Scratchie Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Day 1. A tough days fishing for many anglers with early adverse conditons. Greeted at the heads by a 15knot northerly breeze and 1.5m swell. Many anglers on the water early trying to secure a protected spot. Well with the rising of the sun the conditions improved immensely and became quite pleasant actually. The inshore reefs and islands seemed the place to be but with very little current it made the fishing all the more challenging. We chose broughton island and my usual spots without much success. But we stuck to our plan and the fish just weren't playing. We decided to anchor up before the tide change and burley hard which resulted in a nice plate snapper for me and a 4.6kg mac tuna for my mate (currently 3rd). It was time to move as the bite slowed down and many drifts were made trying to find where they were hiding. We finally decided to move to the other side of the island which was not protected from the wind and this is where they were hiding all bloody day. Instantly hook up to a few rat kings. Landed a few bonito which went out live, grabbed two more snapper for the esky. We were them visited by fisheries to check our catch and they informed is that there was a big southerly on the way. We decided on one more drift and the live bonnie gets hammered and I'm on. Play the fish all the way to the boat calling a solid king and just insight of the leader, pop! Gooooone! Called it a day and back home with boat washed by 7. A long day but what a fantastic run tournament and I'll be back out to do it all again tomorrow! Here are some photo of some of the catches today. They have been sent to me by the tournament director Tony Poole........ Our mac tuna and snapper...... And that ends another day in the beautiful Port Stephens. Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 4myson Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Great report there Scracthie , Hang in there mate & I'm sure you'll end up with some Cracker fish ..Good luck out there mate & Wish I was there with ya !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Great write up scratchie Persistance is key !! Im sure ul find what your looking for eventually! Ps- holy crap that is a stonking bream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camo1808 Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 What a cracker bream!!! Also some nice jewies there.... Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 You have to be in it to win it, as the saying goes. A few reddies for the pan as a consolation. Shame about dropping a good fish at the boat. Good luck for the rest of the tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ribs Posted March 18, 2016 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Good luck Jeff .. your local knowledge will pay dividends today , wish I was up there again ,it is a well run event in a prime part of the world, looking forward to your next report bud. Don't go soft on those hoods! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaClH2OK9 Posted March 19, 2016 Share Posted March 19, 2016 Thanks for sharing Jeff. Great writeup and good picks. Bad luck in dropping the big one. Looking forward to the next installment. Good luck Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted March 19, 2016 Author Share Posted March 19, 2016 Day 2 Well, what an even tougher day on the water today! Not a lot of boats ventured out the heads due to the 1.6-2m s/e swell and 15-20knot southerly winds. But that didn't stop us and expectations were high. We headed to seal rocks which was a pretty bumpy ride only to get there and find no bait, little current but stronger winds and drifting at 3knots. We perservered for 3 hrs for donuts and then took the long journey into a the s/e winds back to broughton at 6knots. We managed to hide on the northern side and anchored up, set out the burley and there was bait and kings everywhere. It was just a shame that they were the dreaded rats! Could not find a legal one amongst them! I never worked harder to try convert a good fish! The other boats around us didn't seemed to be doing any good either! I managed a few convos with fellow raider FFM on the radio and he seemed to be in the same boat, so to speak! Anyway, tomorrow's another day and we might stay inside and fish the bay for something different especially with the 2.7m swell forecast! Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oziodin Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Sounds like its a tad Roughf outside hope you fellars still are enjoying it up the what has the over all catches been like this year let me know what size of the winning winning fish and team is mate. It would be over by now cheers yern Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Day 3 and presentation. Today, we decided we'd save our legs and back with southerly 2.6m swell and try something out of left field and go searching the bay from a few new areas to fish at the back of karuah. Today was sp's only and we managed about 10 flatties of them I got one! All released as there were some crackers weighed in with the winner landing a 6.2kg one. So all in all, we managed a feed of fish, learnt a few things and some new areas and had a bit of fun in the process! Thanks to dom and jarrod for a great weekend. Great to meet fellow raider FFM and it was great to partake in another awesome run trailer boat tournament! Lots of prizes were also randomly given away including a 4.25m boat! It would be great to see a few more raiders up here next as it's a really well run and competitive friendly tournament with so many options of fishing to suit everyone. You can even register a kayak! So thanks for reading and tight lines all. Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Good write up mate. Thanks for the reports. I'll be up there next weekend with the family. But off course the boat will be coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Good write up mate. Thanks for the reports. I'll be up there next weekend with the family. But off course the boat will be coming! Another raider FFM got the only marlin of the tournament but couldn't get in with the tag in time. I'll let him tell the story. But they are still about. Thought you might like to know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farvos Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Hey jeff, We came up this year to and fished for three days.. Live squid every day but found it very hard to find any takers. Spent friday downrigging the whole of port stephens headland and Broughton for zip. A juicy live squid untouched. Saturday a few cod whilst trying for snapper and sine undersized stuff. Sunday tried Middle Island for Jews with live squid and all we managed were over sized wobbygong and banjo sharks.. Still a good time none the less and a few things learnt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Hey jeff, We came up this year to and fished for three days.. Live squid every day but found it very hard to find any takers. Spent friday downrigging the whole of port stephens headland and Broughton for zip. A juicy live squid untouched. Saturday a few cod whilst trying for snapper and sine undersized stuff. Sunday tried Middle Island for Jews with live squid and all we managed were over sized wobbygong and banjo sharks.. Still a good time none the less and a few things learnt. Glad to hear there was another raider in it! Don't be shy to come and see hi! I Caught up with fellow raider FFM and we were have some good communication between us! It was tough fishing. Especially when local guru "fish god" didn't get anything either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Thanks for all the comments raiders! I was hoping to do a live report but it's very hard when your trying to concentrate on your fishing, drifting livies, throwing sp's at the same time, then starting up the motor and repeating the process. All the while waiting for the rain to pour down on you in uncomfortable swell. Maybe next year we can get a few more raiders involved and we can all contribute to a thread! Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsswordfisherman Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 We need to work on this event Jeff. Maybe we do a fishraider "social" there next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 We need to work on this event Jeff. Maybe we do a fishraider "social" there next year. Sounds like a plan Donna! There will also be a new format and for next year with the ability to sign up in a few weeks and be in the draw for monthly prizes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 4myson Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Great read mate , Bad luck about the weather . Heard it was very hard going out there ..... A real shame as it is a beautiful part of the world up there ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cargo05 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Good reports Scratchie. Fantastic photo of the sunset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Smobaby Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Hi all fished the tournament great three days except the 20 degree water everywhere.Had a good feed on Friday flatties snapper in close but no size conditions not good out wide too cold.Saturday trolled and fished in close islands bonito only.Sunday ocean not pleasant again fished in close islands with small skirts got 5 Mac tuna but still too small bruising day in the ocean eastuary quiet but water temp picked up to 22.6 in the ocean great weekend away must do heaps of prizes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted March 21, 2016 Author Share Posted March 21, 2016 Hi all fished the tournament great three days except the 20 degree water everywhere.Had a good feed on Friday flatties snapper in close but no size conditions not good out wide too cold.Saturday trolled and fished in close islands bonito only.Sunday ocean not pleasant again fished in close islands with small skirts got 5 Mac tuna but still too small bruising day in the ocean eastuary quiet but water temp picked up to 22.6 in the ocean great weekend away must do heaps of prizes I seen you at the presentation, you were standing in front of me with your two mates! Great weekend though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFM Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Back in Sydney now, Great to meet you Scratchie, a great time. Thanks for sending me to the Sisters, I never cross your drift again. A few photos of Marlin we caught at the trailerboat comp. Four days to get one fish but worth every minute, plus more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted March 21, 2016 Author Share Posted March 21, 2016 Good on you mate! Persistence pays off. Sorry about the sisters. I hadn't even looked over that side. Lol. When we headed for home and past there I thought, gees that was a bit slack sending you there! But your right, never cross my drift! Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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