Mackay Fishing Charter Report July 2009
July 30, 2009 by Ron · Leave a Comment
Reefari Mackay Fishing Charter Report — July 2009
Hello again and welcome to the July edition of “On the Chew”. July has been another sensational month for fishing in Mackay and with some absolutely glass calm days to compliment. Reefari charters once again had a very busy month with many day and 2 day charters heading out to the great blue beyond.
July has been a very diverse month species wise. This is often the case during this time of the year with the water temp changing and the winter species such as Spanish mackerel and snapper become ever increasingly active.
Winter is also the best time in central QLD to get amongst some of the hottest Red Emperor fishing that is available. At this point I would like to dedicate a substantial part of this article to a particular 3 day trip from early in the month.
We left Mackay at 9 am on the Sunday with only 4 guests aboard our 41foot Stebercraft – Mako. Anticipation was high as none of these guys had never caught a big red and I had assured them that there was a very good chance that we would get a few. As we steamed out of the harbour, we gradually watched the 25 knot SW’erly drop down to almost nothing and by the time we got to the other side of the islands the weather gods were definitely smiling upon us.
Upon reaching the reef, we dropped anchor on a couple of bommies that are well known to me as prime red country. Initially we were getting some big red throat and some yellow sweeties but as time progressed we started seeing half fish or no gear coming up almost every drop- bloody Sharks, time to move. With the sun setting we moved the boat to another place out in the open water. With barely 5 knots of wind blowing we knew that it was going to be a beautiful night. We dropped anchor and all sat down for a nice roast dinner.
Once again the gear was off to the bottom and the result was instantaneous. The first drop was a four-way hookup and every fish to hit the boat was an emperor of about 5 kgs. Immediately we were all back down and the same result repeated. My first thought was ok there must be a few here but for the next hour there was nothing but red emperor coming over the side.
I truly have never experienced fishing like it. I mean you hear stories from your old man about fishing like this but until that night I could only imagine what it would be like. After the first hour the reds started to move away and the nannygai and spangled emperor came onto the chew and once again it was as quickly as you could get to the bottom.
I was fishing with a handline and at one stage there it took me 6 drops to get a tangle out because the big nannies kept grabbing my bait (which by the way was the same bait for all 6 drops). As a summary for the night we nearly bagged out on reds up to 8kgs, we nearly bagged out on nannies and we got 2 dozen or so big spangles. It really was Mackay’s fishing at its absolute best.
The next few days saw even more big reds with the biggest one going 15kgs. With plenty of reef fish in the esky we did a heap of trolling through the deep channels and along the reef edges.
We got quite a few nice trout on the lures and then a massive run in the deeper water turned out to be a 10kg yellowfin tuna – just to spice thing up a bit. We spent the next night anchored up on a shoal in 25 meters and got stuck into the Venus tusk fish and yellow sweetlip.
We were also thoroughly entertained by a 12 foot long great hammerhead shark that our customers nicknamed Bruce. He would follow the fish all the way to the surface at high speed and then turn away at the last second with a massive power turn.
It was pretty awesome to see. We returned to the harbour with our freezer full of fillets and some stories that I will be able to pass on to my kids.
Day trips have also been popular with many happy anglers coming back with mixed bags of nannygai, coral trout, big emperor and many grass sweetlip. We also got another big goldband snapper, which I must reiterate is an extremely rare thing to see in such shallow water. Also plenty of Spanish Mackerel about, with most days, some great hookups and good fish coming aboard.
We also sighted Migaloo the white humpback whale off Chauvel reef on the 12th of July, He was southbound and was traveling at about 10 knots. There have been many whale sightings so far on our day trips with an estimated 10 000 whales migrating north this year.
Reefari Charters has also added yet another customized fishing machine to its fleet. The MV Brute Strength is a custom 6.1 metre center console that we are running specialized sport and game fishing charters all around the Mackay area.
Because boat is trailer able, many different locations can be accessed and with a top speed of 40 knots it is sure to get you to the fishing grounds quickly and safely. Available for a minimum of 2 people and a maximum of 5, personalized service is also assured.
Anyway guys and gals
See you next month
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Mackay Fishing Report June 2009
June 30, 2009 by Ron · 2 Comments
Reefari Mackay Fishing Charters Report — June 2009
Well hello again everybody and once again welcome to the June edition of On The Chew. June has been a sensational month for Reefari charters with the fishing leaving all who experienced it both lost for words and a tad sore. Once again we have been really busy and with the weather staying reasonable, perfect at times, managed to get about 95% of our charters out. There was even one stint there where we got 6 trips in a row and all of our guests went home with a big bag of reef fish.
For the first half of June, the mornings were the go with the run out tide fishing the best. If the tide was a bit later on in the morning and we had plenty of time, then we would pull a couple of lures around the islands and nail a couple of Spaniards.
June seems to be the first run of these fish and they will hang around until it starts to warm up again, with Humpbacks also showing up.
Catching them is a fairly simple exercise as they hang out in packs and are very aggressive feeders that will smash most types of lures or trolled baits.
We were picking them up on most trips and it sure is a great way of getting everyone on board pumped up first thing in the morning with a screaming mackerel run.
Remember also that the Mackay Game Fishing Club holds its annual Spanish shootout on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th of July, with some great prizes on offer.
Now, I would like to talk to everyone a little about Giant Trevally, GTs, Turrum or whatever you want to call them. Please refer to the beginning of the article where I mentioned that our guests were coming home a little sore. Well these beasts are the culprits. Whilst trolling for Macks, Some Giant GT’s decided to get into the action, smashing our lures connected to a Calcutta 400 barra combo with 30lb braid.
As they passed over the mark we watched in awe as two truck sized Trevally came flying up and belted both of our lures.
One of these fish was easily 70lb and grabbed the TLD25, the other which later weighed in at 24 kg grabbed the Calcutta. There are few fish in the ocean that will attack a lure with the ferocity that a GT does, in fact the idea of Big Willie Mason tackling a midget could be something you might describe it as.
By the time I realized what was happening, the Calcutta was half empty and I found myself having to back down on it the way you would with a rampaging marlin.
The other rod was running so hard that the boys were struggling to get the rod out of the rod holder. When they finally did an epic struggle ensued – man against beast. Now we discovered a problem, with one big fish going south and the smaller one north.
We managed to hold onto both of them for about 10 minutes when the hooks pulled on the big one and we were left with the smaller of the two on the Calcutta. After a 25 minute battle, the massive fish lay subdued on the deck – beaten by a very determined fisherman and 30lb line – not a bad effort at all.
A couple of photos and it was time to release him and do it again – and believe it or not we got another one that went 17kg on the very next pass. The biggest one we ended up boating in June was by a bloke named Jacques and it went just under 30kgs.
Aside from all that the coral trout have been chewing their heads off on the falling tide with 28 fish taken in 3 consecutive trips. These were not small fish either, with most of them averaging 3-4 kgs. Big Grass lipper and nannygai have been prolific and there have been some very nice red emperor mixed in as always.
We even took out Beaconsfield mine survivor – Todd Russell for a fish and he got stuck into some quality nannies and trout. It’s probably worth mentioning too that Kevin Boyle- owner of our 41 foot steber– went for a fish and showed off his skill by landing 3 rather rare bonefish whilst on a trip to the islands, not one but three, amazing stuff!!
That’s pretty much it for this month, I hope everyone out there had as good a month as we did, and hound the boss to get a Christmas trip together for the boys and girls, but make sure to book early!!.
Ok guys and gals
Until next month
Stop wishin!!, Lets go fishin!!
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Mackay Fishing Report May 2009
Reefari Mackay Fishing Report – May 2009
Well hello again all and welcome to the May 2009 edition of the offshore fishing report. May has been a busy month with quite a bit of decent fishable weather and both our boats have been making frequent trips to the reef and shoals.
Our new boat Mako has finally kicked off and she made her first 2 day 2 night trip out to the reef. We left the harbour at around 5pm on the Friday and made the journey out to Penrith Island to spend the first night. The boys all fished hard for most of the night and were rewarded with a good haul of large mouth nannygai, snapper, cod and red throat. In the early hours of Saturday morning, we fired up the big V8’s and roared off to go in search of those elusive red emperors out towards Kindemar reef.
By about 8am we were drifting one of my favorite little patches and was it going off. We fished hard until lunchtime when the tide turned and the fish went quiet, but, for the 4 hours that we put in.
We were rewarded with countless red throat, some 15 decent red emperor, about 15 or so good sized coral trout and quite a few others including a juvenile Maori wrasse and a big barra cod – both of which were immediately released.
While the fishing was quiet we went into the reef edge for an afternoon snorkel. Jeez there is some big GT’s out there around some of those reefs.
We had one that was at least 80 pound swimming around us showing absolutely no fear at all. We cast poppers and stick baits but he wouldn’t hit anything.
After our swim we proceeded to head out to our anchorage for the night – a beautiful little detached bommie that I call red emperor reef.
For the flood tide it was on once again and the boys just kept pulling them in. We actually lifted the minimum size for red throat from 38 to 48cm just to slow it down a bit. By the end of that session our freezer was getting very close to being full.
At 3am on the Sunday we once again fired up the engines and went searching. One more spot on the way home – why not. We visited a very secret little spot of mine that lies about half a mile from the edge of a massive green zone – so you can imagine what it can fish like. Again the fish just went mental with more big quality trout, emperor and XOS lipper hitting the decks.
With every conceivable cold space on the boat packed full of fish we decided to take it easy and troll lures for most of the way home. With the lures set and the autopilot doing a great job, it was a fantastic way to top off an awesome weekend.
Day trips have also been frequent with all trips returning with big hauls of reef fish. The LM nannygai are still chewing their heads off as are the big barcheek trout. In fact most of the day trips that we have done almost everyone went home with at least one big trout in their catchbag.
Snapper are stating to become more and more active with the cold weather and the specimens we are boating are getting bigger and bigger every trip.
Our fearless leader, Greg Reynolds took a few of the trips out this month too and proved that even though he hadn’t been out for a few months that he can still find the fish. Big reds were on the must catch list and Greg has been slaying them with several fish topping the 10kg mar including one Monster Nannygai.
A particularly different catch also came up on one day trip in the form of a 6.7kg gold band snapper. These are typically a really deep water species that are rarely caught in less than 80 meters.
At nearly 7kgs this was an absolute monster for this species and was a long way from home up in 37meters of water. They are a close relative of the rosy job fish and are superb eating.
Anyway guys and gals, that pretty much brings this fishing report to a close once again. Remember if you’re sick of dreaming about catching that big one and want to come out for a look, give us a call.
Tight Lines
Until Next Month
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Mackay Fishing Report April 2009
April 30, 2009 by Ron · Leave a Comment
Reefari Mackay Fishing Report — April 2009
It looks like the weather gods have finally smiled upon us keen fisher folk of Mackay. The big highs down in the bight are slowly being replaced with continental highs that bring cool calm weather to the east coast. Typically this weather pattern does not get into full swing until June, July but is seems we are getting a little taste of what is to come.
This is probably starting to sound a bit repetitive, but the fishing through April was once again, absolutely sensational. Reefari charters made frequent trips throughout April with both our boats to several different destinations around Mackay.
It appeared that red emperor was definitely on the menu this month with fish of over 10kg coming up on every trip. I can recall one particular trip where we filled the esky with nothing but good-sized emperor and coral trout.
There really was hardly anything else in there; I think we ended up with something like 8 or 9 decent reds and over 10 good trout up to about 6 kgs.
Now I know what your thinking – what an awful day what on earth are you going to do with all that foul tasting fish- well believe it or not the guys took them all home, spent two hours filleting and apparently they tasted alright – crazy I know.
A new boat record for emperor was also set at 12.7kgs.
Large mouth Nannygai are still violently on the chew as well. We have been hitting patches of them where it appeared all the fish in the school were about 8 kgs. On one particular day our guests were finding it very difficult to find the bottom as the fish were sitting up a bit and were hitting the baits as they were sinking.
Strangely enough there is also quite a few snapper to about 5kg mixed in with the nanny’s and on that particular trip I think we got 8 or so. Now it really isn’t normal to be catching snapper this early but I didn’t hear anybody complaining about it. Maybe we are in for a big snapper season this year.
Aside from that, the coral trout have been going off with most trips averaging 8 or so good fish. At the moment it seems if you have access to a live butterfly bream then you can almost immediately drop him back down and swap it for a nice big bar cheek.
Live baiting for trout has got to be one of my favorite forms of fishing.
You drop your bait to the bottom, screw the drag up as tight as it will go, wait and sometimes wait some more.
You can feel the colour of you baits undies change as he tries hopelessly to get away from the large orange toothy critter that has appeared below him and when he finally gets hit, by Christ do you know about it.
Now wind like a madman to keep him out of the reef and if all goes well you end up with the most prized table fish you will find on the GBR ($40 odd a kg last time I checked).
Well if that sound like fun give us a call and we can organize a great days fishing for you. Remember we can do up to 3 days on the reef or we can just take you out for the day, whatever suits.
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Mackay Charter Boat Fishing Report February 2009
February 27, 2009 by Ron · 4 Comments
Reefari Mackay Fishing Charters Report — February 2009
Hello fellow fisher folks and welcome to our monthly Mackay fishing report. Well as February’s traditionally go, its usually hot and windy, and at the start of the month the weather pattern was starting to look frighteningly like that 6 week stint of strong wind warnings that we got this time last year.
But luckily we only got about 10 days of bad weather and then an unseasonal stint of some of the most stunning weather that us fisho’s could ask for.
On top of that this weather coincided with the neap tides and all this translated into some of the best reef fishing that I have ever encountered.
We were busy – very busy in fact with something like 9 full days in a row and some 17 odd trips for the month. We started off fishing the usual haunts. Typically the mornings were a bit slow but getting closer to the turn of the tides the fish were really turning it on for us.
As the month progressed and the tides got smaller, We found ourselves with no anchor down on a glass calm day parked right over the top of a big school of very hungry large mouth nannygai. One of our best days on the nannies was with our charter from Komatsu.
Operator John Rodden bought his work colleagues and his young son Cooper out with us. As is usually the case, the little bugger put us all to shame bagging out before anyone and nearly disappearing over the side several times under the weight of some horse nannies.
These magnificent schooling fish fight hard, taste great and will chew their heads off for hours on end if you get them at the right time.
On several occasions this month we managed to fill our Spanish Mackeral ice box in less than an hour and on one particular occasion the guys had so many fish by 1.30pm that we went to Scawfell island for the afternoon and went swimming for an hour.
Now that’s what I call reef fishing!!
With this long stint of beautiful weather, I had plenty of opportunity to have a really good look around and it really did pay off with quite a few new spots found and quite a few boat records shattered.
On one such occasion we beat the record for red emporer 2 days in a row with the guys from Drillpro boating a monster fish of 10.7kgs only to smash it again the following day with a mammoth specimen of 11.9kgs.
These big reds are often alone but at the moment we have been getting them amongst the smaller ones of around 6kgs – awesome fish guys congratulations. The Grassy lipper have also been going mental with many big fish around the 4kg mark taken.
Some of the other stand out catches were some ripper bar cheek trout to 5kg, some big Spaniards and some of the biggest chinaman fish I have ever seen.
Although you can’t eat them and now protected, you definitely know you have pulled one in when it finally gives up.
Reefari charters has also entered into a new era of charter operations with the maiden voyage of our new 41foot Steber “Mako”. This luxuriously appointed boat is now available for up to 3 days of non-stop reef fishing action. She is equipped with a really hot shower and can sleep up to 6 in comfort.
To top things off she is also fitted with an oven and big freezer so you can enjoy one of my famous roasts on the great barrier reef while you sip on your beer and watch the sun sink over Australia.
Anyway guys, that pretty much brings this months report to an end. Don’t forget to check out our website at www.reefari.com for more info. Or jump onto youtube for some awesome video action at our Fishing Channel
Until Next Month
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