I headed out on Boxing Day with a couple of mates who were keen to learn the ins and outs of trolling for Pelagics. We decided to try the cape and after a quick trip across the bay in a very nice Surtees Gamefisher 7.0 (I have major boat envy) we were at western rocks getting some bait. A few squiggles on the sounder suggested some Macks were around and we were soon gathering a succession of missed strikes on slugs and Pillies.
We finally hooked up and had three nice big schoolies on board as well as a couple of Sweetlips and a tank of live baits We set up for the troll towards the top of Hutchies Reef and had the lures in around 25 minutes before one of them raced off with a good hit. After a decent fight we had a good sized Spanish onboard and we were happy the trolling thing worked! Rounding the reefs conditions were pretty ordinary so we decided we may head deeper but things did not improve.
A few drifts back towards the reefs with livies out produced a good hook up to a Mahi but gear failure ended up in the fish getting off. We then trolled back along the reef edge with no luck and ended back in the bay on the late tide change. The last live bait was deployed and hit soon after but busted off! We were picking a longtail but guess we will never know.
Anyways it was a good boxing day adventure with a feed of fish for all and a nice first fish for the boat on the troll. Now to save up my pennies for a Surtees.....
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