Shelf ENE of Wide Bay Bar

[Smithy]

Second voyage of Russ's 702 Signature after a few things have been sorted out, trim tabs fitted, autopilot fitted and JRC Plot 500F fitted. Put in just before lunch and jigged some liveys straight off the bar. Calibrated the autopilot then set course for the shelf. Ran into Optimax and Reefmaster on the way out and told us about the big Red and Cobe. (pictures must be coming) We tried a new spot 6 mile north of our Red spot and first few drops with deepwater jigs resulted in monumental bust ups on 80lb braid. One straightened a split ring and the other one rubbed off on the bottom on 100lb leader. Gave it a bit of a reef fish then decided to head south to see if the run was less as we were on a bommie right on the shelf whereas the other spot was well inshore. As it transpired it was the other way round so after pulling a few fish we decided to head north to get out of the current for the night and drop the pick. This worked well and Russ and Luke set about catching a few Reds and Spanglies. We were on a tagging trip and let around 12 or so fish go wearing plastic momentos including a couple of legal reds, a Coronation Trout and some small reds. This went well till the action quietened down then not long later Russ hooked a good shark that took him into the backing. He got it up but we then had to re-anchor. On the way up we lost the anchor and then had to drift the rest of the weekend and all night which was a pain. The big Trevaly came at dawn and for Sunday we mostly caught Moses Perch and Parrot. Everyone else on the radio whinged it was quiet and they weren't wrong. Here is one of Luke's Lippers.

[Smithy]

The Trevor. Pretty sure it was a GT and earlier in the night I got a big Tea Leaf a bit smaller.

[Smithy]

.

[Smithy]

.

[Smithy]

.

[Smithy]

.

[Smithy]

Russ on the shark.

[Smithy]

Still on.

[Smithy]

The shark.

[Smithy]

Back at home.

[Smithy]

The 4 best fish of the trip.

[Smithy]

A few screen captures.

[Smithy]

.

[Smithy]

.

[Smithy]

Diff between 50 and 200 khz.

[Smithy]

.

[Smithy]

.

[Smithy]

.

[Smithy]

.

[Smithy]

.

[opimax]

top photo`s on sounder will think to get some next time, saw some great shows on sounder myself, will find it hard to fish my old grounds now that i have fished that water. but c`mon rob lets tune that sounder to mts so we know what where we are fishing.. ;D ;D ;D.lee

[CobiaKid]

hey optimax

[CobiaKid]

great photos with the reds there optimax how come the other bloke didn't get one at the same time?? Now that would have been impressive. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

[CobiaKid]

I don't think so. ;)

[trout3030]

Some really nice fish there. Don't mean to be a stick in the mud but it does appear as though you have some nice red slabs (Hussar I hope?) of fresh flesh on for bait in the shark pic. Using any fish from the coral reef fin fish management plan is illegal. Stupid but illegal. I have seen on the dpi website that they are proposing to change this rule to allow one fish per person to be able to be fillited for use as bait.

[Smithy]

Yes they were Hussar. Drop a livey down and catch a Hussar then drop a Hussar fillet down and catch a Red.

Ditto to Lucky Phils comments in his Fraser post.

[opimax]

ditto to smithys & lucky_phills comments just want to go & catch a fish.

[trout3030]

I agree totally with you guys. This situation is ridiculous. Ridiculous but still in breach of the regulations. i sure don't want to be the first one to test out the theory that they wouldn't prosecute you for using a fresh flesh fillet bait.

[agnes_jack]

Good report Smithy!
Luke looks like a happy chappy with those reds!
Some exciting shows on the sounders, thats enough to get anyone excited.
Good stuff! Regards, Tony

[drb]

Nice fish
Nice collection of toys on the dash too!