After selling my boat two weeks ago, last weekend greeted me with flat seas and a forecast of 5 knots. I was tied up with work and social things (Holly), so we made the call to go on a charter on Sunday 5/4/2009
As usual the forecast for the weekend was 20 / 25 from the south east but still easily fishable aboard the 42 foot Randall 'Hurricane' owned by Andy of Cooktown Reef Charters
Andy had cleaned up during his last few trips with the standout fish being of red colouration. With Largemouth Nannies around 6kgs and Red Emperor around 6 kilos (with the standout specimen topping 13kgs) making up most of their recent catches, I was pumped and ready to go on Saturday night. A few birthday beverages on Saturday night ensured that I was ready to go bright and early Sunday.....Not
]Holly and I had spent Saturday catching Sooty Grunter and Jungle Perch in the freshwater reaches of the Annan River and unfortunately I got a good dose of Sun Stroke
We were met with sloppy conditions from the s/e and I was seasick for the first time in many years. Note to self..........have quiet night before heading wide in crap conditions The beauty of the Great Barrier Reef ensured that conditions would greatly improve once we neared the shallow protected waters behind the reef
With a cruise speed of 10 knots, we trolled a spread of four hard bodies on the way out. Russell from the lure shop sold me a few lures that he stated 'are deadly on Spanish Macs'. Well he did not lie. In the last two trips that I have been outside, the ‘Trollcraft pelagic’s' have out fished my Rapala's to the point where on this trip I only used the Trollcraft in the Silver Glitter colour
This trip was no different with 9 Mackerel falling victim to these cheap $11.95 lures. Holly landed her first Spanish going around 7 kilos on the way home so she was stoked
The first hang saw a few nice Trout come aboard but due to the increased pressure from Pro Trout boats the Trout were slow in comparison to previous trips I have had from a few months ago. There are pro boats everywhere flogging the reefs around Cooktown since the cyclone a few months ago down south
I had my new Saragosa 18000 loaded up with 80 pound Rovex Jig Braid matched to a 24 kilo Penn Jig Rod which I was keen to test out. We decided to move wider to the ‘Red’ patch that Andy has recently fished well for Andy. With an impressive show on the sounder, we anchored up in approx 25 meters of water. Hurricane’s two deckie’s had done a good job early on in the morning before departure and had secured enough live bait for the days fishing. I dropped over a big live herring with a 10/0 Gemakatsu through its back This bait had barely made it to the bottom before the 80 pound braid started screaming of the Saragosa at an alarming rate. Within about 5 seconds it was all over
Wind in, re-rig, tighten drag, drop livie down and start hanging on. This scenario set the next 5 minutes for me. I decided to lock up the drag and try to stop some of these horses. My biggest mistake for the day was due to me talking 80 pound leader. After reading a few of Ozbee’s reports on AusFish, it seemed as though he is on the money with his suggestion of using 150 pound leader. On the fish that I managed to turn, my leader was rubbing through half way up from the bottom. If I was fishing out deep, I would guess that we were into a school of Job Fish. The handline brigade was turning a few more fish than me resulting in a few nice Reds around 6 kilos making their way on board. I was using butterflied whole hussar for bait and continued pulling Chinaman up to 10 kilo on board.
After steaming 25 miles out to the reef, our 2nd hang lasted approx 15 minutes before the fish shut down. In all honesty, I would say that out of the seven people fishing, we dropped appox 10-15 big fish and landed about 4-5 fish. One of these was a nice 4.9 kilo Reef Jack that snaffled a XOS Fusilier suspended under a balloon about 10 meters below the surface
We moved onto a shallower patch of reef were we caught Hussar, Moses Perch and other mixed reef to fill up the other clients bag limit
On the way home we trolled again which enable all seven clients to land a mackerel. This proved a buzz for the southerners that made up the cliental for the day
A top day with plenty of fish to go around and plenty of nice table fish released to enjoy another day.
If you are looking for a top operator who will put you onto some quality fish, then give Andy a call on 0427 777 013 or alternatively contact Russell from ‘The Lure Shop’ (Hurricane booking facility) on 40695396.
Cheers,
Nick
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