nickstock
11-03-2010, 09:10 PM
Weather looked good on Saturday arvo so I made the call to my boss Russell to see if he was keen for a fish in the arvo. Russ did not take much convincing and his brother Brian and I had the boat ready el pronto.
Russell's 702 Signature walk around is an awesome fishing platform and fished the three of us and my fiancée Holly in comfort.
With glassed out conditions the decision was made to head about 33 miles north of Cooktown. We sat on 30 knots in the good seas and caught up with our friends who had their 10 meter cat anchored up on a sandy cay behind the reef.
A short while later on a hang in 12 meters a few nice Trout were boated. We then continued to our rubble ground that always fires. This area rarely gets fished as it is too deep for the commercial Trouters and a bit far for the rec fisher to hit hard due to Cooktown's relentless trade winds that blow 25 knots from the s/e for most of the year.
After a quick feed and the sun setting quickly we anchored up at the start of the ground. The currents were running in the opposite direction to what it normally does in this area so we had actually anchored on the end of the ground (about 800m long)
This ground consists of a myriad of wonky holes, broken rubble and deep gutters and usually holds cricket scores of LMN, Reef Jack and Spangled Emperor.
The first hour after dark was absolute chaos landing Large Mouth nannies to 6 kilos, Spangled’s to 5 kilos, Jack to 4 kilos and a few Red Emperor around 5 or 6 kilos. I was fishing a paternoster so double headers were the norm. On the first bait down I had a double of LMN’s; Brian was grunting and groaning next to me with what turned out to be a 85 cm Chinaman and a 62 cm Spangled.
I thought Holly was being unusually quiet and turned around to see line peeling off the T16 N Torsa / T curve 400 combo that she was using. About 3 minutes of hard slog later, she boats a nice Red and a big Reef Jack, both being new P.B's for her.
Russ was running around wild playing deckie and was still to put a bait in the water! Now that's what I call being a good skipper!
After throating Holly's fish, Russ quickly loaded up on a nice Jack and Spangled Emperor double.
Within an hour we had a 200 and a 70 litre esky filled with fish of Red colouration so the call was made to head home as the sharks had decided to swim around the boat. We only lost a few fish to sharks all night which is a pleasant surprise at this time of year with the water temp over 31 degs cel.
On the way home we drove over one of the many inshore wrecks and the sounder lit up. I have been chasing a trophy sized Fingermark for a rater long time now and this looked as good of a spot as any. Russ and Holly did not have a fish as we decided to have a drift over the mark rather then anchor as we only wanted to see what the fish were.
Within a few seconds of the bait hitting the bottom both Brian and I loaded up on Large Mouth Nannies around the 50 cm mark that were promptly released. We decided to have one last drop as we were approx 30 meters off the mark by this stage.
The last drop turned out to be the best decision of th night as both Brian and I both loaded up to some serious fish. I was fishing a pe 6 monster mesh matched to a LD Saltist 30 spooled with 50 pound braid. I thought that I was onto a nice G.T as the fish was peeling line off at a great rate of knots pulling 8 kilos of drag with ease. I was not to stressed about losing the fish as I was free of any structure. About 5 minutes later Brian and I boat two lovely F'mark that looked to be a pigeon pair, both going 84cms and a live weight of 9 kilos.
That topped of a great night so we headed home without placing bait in the drink. The following morning consisted of 2 1/2 hours of filleting and we ended up with over 20 kilos of skinless fillets which is more than enough for the next few months.
The following 2 nights I fished the same wreck catching and releasing both small and large mouth Nannies to 3 kilos which were all released to grow a bit larger.
A great trip had by all with Brian, Holly and I all smashing our P.B's.
Cheers and thanks for reading,
Nick
Russell's 702 Signature walk around is an awesome fishing platform and fished the three of us and my fiancée Holly in comfort.
With glassed out conditions the decision was made to head about 33 miles north of Cooktown. We sat on 30 knots in the good seas and caught up with our friends who had their 10 meter cat anchored up on a sandy cay behind the reef.
A short while later on a hang in 12 meters a few nice Trout were boated. We then continued to our rubble ground that always fires. This area rarely gets fished as it is too deep for the commercial Trouters and a bit far for the rec fisher to hit hard due to Cooktown's relentless trade winds that blow 25 knots from the s/e for most of the year.
After a quick feed and the sun setting quickly we anchored up at the start of the ground. The currents were running in the opposite direction to what it normally does in this area so we had actually anchored on the end of the ground (about 800m long)
This ground consists of a myriad of wonky holes, broken rubble and deep gutters and usually holds cricket scores of LMN, Reef Jack and Spangled Emperor.
The first hour after dark was absolute chaos landing Large Mouth nannies to 6 kilos, Spangled’s to 5 kilos, Jack to 4 kilos and a few Red Emperor around 5 or 6 kilos. I was fishing a paternoster so double headers were the norm. On the first bait down I had a double of LMN’s; Brian was grunting and groaning next to me with what turned out to be a 85 cm Chinaman and a 62 cm Spangled.
I thought Holly was being unusually quiet and turned around to see line peeling off the T16 N Torsa / T curve 400 combo that she was using. About 3 minutes of hard slog later, she boats a nice Red and a big Reef Jack, both being new P.B's for her.
Russ was running around wild playing deckie and was still to put a bait in the water! Now that's what I call being a good skipper!
After throating Holly's fish, Russ quickly loaded up on a nice Jack and Spangled Emperor double.
Within an hour we had a 200 and a 70 litre esky filled with fish of Red colouration so the call was made to head home as the sharks had decided to swim around the boat. We only lost a few fish to sharks all night which is a pleasant surprise at this time of year with the water temp over 31 degs cel.
On the way home we drove over one of the many inshore wrecks and the sounder lit up. I have been chasing a trophy sized Fingermark for a rater long time now and this looked as good of a spot as any. Russ and Holly did not have a fish as we decided to have a drift over the mark rather then anchor as we only wanted to see what the fish were.
Within a few seconds of the bait hitting the bottom both Brian and I loaded up on Large Mouth Nannies around the 50 cm mark that were promptly released. We decided to have one last drop as we were approx 30 meters off the mark by this stage.
The last drop turned out to be the best decision of th night as both Brian and I both loaded up to some serious fish. I was fishing a pe 6 monster mesh matched to a LD Saltist 30 spooled with 50 pound braid. I thought that I was onto a nice G.T as the fish was peeling line off at a great rate of knots pulling 8 kilos of drag with ease. I was not to stressed about losing the fish as I was free of any structure. About 5 minutes later Brian and I boat two lovely F'mark that looked to be a pigeon pair, both going 84cms and a live weight of 9 kilos.
That topped of a great night so we headed home without placing bait in the drink. The following morning consisted of 2 1/2 hours of filleting and we ended up with over 20 kilos of skinless fillets which is more than enough for the next few months.
The following 2 nights I fished the same wreck catching and releasing both small and large mouth Nannies to 3 kilos which were all released to grow a bit larger.
A great trip had by all with Brian, Holly and I all smashing our P.B's.
Cheers and thanks for reading,
Nick