Fishing Report August 2010
The Spanish Are Invading!
No, the running of the bulls hasn’t gone international; we have just had a thumper of a month on the Spanish mackerel.
Trip after trip Reefari has been able to put clients onto double, triple and even quadruple hookups of these exciting sportsfish.
There has also been some tremendous catches of coral trout and a smattering of big reds to keep the smiles wide and the eskies brimming.
Folks, it has been a cracker of a month!
We were able to push out wide early in the month with a keen crew that included NQ Fish & Boat editor Lee Brake, his father Graham and the Godfrey clan.
The Brake boys brought along a few trays of jigs and not only got their backs and arms stretched, they also landed some top fish.
At first, we trolled a good show of fish on the sounder with some proto-type Reidy’s lures which saw young Mitch and Harrison Godfrey hooked up and fighting several charging Spanish macks.
Graham also got in on the act and the day was off to an exciting start. Unfortunately the boat traffic seemed to push these fish down deep and out of the range of our trolled lures, so out came the jigs!
Using metal knife jigs Graham and Lee sent their lures shuttling down into about 50m of water and ripped them back towards the surface with strong, fast rips of their rod tips.
We didn’t have to wait long.
Within minutes both anglers were being smashed up by unstoppables that left them standing around slack jawed and looking like stunned mullets.
They went to heavier gear and sure enough some big trevally, including a double on goldens, and at least a dozen Spanish were fooled by the jigs. I’ll admit it; I could get into this jigging thing!
Once we moved on, the same trip saw us in coral trout heaven.
At first the fishing was a little slow, but then Janelle, Harrison and Graham all found themselves hooked up to solid, hard pulling coral trout. The interesting thing was; they were using lunch as bait.
Yeah, freshly cooked banana prawns where going down and coming back up as 60cm-plus trout over and over again!
Graham revealed that he has been using this trick for years, but usually makes do with the cheaper cooked imported offerings. He reckons it is the bright red of the cooked prawns that attracts the trout, and after seeing Harrison pull up two thumper trout and a nannygai one after another on the prawns, I’m convinced!
In other news, our Steber gameboat, Mako has been putting in some awesome trips, with new skipper Sally Vennick reporting some interesting catches.
“Last trip to the reef saw us getting some lighting fast yellow-fin tuna,” she said. “It is a little early in the season for them, but the pelagics seem to be in good numbers.
We got into plenty of good mackerel on the troll, with the Classic F18 Bluewater lures proving lethal in the gold and mackerel green colours!”
“We even saw a sailfish that was all lit up and hunting!”
Bottom fish wise, Sally revealed that they have been also been landing loads of coral trout with over thirty fish taken in the last reef trip – many of a very high quality.
Well, there is much, much more that I could report, but we are out of time for this month, so I all I can suggest is that you to stop reading and start fishing!
Check out the great action on our Youtube Channel at www.youtube.com/reefari and really am looking forward to our Reefari Hardline Mothershipping trip next month, can’t wait!!
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Reefari Hardline 2009
December 30, 2009 by Ron · 3 Comments
Reefari Hardline Boat Charter 2009
After heaps and heaps of Planning, our Hardline Reefari 2009 has finally come around again, and it was once again with another keen group of Anglers uniting from locally and all the southern cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Also Jason Kennedy and film crew from “Fishin trip” on behalf of Southern Cross TEN as well, we were off on another fishing adventure of a lifetime.
With Centurion as our 80 foot Mothership, a 33 foot Cougar cat “Raptor” and 21 foot Centre Console, and three 15 foot dories, we had all bases covered and then some. Expectations were high with vessel’s in tow, for 7 days and nights of awesome fishing and exploring the remote sections of the outer Great Barrier Reef, not for the faint hearted with distances of up to 200 kilometres offshore, and even on the edge of the continental shelf.
Fishing nirvana with Giant Trevally, Spanish Mackerel, reef fish, and heaps more on the agenda, the following is a brief account of this special trip.
Boats were fueled up, with enough diesel to keep a small country town powered, and OPEC very happy, it was an early afternoon start, with Raptor and centre console in tow, and we were off at a cruisy 8 knots, No speed records, but time and distance wins out with a cruise through the night to arrive at Bugatti Reef, nice and early.
GT heaven or is that fisherman’s heaven, probably both with a massive Coral lagoon with Kilometres and Kilometres of Reef, Bommies and great fishing.
The Weather was unbelievable with a week of light winds to 15 knots, with only one day with 20 knots winds at the end of the week, we were truly blessed, someone upstairs was smiling down on us. Tenders and gameboats were dispatched, loaded up with an armament of tackle and off in pursuit of Fish.
Raptor II was off to Sharon Shoal, The guys from Fishin Trip chasing GT’s and the Dories assaulting the reef trip.
What a life, Some horse Red Throats were coming in thick and fast on the reefs and out on the wider shoals, and the film crew were getting a crash course in GT Fishing, definitely not for the faint hearted. Losing more than they could land for the cameras, it was time to beef up the gear and tackle and swing things in there favour.
Life takes on another pace having a week out on the Great Barrier Reef with none of the stresses of the real world, Great food, Company and plenty of amber fluids, everybody quickly settled into the rythym of the trip. Over the next week, we fished Whitetip Reef, Lipper Lagoon, Big and Little Bugatti Reef and numerous other unnamed and uncharted reefs, real adventure stuff, especially when we’re talking 200 kilometres offshore!!
Raptor II had a great week, trolling lures for Spanish Mackerel and Sharky Mackerel, Casting Poppers for Giant Trevally and bottom bashing with good quality Red throat on Tap, and Multiple hooks up on some quality fish. One of the Highlights was a quality 4kg Barramundi Cod caught by yours Truly to make my day.
Decky Adam Shields, did the honours and in the diving gear, dived down and released the Barra Cod, as Baratrauma can be a real drama for these wonderful fish and successfully released.
Some real nice GT’s were caught by the film crew with some phemonemal footage and a great TV Show for Sure. Check out Fishin Trip on Southern Cross on Sun 6th Dec, and Sun 13th Dec for some Phenomenal fishing action. Numerous fish were caught and released with the best going 26kg’s.
Other Giant Trevally highlights were a couple of 32kg monsters, one caught from the back of the Mothership “Centurion” by Adam, on a floating pilchard of all things, a battle royal with 80lb braid and the centre console was called into assist, check out the video on reefari youtube as Adam took off into the darkness to eventually return triumphant for the enjoyment of all watching, a heap of happy snaps and the GT was released to fight another day.
Another Monster GT was caught by Murray, trolling from the dories along the reef edge, and of all things was caught on a Murray Cod lure after a 45 minute battle. Not bad for his first reef trip. This great fish also went 32kgs and was a great introduction to the Great Barrier Reef for his Murray’s first time.
Cyclone Hamish’s damage to the outer reef was still evident with the reef badly damaged with coral littered on the ocean floor, plate and staghorn coral suffered badly and coral trout catches were well down.
Redthroat numbers were still good with Double Bag limits reached for all 20 anglers.
The last night was spent cruising into Scawfell Island for a bit of R&R, hard to believe I know, but a great way to wind down from a week out on the reef. Bit of snorkelling and a nice afternoon cruise back to Mackay.
Bookings and expression of interest taken for next year and also putting together a 10 day charter to Princess Charlotte Bay, Bigger and Better, so make sure you get in early!! Contact Reefari for More Details here Charter Bookings
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