Awoke at 2am saturday to be picked up by Jason (aka jurkyjj) and off to mates to pick up the weapon for the day (7.4m Lazercraft powered by steyr 3.2l turbo diesel)to head offshore for the day, plan was to bottom bash for some pearlies at wide cal for a few hours then troll the mid to late morning and into the afternoon.
The run across deception bay was flat and in no time we were out into the shipping channel, started to get a bit sloppy and continued to stay the same for the whole trip out, original plan was to head up mid wide cal then work our way back, I decided that i would start at the southern end and see what the weather did, put a few fish in the esky and things started to go slow, by this time the ne had dropped out and a little and i called for the shift north. Arrived inside 20 minutes for the 10km run, shows on the bottom looked real good. Set the drift and the first drift put 2 in the box, this continued for a while and then things just shut down.
After a quick change of gear the call was made to troll back down to the trench then to hutchies, set the spread and pointed her south, was very quiet, no bait, no birds and no action, we had been trolling for a bit over an hour and were about 6km from the trench when a strange noise appeared from the motor,
After a quick inspection it was found to be a seized idler bearing on the tensioner for the water pump, Unfortunately we carry a few spares of filters and belts but no bearing. We tossed a few ideas around but unfortunately it was terminal, no water pump no more engine running. The call was made to Coastguard for assistance, i ahd no mates close by so it was our only option, While waiting for the coasties to arrive Jason was out the back having a fish, he proceded to cchange from bait to the knife jig for something to do, he pulled 2 fish in 2 drops, i wont mention what he caught he can do that.
Coasties took 2 hours to get to us as the run through combie was crappy and had to approach from flinders area, Now this is where my day changed, we did not want to tow from the anchor bollard as the weather was not great and could be dnagerous on the trip back, now we cant reach the front pull down used for winch and safety chain so someone had to get wet, 70 metres of water and a good 15knot notherly and a metre sea, ovet the side i went, well the cleat from the coasties did not fit the hole, i was out of the water quick smart, then we decided no a d shackle in there then the cleat, so back in i went, by now the adrenalin had ran out and this was i can tell you in no way fun. Tow was now underway and life jackets went on as the only way back was through the freeman channel, now anyone that has been through there in average wind can attribute to what it may be like. 2 hours later and we were back at the pontoon.
All in all it was a good morning then something that none of us want to experience, it so could have been a lot worse, a big thanks to Redcliffe Coastguard for their assistance.
No photos as the catch was nothing special, Jason did take some photos while being towed, but i dont thin we need to se what the back of a yellow cat looks like.
thanks for reading.
Cheers Lee
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Originally Posted by SkipperGary
