Hey guys, just thought I'd share some details of our offshore trip today. While we caught nothing massive to brag about, it was a glassed out day and zooming around at over 30kts everywhere was still a bit of fun.
We left cleveland around 5am and made short work of the run around Peel and up the Rainbow Channel arriving at the bar with only just enough light to safely cross it. Wait...did I say bar? What Bar....there wasn't a wave in sight. Excitement brewing amongst the crew, we set course for shag rock for some livies and a bit of a play with some plastics on light gear. That was a mistake....while we managed the lives without a drama, we were destroyed many times by what we suspected were some big snapper and/or Spanglies. We thought we'd give some heavier gear a go...but as luck would have it...nothing touched them so it was off to the 35s for some bottom bashing. 10 or so mins later when we arrived at our first spot, I had never seen the sounder so red with activity. There was a bait school extending 25m upwards from the bottom and some BIG arches lurking behind them. The crew couldn't get their baits to the bottom quick enough. But in about 10 or so drifts (maybe more) only 3 decent snapper to about 3kg were landed, one of them the flukiest net job I had ever seen where the fish spat the hook at the boat and was heading to the bottom before being sneakily snatched up by a crew member desperate to land his first ever snapper in his life. Needless to say there were high fives all around by him. After drifting through the school many times, we couldn't raise a good fish...even with knife jigs. We had one hit but no hookup. Disappointment. From there we headed another 6 miles east to the 42s. Again the sounder was alive with activity with countless schools of midwater fish and some big pearly schools patrolling the bottom. Baits on the drop again but again we came up short with only an undersized snapper and about a 2kg Pearly actually landed. Bites were few and far between after that. We were smoked by a few good fish and eventually we decided to bite the bullet and steam home at a 'casual' 35kts. We beached at cleveland boat ramp within 40mins of retrieving the chute at the 42s. And Speaking of chutes...until today, I've never seen Dolphinfish school underneath it. They absolutely loved ours but spooked too easily so none were caught.
The experience didn't stop when we arrived home though. About 6pm this evening I was given a call by the Brisbane Water Police saying a search and rescue mission was being co-ordinated to locate my missing vessel. Of course this was a shock to me as I was already home, safe and sound. It turned out when I left the ramp this morning, and because I was crossing the bar, I decided to log on for safety. The only Coast Guard Station open at the time was CG Southport whom assured me would pass my details on to the nearest operating rescue base, VMR Jacobs Well, which they did as VMR JCW called me at 6.30am on 81 to confirm they had received my log details. The day progressed normally with some conversation with the base in regards to weather and sea conditions and general chit chat. When it came time to cross the bar again to get back into the Rainbow, VMR JCW was eerily quiet. I was then told by the MBTBC radio room that Jacobs Well was experiencing technical difficulties and had it's radios shut down. I asked MBTBC whether they could pass on the info that I had safely crossed the bar and would like to be taken off the log which the operator pleasantly agreed to. Turns out the MBTBC radio operator operating for CG Brisbane at Manly must have forgotten to let JCW know and had gone home before he could tell any of the other stations such as Bribie, Redcliffe and M'bah that I was home already. So a search and rescue mission involving the 4 coast guards was being organised to find my vessel. Nevertheless, the officer was extremely relieved to hear my voice on the home phone and to be able to call off the search. Can't thank them enough though for their concern even if it wasn't my fault. And the funny part of the story.....It's taken me about an hour to write this because I keep getting interupted by phone calls from distressed relatives whom the police called to inform them of my missing vessel haha.
Nevertheless a top notch day. Was planning a trip to the Barwons on Saturday morning but keep getting told it won't fire in a Northerly. Any experienced Barwon fisho's able to lend some advice?
Cheers guys
Ash
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Originally Posted by zulu
