REKLESS Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Gidday all ,well we got back last night and after coming to grips with only two beers in the fridge I realised that the holiday was over.... bummer. We had a ball ,rented out a house for eight days just five minutes from the beach and two minutes from the club and had some fantastic weather and shit hot fishing to boot.I was up there with the wife ,the kid, and a hairy mate called grant and his wife ally. Day one ,water temp 26.4c at the jail,slimeys out under balloons and fishing down a cubed trail we kept hooking up on some XOS cobia,I tried everything from locked up 24kg to throwing the dan buoy over and high tailing it away from the reef with a sore thumb ,it didnt matter.... ,we still got done on the reef,this was in between all the usual pests of bonito and the mack tuna blundering in.We ended up fishing out near the eleven fathom reef before trolling slimeys around the marlin grounds for no strikes and no fish sited.(we met up with some divers who mentioned to us about the 32kg cobia they had speared at the jail that day) groan.... . Day two, Water 26.9c and howling south at close to four knots ,it was flat so we trolled liveys to green island,then fish rock and then black rock,for nothing except a few stripeys that ate a piece of chrome that I flicked at them while trolling,set up a cubing trail with yesterdays slimeys and had a 20 kg yellowfin eat a slimey in 35 ft of water,well let me just say that that thing went hard!,rooster tails and all,I have to say the circle hooks work well.We had a two more runs but I suspect that they were something else due to the fact we got buried within 1.2 secounds of hooking up.Yellow other things probably.......We also had a go at picking up some flathead which proved that they had actually gone some where else,all we picked up were spiky flathead and %%%%%ed fingers. Day three, We drank to much,the doctor had a look at Grants finger that was swelling up from the flathead and said come back tommorrow. Day four,Water at 25.4c northerley current,went to Grassy head and only managed to bring back two spotted mackeral,I did hook up on a spanish and played him out for about five minutes before I had a monumental gear failure that left me embarrased and kicking myself.Numerous hook ups on other things including pesky mack tuna. . Grant went to the doctor who gave him the good news that his finger had a blood infection festering away ,overnighted at Kempsey base hospital while they pumped him full of shit and we got to see his finger changing size and colour. Day five southerley ,3m swell,drink beer watch grant in pain! Day 6,Southerly,big swell so we fished at a place called the golden hole and caught some interesting things like Moses perch and some massive estuary cod.One was very near to the 8 kg mark and it ate the handline with a butterflied slimey,that was good to watch as grant was on the handline with a bad finger and all!!.We did let them all go ,lost count after the six mark. Day 7 ,Southerley,25.2c,I was by myself in the tinny and as the forecast was 25-35 knots of SE to SW I stayed in close,current from the south so I found another school of bait at the jail and cubed for nothing.Getting the shits I went to the buoys and picked up a Mack tuna that was around the 4kg mark,burleying away I dropped down the bait jig and picked up a spotted mackeral,go the sabiki jig!!. I pulled the pin when I had to go and help a wayward catamaran that was flipped over and was heading towards brisbane,that was my good samritan job for the day!. The marlin were probably still around but the physical limitations of fishing in a 4m open tinny limited us to how far we could go.I only heard of one marlin being tagged and of two fish being sited one swimming at Fish rock and the other Free jumping wide of the jail; grounds.The bait was fairly scarce and were not in the big schools that had been around earlier.The water was very hot (to hot?),and crystal clear with reports of near one hundered + feet of vis,this was on the day of the 26.9c temp. There were quite a few boats trolling liveys for marlin initailly but after a while they went north to grassy head to catch some mackeral instead.There was some dolphins caught but only the size of those that we have seen allready off of sydney as well.The Charter boats had some things wired and were pulling in good cobia and spottys ,but were saying that things were inexplicably light on . Still it was a good trip,my mate grant reckons he will has his bar crusher by then so look out next year! simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jocool Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Great read Simon. Plenty of fun to be had it seems! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trouble Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Great report mate..Sounds like a top trip..hopefully helping out the catamaran you will have some good luck next time your out on the water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombat Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Great report Reckless. Gotta love Port Stephens especially when the crowds aren't there. Sounds like there was plenty happening to keep you interested. Wombat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Excellent report Simon, Hope Grant is doing ok now.....those spikeys are a pain in the arse to handle!! Shame you didn't manage a cobe, but at the size you describe I would say they would be close to unstoppable as you found yourself. I expect SWR will see a fair number of Fishraiders on its visitors books next season. I am certainly going to be planning a pilgrimage. Great stuff!! Byron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Great report Rekless. I feel sorry for your mate, but still laughed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatheadheaven Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Top report Simon I will be heading up there in a few weeks for some LBG action, so hopefully the cobes will remain. Those "pesky Macks" are a bit if fun off the rocks, but I guess not when you are looking for something decent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patl Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 simon, great report and well done patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Great report Rekless,sounds like a great place to do some blue water fishing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REKLESS Posted March 24, 2005 Author Share Posted March 24, 2005 I didnt mention this one earlier ,but for your information, the place where we were hooking up the cobia was in 30 ft of water immediately in front of the car park at the jail.The bombie there is in only 12ft of water!!. While there one time we had a free jumping marlin hop up about 75 metres away!. martin ,the blue water at that place begins at the rocks at your feet. Hat head heaven?,there is one place that I might suggest that you try for some extreme LBG action. I am not to sure about access to the area but the gap between Green island and the main land was alive with fish.It is generally acknowledged as one of the prime spots for cobia and I would not doubt at all that the longtails would be using that passage as well,it may be a bitch to get to but possibly worth a look at least. good luck simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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