Hi All,
Was fortunate enough to follow Frankoo out on my 1st Cape Moreton assault in the new Yalta. The Cruisecraft 685 took off like a rocket, leaving Bribie at 4.30am in the morning, and Poodroo and I in hot persuit in my boat across the bay. I thought that there was an obvious difference in performance between our boats, running crossways against the sloppy conditions often felt like a struggle keeping the boat going in a straight line, but apparently running crossways was a little awkward for the cc also. It was pitch dark at 1st, but as we rounded combie point the sun was coming up and I could now see why the waves were tossing me about the way they were. The weather forecast for 15 knots had me thinking we would have a glassy run out, but it wasn't quite like that. Oh well, we soldiered on.
When we finally got to where we wanted to drop our lines, coming off the plane, the sounder showed and enormous amount of fish. This looks good!! When we arrived I observed an anchored boat off in the distance, but started sorting my rig out and selecting which soft plastic I should choose. So with Rod in hand, bail arm clicked over and ready for a cast ........ Oh crap!! We had alreay drifted very near the anchored boat I saw earlier. The sloppy conditions were throwing us around, it felt awkward putting the rod and real down to start the motor and move away. The simplest of tasks becomes a mission impossible when the waves cause you to lose balance.
For a while I seemed like I could not settle into a drift without something going wrong, my line tangled around something on the front of the boat, Poodroo got snagged and lost a few jigheads in quick succession, then a call on the radio from Frank and co "Hey Brian, you got any yet, we have three and been busted off several times already" and all we seemed to be doing is re -rigging and tying knots, starting the boat again and again in order to avoid drifting into other boats at anchor.
Holy crap, did you hear what he just said??? We have not even had a nibble yet and his crew are boating fish already.I admit it, this offshore gig in sloppy conditions was proving a little more challenging than I would hope.
So I made a call to run past and grab a few pearls of wisdom from his more experienced crew. Hmmm, I see what I need to do.......
1st attempt ..... Oh no! wrong rig for this big fishy zzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZ How strong is this thing??? You think you have him turned and then he makes another dash to the bottom, and there is nothing I can do about it. Right about then, I look up to see Frank has snuck up on me, and has the camera zoomed in. Why are you stuffing around with that fish, just pull him in!!! No sooner had he offered his advice and...... PING!!! Small dropshot rod gets put away, and out comes the 4-8Kg ATC SP rod with 30lb braid. The next few hours were spent pumping weights, then massaging burning bicept muscles. And that was only Poodroo and I who took home a few Yellowtail king and small AJ, we released approximately 5 nice fish. That's not how it was in the other boat. They were apparently "stuffed" and had caught and released a LOT more fish than we had, but hey, we had a ball. We will continue to hone our techniques a little more in the near future.. Thanks for a great day at the Cape!!
Scalem
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Originally Posted by TIM D
I wonder if that excuse can get me more time on the water? LOL
