Slow start, bumper finish

[Big_Ren]

Took my wife Wendy on her first offshore outing (to the Banks), not being overly confident she would stay the distance (through boredom or the green eyed sea gods). Also had good mate Peeni on board. We departed Coastguard Mooloolaba at 5.20am aboard Up Up & Away and were treated to very comfy conditions for the ride out. Cruising comfortably on 22 knots, we arrived at our first port of call easily within the hour.

Activity was low and I was thinking maybe I hit that snooze button once too often and we have missed the peak bite time. The wife was keen as mustard and despite being a little green around the gills, she wet a line with gusto

She scored one of the first to come aboard however despite her excitement, the sergeant baker just had to go back lol. We started scoring a few reefies for th esky but the action was sluggish to say the least. Finall some squire cam aboard followed by some gold spot wrasse and a double of an ok pearlie and reasonable maori cod. The action shut down and with just a few decent fish in the esky (guess who forgot the ice? I must have been worrying too much about the missus enjoying the trip)

It seemed to be an Ausfish convention out there and the chatter over the radio from the boys suggested to me that we were having a p*ss poor day. Not to worry, as long as Wendy was enjoying herself I thought.

We kept persiting and finally a few decent fish (pearlies and parrot) started showing up and allowed us to restore some credibility. About 2pm, I could tell the missus was ready for departure so we called "One last drop". Peeni snavelled what we think was a small pearlie and decided to leave it down there in the hope of snaring a double with something bigger.

Well, less than 30 seconds later, his rod buckled. Something inhaled his pearlie. It was too quick amd despite for a grey coat...Peeni called big knobbie....I called AJ.

10 minutes later Peenie is almost spooled and had to make a quick decision to either let things wither away or out the hurt on and stop the bugger bricking him. In the end fortune favoured the brave and Peenie scored his first decent AJ of 12kg.

All in all, beautiful conditions, bring on next weekend.

Cheers
Paul

[Big_Ren]

Some pics...

[Big_Ren]

We were entertained by a mother and her calf for more than an hour...

[Big_Ren]

Peeni with 12kg of pur muscle...

[scoota]

Hey Big Ren, it was one of those days to take the better half fishin outside with conditions like that. Plenty of browny points! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]Good work.
Scoota

[gawby]

Paul,
Good to see you had a good time at with your deckie and bag some good fish with the best of conditions.
We had the dolphin activity out there for a while and that turned the fish off.
Any body would have thought it was a m/g of a/f out there yesterday with so many known names on the radio.
Graeme

[outsiderskip]

hi paul,
looks like u had a enjoyable day
next time u wont have to worry about misses just get the ice
i heard u call spiro i tried to call u without sucess

cheers pete

[Big_Ren]

Scoota - Thanks mate, the brownie points bank will be flush with funds after this (hopefully). It was a top day out (weather wise, fish wise, company wise)

Graeme - The deckie came good after a few hours and we too had not only a whale and her calf but dolphin activity as well, although mostly when we were moving from spot to spot. We heard you on the radio a few times ourselves and it was great to see so many Ausfishers out there. Spiro had a great idea in one of his threads about setting up a pontoon and bat area out there lol

Pete - I was kicking myself about the ice. Fortunately the day was not to hot so the fish were kept in a reasonable condition in sea water. We must have been motoring back to Mba when you tried calling as the sound of our bloody noisy two-stroke shuts out everything.

Cheers
Paul

[caloundra]

the conditions were sure good out there
I'm sure the boss would have been thrilled to see the whales
and a nice size aj to top it all off

well done
Daniel

[-spiro-]

great haul Paul sorry about the radio i missed you on it allways next week..lol

[Big_Ren]

Haven't dared look at Seabreeze yet Chris but all things going to plan, we'll be out there again. My bro-in-law Haggis is on a charter with Andrew and Jeffo aboard Inside Edge next Saturday so I must try and outdo him lol. I haven't read your report yet but I am assuming you would have scored a nice feed.

Cheers
Paul

[SeaSaw]

Well done Paul. Nice haul of fish and sounds like you scored a top day out. You might end up with a permanent new decky

Cheers,

Mark

[TIM-DONSELAAR]

nice catch there Paul and crew...Well Done [smiley=thumbsup.gif] [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

cheers tim

[a]

Well done big man, braver than me the missus and the boat just don't talk to each other. I think theres a personality clash there. Nice to see your hard work payed off mate. Well done

[Big_Ren]

Mark - thanks mate, the deckie came good but somehow she found the travelling out to the Banks pretty joggly, and as you know, they were great conditions all day. I might save her for some river overnighters . You had a top day yourself I see with young deckie and all.

Tim - many thanks, it was a great day out and it was different to have a relaxing bottom bash after the excitement of fishing Monduran with Black Sheep and his brother Vin, where we would be firing out up to 1000 casts a day for 6 days, and have a death grip on the stick 8 hours each day .

Scott - Wendy gets on with the boat, she just doesn't like where it goes lol. Will tee up that trip with you and maybe Daniel over the next coupla weeks.

Cheers
Paul