot the fish” and he did spot some big fish.

There was an area where we could see big trout, big wrasse, other big things that we couldn’t readily identify. This was where Shannon was smashing the fish while I was continually retying my line, writing down the details of fish we tagged, trying to keep us in suitable depth water. After a while the water started to become discoloured and the presence of fish began to diminish. This water from rain water run off making it to the reef because of the falling tide.

So the lesson is – in this situation, located the rain water run off and fish just in front of it.

Time was getting on, Andrew had to pick up his kids from school so we motored back home under near ideal conditions.

Martin-

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