My stanage trip

[BAR UP]

Well finally after 3 attempts I have finally had my first trip to Stanage bay. First go I got sick and couldn't go so had to cancel. Second attempt was March this year and after a drive up found the road flooded and couldn't get through but we got out deposit back and third trip lucky. After all the storys I heard about the road in we were expecting the worst. Took 1hour 45 mins to travel the 100km of dirt/mud to arrive at the Stanage township. It was a shit road but I expected worse. Day 2 we ventured up the sound and dropped in the pots. Everyone we spoke to said there was no crabs about. Ran into Trevor Bone (TBONE) also from Samford who said there was no muddies about aswell. Found some likely looking country and peppered the shit out of it with hardbodies and plastics for nill then we pulled the pots and found 4 beauty Bucks amongst 10 of the biggest jenny crabs I have ever seen. Fished the first 2 days in and around Quail island, Long island and even ended up on the western side of Long island on our way to ST LAWRENCE. Still zip but I refused to use any smelly stuff (bait). Heard the weather report for Tuesday and thought lets try heading outside. Troy and myself (the other boys said they would hang back and fish the sound again) ventured outside and easily found some likely looking country. There was bait fish everywhere so we trolled some Rapalas and scored a 12kg Longtail. Hooned around for a while and found some shallow ground near the Duke islands (check out for Green zones). Started flicking ZMANS 5inch Pink Shads on 1/2ounce TT headlocks and one after another Trout, Tuskies, Spannish Flags. Shifted to another spot and bang zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz about 150mts of 15lb braid goes screaming. Start the motor and Troy positions me closer to my fish. Bit of a tussle and up comes 15kg Spannyard. High fives were exchanged. Then out comes the big popper gear (80lb) and after a short while bang Troys on. 35.5kg GT then 1.3mtr Queenfish the another GT then 2 more animal Queenfish. What a spot. After 3 days fishing the Duke islands we scored 17 Trout, 30 odd Spannish Flags some around 1kg, hundreds of Tuskies, Spannish Mackerell, Cod, 2 monster GT'S and 3 animal Queenfish, 5.5kg Finger Mark and 7kg Snapper. Still no more Muddies but TBONE tells me they got 25 keepers on Thursday over near Long island.Travelled 345kms in my new boat and put 20hrs on the clock and my new SEA ROD performed like a beauty. With all the new on board chargers my Minkota 80lb never showed less than 3/4 of full charge the whole trip. The 2 new Lowrance HDS7 sounders worked a treat also. The trip back out took 2 1/4hrs as it was very muddy after some rain. What a trip I love this place. Already re booked for October, enjoy Peter.

[Funchy]

cant wait for the pics! Sounds like a top trip. My mate was up there last week too. Got some nice big muddies too.

[Apollo]

Great report and trip. Where did you stay there? What sort of boat did you go in? Look forward to the pics.

[bluefin59]

Good work Pete some beauties there , coral trout is a favorite how about some pics of the new boat .... Matt

[Horse]

Its a pretty special place. With all that water moving its certainly hot when its hot and not when its not. it looks like the weather gods were pretty kind to you.

[BAR UP]

Hey Neil most of the week the conditions were great but we got caught in a storm on Thursday while we were at the Dukes. Waited for about I hour then deceided to have a go. The swell was about 2mts with white Capps. I thought we were gone. Couldn't turn around and go back as didn't want to cop one side on so we all agreed to keep punching on. The SEA ROD handeled it fine but I was shitting myself. About 1/2 way home the condititions settled. The forecast was light and variable then 10 2 15 in the arvo but the storm came with the rain squalls, Peter.

[BAR UP]

Hey Apollo we were in my new 5.2 SEA ROD and we stayed at Pacific Oasis, Peter.

[BAR UP]

Hey Matt there was fish every where but the special thing was we only used lures, naturally, and we smashed them. Will post some boat pix, Peter.

[Horse]

It certainly picks up quickly in those waters. Its all pretty shallow with strong currents

[SummerTrance]

Looks like an awsome trip

[Goodoo haven]

That's a great trip and some really good fish caught along with some nice big muddies too.

Well done mate.

[nipsta]

Well done we are heading up in July can't wait how did you end up going in the creeks

[aus2045]

Looks like a top spot.

No good for a Holden Astra and 3.7m Brooker & 15Yamaha ?

[BAR UP]

You will be ok so long as you travell slowly, Peter.

[BAR UP]

Hey nipsta, we fished all the creeks we could find over the first 2 days for zip. There Is a good system at the bottom end of Long Island with some deep holes. Even used blades for nothing, Peter.