TREVELLY
05-02-2012, 12:07 PM
Went out sunrise-ish about 5am (high tide) came back in about 1pm (low-tide) - I will tell about the tide significance soon - I reckon it's important to note if you are going off Mooloolaba soon.
Went around to some shallow reefs looking for bait - no joy then trolled with downrigger around a couple of reefs and it was damn difficult in the wind at the time 15-18 knots SE and choppy and basically crap - going slow was uncontollable.
Trolled a couple reefs for zip then my poor buddy whilst retrieving his cap from the water with the gaff impulsively snatched at it to grab it as it was falling back into the water - my gaff is extremely sharp - a big gash in his hand and lotsa blood - bugger :( Decided to pull up stumps and head back after dressing his wound. I have an accident trauma type first aid kit onboard - useless for headaches and small things but pretty good to patch up his hand - will put some more wound dressing kits into it now.
On the way back, and around 7am we spotted some working birds about 10km off Mooloolaba that we saw on the way out so we returned to them. Taking a bleeding hacked up neighbour home with no fish was not the plan so I was determined we should have one fish each. The wind by now was under 15 knots and the sea pretty good - would have been a shame to miss the opportunity.
With lotsa bait on sounder - the water 27 deg - we got first yellowfin on a trolled jethead.
Decided as buddy was comfortable but not able to do too much to just simply troll two rigs one surface lure and one diver to prevent the mess I got last trip reoccurring.
We trolled a 20 foot diving X-Rap and jethead skirt for a while and got a couple more yellowfins on the X-Rap. Next lure change put out a red and white halco to retire the jethead and got a mackerel.
Satisfied we headed back to the river at lunchtime and saw the river mouth now at low tide with 2m plus green waves crashing across it :o A set of 7 to 9 waves one straight after another greeted us - far out! That explained why the big cat leaving in the morning when we went out stopped at the river mouth - to have a real good look.
We sat off the set and watched for a while and kept an eye off to the side to be sure of no sneaking units behind us, waited for a lull, then did the 100m dash as fast as we could - it was safe enough but still got the heart rate up as we entered the river mouth at 60kph through lots of white water then into the brown murky river water still going out.
Two boats were behind us - one about 9m but not too fast and the second was the police patrol unpainted aluminium cat about 60 foot long - a big unit. The 9m mono boat came through and dropped over one swell breaking about 1m high and did a bit of a flop, but he was smart enough to angle in the river so he could turn into the waves a bit. The police boat having no holeshot at all came in collecting a 1m breaking wave beam-on and stopped the wave - was quite impressive to see how quickly it rocked - bet the guys on upper deck got thrown about.
We all missed the bigger 2m plus stuff but the audience on each rocky outcrop to the river were awaiting the comings and goings of many different boats being entertained at our expense.
All in all a good day out - but I will be much much more intune with the river mouth, and in future will not attempt any after dark entry or exit in similar sea or tide.
The arvo I spent cleaning fish and boat and neighbour spent in hospital getting stitched up - will go and see how he is now.
7671976715767167671776718
Went around to some shallow reefs looking for bait - no joy then trolled with downrigger around a couple of reefs and it was damn difficult in the wind at the time 15-18 knots SE and choppy and basically crap - going slow was uncontollable.
Trolled a couple reefs for zip then my poor buddy whilst retrieving his cap from the water with the gaff impulsively snatched at it to grab it as it was falling back into the water - my gaff is extremely sharp - a big gash in his hand and lotsa blood - bugger :( Decided to pull up stumps and head back after dressing his wound. I have an accident trauma type first aid kit onboard - useless for headaches and small things but pretty good to patch up his hand - will put some more wound dressing kits into it now.
On the way back, and around 7am we spotted some working birds about 10km off Mooloolaba that we saw on the way out so we returned to them. Taking a bleeding hacked up neighbour home with no fish was not the plan so I was determined we should have one fish each. The wind by now was under 15 knots and the sea pretty good - would have been a shame to miss the opportunity.
With lotsa bait on sounder - the water 27 deg - we got first yellowfin on a trolled jethead.
Decided as buddy was comfortable but not able to do too much to just simply troll two rigs one surface lure and one diver to prevent the mess I got last trip reoccurring.
We trolled a 20 foot diving X-Rap and jethead skirt for a while and got a couple more yellowfins on the X-Rap. Next lure change put out a red and white halco to retire the jethead and got a mackerel.
Satisfied we headed back to the river at lunchtime and saw the river mouth now at low tide with 2m plus green waves crashing across it :o A set of 7 to 9 waves one straight after another greeted us - far out! That explained why the big cat leaving in the morning when we went out stopped at the river mouth - to have a real good look.
We sat off the set and watched for a while and kept an eye off to the side to be sure of no sneaking units behind us, waited for a lull, then did the 100m dash as fast as we could - it was safe enough but still got the heart rate up as we entered the river mouth at 60kph through lots of white water then into the brown murky river water still going out.
Two boats were behind us - one about 9m but not too fast and the second was the police patrol unpainted aluminium cat about 60 foot long - a big unit. The 9m mono boat came through and dropped over one swell breaking about 1m high and did a bit of a flop, but he was smart enough to angle in the river so he could turn into the waves a bit. The police boat having no holeshot at all came in collecting a 1m breaking wave beam-on and stopped the wave - was quite impressive to see how quickly it rocked - bet the guys on upper deck got thrown about.
We all missed the bigger 2m plus stuff but the audience on each rocky outcrop to the river were awaiting the comings and goings of many different boats being entertained at our expense.
All in all a good day out - but I will be much much more intune with the river mouth, and in future will not attempt any after dark entry or exit in similar sea or tide.
The arvo I spent cleaning fish and boat and neighbour spent in hospital getting stitched up - will go and see how he is now.
7671976715767167671776718