One of These BETTER Days - Browns Mountain 13.07.2023

[zmk1962]

Hey Raiders,

Since the  "One of These Days" adventure - which was a wintery, cold, and rainy event that Rob @Madkanu kindly wrote up,  I've been somewhat hesitant to push Maria for another winter offshore trip. But the conditions last Thursday 13.07.2023 were just too good to pass up.   So a very late plan was hatched on Wednesday afternoon to head to Browns Mountain 40km SE off Sydney Heads to fish the continental shelf for deep drop ooglies. 

 

We had frozen Lunds squid, pillies and some tailor fillets on board. The plan was to head to Browns first and if the action was slow, then work our way back past 12mile (kings?) and on to the flattie drift grounds until we had a decent catch.

Come Thursday we even had a relaxed, gentleman hours 7am launch from an amazingly quiet Ermo (Warf Rd) boat ramp.... ( and yes the Asian chap had just finished his morning swim as we were launching 🥶 🤪).  Once in the water the sounder indicated the water temp was a brisk 14C.

Dashed up the harbour to middle head, burleyed hard and tried for yakkas - nothing, zip - it was a desert. We settled there would be no livies to fall back on and pushed on.  Here's the video log of the rest of the day.

Some stats for anyone planning to head out. Water temp at the shelf was around 17C, there was an Easterly drift and the underlying current was slow. The Yam Helm Master Fishpoint handled the conditions with ease, holding us within 5m of the set position for over 3hrs.

So the final score was 4 gems and 1 blue eye. Maria's PB at 70cm and 10kg. No need to stop at 12mile or the flattie drifts with lots of tasty meals assured with this bag.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers Zoran

PS - In the past I had posted that I was not a fan of gemmies (hake) on the plate - I always found them too soft and oily done on the BBQ or just shallow pan fried ... but I was determined to find a way to cook them. So I went to basics (remembering BirdsEye fish fingers and fillets were hake) and lightly coated a few fillets in tempura batter before rolling them through panko crumbs.  Fried in hot olive oil with one garlic clove, the gemmie firmed up, stayed moist and was just delish !  I am now a big big fan.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by zmk1962

[Blackfish]

Great result and those fillets certainly look bloody yum.👍

[bessell1955]

A great result, well done. 

[Larkin]

Top feed there Zoran! That crumb looks delish!

good to get some runs on the board! 👍

Pitty you didn’t hit 12 mile on the way back in for a looksy - the kings were firing hard out there on Thursday. I was sent photos by a mate - fish from 70-90cm non stop.
 

[kantong]

thanks for sharing the report, looks like a great day out.

[JonD]

Quality catch, top day out. I was surprised how long you leave those fish on the line at the surface, could end up a bit messy if a mako decided to take one around the motor when helm master is running but I suppose that could happen just as easily on the way up.

3500rpm for just over 40kh is a good cruise, were you actually on the seamount ? I thought it was a bit further, or perhaps Im getting mistaken for our seamounts which are about 47km out.

As for gentleman hours, mine start two hours after yours when the sun has warmed things up a little first!!!!!....in saying that the water is 14'c here at the moment and most of my trips have been in the water more than on it.

[Yowie]

Very nice Zoran, a good bag of fish. Guessing that Maria was happy!

[zmk1962]

3 hours ago, Blackfish said:

Great result and those fillets certainly look bloody yum.👍

Thanks ... yup think I cracked the cooking code for gems ... they're back on the menu 🤣

3 hours ago, bessell1955 said:

A great result, well done. 

Thanks ... very happy with the result for few sunny hours spent on the water.

2 hours ago, Larkin said:

Top feed there Zoran! That crumb looks delish!

good to get some runs on the board! 👍

Pitty you didn’t hit 12 mile on the way back in for a looksy - the kings were firing hard out there on Thursday. I was sent photos by a mate - fish from 70-90cm non stop.
 

Hey Chris ... well as we powered past 12mile at around 9am I could see a congregation of vessels - which is always a good sign - and I was seriously tempted to stop. But I had not tried all the electronics and deep drop gear on devOcean and this was really the first opportunity, so I decided to stick with the plan and fortunately it paid off. Otherwise I'd be seriously P!$%$D  🤪.  Thanks for the intel.

2 hours ago, kantong said:

thanks for sharing the report, looks like a great day out.

Thanks ... It was a beaut day. Saw a whale fully breech just to the south of Browns and a huge pod of dolphins came around us both on the way out and back ... just great!

2 hours ago, JonD said:

Quality catch, top day out. I was surprised how long you leave those fish on the line at the surface, could end up a bit messy if a mako decided to take one around the motor when helm master is running but I suppose that could happen just as easily on the way up.

3500rpm for just over 40kh is a good cruise, were you actually on the seamount ? I thought it was a bit further, or perhaps Im getting mistaken for our seamounts which are about 47km out.

As for gentleman hours, mine start two hours after yours when the sun has warmed things up a little first!!!!!....in saying that the water is 14'c here at the moment and most of my trips have been in the water more than on it.

Cheers Jon ... well I had this predisposition about eating gems and as you know two is an individual bag limit and my first drop had a double gem when I was hoping for a blue eye ... so I wouldn't have been too disappointed if a mako took the other one while I was dealing with the first 🫣 ... I also realised I need to shorten all my deep drop rigs. The lengths I had worked really well with Barrycuda because it was always drifting and hence the lines were kept pulled straight ... but being spotlocked into place I found there was too much loose line. So I was "learning" as I was going with the first deep drop session on devOcean.  BTW, I was much quicker in getting the fish out after that first drop.    And YES... I'm very familiar with line around the prop possibility with Fishpoint. Since experiencing that I have made a harness so I can lean out and clear the prop WITHOUT going in the drink! 

Correct, we were fishing the southern side of the mount. There are actually two mounts there with peaks at around 360m and we fished the canyon between them at around 470m deep.  You win the bragging rights about spending time in 14C water ... I'll leave that to a young man such as yourself.

1 hour ago, Yowie said:

Very nice Zoran, a good bag of fish. Guessing that Maria was happy!

Thanks Dave ... yes M was very chuffed as you can see in the video. ... we've had 3 meals so far ... one with extended family and still heaps to go.  The family and friends bookings are coming in fast for this week 🤔

Cheers Zoran

Edited July 17, 2023 by zmk1962

[Yowie]

45 minutes ago, zmk1962 said:

Thanks ... yup think I cracked the cooking code for gems ... they're back on the menu 🤣

Thanks ... very happy with the result for few sunny hours spent on the water.

Hey Chris ... well as we powered past 12mile at around 9am I could see a congregation of vessels - which is always a good sign - and I was seriously tempted to stop. But I had not tried all the electronics and deep drop gear on devOcean and this was really the first opportunity, so I decided to stick with the plan and fortunately it paid off. Otherwise I'd be seriously P!$%$D  🤪.  Thanks for the intel.

Thanks ... It was a beaut day. Saw a whale fully breech just to the south of Browns and a huge pod of dolphins came around us both on the way out and back ... just great!

Cheers Jon ... well I had this predisposition about eating gems and as you know two is an individual bag limit and my first drop had a double gem when I was hoping for a blue eye ... so I wouldn't have been too disappointed if a mako took the other one while I was dealing with the first 🫣 ... I also realised I need to shorten all my deep drop rigs. The lengths I had worked really well with Barrycuda because it was always drifting and hence the lines were kept pulled straight ... but being spotlocked into place I found there was too much loose line. So I was "learning" as I was going with the first deep drop session on devOcean.  BTW, I was much quicker in getting the fish out after that first drop.    And YES... I'm very familiar with line around the prop possibility with Fishpoint. Since experiencing that I have made a harness so I can lean out and clear the prop WITHOUT going in the drink! 

Correct, we were fishing the southern side of the mount. There are actually two mounts there with peaks at around 360m and we fished the canyon between them at around 470m deep.  You win the bragging rights about spending time in 14C water ... I'll leave that to a young man such as yourself.

Thanks Dave ... yes M was very chuffed as you can see in the video. ... we've had 3 meals so far ... one with extended family and still heaps to go.  The family and friends bookings are coming in fast for this week 🤔

Cheers Zoran

👍

[Little_Flatty]

Love the report @zmk1962! Super amazing feed and good to see a well thought out setup in action, from DevOcean herself, to the electric reels and all the poles/gaffs to make landing easier.

I have to admit, I felt a little 🤢 just watching your video though. I definitely wasn't born with sea legs! 🤣 Unusual for an angler, I know...

[zmk1962]

46 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

Love the report @zmk1962! Super amazing feed and good to see a well thought out setup in action, from DevOcean herself, to the electric reels and all the poles/gaffs to make landing easier.

I have to admit, I felt a little 🤢 just watching your video though. I definitely wasn't born with sea legs! 🤣 Unusual for an angler, I know...

Thanks LF ... I try to re-use everything on the boat so that it minimises the carry on gear. The pole is just the boat hook we use to pull up to a wharf or mooring. The deep drop gear is a bit specialised but I've been hooked on that style of fishing for a while so when putting together devOcean's specs the requirements (wiring anderson plug connections, rod holder orientation etc etc) were definitely included in the design. We always carry a long gaff (for toothy critters) and a short one which I find a lot easier to manage.

🤢 Hahaha ... it takes a few trips to get your sea legs for sure.  Maria's just got hers back... the last three trips for her have been a little trying but she has persevered - you'll notice she was munching on crackers and stuff. I find that helps a lot. ... and she is absolutely cured once the fish bite starts or there is a hookup. I'm sure you'd be the same.

Cheers Zoran

[big Neil]

Well, well, what a fantastic report of a near-perfect day for you guys to get out to the shelf. To top it off you managed to find a way to cook the Gems to your liking. Certainly look yummy.

What a super vessel you have with all the bells and whistles needed for enjoying a day fishing the deep.

 Question: Would any fish survive being hauled up from nearly half a kilometre, if they were released?

Tight lines.  bn

[zmk1962]

32 minutes ago, big Neil said:

Well, well, what a fantastic report of a near-perfect day for you guys to get out to the shelf. To top it off you managed to find a way to cook the Gems to your liking. Certainly look yummy.

What a super vessel you have with all the bells and whistles needed for enjoying a day fishing the deep.

 Question: Would any fish survive being hauled up from nearly half a kilometre, if they were released?

Tight lines.  bn

Thanks BN ... the last minute decision paid off and I am already looking forward to the next Gem dinner.

The new rig ""devOcean" is proving itself a worthy upgrade to "Barrycuda" and has met and even exceeded many expectations. This is the widest we've taken her so far and we're both certainly not tiring of embarking on more adventures.

Would a fish survive ?  - well hapuka, bar cod, blue eye etc wouldn't - they fight hard up until the 100m mark then become progressively weaker as they succumb to barotrauma  - they come up belly first and are very docile.  Gems on the other hand fight right to the surface and still have a lot of kick in them - they will even lash out at hands and fingers - their belly swells and the bigger ones are on their back - but I have lost quite a few from a violent head shake right at the boat (ask @Yowie) and those ones head straight down into the depths.

One raider has told me he has experimented sending live yakkas down and they have come back up still kicking. I guess it depends on the fish.

Cheers Zoran 

[Yowie]

52 minutes ago, big Neil said:

Well, well, what a fantastic report of a near-perfect day for you guys to get out to the shelf. To top it off you managed to find a way to cook the Gems to your liking. Certainly look yummy.

What a super vessel you have with all the bells and whistles needed for enjoying a day fishing the deep.

 Question: Would any fish survive being hauled up from nearly half a kilometre, if they were released?

Tight lines.  bn

My one and only gem caught with Zoran (in his previous boat) fought to the top then dropped off at the surface, floated for a short time, out of reach, then headed back down. 

[Isaac Ct]

Great job Zoran, worth the trip out.

Those blue-eyes are a bucket list fish for me. Tried them a few times and absolutely delicious. Cool looking fish as well.

[Madkanu]

Great day out and great report Zoran!  You had a much more fun day that I did. 
 

Clearly no issue blasting the rockin’ tunes and spooking the fish when you’re fishing in 470m of water!

[zmk1962]

6 hours ago, Yowie said:

My one and only gem caught with Zoran (in his previous boat) fought to the top then dropped off at the surface, floated for a short time, out of reach, then headed back down. 

🤔 I’m still not sure if it dropped off … or you threw it away once you saw it’s pretty fang filled face … I may have to revisit that video footage 👍. But I did donate the other gem, which I caught, to you for being such a good sport … and I was surprised you accepted coz it was caught with a plastic lumo squid. 😂

2 hours ago, Isaac Ct said:

Great job Zoran, worth the trip out.

Those blue-eyes are a bucket list fish for me. Tried them a few times and absolutely delicious. Cool looking fish as well.

Yes they are a nice target fish for sure. Be careful where your bucket list desires lead you … you may just end up with a heavy offshore rig and on a never ending quest for the next one 🙄🤣

2 hours ago, Madkanu said:

Great day out and great report Zoran!  You had a much more fun day that I did. 
 

Clearly no issue blasting the rockin’ tunes and spooking the fish when you’re fishing in 470m of water!

Cheers Rob. Hahaha… yes it’s definitely better to pick the days based on conditions than to just go out on the day you have free. There will be other times. 
All music was played at a moderate volume I assure you. 😜

cheers Zoran 

[Little_Flatty]

10 hours ago, zmk1962 said:

All music was played at a moderate volume I assure you. 😜

Now here's a big question: Is there any correlation between the music played and fish caught? I would've thought, given their appearance, a lot of those deep sea gems would be metal heads, right? Another entry to note for the fishing diary 🤣

Lure scents are so early-noughties...SOUND attractants are soon to be in!

[zmk1962]

26 minutes ago, Little_Flatty said:

Now here's a big question: Is there any correlation between the music played and fish caught? I would've thought, given their appearance, a lot of those deep sea gems would be metal heads, right? Another entry to note for the fishing diary 🤣

Lure scents are so early-noughties...SOUND attractants are soon to be in!

Well I can certainly conjecture that whatever that mineseeker was playing off barrenjoey was not liked by the flattie population - but loved by shovel nose and banjo rays - two trips worth of statistics to contribute there. 🤓🤟🤟🤟
 

[chris_55]

Need a bigger eski now 😉

great job on a great day out 👍

[zmk1962]

5 hours ago, chris_55 said:

Need a bigger eski now 😉

great job on a great day out 👍

Thanks Chris. 😂 … it’s a nice problem to have…for the short trip from the boat in the driveway to the side patio where I clean them. 
cheers Zoran 

[jenno64]

Fantastic post Zoran!

big trip out and Maria was happy with her blue eye!

I bet you’re glad you stuck to your plan!

boat looks amazing!

[zmk1962]

9 hours ago, jenno64 said:

Fantastic post Zoran!

big trip out and Maria was happy with her blue eye!

I bet you’re glad you stuck to your plan!

boat looks amazing!

Thanks Rob the new rig is everything we had hoped it would be.
😂 Maria was chuffed - especially since I was leading the score 4-0 before she trumped me with one fish. It’s always satisfying when a plan comes together. 

Tight lines. 
Z
 

[Fab1]

Love your work mate but seriously eat your spinach and wind them up by hand.😂😂I got sea sick just watching that so I’m off to bunnos for some rapid set.I’ll get you a bag while I’m there as I want to see those forearms working.

What a vessel ,team and fisherman/woman.😂😂

Edited July 21, 2023 by Fab1

[zmk1962]

20 minutes ago, Fab1 said:

Love your work mate but seriously eat your spinach and wind them up by hand.😂😂I got sea sick just watching that so I’m off to bunnos for some rapid set.I’ll get you a bag while I’m there as I want to see those forearms working.

What a vessel ,team and fisherman/woman.😂😂

🤪  I fished Browns for many years with an Alvey King, that was a great upper body workout and brought up fish faster than the electric ! ... and in my youth prior to the Alvey I've even done it with my Penn overheads ... but only managed 6 drops ... 700+ lifts of a 2.5kg sinker to change the bait was just too much fun 😅.

Electric it is ....  ⚡ ⚡

Tight lines

Z