You Need To Be Prepared For Just About Anything Reef Fishing In Mackay
Raptor II, a 33ft Cougar Cat owned and operated by Reefari Charters was able to make the most of a break in the turbulent weather to head offshore and target a host of tasty reef species along some deep-water shoals off Mackay.
With a crew of eight punters aboard, including national fishing writer and photographer Lee Brake, the Reefari crew were able to locate some top table fish for the clients including a school of hard fighting Golden Trevally, some trophy Nannygai, a quality red emperor and some thumping great coral trout.
Lee Brake Had This To Say About The Charter…
According to Lee Brake the highlight of the day was when he and one of the other anglers literally caught the same Nannygai only to become engage in a game of tug-O-war with one of the deep’s giant predators.
The Double Hook Up
“I was testing out some soft plastic lures called Gulp Jerkshads when I had a solid hook-up. It seemed like a quality fish, but after just a few strong runs my line suddenly went slack,” said Lee.
“Just as my line went slack, I noticed Bill Smith suddenly bend over like he’d been punched in the stomach with his rod bucking and bending to ungodly angles.
There wasn’t much we could do except watch and take photos because whatever had his line didn’t even look like stopping!”
Luckily (or unluckily) for Bill, the line broke under the pressure leaving him to rub his aching arms. The action however, didn’t finish there.
“I finished taking photos of poor Bill’s herculean battle only to return to my own rod and wind up the slack to reveal some weight,” reported Lee.
“The weight didn’t move much at first, but about half way up there was a small kick, so at least I knew it was a fish.
What I didn’t expect though was to pull in a very sizeable nannygai that was absolutely smashed! The poor thing had been in the mouth of a giant, probably a huge cod, as it had visible teeth marks around the neck, but had also been sucked clean of scales.”
Even The Deckhand Brent Was Amazed At What He Saw!
The Raptor’s deck hand, Brent Stephenson was then completely gobsmacked because as he went to remove Lee’s lure from the fish’s mouth he found Bill’s hook and line still in place and protruding from the Nannygai’s mouth.
“I’d never seen anything like it. The fish must have hit Lee’s lure then taken Bill’s bait as well, only Bill was winding faster than Lee; meaning Lee’s line went slack and he thought he’d lost the fish,” said Bill Smith.
When The Cod Attacks!!!!
After that, the massive cod must have smashed the poor thing which would explain why Bill was worked over so hard.
Once he was busted off though, the cod released its prize leaving Lee to wind up one very sore and sorry nanny!”
The other highlights for the day included a pair of double hook-ups one involving a pair of speedy golden trevally that made anglers hurt during a prolonged battle.
The other involved a very nice red emperor which came over the side first only to be followed by another golden trevally, proving that these bottom dwelling pelagics were well and truly on the chew.
Nannygai were a constant catch and ranged from just over legal to some serious specimens pushing the 7kg mark. A pair of coral trout was also taken by Tony Block who was stoked with such top quality table fish.
Most fish were taken on fresh strip baits and squid; however Lee did take an early lead by using Gulp soft plastics jigged on a four ounce jighead. His lead was quickly reeled in though, as a patch of sharks cleaned him out of jigheads and left him to man the camera.
Everyone onboard agreed that it was a very successful charter. It’s always a great day if you have top folk, good weather and the fish are biting, but add when the weather has been as harsh as it has been, everyone, crew included really relishes the chance to get offshore.
Everyone on board Reefari agreed that it was a real eye-opener and it became a top talking point for what was a very successful boat charter. It’s always a great day if you have top folk, good weather and the fish are biting, but add something special like that and you have a truly memorable Mackay fishing charter.
Check out all the great fishing charters we have available Boat Charter Rates.
Article written by Lee Brake