Scott nthQld
10-05-2008, 07:20 PM
After my deckie piking out the night before and me unable to find another deckie, I made the call to head out to Maggie Island on my own. Woke at 6am and took a look out the window to see a bit of wind blowing decided to sleep a bit more and have a look later. Woke again at 7 to no wind and thought great, off I go, hitched the boat up and headed down to the coastguard ramp.
Outside of the port I was greeted by glassed out conditions, and may my way to Liver point in search of a few grunter, on the way through middle reef I spied a big current line where the dirty water met the clean, should've chucked a lure out the back for a troll but neglected to do so, the main target of the day was grunter.
Once I rounded westpoint I was greeted by a bit of wind and someone in the spot I was going to visit, so I sounded around and found another about 100m away. Burleyed up and threw a couple of baits out and got nothing but pickers. In the meantime, the tide had begun to turn and the other boat in my spot moved on, great I thought, tide about to start coming in and I've got my spot back, so I moved up there. First bait out and I boat a little batfish, 5 minutes later the new Saragosa rig goes off, I hook in only to be busted off on the rocks. I upgraded the leader to 60lb and tie on another squid bait, out she goes. While waiting I get a couple of small grunter on the light gear (6lb) and the Saragosa goes off again.
Big first run nearly spools me with only the backing left, out on my own, there was no one to pull in the anchor and give chase, but it doesn't matter, the 27lb of drag wears the monster down and I start getting some line back, I nearly fill the spool and the fish wants to swim around the boat, so I'm up on the bow, passing the rod under the anchor rope, over the aerial, under the other rod and another mighty run for freedom takes place, good time for a bit of a breather. I get all the line back again, nearly get the fish to the surface, another lap around the boat in the opposite direction and the little 6lb rig starts screaming for mercy (busted off short time later) oh well, this fish is better, I knew now it was a shark by the fight, but this was the first workout for the new reel, and I wanted to see what it had. After a few more laps, and some more blistering runs I finally lift the beast boat side to reveal the biggest shovel nose I've ever seen, est 6-8 feet long, I try and search for the camera to get a pic of it boat side, only to realise I'd left the bloody thing in the car. Pondering how to get the hooks out, the leader pops and I'm flung to the other side of the boat. Worn out, I sit down for a drink and a durrie and I'm back in business, very pleased with the new reel, and already reminiscing the sound of the Saragosa's drag......ahhhhh, beautiful. Only other rsult was a 4kg remora, taken on the 6lb line which gave a good run, and got my hopes up for a table fish, but oh well, can't win em all.
The wind had started to pick up now so I moved down to another point, out of the wind, which I thought might hold a few good fish. Anchored up and threw the baits out to get picked to peices a thousand times over, so I took the little flick stick and tied a smaller hook to it, just to find out what they were. I boated 2 very small sweetlip and another small fish I am unsure of the identity, but I could tell it was part of the Lutjundae family. I pulled up anchor and headed out to a small bommie wide of liver point for a troll, to see if I could pick up something of the pelagic variety.
Out goes an F18 8ft diver in red/white on the 30lb mainline 80lb leader Corvalus. I found the bommie without the aid of the GPS (hand held unit, batteries died) and there was heaps of bait and a few big arches hanging off it. I made a couple of passes at 4knts for no result, so upped the speed and did 2 passes at 6knt, and 8knt's for nothing. One more pass I thought and this time I increased speed to 10knts which resulted in a big hook up. Drag tightened up (upgraded drag to 25lb) and line still peeling off, with no anchor in the water and only 170m of line on the spool I attempted to give chase, only to be bitten off 5 min into the fight. Good sign, the spaniards are around, so on goes another F18 and a few more passes for no more interest and with the wind steadily getting stronger I decide to head in for the day.
On the way back to the ramp, the wind was much worse so I slowed down to around 20knts when I spied a big pinacle between the island and the northern end of middle reef. I just couldn'r resist and had to check it out so I turned around and gave it a good sounding, findign plenty of coral bommies and loads of bait and arches hanging around. Needless to say, I anchored up and decided to give this place an hour or so of my time. Having trouble anchoring up, I soon found I was trying to anchor on seagrass beds to fish the reef. I finally get a hold with the reef pick, and the burley goes out, as does a big squid (Yellow zone now, so only 1 rod allowed). It doesn't take long and something dives out of the reef, grabs my bait and shoots straight back into the coral. With the Saragosa's 27lb drag, 30lb braid mainline and 60lb leader, I was seriously under-gunned on that fish, with it stripping line with ease. I rig up again and throw anothr squid out to get smashed again, this time stopping the fish and boating a bloody slatey bream about 5kg, these were followed by another 5-6 slatey's, about 5 undersize (just) small mouth nannies and a few of the obligatory cod and small trout. One more bait I said to myslef, this time throwing out a whole pilly on 2 snelled 6/0 circle hooks with a #2 ball sinker. In no time flat, this bait was smashed and a quick struggle and to my great surprise I bring up a 60cm nanny! No way did I think there would be one of these this big in only 4m of water, excited by the prospect of more nannies, I thruw out another whole pilly to boat a few more babies, and the last pilly of the day brings in another nanny, and @ 42cm, he went straight into the esky to join his big brother.
Anyhow, now the wind was reaching its peak of the day I reckon, and to safely get back in, I decided to leave them biting and head for home. Pulling up the anchor, I am greeted by one of Townsville's freindly dugongs, breaching right next to the boat. that made me really miss the camera. After waiting a while, to make sure I didn't hit it, I cruised home at 20knts, giving the old knees and back a good work out. Finally got back to the port (a bit wet, probably should've slowed up a bit) to be stopped and checked out by the water police, who kindly reminded me to cut the pectoral fins off the nannies in the esky (thanks boys), and everything else was in order. Finally got the boat on the trailer, and doing the rigging the Fisheries and boating patrol paid me a visit, chaking out safety gear, rego, licencing and fish. i showed them the big nanny and they asked how wide out I went to get that, "oh, not far mate, only about 8mile away", anyway, they couldn't believe it, and seeing my boat, they knew i wouldn't be able to go too far out, especially in weather like today's, they had no choice but to believe me. Everything being in order, they even helped with the rigging on the boat, strapping it down, putting the lights back on, so another big thanks out to them.
Surprisingly there were a lot more boats out today than I expected, with the carpark almost full when i came in. Sorry guys, no pics, by the time the boat and gear was cleaned, the fish were filleted and in the freezer/fridge. we got 3 feeds out of the fish for a family of 5 so they were nice and fat too.
Outside of the port I was greeted by glassed out conditions, and may my way to Liver point in search of a few grunter, on the way through middle reef I spied a big current line where the dirty water met the clean, should've chucked a lure out the back for a troll but neglected to do so, the main target of the day was grunter.
Once I rounded westpoint I was greeted by a bit of wind and someone in the spot I was going to visit, so I sounded around and found another about 100m away. Burleyed up and threw a couple of baits out and got nothing but pickers. In the meantime, the tide had begun to turn and the other boat in my spot moved on, great I thought, tide about to start coming in and I've got my spot back, so I moved up there. First bait out and I boat a little batfish, 5 minutes later the new Saragosa rig goes off, I hook in only to be busted off on the rocks. I upgraded the leader to 60lb and tie on another squid bait, out she goes. While waiting I get a couple of small grunter on the light gear (6lb) and the Saragosa goes off again.
Big first run nearly spools me with only the backing left, out on my own, there was no one to pull in the anchor and give chase, but it doesn't matter, the 27lb of drag wears the monster down and I start getting some line back, I nearly fill the spool and the fish wants to swim around the boat, so I'm up on the bow, passing the rod under the anchor rope, over the aerial, under the other rod and another mighty run for freedom takes place, good time for a bit of a breather. I get all the line back again, nearly get the fish to the surface, another lap around the boat in the opposite direction and the little 6lb rig starts screaming for mercy (busted off short time later) oh well, this fish is better, I knew now it was a shark by the fight, but this was the first workout for the new reel, and I wanted to see what it had. After a few more laps, and some more blistering runs I finally lift the beast boat side to reveal the biggest shovel nose I've ever seen, est 6-8 feet long, I try and search for the camera to get a pic of it boat side, only to realise I'd left the bloody thing in the car. Pondering how to get the hooks out, the leader pops and I'm flung to the other side of the boat. Worn out, I sit down for a drink and a durrie and I'm back in business, very pleased with the new reel, and already reminiscing the sound of the Saragosa's drag......ahhhhh, beautiful. Only other rsult was a 4kg remora, taken on the 6lb line which gave a good run, and got my hopes up for a table fish, but oh well, can't win em all.
The wind had started to pick up now so I moved down to another point, out of the wind, which I thought might hold a few good fish. Anchored up and threw the baits out to get picked to peices a thousand times over, so I took the little flick stick and tied a smaller hook to it, just to find out what they were. I boated 2 very small sweetlip and another small fish I am unsure of the identity, but I could tell it was part of the Lutjundae family. I pulled up anchor and headed out to a small bommie wide of liver point for a troll, to see if I could pick up something of the pelagic variety.
Out goes an F18 8ft diver in red/white on the 30lb mainline 80lb leader Corvalus. I found the bommie without the aid of the GPS (hand held unit, batteries died) and there was heaps of bait and a few big arches hanging off it. I made a couple of passes at 4knts for no result, so upped the speed and did 2 passes at 6knt, and 8knt's for nothing. One more pass I thought and this time I increased speed to 10knts which resulted in a big hook up. Drag tightened up (upgraded drag to 25lb) and line still peeling off, with no anchor in the water and only 170m of line on the spool I attempted to give chase, only to be bitten off 5 min into the fight. Good sign, the spaniards are around, so on goes another F18 and a few more passes for no more interest and with the wind steadily getting stronger I decide to head in for the day.
On the way back to the ramp, the wind was much worse so I slowed down to around 20knts when I spied a big pinacle between the island and the northern end of middle reef. I just couldn'r resist and had to check it out so I turned around and gave it a good sounding, findign plenty of coral bommies and loads of bait and arches hanging around. Needless to say, I anchored up and decided to give this place an hour or so of my time. Having trouble anchoring up, I soon found I was trying to anchor on seagrass beds to fish the reef. I finally get a hold with the reef pick, and the burley goes out, as does a big squid (Yellow zone now, so only 1 rod allowed). It doesn't take long and something dives out of the reef, grabs my bait and shoots straight back into the coral. With the Saragosa's 27lb drag, 30lb braid mainline and 60lb leader, I was seriously under-gunned on that fish, with it stripping line with ease. I rig up again and throw anothr squid out to get smashed again, this time stopping the fish and boating a bloody slatey bream about 5kg, these were followed by another 5-6 slatey's, about 5 undersize (just) small mouth nannies and a few of the obligatory cod and small trout. One more bait I said to myslef, this time throwing out a whole pilly on 2 snelled 6/0 circle hooks with a #2 ball sinker. In no time flat, this bait was smashed and a quick struggle and to my great surprise I bring up a 60cm nanny! No way did I think there would be one of these this big in only 4m of water, excited by the prospect of more nannies, I thruw out another whole pilly to boat a few more babies, and the last pilly of the day brings in another nanny, and @ 42cm, he went straight into the esky to join his big brother.
Anyhow, now the wind was reaching its peak of the day I reckon, and to safely get back in, I decided to leave them biting and head for home. Pulling up the anchor, I am greeted by one of Townsville's freindly dugongs, breaching right next to the boat. that made me really miss the camera. After waiting a while, to make sure I didn't hit it, I cruised home at 20knts, giving the old knees and back a good work out. Finally got back to the port (a bit wet, probably should've slowed up a bit) to be stopped and checked out by the water police, who kindly reminded me to cut the pectoral fins off the nannies in the esky (thanks boys), and everything else was in order. Finally got the boat on the trailer, and doing the rigging the Fisheries and boating patrol paid me a visit, chaking out safety gear, rego, licencing and fish. i showed them the big nanny and they asked how wide out I went to get that, "oh, not far mate, only about 8mile away", anyway, they couldn't believe it, and seeing my boat, they knew i wouldn't be able to go too far out, especially in weather like today's, they had no choice but to believe me. Everything being in order, they even helped with the rigging on the boat, strapping it down, putting the lights back on, so another big thanks out to them.
Surprisingly there were a lot more boats out today than I expected, with the carpark almost full when i came in. Sorry guys, no pics, by the time the boat and gear was cleaned, the fish were filleted and in the freezer/fridge. we got 3 feeds out of the fish for a family of 5 so they were nice and fat too.