NQ epic adventure...with pics :)

[super_mackerel]

Mate
This is super

Cheers Murad

[FNQCairns]

Great fish, bit big for me to chew on though - toxins.

I know where you were, I think one of the reasons for the lack of visits for small craft is it can get a bit spooky upon reaching land if the wind is up with outflow (you know the bit I mean ), it's a long run to anywhere else safe and all weather if that closest spot is blown out, you would be pretty Ok crossing it almost anytime the tide was up with your 29 footer I guess.

Lovely spot you had on the island, at 10/10 campsites like that one the vista ends up burnt onto my mind, true paradise.

cheers fnq

[robnjo]

I'm stoked even if I don't catch fish up there.
Awesome pics!

[cotton_reel]

ah thanks fellas, but this was only day 1... more to come including the pics of the trout... and a few other things

yeah it was a long way to go from home but well worth the money for fuel... if the wind did blow up it would have put a dampner on things but in this day and age with accurate 4 day weather forcasts over the internet, we had a slight breeze up our arse both ways! - just the way i planned it

stay tuned, ill have some more goodies soon...

[RCG008]

Full respect mate....and very jealous. 2 land a 2kg spottie this season I will be happy so I can only imagine what you are feeling.

[Pistol_Pete]

They are serious spaniards.... ....
that shot of the water has me cringing to get on the water!!!

[cotton_reel]

Day 2 started with a nasty hangover unfortunately, but it soon subsided once we got under way... must be something about the wind in your face and the endless blue i reckon...

anyways, once we arrived at the reef we chose, we started to troll around the outside and it wasnt long before the brand new soft plastic ribbon fish got nailed, freakin `cuda absolutely destroyed the lure and so i was kinda dissappointed they only last one fish... we also got another spaniard shortly after on the wog head but he was only 85cm and wasnt impressive enough to warrant a photo... we didnt even get very excited strangly enough??? heres the cuda...

[cotton_reel]

After that, we headed into the shallows for a fish behind the reef... robbo wanted to look for some cray`s so we all jumped in for a snorkel... bloody fish everywhere! schools of spangled emperor, trout, tusk fish, barramundi cod and the list goes on... i never thought there would be so many fish in only 3-4m of water... eventually robbo found what we were looking for and grabbed a hold of this beauty...

[cotton_reel]

we speared a few more trout, hopped back on the boat, and proceeded to fish the old fashion way, still in the shallow water but could land anything but a 40cm trout... so i started casting out lures with my barra rod hoping to entice some action but to no avail unitl i put on the popper... couple casts later and this damn reef shark nailed it...

[cotton_reel]

anyone know how to catch spangled emperor? there were hundreds of them but we couldnt get them to bite??? anyways, we moved off into deeper water and got another small trout (not another one) and then nothing but a couple more sharks off the botttom...

[cotton_reel]

we quickly got tired of loosing tackle on our bottom rigs and the endless sharks so we headed off to our second camping destination for the night... that night we drank more water with the booze to avoid the hangover and feasted on fresh craytail and coral trout with salad "i wonder what the poor people are eating tonight?" eric joked...this is where we parked the boat after unloading on the beach...

[cotton_reel]

Day 3, we packed up the boat and headed back out to the reef yet again... we were all feeling pretty lazy today after the previous 2 days and we had finally ran out of beer which kinda sucked... we were fishing after all... we tried some bottom bashing and got nothing so we moved to another location closer to the reef, well in the reef actually, a deep lagoon surrounded by shallow reef flat... inside i went for a swim to find the trout and achored the boat accordingly, which is the best way i reckon, get someone in the water to find them then anchor on top of them... worked like a treat and we bagged another 5 trout... we hadnt taken any photos of them at this stage coz we catch shit loads of them all the time, so we wearily decided to head home and got some more photos then...

[cotton_reel]

all up we got 15 trout, a coral cod, nice little job fish, few sharks, 3 mackrel in the boat, lost another 1 to sharks, 3 sharks, a cuda and a crayfish... cant wait to do it again with a video camera next time! until then, happy fishing...

[cotton_reel]

Oh BTW, we have eaten some of the big mackrel and none of us have fallen ill to cigutera... chris reckons you can get a testing kit from the DPI...?
will have to look in to that one...

somebody else asked what line and leader we were running, well it was 50lb and 80lb braid, with bimini twist onto a swivel clip. then we clip what ever lure we want to run straight on... which is usually a meter or so of 100lb wire trace and then a wog head rigged gar fish... we dont have any stretch in the whole system, just use your drag...

[cotton reel]

what happened to all the new pics?