ophet Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 G’day Guys, It has been a long time since I have written a report, so I thought I should contribute to the forum with a report. I am on annual leave at the moment, which normally would include some fishing in the harbour chasing my normal quarry the much written about Seriola Lalandi. Unfortunately during this break I may not have time to fish on the harbour, as I have been coaxed up to the Gold Coast for a holiday with the Father-In-Law (FIL) and wife’s sisters family. The fortunate thing is I still get to do some fishing and golfing, and I actually like spending time with the FIL and wife’s family. How can you not like the FIL, when he allows you to keep your boat in his garage, shouts you to rounds of golf and pays for the accommodation when on holidays I just need to keep the fish coming in and feed him a round of fresh fish every now and then. Anyway, back to the real reason why you are reading this report. I managed to convince the FIL and Brother-In-Law (by marriage) to come out fishing yesterday on a charter called Fish The Deep. We were picked up at 5:20am from our apartments and driven a pontoon near Sea World, where we boarded the 10 metre Catamaran. After the normal safety spiel on life jackets, rafts and safety procedures, we head off to reef number one, which is roughly around 2klms offshore from Jupiters Casino. Only undersized reef fish are caught and we move onto another spot further south. Whilst heading down to the other spot, the skipper trolls a couple of chrome slices, and we pick up a couple of small bonitos. They are kept for strip bait. Anchoring up on the second spot, more reef fish (can’t remember what they are called, but they looked like sweet lips) being caught on Penn Senator overhead rod and reels, using the paternoster rig. The bait was frozen baby squid and half pillies. I was getting bored of the small reef fish and decided to join the skipper in bagging yakkas for further offshore fishing. I brought my own tackle, including a reel, and the skipper handed me a spin rod to bring in the yakkas. So there I am happily trying to stock up on the yakkas, and there is commotion around the FIL, I turn around to see him struggling with something larger then the reef fish that were being caught. After a brief tussle, we see colour and the School Mackeral was boated, a little over 60cm. I think this is his biggest fish, and he is happy. After this excitement, there are hopes of other fish being caught, but this doesn’t eventuate. After loading up on sufficient yakkas, we head off to a reef about 40klms offshore. The swell was decent, around 2metres, which made for a bumpy ride out to the grounds. It was surprising that only one guy started berleying over the side of the boat. Upon arriving at the reef, the deckie gives a demo on how to bait the flesh baits that have been cut up and drops the bait down. He immediately hooks up and hands the rod over to a fisho, who brings up a nice King of around 60cm (apparently the size limit up in QLD is 50cm). This gets everyone excited and everyone drops their bait with anticipation and high hopes. I felt a little energized and thought I might have a jig. I ask the skipper if I can borrow a rod, as I had my Tyrnos 30 with me. He kindly hands me over his Wilson Live Fibre 15kg rod, fitted with a Tyrnos 30 and 50lb braid. I throw on a 230g knife jig, that I have yet to catch anything on in 4 other outings, and start the jigging ritual. The combo is rather heavy and rod too soft for my liking, making jigging tougher then it normally is, but I have to make do with what is on offer. After about 6 drops and a couple of drifts, I have no luck and wonder how long how can continue jigging with the combo. After another drift, I decide to change to my “Aussie” knife jig, which is a Juro 280g green and gold jig. I modify my stroke to be shorter and don’t lift past horizontal. First drop with the jig, 5 winds and I come up solid. A cry of “Yeah” goes up and everyone on the boat is interested. The fish has weight behind it, and it feels like a King. We are in 80 metres of water so it is going to be a little while till I bring it up. The fish has a few good bursts and takes line off the reel, the skipper taunts me and tells me it had better be a big one for the time that I am taking. I can feel the fish near the surface, and it takes off horizontally away from me and starts coming to the surface, I now know it is not a King and see colour. The deckie cries out “Wahoo” and is excited as he has not seen a Wahoo caught on a Jig before. This is a biggen and looks well over a metre to me. This fish was not finished, as it makes another burst sideways and heads towards the engine (I am up the front of the boat). The fish is very quick and powerful, and the force of the run sweeps my left foot from under me and I nearly fall over. The deckie and skipper are yelling at me to keep it away from the engine, I manage to force it away from the engine and it makes another horizontal burst away from the boat. It shakes it’s head, and there is slack line …. silence … despair. The bugger had won it’s freedom, it was a great fight though. The deckie estimates it to be around 1.2 metres, and around 12-15kgs. Bugger. After the disappointment, I continue jigging for no further success. We move around to some other spots, where we boat Pearl Perch, Pig Fish, and Trag Jews. All up, the boat brings in a good haul of fish. We got onto a patch of Trag Jews which ate up the yakkas on the last drift of the day, so that was a nice way to finish it of. My only haul of the day is plenty of reef fish, and a Pig fish, which tasted very much like Coral Trout, it was delicious indeed. Unfortunately I did not get to bag the big fish I was hoping for up here, but I had a good day, and so did the FIL and BIL. The people from Fish The Deep and the crew were a pleasure to deal with, and I would go back on this boat again, next time I am up here. Apparently the best time to go fishing up here is around the August period, where there are big Kings hanging around, so I will have to coax the missus up here for a holiday then. I will attend to my other obsession today, golf at Brookwater Golf Course, so hopefully I will have a slightly more successful day out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gio Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Nice report and haul of fish there mate spewing about losing the wahoo though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Great report mate....enjoyed reading it..shame about the wahoo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Good report there and it is nice on the Gold Coast - lucky bugger. After the last few fishing trips I'm starting to wonder whether my fishing is any better than my golf. I'm happy if I have one good hit in 18 holes. I think my fishing is going the same way lately. Cheers Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 445F You are one lucky bugger!!! A great report. It felt like I was really there. You get to do all that AND have a holiday. Losing a fish is no bad thing. He will be there for another day. Those wahoo are great sport. My wahoo were caught while fishing for marlin and were considered rubbish! I would take that kind of rubbish any day. P.S you haven't missed much. The weather has turned cold and so has the fishing. Saw your brother out there on SUnday. The hot kingie bite is coming to a halt. Went out today and found leatherjackets at ALL the markers. Caught 2 of the smallest kings I have caught all year. Didn't even measure 50cm!!! Cheers Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markwi Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Top report, great to see you got some fish and the day made all the better by having a good charter boat operator makes all the difference well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUBLiME Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Great fun lol bad luck on the wahoo though oh well! another day i guess.. Nice bag there of fish... congrats. shant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingsRule Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Nice report mate , sounds like you and your FIL & BIL had a great time. Good bag of fish in the end, bumma about the wahoo though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpie Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Great report - shame the Wahoo turned into a 'Boohoo'! Do you normally eat them? So good to get into some action! I bet the skipper will be trying similar jigs next time he is out! Cheers Roberta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pageboy Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Nice report there OP - and congrats on releasing the wahoo ! I've heard they are terrible eating anyway ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henryinnis Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 I have lost more great fish than I can count! Those trag jews are good fun, i got around ten in one drift on the GC! henners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ophet Posted April 4, 2007 Author Share Posted April 4, 2007 (edited) Thanks for your responses guys, it was a shame about the Wahoo, but as you all very well know, that is fishing for you. As Kelvin said, they will be there again next time. top report, i fished with that same mob either last easter or the easter before cant remember... was a top charter and we bagged out on snapper, smallest went 4kgs and i got my pb of 9.2kgs that day, i took my own gear and had a ball, caught on a floated squid over a reef about 80m deep tough break on the wahoo, that would have been wicked CFD Nice one CFD, bagging out on Snapper would be awesome. From all accounts they are an awesome fighting fish and to boot they are fantastic to eat.. The people from Fish The Deep were great. We tried a number of spots, the skipper and deckie were knowledgeable, very accommodating and made everyone feel welcome. I am very keen to come back in Winter to have a crack at some bigger fish. 445F You are one lucky bugger!!! A great report. It felt like I was really there. You get to do all that AND have a holiday. Losing a fish is no bad thing. He will be there for another day. Those wahoo are great sport. My wahoo were caught while fishing for marlin and were considered rubbish! I would take that kind of rubbish any day. P.S you haven't missed much. The weather has turned cold and so has the fishing. Saw your brother out there on SUnday. The hot kingie bite is coming to a halt. Went out today and found leatherjackets at ALL the markers. Caught 2 of the smallest kings I have caught all year. Didn't even measure 50cm!!! Cheers Kelvin G'day Kelvin, a holiday needs to have some sort of compromise. A bit of what the missus wants to do, and a bit of what I want to do. Fishing and golf is always up there somewhere, especially when the FIL and BIL like golf too. I had to endure 4 hours of shopping at an outlet the other day, not so bad really when I actually bought more then she did... I am lucky and have a missus that allows me time to pursue my passions most of the time. My bro told me that he saw you out there, and that it was tough going. I thought he would at least bag a King, given that he had live squid. The change of weather must be shutting down the Kings for the moment, no sweat though, you know the bigger Winter Kings are just around the corner... Hope you got your trailer sorted out already, you are soooooo lucky you did not damage the Noble and the loose wheels did not cause any accidents. Top report, great to see you got some fish and the day made all the better by having a good charter boat operator makes all the difference well done. Absolutely agree Whitecaps, nothing worse then dodgie charter operators. I was pretty confident that this one would be good, as Stewy pointed me in their direction (Cheers Stewy) and their website has good information and pictures. Great report - shame the Wahoo turned into a 'Boohoo'! Do you normally eat them? So good to get into some action! I bet the skipper will be trying similar jigs next time he is out! Cheers Roberta Nice play on words Roberta. Apparently they Wahoos are meant to be great to eat, according to the deckie - who apparently works on a lot of game boats. Nice report there OP - and congrats on releasing the wahoo ! I've heard they are terrible eating anyway ! You are one cheeky bugger Pagemeister. Sounds like you had a ball at SWR, shame I couldn't make the trip up there with you, definitely next time. We still need to plan our trip to WA, although I have been reading about the Hoodlums in SA and my mind is wandering how I can fit make all these fishing trips happens without going through a divorce Edited April 4, 2007 by 445F Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrykrocker Posted April 5, 2007 Share Posted April 5, 2007 Caught 2 of the smallest kings I have caught all year. Didn't even measure 50cm!!! Cheers Kelvin wow...They are small would have looked good in an aquarium did you get to eat any of the teraglin?? Tasty eh good report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
namesay Posted April 5, 2007 Share Posted April 5, 2007 Defintiely aquarium material those kings. It was hard work out there with the jackets tearing all the baits. Got to now get into winter mode! BTW 445F, I am also keen to get into the samsons again...and perhaps those kings in SA and the bluefin tuna. My arm is itching for that aching feeling when you are reeling in 40kgs of samson from 120meters! CHeers Kelvin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now