Scratchie

G’day raiders, Firstly I would like to say that a 5 day ocean adventure is not for the faint hearted. If you are afraid of long distance ocean travel, sea sickness, living in confined spaces, not being able to see land and afraid of using a spheros 14000 with 80lb braid, 140lb wire trace, fully locked drag, bent over 15kg rod and being pulled out the boat, then a trip like this is not for you! I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!! Left for Darwin on Tuesday with anxiety about flying and excitement of the proceeding trip all mixed together, so I had a few settlers at the airport. A couple of reassuring texts from mrs swordy that I’d be ok, RayR messaging me, “are we there yet?” and I’m away. Arrived at Darwin and was greeted by 36deg heat and humidity but arrived safely and was now pumped for the journey ahead. Met up with the boys and of the 12 of us 3 were raiders, Scratchie, GUDude, and RayR. Day 1 We went to load the boat for the trip and a few drinks and dinner had before our departure and scratchie was by now pretty “scratched”. We left Cullen Bay at 8pm and travelled throughout the night a 14hr hike to the top of the TIWI islands. I hit the deck about 630am and a bit worse for wear but keen to start fishing. RayR was already up keen as mustard but we still had an hour or two to go and everyone was now awake and the excitement for that first line in the water was building. With all the rods rigged up and in position, we await to hear the sound of the motor cut out and begin our first drift. It does and the capt Dan, comes out the cabin and calls “lines in boys”. Well, I think we all dropped in unisen and await to hear that first sound off the rod scream off. But after 5mins of drifting, nothing………Then the young fella of the trip josh is on and his line is peeling at will and up comes a nice trevally that was quickly flipped. For future reference in this post FLIP or Flipped means that after all your hard work fighting this fish it is returned to the water that quick that you don’t even get a chance of a photo (poor eating fish). The capt then called lines up and the boat started again and we were on the move. No one said anything but we were all thinking it, hope the fishing gets better than that. Well, we didn’t have to wait long. Lines in, and within 5 secs there was the first hook up and then a second, then the madness, the entire boat was onto some rod bending, line peeling trevally and the laughter on the boat was infectous!!! All the fish were flipped but we continued our drift and many reef species were boated and kept to fill our crates and quotas. The day was not finished there and Alan, (rayr nephew) caught this massive spotted cod and another angler dan was upgraded only meters from the boat. For future reference UPGRADED means you have exchanged your 5-20kg fish for a shark ten times the size! I also hooked to a massive wahoo which was the only one of the trip but during the fight not far from the boat it tangled with the prop and was lost insight of the gaff. We then had the call of lines up and proceed to our intended targeted area of the famous LYNEDOCH BANK which is located approxiamtely 9miles south of the timor/aussie boarder. 9.54.730’s 130.46.140’e. We had a fabulous dinner and tucked for the night. Day 2 I awoke after a fairly restless night at 6am to find rayr already on deck fishing (as I did every day) and decided to join him. I grabbed my rod as ray was onto a fight and boated and flipped a nice grassy trevally. I started to throw my 12inch squidgie flick bait and after a couple of casts it happened. I was using a constant retrieve to the boat and just before I was about to lift and cast again the lure is smacked in full view of everyone and the reel screams, I check the drag and yes, its still on full lock and the fish is taking line at will. I manage to turn its head and proceeded to battle with this fish for 5 mins and then I realise what I’ve just caught. The fish I have wanted to catch my whole life my first ever GT!!! What a start to the morning and we hadn’t even had a coffee or breakfast yet. After a well deserved breakfast of eggs and bacon and coffee, we move on to our next targeted area. We were now dropping in 80-90m off water and the action was constant throughout the 3hrs we stayed there for. We landed massive amounts of reef fish for the table and many fish were flipped and upgraded and we kept the capt and decky busy for the entire time. Between myself, ray and GUDude (salvador) we landed lots of firsts and some really hard earned fish. To name a few……… Red emperor, robinson sea bream, Jobfish, trevally, frypan snapper, goldband snapper, coral trout, long nose emperor, sharptooth jobfish and red sea bass. We then trolled for a while and landed a few spanish mac and 6 longtail tuna upto 8kg that were flipped and a few rainbow runners also flipped. Young josh was working his jigs and hooked a good size dogtooth tuna that unfortunately was upgraded and didn’t make the boat other than the head. Very scary big bitey things out there. I was just preying not to get pulled into the water! After lunch we went for a bit more pain and started to drop our lines into 200m+ of water. If anyone reading this has tried fishing at this depth you know what I mean. Its hard enough to wind a 16oz sinker let alone this 8kg’s of amberjack that would peel line at will. Absolute mind blowing, back breaking work but the satisfaction was immense. Many were caught, as well as some red ruby snapper that made an awesome dinner. Next session was when we returned to the bank and anchored up for the night. Well what happened next only has one word to describe it…..EPIC!!! There were fish flying and being flipped over the side, left, right and centre. For the next two hours was some of the best fishing I’ve ever seen and I racked up yet another new species. A hard hitting, line peeling, arm stretching fight with the DOGTOOTH TUNA!!! The fishing was that red hot, that a couple of the older blokes even forgot it was past their bedtime and they hadn’t even had dinner yet. But with our arms shredded and stomach growling we put the rods in the rack and called it a night. Wow, sitting there over dinner and a few ales it was hard to believe how red hot the fishing has been and how sore we were and this was only day 2. Time for bed! Day 3 Woke up pretty early yet again after another sleepless night with the boat rolling in a wind blown swell. Hit the main deck to find ray yet again throwing jigs and sp’s. So I joined him as you do and ray hooks up first to another nice trev, great fight and flipped again. Then I change my rig back to my 12inch shad, throw out and start to wind, bang zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, I have no choice but to let it run for a while, I checked the drag, yep full lock, yet the reel was screaming. After another awesome fight up comes a 10kg plus spanish mac and once again before brekkie!!! We started the morning off with a troll and landed a heap of spanish macs and longtail tunas. The longtail were all flipped except for one about 6kg that was kept for some pre lunch sushimi. We then did some more bottom bashing before sitting down to a lunch of S.mac burgers rolled in flour and lemon pepper. Yummm. Some more fishing and it was time to rest and a few more ales to be had and let the old boys catch up on a early night. Me and my new found mate Doug, sat up to celebrate the day and to soak up our environment. You can try to explain fishing stories to people all you want, but unless you living there in the moment, sometimes words are hard to find. Thoughout our quest, I kept asking ray when are we going to get to the good spots but he knows it was in jest and the rye smile we shared was always endearing. We both new how good this trip was!!! Day 4 The day started like every other, the 3 raiders on deck throwing lines, all keen as the first day. We upped anchor and began the day trolling. First up was Tas and he fights and boats a nice 8kg yft, with calls from me “don’t you dare flip that fish” needless to say it was quickly cored and into the fridge for some sushimi later that morning. Next was a big noah on the troll and the first time I’ve ever seen this. It was then my turn up and the long corner goes off. This fish strips line at will and with massive weight and I know I’ve got a good fish. I fight hard with this fish for some time and then close to the boat it launches and I get my first sight of this thing, it’s a huge spanish mac and the heart starts racing again. After some tence moments the deck door opens and in flys this huge fish! 147cm and 25kg+ s.mac!!! and a new raider record!!! Back for a bit of a bottom bash and GUDude pulls up this huge goldband snapper of 70cm plus on a jig. Then ray hooks up to a double header of goldband from the deep. One of the boys then hooks up but cant fight the fish its way to big, so after only two winds he hands the rod to the skipper. After a fight of hour and a half of back breaking work in 150m of water we get sight of this huge shark. A quick tail rope, photo and returned to the deep but an epic battle to watch by the skipper! After this, it was decided that it was time to start the journey back home as we were 18hrs away and there was still a promise of a jewfish session before we returned. Day 5 We arrived at our destination at Bathurst Island about 1230am and what was really exciting for us ended up the shortest session of the trip. But what a freaking session it was. The most INSANE fishing experience of my life. TARGET: Black jewfish QUOTA: 2 per/person regardless of size Anchor was deployed and lines in. The advise from the decky and skipper was: Full drag lock. Strike hard and fight harder. Once someone is on, lines up and wait for the fish to be boated. Well, first line in the water was Sal and instant hook up and the fight last about 3 second before his braid was shredded. He turns to look at me and his face said it all wow! It took us an hour only for the entire boat to bag out. 12 anglers with 2 fish each. The smallest of the fish was 102cm and all fish were between the 15-24kg mark. Absolute mayhem, excitement, sweat, exhilarating, heart racing action all rolled into one. No one really spoke we just all looked at each other and shook our heads. I turn to ray and go when do we go to the good spot? As we crack a beer in celebration knowing that this is our final session, as there is no longer any room in the freezer, fridge or esky. We awoke in the morning and steamed back to Darwin. To some up the experience in one word is very hard but on reflection of the many sessions of back breaking enjoyment over the last 5 days I would just have to sum it up by saying….INSANE!!! I would personally like to thank the capt and decky for their efforts, the boys young and old that I shared the trip with and the biggest thank you goes to RAYR, who invited me. The bloke is an absolute legend, a genuine aussie larikin and a true fishraider fisherman, that enjoyed watching people catch fish, just as much as he enjoyed catching them himself. I don’t think chasing flatties or whiting will ever be the same again. I wish we had marlin cod where I live! (you have to be there) Thanks for reading and I promised you the longest post ever! Cheers Scratchie!!!

Mate this thing was an angry bastard and I wasn't going anywhere near it!

G'day raiders, This was pulled on the boat off Darwin and released of course but I was not convinced it was a grey nurse. Sorry there are no photos of its head but I wasn't game to get near it! Cheers scratchie!!!

Lmao, the carp fisherman is back!!! Nice work Stewy and a very neighborly thing to do. Nice photo! Cheers scratchie!!!

Nice work spotie! Good to see the flatty stArting to appear! Well done champ! Cheers scratchie!!!

Here are the raiders getting ready to go!

Happy birthday John! Hope you have a great day mate! Cheers scratchie!!!

My last post for a week! Tight lines to all. Cheers scratchie!!!

Good stuff ben. I always love the one more cast theory. And I'm with yowie, they are stubborn buggers! Well done Cheers scratchie!!!

Awesome write up and well done fellas. That's still something on the to-do-list for me. I've heard them yellas go hard. Cheers scratchie!!!

Thanks Stewy! My wife hopes my arms come back long enough to reach my pockets! Don't know what she meant by that. Lol

Cheers dave! I will certainly have a look at that. I have a 6hr flight I think, so I've brought the manual with me for some literature! Time to get to know the gopro!

Well done on your first ever king!!! What a shame you didn't have a few more squid in the tank or a few livies. They can be real picky when they are schooling and in that frenzy mode. Actually they are fussy all the time except for the little ones! Cheers scratchie!!!

Only one sleep to go! I don't think I'll get much on though, too excited. I'm getting the gopro and camera gear ready now, so I might need some tuition when I get back! Cheers scratchie!!!

Well done champ. It was a good fish and a deserved winner for cotm! Cheers scratchie!!!

I use the Kevlar sharp units. Fit in the your fishing bag and have suction cups to use at any table or flat surface! Cheers scratchie!!!

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Very difficult bar to cross especially at low tide and with a decent swell. Need a bit of power to feel comfortable. For memory, you exit the bar on the port side. But please check with marine rescue, they are right there on the centre of town. Cheers scratchie!!!

Good to see you had productive session. How did it feel changing your handle over? And a catfish on a sp? And least you know you were hitting the bottom! Cheers scratchie!!!

Thanks for the well wishes guys! Last day of work today. Don't know how I'm going to sleep until Tuesday. Lets hope Ray puts me onto some good fish. He's been talking it up. But last years photos are anything to go by, my arms will be a bit longer on the trip home! Cheers scratchie!!!

That's an awesome bass for the nepean. Very healthy indeed. May be a good sign of things to come. Well done Cheers scratchie!!!

There's lots of info on this site. First of all use the "search function" of the area you are fishing and read the reports. There may be some valuable tips on there with regards to location, setups, techniques etc. Cheers scratchie !!!

Yep, sure does get packed. The fishing up seal rocks is amazing that time of year! All the way from port stephens to Forster is packed with tourists. Cheers scratchie!!!

I will be. Bought a shimano spheros and an Ian miller t-curve for the trip. I'm loaded with poppers and stick baits. Hope they all get bitten in half!

G'day raiders, By this time next Tuesday I'll be on an epic trip with fellow raider RayR to Darwin on a 5 day ocean adventure! This will be a trip of a lifetime for me and I'm very grateful for the invite! I just can't wait to see what ends up on the end of my line! I'll be taking iPhone , cameras and gopro, so hopefully the fish gods shine upon us! Cheers scratchie!!!