Northern Banks with the Birds 16/4/2006

[damons33]

what a great report rhy's
try driving forward and away from the beakie, to be able to lift the fish up in the water column, before you get over him. once they get under you, you are putting very little pressure on him; you are just putting a belly in your line to the fish, it wouldn't matter if you had 24kg even in that same situation-

next time give it a go drive off and get at lest 45degrees to the fish behind your boat and see what happens, probably start jumping again and knock himself up for a easy release. hindsight is 20/20, k'sarah'
nice eatting snaps there.
damon

[revs57]

Hi Scotty,

Yep saw the Freedom Sport...nice Rig, look forward for a chat next time.

G'day Troy...was wondering if the RipTide_45 handle belonged to someone I knew...sounds like you blokes had a good trip...yeah I'd be keen to do a trip..lets stay in touch with it.

I'm sure Jason wont miss this story for B&B Mark...should be a good read...betcha he won't mention the Devonshire tea bit though

Hey Jase' it was a great trip with a fantastic crew...what are we gonna tell swano????

Cheers

rhys

[dfox]

Good to see you managed a trip Rhys.
I think you'll have to start sorting these crew members out a bit though, take that jason for instance, hooks one little fish and prevents everyone else from fishing until he lands it! Its not good enough!
Nathan, well he just misses all the good fish worth catching!
Lance, well hes marginal, catches the odd one but theyve got maggots by the time there landed...
I think under these new government rules you can sack the lot! take the loss and start again mate, lol.
Seriously though, good report and great read. catch ya...foxy

[revs57]

Hey Foxy,

...But they are good for boat tax

Although I might have to send out the collection agents

Cheers

Rhys

[Fixation]

Rhys,

Great report. Love the bit about baking scones. Was good to meet you and birdy yesterday. It's great that the people got a feed out of the billy and it didn't go to waste. Awesome craft you got. Great day to be out there.

[revs57]

Hi Craig,

Yeah was good to catch up and see you with your beloved...I was quite serious about the offer to wed you both on the water using a flotilla of boats as the platform out at the Banks...

I must admit the hardest thing I've had to do in a long time was finally accept our first marlin had died...then to see Jason barrel the carcass for the esky, I was kinda hoping for a revival moment so we could have returned it to the water. Wasn't gonna see it go to waste for shark food.

Our Community Centre friends are all very grateful to be eating fresh fish tonight...so it certainly didn't go to waste.

We are really happy with the Rip Tide...travells exceptionally well, beautifully stable at rest to the point of being able to fish three blokes down one side without upsetting it...fuel economy from the 150 efi merc is probably my only beef but even that improved quite a bit on this trip...153lt compared to 220lt for the last trip..yep looking forward to many good days on it.

Cheers

Rhys

[Dave]

Good stuff Rhys. Would have been a bummer to have it cark it on you but it wasnt wasted, that has to be a bit of a consolation.

Dave

[Angla]

Rhys, Thats life in the fish world and now you have experience and knowledge that may save

the next one.

Would have been terrible if you used it for bait, so it is good to see it feed some needy

people. Great story about the tea and scones


Saw you at Tangalooma on Saturday. I happened to be sitting half way up the sandhill and

spotted you cruising the boatyard that it was. Hard to miss the Flaming Riptide. I will say hello

next time.

Chris

[OODIES]

You tell a great storey Ryhs.....look forward to your posts mate...

CHEERS OODIES(BINGO)

[indy]

Well done to you for your efforts in trying to release such a beautiful fish great report anyway

cheers pete...

[frenzy]

great effort lads

[uripper]

what a great report rhy's
try driving forward and away from the beakie, to be able to lift the fish up in the water column, before you get over him. once they get under you, you are putting very little pressure on him; you are just putting a belly in your line to the fish, it wouldn't matter if you had 24kg even in that same situation-

next time give it a go drive off and get at lest 45degrees to the fish behind your boat and see what happens, probably start jumping again and knock himself up for a easy release. hindsight is 20/20, k'sarah'
nice eatting snaps there.
damon

I'm definitely no billy expert (yet to get one in my own boat) but saw similar events twice in NQ while on day reef charters - on both occasions the skippers wound up anchor (2-5 mins process) to drag the fish up - lost another 200-300m of line but with the improved angle of attack this was soon recovered, fish tagged & released - both skippers had similar motives 1.shorten the fight 2.avoid sharks 3.improve fish survival rate 4.get back to fishing for everyone else - both drove down-current at about 10+knots (not slow) with fish on only 10-15kg gear @ approx 1/3 drag setting - amazing technique - also heard dragging the fish beside the boat has better recovery effect than a deckwash (more water/oxygen forced over gills?)- maybe others with more experience could offer advice on this.
Anyway - if every boat that caught a billy took only 1 fish per year (& most dont) the effect would be negligable compared to the commercial haul - hope it tastes great, better luck next time & thanks for sharing the story.
MalM

[Bass43]

Great shots Rhys sorry to hear the fish died but it sounds like you did your best to revive it.
Cheers John

[adds31]

Sounds like you a good trip, well done. Unfortunate about the billie but those things do happen while anchored in deep water. Try and catch one on the drift or trolling next time so if he goes deep you can plane him up. Nice fish and congrats.

Cheers, Adds.....

[John_R]

What did you do with the fish once it died? Are they edible?