GC Blood on the floor 7/4

[Burley_Boy]

Finally got out for the first Spottie attack of the year!!
Friday morning there was warnings of 15-20knot winds abating in the afternoon but I felt the odds were good for a better result than that.
Headed out the GC seaway at 5am and there was a 0.4M rolling swell with bugger all wind, a bit nippy though.

We put out a spread of hardbodied Halcos and headed north at about 7knots.
Was probably half an hour before the first hit on my mates rod, unfortunately the result was a lost lure (wire and all). Kept heading north and saw some fantastic aerobatics displays from a pod of Dolphins (the Dolphins were prolific all day).
We kept trolling the waters around 15-19M and started seeing boils of Mac tuna all around as the sun came up, soon after I got hit on my 7M deep diver and not long after we boated the first fish, a 5kg Spotted Mackarel. After that the action was slow and we stopped to toss slugs at a boil to no avail, eventually we ended up just south of the pin and my deep diver took a massive hit.
The lure was on a rod with a TLD 20 and I saw half the spool dissapear in a big first run. I ended up fighting this brute which had me in pain after 10minutes or so and it took another two straight runs and then just held the force with the rod bent over.
I probably should have eased the drag at this point but I kept the pressure on and eventually the hooks pulled quite dissapointing as it felt like the hardest fighting fish I'd ever hooked I I didn't even get to see any colour.

Not long after I boated a 5Kg Mac Tuna and kept as Snapper bait.
After this we headed out wide off the pin but about 10km's out the wind was howling and I decided not to continue towards my mark, heading back in we were side on to the swell which was now blowing out from shore and made for a slow and very wet trip. Once we were in close back near the seaway the wind was gone and so were the waves. I was concerned about the fuel situation as the trolling had taken its toll and so had the headwind.
We ended the day boating a flathead in the Broadwater before coming home, fuel consumption 84litres for the day.

Well I left plenty of fish for the rest of you, I had really expected to boat a few more fish as I'm sure there are plenty out there at the moment. Fuel prices being what they are at the moment I might make the next trip an anchored one and burley up with floaters. If I was trolling I'd make sure I had a few deep divers in there.
cheers
BB

[Dave]

Well done BB. Pitty about the one that got away. There is always round two. Your not wrong with the fuel prices. Can see a lot more fishing done on the anchor coming up.

Dave

[bidkev]

Nice report BB. Hard luck on the missed fish. Don't mind if you get to see what it is but a real bummer when you don't even get a squint at it Next time eh?

kev

Before borrowing money from a friend, decide which you need more.

[DaneCross]

Good stuff BB. When those westerlies are blowing conditions in close sure are great... then you move wider and the story's different. We did the same thing last weekend Unlucky on missing the one that got away, sounds like it could've been a nice spaniard (or at least thats what I'd be telling my mates ). The spotties this season have been great size, I just wish we saw more of them