The Boyne tannum hookup comp at Gladstone is on this weekend, anyone from here going up to fish it?
Would love any tips or locations to try offshore around the area if anyone is happy to fill me in.
Have only ever fished Awoonga up there and not the salt, I am hoping to see a lot more red fish then what I am use to down here in Brisbane!
I'll be fishing from a 7m center cab and with the weather currently looking like its going to play the game, we will be happy to do the miles.
I’m going up. Haven’t got a clue where to go. Hoping to do an overnighter.
Much like us then, we may also launch from 1770 one of the days as we have heard some of the bigger reds in previous comps have been caught down there.
My best advice is put time and effort into finding a few good spots of your own.
No one is going to pass on a good red spot online. No offence.
If you wanna catch trout and red throat ,fish any reef flat/drop off. They are easy to catch out wide.
If you want to chase red emporer and nanny’s its a bit different.
When I fish a new spot. I spend quite a few hours sounding a likely area( always away from the reef in 50-70m of water.)
Not uncommon to spend 5-6 hours or more sounding. But rarely do you not find a random mark stacked with fish. You’ll then catch more fish off that mark in 1 hour than any mark given to yiu online.
Lots of ground like this off Gladstone
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That was exactly my plan.Originally Posted by Flex
Hey guys, how did the weekend go?
Any reports?
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Strong easterlies on Friday made travelling pretty uncomfortable. We opted to make our way north, to take advantage of calmer forecast on Saturday. Mucked around in the shelter of Northwest Island for the afternoon and caught some fish for dinner. Anchored in the lee of the island for a night of interrupted sleep caused by out of control mutton birds colliding with fishing rods, aerials, bimini etc...... ALL NIGHT! Sprinted about 20 nm north to the shoals on calm seas next morning and spent the day slow drifting over dropoffs. Caught plenty of trout, red throat sweetlip, hussar and a few just-under red emperor. Great run home for half the trip, until we got smashed by a heavy storm creating strong headwinds and steep short, sharp chop. The Navionics “auto-route” function on the Raymarine Axiom was very handy for navigating our way back thru the maze of lights and shipping of Gladstone Harbour. We hit the road and came straight home, coz the forecast was grim and everything was wet or smelled of fish!
We had a late start on the Friday due to the tow vehicle needing 2 new batteries. Once on the water we headed for sable chief rocks reef, fished here for an hour or so for a large Spanish flag and that was it. We then headed south to a spot close to seal rocks reef. Around 2:30 the fish came on the bite and we managed half a dozen snapper around the low 40's a trout and some grassies. Managed to hook a Spaniard on a pilly about 5m behind the boat but somehow managed to pull the hooks on it during the fight.
Saturday we headed out early, first stop was at rock cod shoal, where one of the guys on our boat dropped a couple of red emperor (at least that’s what we think...), we continued on to mast head reef fishing shows along the way.
We ended up with a heap of RTE, tusk fish and a few trout. We caught a lot of iodine bream at most spots as well, didn't keep any.
Sunday we headed to Awoonga, wind was absolutely howling when we got there. Trolled and flicked lures for most of the day but didn't get a barra, we did manage a massive gar on a lure.
The reef fishing was probably not as spectacular as I was expecting, in saying that it was our first time fishing the area and I have no doubt any further trips up there will yield more fish with what we have learnt.
During the last presentation they did mention the offshore species weren’t as hot as last year but the estuary fishing was much better this year. With the netting to be put back until after the next comp, I imagine the estuary fishing will be better again next year.
There were some horse Jew and Spanish caught.
Thanks for the reports guys.
I’m hoping to get some good weather up there on the 17/18/19/20th of this month to head out around Fitzroy and Sykes.
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I fished Awoonga for the three mornings. Dropped a couple on Friday and landed a 765mm Barra on Sunday morning. Wasn’t pleasant in a 12 foot punt.
Dale
I fish because the little voices in my head tell me to
I know a few blokes who pulled the pin a few days early on Fraser due to the forecast. They were meant to stay up there until Monday, but came home yesterday.
Hope your boat can handle the forecast. The boys dragged some big boats back.
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