We had friends coming up to stay over the long weekend who were keen to go for a fish out the reef as they mainly target Sooties in the fresh.
As per usual the weather gods were not playing the part to get outside in my 5 .1 meter boat. The decision was made to try and convince Andy from Cooktown reef Charters to take us out for a day on his 42 foot Randle.
With only our friends Justin and Alarna and Holly and I, Andy decided to make a trip. With 25 - 30 knot S/E forecast Andy had a chuckle. Whilst in the local tackle shop "The Lure Shop" paying for the booking, another chap, Macca, from the Gold Coast decided that he would also come for a run.
I woke up on Sunday morning to expect the Charter to be cancelled as the trees at home were at right angles lol.
The charter went ahead and the conditions were absolute crap. As per usual the photos don't really do it justice but I did not take photos of the worst of it when we were crossing '' The Paddock" as I was hanging on.
The plan was to fish the deeper waters chasing reds and Nannies but Macca had seen better days. He asked about hiring a helicopter to fly out and pick him up.
We ended up fishing the 16-20 meter mark as it was more protected from the elements.
First drop we started getting legal nannies and small reds. I have never caught them in water this shallow before but I wasn't complaining. The skipper jigged up a few fusie's for livies and I put 2 out under balloons. We were catching trout, lippers and various other reefies when Maca got snagged. The Deckie Trevor left his handline on the ground next to me and went to assist macca. For the next 30 seconds I could hear a noise but I could not put a finger on it Justin yelled out asking me if I was going to pick it up as he pointed to the ground. The strange noise was Trev's handline bouncing next to me.
After taking most of the spool on me I started the long pull back in. 5 mins later we had a small Whaler in the boat ready to be de-hooked. A quick pic and off he went.
As i dropped it back in the briney my old ABU 9000 spooled with 8 kg braid started screaming. After seeing the mono backing a few times I finally had a nice Spanish next to the boat.
I was well and truly shagged now after playing tug of war with the dirty shark then the big Spanish.
The rest of the day consisted of getting dusted by big bottom fish. After seeing all of the ''Red Reports'' on AusFish I had butterflied Hussar and Fusie's down. We got bricked more times then not on 80 pound braid, but it was good hanging on for about 15 seconds.
All in all it was a good day in crappy conditions. There was plenty of space with only four of us fishing on a 42 foot boat. We released a heap of fish (our friends don’t eat fish) and got smashed by even more.
If you are ever in Cooktown without a boat, give Andy from Cooktown Reef Charters a holler as he is a keen skipper that has just taken over the business and works hard to put you onto fish.
My baby whaler
Holly with here first Red
Alarna with her baby reddy,
Justins Chinaman
Justin about to get flogged
My Spanish
Justin and me (with macca jumping in on the left)
This was the smoothest the ocean was all day as we were over 16 meters of water.
Another of Justin's big Chinaman
Also a pic of the last trip I did of Adelaide reef. Flat seas, caught a swag of fish in about 2 hours.
Cheers,
Nick
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...good on you tho for getting out on the water...even if it was a bit snotty...love it when the junior reds put their party clothes on 
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