Mackay Reef Mon 24th

[Daintreeboy]

Had an interesting trip to say the least. Took two Newbys, Nicky's dad Jeff who was on his second trip plus a bloke I'd never met until that morning who was up working on my Brothers house. The start was late once again and we also had no GPS. I managed to find Undine Sand Cay and headed to Mackay reef where my brother gave me some loose directions on where some good bommies would be. I found them okay but with no current on the neap tides plus lines not going in until 9:30 we were up against it. A few trout and a Shark Mack kept us interested before I headed back towards Undine. It was here the current started to pick up along with the seabreeze at the same time (not coincidental I believe).
The fish of course picked up with 6 trout nailed at the first bommie here. The boys lost heaps including some lifting them into the boat we lost 3 macks here too.
Even though the breeze was gentle I wanted to go which surprised the boys. One more spot produced 9 Moses Perch and I said we have to go. The time was only 12:30 but as we passed the sand cay the boys woke up to what was happening. A huge line of storms had developed along the coast and with the on set of the seabreeze, really started to gain in momentum. Lightning was everywhere but at this stage limited to the coast. We made it in fine and the rain hit us back at the servo. I noticed we were the only boat to leave due to the good conditions out wide so a lot of boats would have got caught. I've since heard Innisfail got some hail and there sounds like a rescue took place around the Jackson Patches. A mate at work said a friend of his got caught (he heard the other mayday call) and kitted themselves out with lifejackets on AND epirb, scary stuff.
I can see why they did it as the fishing was hot on the change of current so a lot more boats would have some stories to tell.
Cheers, Mark.

Jeff with a nice trout

[Daintreeboy]

The days catch.

[straddie]

Good call Daintreeboy, always pays to keep your eyes open and get to know your local conditions. Always better to call it off if you get that feeling in ya water rather than risk spending time bobbing up and down in the sea.

Can't complain about the catch anyway, should keep you going till the next trip.