James Clain Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 (edited) Just arrived home from a. fantastic week with mates on the Mid north Coast staying in Nambucca Heads. The 4 of us rented a fantastic air BnB with the goal of spending 1 week smashing the awesome fish of the Mid North Coast and hopefully landing a jack on my new boat. My mate Trent keen to catch his first GT and my mate Aidan was keen to catch his first Mangrove jack and GT. Day 1: We arrived around 2pm and unloaded after a fantastic 5 hour run from Sydney. Launched the boat around 5:30 in macksville with the plan of loading up on live bait and then hitting the snags up river. It didn't take long to sound some bait under the old highway bridge and fill up the live bait tank. These livebaits were presented upstream under some juicy looking snags to no avail. The water was very murky and dirty and didn't look too promising. We needed to come up with a better plan. Day 2: The following afternoon we decided to try and fish the part of the breakwater known as the V-wall. The idea was that with cleaner water we would be able to get onto some better fish. I launched my boat with 1 mate and motored downstream as the other two setup shop land based. Once again, we found it extremely easy to load up on the valuable herring for livebait. With my friend Aidan even catching a bluefin trevally on a sabiki jig (photo below) Not long after, Aidan was on again. This time - the heavy gear! This brutal jack went 51cm and put up one hell of a fight on 50lb. Last year I lost numerous jacks at this very spot on even 130lb leader. (Before you know it, they have snapped you off). Unfortunately, there were no takers on the vertically dropped live-baits from the boat into the structure. Day 3: We ended day 3 with the same plan. however, this time I decided not to take the boat out. I noticed my electric motor suffering in the strong currents of the river mouth. After livies were secured and I caught my first flutefish. It was not long until my mate Trent was onto something absolutely enormous . We called it for a big Jack but to our surprise an absolutely enormous estuary cod which had me thinking he was onto a baby QLD Grouper. (Photo Below) Day 4: Changing it up once again Trent and I decided to take my boat out in the morning up into the deep, skinny and mysterious waters of deep creek. A place were my 3m polycraft feels right at home. The plan was to fish topwaters and then soft plastics for trevally and Jacks. After numerous surface strikes on topwater with no hookups we switched up to plastics. after chasing what looked like trevally bustups and sounding what looked like a decently sized shark I placed a nice cast deep into a lay-down and hooked up to a nice Estuary Perch....... Sorry, a Mangrove Jack that thought it was an estuary perch. (It hardly pulled string on 8lb!!). After reviewing the footage however I have come to realise that it still almost dusted me by running out and attempting to snap me in another snag upstream. (Watch the youtube video to see what I mean) I didn't measure It but it was around 40cm mark. Finally, a jack caught in my own boat. This meant that i was able to put the Mangrove Jack sticker on the boat that was given to me by @Pickles during our last bass session when he wished me the best for the Jack sessions. We ended the day with another breakwall session. It must have been my day as it was my turn to land something big land based. This time, a fantastic flathead going 68 centimetres. This fish provided an excellent meal for the 4 of us. (Photo below) Day 5: A reasonably uneventful day. Aidan and I launched the boat into deep creek again, missing more surface strikes and landing a small flathead. Day 6: Our final day we decided something needed to be done about the lack of trevally caught on this trip. The plan was to head up to Coffs harbour and fish the Marina. After spotting and missing sight casts on a few uninterested GT which were moving around in the marina we decided to change locations and try Coffs Creek. 3 casts in at one of the few land based accessible spots my buddy Aidan hooked something small, and really strong. Which soon surfaced as a small GT. Not big but certainly a memorable catch for him to end the trip. We finished the session missing some strikes and follow ups from some much lager trevs. Next time the boat is going in here! I am certain some morning topwater action is on the cards. Trent still needs to get his first GT. last year the Jacks were on fire, I believe I lost 16 and only managed to land one. This year Aidan and I went 1 for 1. Maybe the dirty water turned them off? Please Enjoy my youtube video of this amazing trip and the photos below. @dirvin21 you live in a beautiful part of the world, lets get out for a fish next time I am up! Edited February 8 by James Clain 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crabstar Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 1 hour ago, James Clain said: Cracker report mate! I was up there last week myself. Seems you had better results then what i had occurred. Looks like the livies are the go, will send a few out next trip up in 4 weeks! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XD351 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Epic report James ! You got some awesome fish there! Congratulations on the jack ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bessell1955 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 What a fantastic trip! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 You might have missed some strikes, however, you managed a good array of species with some good sized fish. Great work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Some nice fish caught mate Unfortunately the rain we had before you guys came up really shut everything down Next time I'm there 👿👿👿 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little_Flatty Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Living the dream James, the way I wish I did when I was your age. Fantastic report. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 7 hours ago, XD351 said: Epic report James ! You got some awesome fish there! Congratulations on the jack ! Much appreciated @XD351 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 4 hours ago, Yowie said: You might have missed some strikes, however, you managed a good array of species with some good sized fish. Great work. So many species to target up there! Thank you @Yowie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 3 hours ago, dirvin21 said: Some nice fish caught mate Unfortunately the rain we had before you guys came up really shut everything down Next time I'm there 👿👿👿 Cheers Dave, see you next time! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 3 hours ago, Little_Flatty said: Living the dream James, the way I wish I did when I was your age. Fantastic report. Much appreciated @Little_Flatty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 A cracker trip with “da boyz”. Great to see you landed some cracker fish - well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted February 9 Author Share Posted February 9 3 hours ago, Pickles said: A cracker trip with “da boyz”. Great to see you landed some cracker fish - well done. Cheers Bob! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Great posts James and gang...top video too. That location with the messages on the stones (where you got the big Flathead), I failed to land 2 MJs. Yet to land one though I have been dusted 4 times in total. They certainly are mean critters and you did very well to land that one on light line. Very well done James and gang. bn 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Clain Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 15 hours ago, big Neil said: Great posts James and gang...top video too. That location with the messages on the stones (where you got the big Flathead), I failed to land 2 MJs. Yet to land one though I have been dusted 4 times in total. They certainly are mean critters and you did very well to land that one on light line. Very well done James and gang. bn Thank you BN, best of luck next time you are our chasing them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kantong Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 cracker jack! well done boys!! top video there too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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