The plan was for Mark (TryMyLuck) to head up to Gladstone to pick up a rod that we left on his boat. Whilst we up, there we might go for a bit of a fish.Can't believe our wives let us get away with that lame story. The fishing was originally suppose to be out to Haberfield shoals, but the forecast suggested that Fitzroy, Sykes and co, might be better. Mini Newby -Justin was to tag along and show us his style. We arrived on Friday and unloaded into the boat, shopped for food and drinks, then headed back to Newbys to discuss the plan over a few. Aim was to head to Pancake ck on Saturday and as the wind/seas abated, head out to the reef on Sunday to Tuesday.
Reasonable run to Pancake and we threw the troll lures out for a bit as we had to keep the speed down anyway due to the wind against tide chop. No luck, so we up lures and headed into pancake. Never been there before, but damn it is a pretty place. No longer after we were anchored up, Justin was line in the water and pulling in skip baits for his dad. The big kids couldn't miss out on the fun, so a combination of lures and baits were dispatched. One size spanish flag was caught on a hardbody that saw dinner sorted for Justin. On a dropping tide there were baitfish getting smashed in the shallows all around the place, but unfortunately we didn't have the zodiak aboard, so it was a case of adjourning to the foredeck and watching over a few drinks whilst a full moon rose. This picture postcard situation was quickly destroyed by a texted photo of a girlie drinker in full drag being sent to Newby. Phil - whatever is wrong with you is no little thing! We also got the reports of the tsunami warning, so that was a bit interesting.
Next day we head off to Fitzroy via a few spots and fishing was a bit slow with only a few parrots, hussar, red troat and hussar aboard. A small electrical issue convinced us to sneak into Fitzroy early. Low tide, sunny, extra pretty! Newbs makes the call for a snorkle on a bommie - damn good call with plenty of fish life. Somewhere during the day apparently a tsunami when through????? We did sneak out again for a quick fish but had to duck back in before dark. More drinks and nibblies on the rear deck to a setting sun by ourselves in Fitzroy- is there anything better?
Next morn I get awaken by Mark calling out to Newbs that the rudder had just scrapped the coral (those words certainly get you up quick)- Wind had swung around along way to the North and the rudder was just touching the bommie. Quick pull forward on the mooring to clear her and then a simple to move to another. Media would write it up as 'ship wrecked on a coral reef', but reality was considerably different.
Headed out to a spot nearby and miscellaneous reefies found their way to the deck, but it was slow. The floater screams off in that wonderful sound and before anyone can react, Justin steps up, grabs hold and hangs on to the first run. He then proceeds to get about the job of subduing this fish like a bloke 2/3/4/5/6/7 times his age. No wire trace was always going to be a tough call but Justin did a top job to land a 14kg Spanish Mac which was about half his weight. Well done young fella. I should say here that anyone who knows Newbs, knows he isn't shy, lacks confidence or is short of something to say. Well Justin is a compressed and amplified version of Newbs. He didn't need any encouragement to talk more (even doesn't stop in his sleep), but this great effort saw the lad is fine verbal form and so he should - damn good job. Dad was pretty happy too!
Weather report indicated a quickly deteriorating situation, so the call was made to headed off to Sykes for quick fish before heading back before dark. We trolled for a bit and Mark and I set THE LURE out the back amoungst a multitude of Newbs trolling lollies. You guest it - THE LURE came good and Mark boats a nice Bonito. On to a good spot at Sykes and I nail a ripper coral trout, then Justin a 54.5cm Red Emperor, then I get bitch slapped by a big red before shutting the bight down. Time running out, we headed back in before stopping at spot X, which has now been demoted to spot Y. In, fueled, unloaded, cleaned up and then back to Newbs for bonito sushimi and beer battered spanish mackeral - yum. We get the call that the clouds are about to explode and dump alot of rain, so we leave early in the morn to make it home before getting flooded in.
Thanks Newbs!
Steve
PS. We did pick up the rod!
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Originally Posted by murf
Was a good drink though.
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