Friday 01/05/09 With Smithy

[Doc03]

Arrived at the ramp to meet Rob at 5:30am after leaving Brisbane at 3:30. A long drive so the wife and I were pumped to get going. After packing a few things and getting the boat ready we were off at about 6 and headed for Morton in search of some fish.


After about 2 hrs of travel we arrived as some bait grounds and proceeded to catch a few livies in some rather rough surf. After the livies were caught Rob put out 2 small HB lures and off we went towards the reef and fish.


Not long and one of the rods went off. A very quick fight and a tiny Mac Tuna was boated and released.




The 2 HB lures were put back out and we also put out 1 skirt and a gar. We hadn’t gone far and one of the small HB’s gets hit by something a bit bigger. Some line was gained fairly easy but I think the fish then realised it was hooked and spat the dummy. 100m+ of 24kg flew off the reel and we gave chase but were bricked shortly after by what we suspect was a big GT.



We got a few more small Mac Tuna before passing over a ton of broken bait that lit up the finder. As we passed over both HB’s got hit and we had a double. I ended up pulling the hooks on a Mac Tuna boat side and the wife boated a very nice Yellow Fin aprox 6kg.






We were being plagued by small Mac Tuna and at times Rob was getting hit while in free spool still setting the lures. During the day we had the gar get smashed only to be bitten off shortly after hook up. We also had 2 hooks on the skirts break on decent fish unfortunately.

Things slowed down for a while as we were hit with a few rain squalls but we were awoken when one of the HB’s got slammed. I had just gotten to the rod when we saw an explosion of water where the line met the water and saw a shark chasing after what ever we hooked. The hooked fish screamed away in an arc and ended up boat side very quickly as I was eager to keep the fish away from the sharks. To my joy an awesome Wahoo was gaffed. This was a 1st for me so I was stoked.






We continued with our troll and seemed to be avoiding a lot of the smaller Mac Tuna. All of a sudden there was a POP as an elastic band snapped and a reel screamed off. The fish took a lot of line then decided to swim straight at us. After some serious winding we managed to get a very healthy and fat looking Spanish Mac that was tagged and released to fight another day as we had plenty of fish for the 2 of us already.






We did manage some larger Mac Tuna in the afternoon and one massive fish that we ended up snapping the line on after about 20min. By this time it was time to head off for home.

I would just like to say thanks to Rob for a great day. We were lucky enough to catch some awesome fish and would definitely recommend a day out on the water with Rob.

Anyways thanks for reading. Cheers.

Some more happy snapps:

[jtpython]

Great post mate and pics to .
As always a great trip with Smithy
JT

[skipalong]

nice fish guys looks like there was plenty of action, lovely mack and hoo

justin

[sleepygreg]

Smithy does it again. Pleased you had a ball on your charter. That is what fishing is all about. Rob is up with the best of them and challenging for that top spot (come to think of it...cant think of a better charter operation for this type of fishing in these parts). Well done Doc03, and well done to Smithy for another happy customer.

Greg

[Smithy]

Dunno about that Greg. I am just on a roll trolling wise while the fish are there and I know what to do and what lures to run. Someone like Shane Steer has more experience at that over many more years than me. As for bottom bashing it is heart in mouth stuff every trip until the snapper move in real close for catching on plastics. I don't mind doing that. Reef fishing during bank hours which is what I have to do is just so hard sometimes. You have to be a magicition and maybe some people have high expectations but the water temp is still over 25 degrees out there, no bait is in close just yet, liveys are hard to scratch up then at the moment all my hangs on the anchor seem to be wind against tide and you have to re-anchor at least three times (one Hail Mary, one to adjust for the wind then a third to re-adjust for the current) on each spot and all that takes time and then you end up fishing down your anchor rope out of one side of the boat only etc., etc. Corten, Palermo and Gooding seem to be killing it out of South Passage Bar. They each have good businesses with repeat and word of mouth customers so they don't seem to advertise much or need to drum up work on here like I do. I have plenty of holes in my diary I need to fill up. At least I don't have to take on South Passage Bar each day and travel across Moreton Bay. It is great when the snapper move in close. Then it is happy days.

[SunnyCoastMark]

Dunno about that Greg. I am just on a roll trolling wise while the fish are there and I know what to do and what lures to run. Someone like Shane Steer has more experience at that over many more years than me. As for bottom bashing it is heart in mouth stuff every trip until the snapper move in real close for catching on plastics. I don't mind doing that. Reef fishing during bank hours which is what I have to do is just so hard sometimes. You have to be a magicition and maybe some people have high expectations but the water temp is still over 25 degrees out there, no bait is in close just yet, liveys are hard to scratch up then at the moment all my hangs on the anchor seem to be wind against tide and you have to re-anchor at least three times (one Hail Mary, one to adjust for the wind then a third to re-adjust for the current) on each spot and all that takes time and then you end up fishing down your anchor rope out of one side of the boat only etc., etc. Corten, Palermo and Gooding seem to be killing it out of South Passage Bar. They each have good businesses with repeat and word of mouth customers so they don't seem to advertise much or need to drum up work on here like I do. I have plenty of holes in my diary I need to fill up. At least I don't have to take on South Passage Bar each day and travel across Moreton Bay. It is great when the snapper move in close. Then it is happy days.

Mate, we have been catching good grassies and loads of just undersize squire - not to far off Point Cartwright in the past 2 weeks - so usually that means the bigger fella's aren't too far away.

Cheers,

Mark

[Midnight]

Hey Smithy,
Take credit, where credit is due. You are obviously doing a top job from what I have seen on these forums in the short time I have been a member.
Well done, keep it up!
Cheers,
Myles

[sleepygreg]

Smithy, I know Shane Steer very well, and he is a top operater and a top bloke, that guy could pull marlin from freshwater, and the cod holes he has would blow your mind.....but he is skippering 'In the Black' which is a 40' Blackwatch...bloody nice boat and i know the owners as well. He mainly concentrates on the bigger fish these days. You cater for the average punter who wants to catch good fish, and because of the size of your boat, you can move around a lot more freely and target many areas that are limited to a bigger boat, and are also prepared to switch the point of attack when things dont go to plan. Also your knowledge of fishing lighter lines (ANSA style) puts you in a better position when it comes to getting your customers fish where others dont. Im talking northern bay, sunny coast. The other guys you mentioned out of the gold coast are top operaters as well....but they are out of the gold coast/southern bay. Take the kudos when they are offered.....we know your not a magician....no one is....but your a hell of a communicater and thats what counts with the punters. Keep us up to date on whats happening...looking forward to reading many more trip reports.

Cheers and Beers
Greg

[dww13]

hey smithy

what hooks are you snapping?

Maybe need to back down to 4-6-8 kg line. hahah watch the tackle disappear with the punters then.

Dan

[Smithy]

Mostly SL12S Gamakatsus. I think a couple of Katanas as well. Also snapped and straightened Eagle Claw 2004ELFs on those Gold Coast Spot X fish the week after we got them on Pacemaker when on 15kg down there on 100%. Am shifting over to Dojos seeing as 76LGSs are no longer available but the points out of the box are pretty disposable being as pointy as they are. Found that out coming home from Cairns last season using your old mans.

Am mostly running 10kg and 15kg but nowhere near 5kg of drag over the scales. Not till we get into slugfests with the trevors and whalers like we have been anyway. They have been sunset and thumbs.

[Always_offshore]

good post ,smithy always interesting,ill be out thurs,fri sat sun hopefully the weather will hold,got a day in last week and bagged out on pearlies with some good ambos chucked in as well keep you posted ( hopefilly remember my camera this time)