lethal098
20-02-2012, 09:37 AM
Sitting in the cabin of crusader III on day 4 of our 4 day trip i thought i would put things down for memory, at this stage
There has been no stand out memories as yet and time is running out fast, see below for daily reports.
Day 1. Departed anchorage at 830 heading to cannan reef, first stop some bottom bashing, bait was ordinary, all that was supplied was dirty old squid, very soft, all that came aboard was leather jackets and wrasse, all throwbacks, this was persisted for around about 5 drifts which lasted over 15 mins each, from here we headed off towards cannan reef, lures were put in the water and off we went, had a bluefin tuna hit the port side rigger and fish on, came aboard pretty easily, lures back in the water and not 10 mins later, fish on, my first bluefin tuna, albeit only 6-7 kg, this was described to me as it would be our bait, funny but it sat at the back of the boat all day and not once was it used, this time lures were not redeployed, headed towards cannan reef, on approach to cannan, lures were once again deployed, within a few minutes we had more bluefin tuna hooked up, some times 3 or 4 at a time, this was enjoyable, but then we stopped trolling once we had our bag limit and proceded a little way to try some bottom fishing again, this time we found a nannygai or 2, a couple of the boys got some nice blue grouper that were kept for dinner, lots of wrasse and leatherjackets for throwbactks, i still think that some better quality bait would have done a lot better. Still, after little joy here it was pressing late into the afternoon, departed cannan reef for masolin island for our overnight anchorage, what a gorgeous place, horse shoe shaped bay surround by massive cliffs, skipper informed us that there are always plenty of whiting, big flathead and big squid, well we caught 2 whiting, a couple of squid and LOTS of wrasse. Dinner was fish that was caught that day, day one for us was dissapointing, Wade only caught 1 legal fish, a bluefin tuna, and I got 2 bluefin, a nannygai and a whiting. For an untouched fishing location, dissapointed.
Day 2, departed anchorage at 8-830. Headed towards once again cannan reef, lures out and bluefin once again coming on board in a steady stream albeit now all catch and release, which was fine for everyone, was great fun for all catching these but for some reason we stopped and started bottom bashing on the same grounds as the day prior so again a lot of wrasse and leatherjackets and bugger all else, by now it was pushing into the afternoon again and the plan was to head towards Bells point for the night anchorage again a really nice place but no fishing action, plenty of area where i would have thought some crays would have hidden and the cray pots were on board but never came out neither did the tender , by this stage wade and i are extremely disapointed and thought so much for untouched fishing grounds and the reputation.
Day 3, departed anchorage again at 8-830, heading towards yatala reef, this was 40nm out to sea so 3 and a bit ours later we pulled up on the premise that the fishing out here was legendary we later found out that the boat had only fished this once!! we started by trolling 2 lines to try to get the kings and samson fish to come up then we could drop jigs down, well the lures went off and bluefin came in, no kings, no samsons, we proceded a little further out another 4 nm, this was supposed to be the number 1 place for kings and sambos, well i can tell u not 1 fish was hooked if they were even there, wade managed to catch a couple of blue grouper on a knife jig which is a damn good feet, but they were well undersize, from here the plan was to be back to masolin island for the night, so another 35nm back, we departed yatala at approx 4 pm, fishing time at the reef was over 3.5 hours for nothing in the box. At this stage most people on the boat were showing signs of being disapointed, i know we were, had a nght fish again and i managed the only keeper fish from here which was a 45 cm king george whiting, a couple of nice squid came on board but that was it.
Day 4, departed anchorage once again at 8-830 and the plan was to head to cannan reef for some more tuna then start to work our way back towards ceduna and try and find some whiting and snapper, so out cannan reef which was only 30 mins from the anchorage, lures went out, this time not one tuna was found, headed a little wider to a lump, finally we can catch some bottom fish, nannygai were starting to come in on a steady stream from everyone, everyone thought this was great, some fish to take home, 4 or 5 drifts thru and 10 nice nannygai were chilling. This is where we for some reason the gear was put on board and we departed for a location that was not on the way back to ceduna, it was to the nw, sitting here now we are on our second drift and the only notable fish onboard is a harlequin fish, so now only the afternnon will tell how the trip ends up.Well we have just drifted a reef 4 times over lunch. So far only one thing has been caught, we had a 5 foot mako attacking a burley bag, quickly deployed a bait and bang i was on within a matter of seconds, very dosile shark to fight, got some good photos in the water and let him go to swim another day, a few more drifts and 2 snapper around the 2kg mark come on board, drift another 3 times for donut!! We are now departing the grounds for ceduna, 45 nautical mile go, well 3 and a bit hours later and we pull into the leads for ceduna, unfortunately there was a bulk carrier on approach which meant tying up to usual place was not going to happen, dropped of 4 of us to collect cars and would tie up to ceduna jetty. I wont go into too much detail but must say that it was one of the worst things i have seen while tryin to moor, 5 attempts it took to get it right, deckie had no idea, yelling was taking place between skipper and deckie, yelling at those of us that were tryin to help, made a suggestion to skipper and guess what he took my suggestion to get it right!! Deckie also opened marlin door into wades foot and he now has a broken toe for his efforts!!!
Some positives came out of the trip, the boat was awesome, it is a very well setup boat for long range charters, the food that was on offer was fantastic, hot lunches everyday, hot meals for dinner, different spread for breaky everyday.
The fishing was for some parts fantastic, for the majority it was average to say the least, The Tuna could have kept us all happy even if it was all catch and release, catching something is better than catchng nothin, very little communication from the skipper and decky on what sort of species were being targeted at different locations, they were both very open to talk about various things but i think they could have done a better job by asking the clients what they wanted to do, rather than determining the target species and the location, i have mapped the whole trip on my ipad and the overall distance we have travelled is well over 300nm, i think there was absolutely no need to travel these excessive distances in the hope thngs might change, some of the locations like on day 4, we should have stayed and put numbers in the box, some of the places we have fished have simply been found on a chart and decided to fish there, a least having a chart on my ipad i have been able to see this first hand, personally some of the locations and contour lines i would not have looked twice at,
In closing the reputation that Why Not charters had was nothing short of fantastic, we all understand that fishing can be slow and fish dont always play the game, however i believe a cardinal rule for any fisherman is that if fishing is slow and you find fish that want to bite, dont leave them to find fish, get your bag limit or a good box full of fish then look for more ground and different target species.
For $2500 each just for the charter, plus flights, we expected a whole lot more fishing action and more edible fish in the box.
Would i come back, not at this stage and not for that $$$$.
We both had a Ball but the excess KMS and Lack of fish takes away from a trip like that.
On a side note Wade and I decided to hand feed southern bluefin tuna while in port lincoln, i can tell u anyone that goes to lincoln would be mad not to do it, a fantastic experience, if only we Had more time we would have swam with them as well.
i will add some photos once i download the camera.
Happy for any comments good and bad from anyone, one of the guys on our trip had been on this charter before and he even stated that this trip was crap compared to others.
Cheers Lee
There has been no stand out memories as yet and time is running out fast, see below for daily reports.
Day 1. Departed anchorage at 830 heading to cannan reef, first stop some bottom bashing, bait was ordinary, all that was supplied was dirty old squid, very soft, all that came aboard was leather jackets and wrasse, all throwbacks, this was persisted for around about 5 drifts which lasted over 15 mins each, from here we headed off towards cannan reef, lures were put in the water and off we went, had a bluefin tuna hit the port side rigger and fish on, came aboard pretty easily, lures back in the water and not 10 mins later, fish on, my first bluefin tuna, albeit only 6-7 kg, this was described to me as it would be our bait, funny but it sat at the back of the boat all day and not once was it used, this time lures were not redeployed, headed towards cannan reef, on approach to cannan, lures were once again deployed, within a few minutes we had more bluefin tuna hooked up, some times 3 or 4 at a time, this was enjoyable, but then we stopped trolling once we had our bag limit and proceded a little way to try some bottom fishing again, this time we found a nannygai or 2, a couple of the boys got some nice blue grouper that were kept for dinner, lots of wrasse and leatherjackets for throwbactks, i still think that some better quality bait would have done a lot better. Still, after little joy here it was pressing late into the afternoon, departed cannan reef for masolin island for our overnight anchorage, what a gorgeous place, horse shoe shaped bay surround by massive cliffs, skipper informed us that there are always plenty of whiting, big flathead and big squid, well we caught 2 whiting, a couple of squid and LOTS of wrasse. Dinner was fish that was caught that day, day one for us was dissapointing, Wade only caught 1 legal fish, a bluefin tuna, and I got 2 bluefin, a nannygai and a whiting. For an untouched fishing location, dissapointed.
Day 2, departed anchorage at 8-830. Headed towards once again cannan reef, lures out and bluefin once again coming on board in a steady stream albeit now all catch and release, which was fine for everyone, was great fun for all catching these but for some reason we stopped and started bottom bashing on the same grounds as the day prior so again a lot of wrasse and leatherjackets and bugger all else, by now it was pushing into the afternoon again and the plan was to head towards Bells point for the night anchorage again a really nice place but no fishing action, plenty of area where i would have thought some crays would have hidden and the cray pots were on board but never came out neither did the tender , by this stage wade and i are extremely disapointed and thought so much for untouched fishing grounds and the reputation.
Day 3, departed anchorage again at 8-830, heading towards yatala reef, this was 40nm out to sea so 3 and a bit ours later we pulled up on the premise that the fishing out here was legendary we later found out that the boat had only fished this once!! we started by trolling 2 lines to try to get the kings and samson fish to come up then we could drop jigs down, well the lures went off and bluefin came in, no kings, no samsons, we proceded a little further out another 4 nm, this was supposed to be the number 1 place for kings and sambos, well i can tell u not 1 fish was hooked if they were even there, wade managed to catch a couple of blue grouper on a knife jig which is a damn good feet, but they were well undersize, from here the plan was to be back to masolin island for the night, so another 35nm back, we departed yatala at approx 4 pm, fishing time at the reef was over 3.5 hours for nothing in the box. At this stage most people on the boat were showing signs of being disapointed, i know we were, had a nght fish again and i managed the only keeper fish from here which was a 45 cm king george whiting, a couple of nice squid came on board but that was it.
Day 4, departed anchorage once again at 8-830 and the plan was to head to cannan reef for some more tuna then start to work our way back towards ceduna and try and find some whiting and snapper, so out cannan reef which was only 30 mins from the anchorage, lures went out, this time not one tuna was found, headed a little wider to a lump, finally we can catch some bottom fish, nannygai were starting to come in on a steady stream from everyone, everyone thought this was great, some fish to take home, 4 or 5 drifts thru and 10 nice nannygai were chilling. This is where we for some reason the gear was put on board and we departed for a location that was not on the way back to ceduna, it was to the nw, sitting here now we are on our second drift and the only notable fish onboard is a harlequin fish, so now only the afternnon will tell how the trip ends up.Well we have just drifted a reef 4 times over lunch. So far only one thing has been caught, we had a 5 foot mako attacking a burley bag, quickly deployed a bait and bang i was on within a matter of seconds, very dosile shark to fight, got some good photos in the water and let him go to swim another day, a few more drifts and 2 snapper around the 2kg mark come on board, drift another 3 times for donut!! We are now departing the grounds for ceduna, 45 nautical mile go, well 3 and a bit hours later and we pull into the leads for ceduna, unfortunately there was a bulk carrier on approach which meant tying up to usual place was not going to happen, dropped of 4 of us to collect cars and would tie up to ceduna jetty. I wont go into too much detail but must say that it was one of the worst things i have seen while tryin to moor, 5 attempts it took to get it right, deckie had no idea, yelling was taking place between skipper and deckie, yelling at those of us that were tryin to help, made a suggestion to skipper and guess what he took my suggestion to get it right!! Deckie also opened marlin door into wades foot and he now has a broken toe for his efforts!!!
Some positives came out of the trip, the boat was awesome, it is a very well setup boat for long range charters, the food that was on offer was fantastic, hot lunches everyday, hot meals for dinner, different spread for breaky everyday.
The fishing was for some parts fantastic, for the majority it was average to say the least, The Tuna could have kept us all happy even if it was all catch and release, catching something is better than catchng nothin, very little communication from the skipper and decky on what sort of species were being targeted at different locations, they were both very open to talk about various things but i think they could have done a better job by asking the clients what they wanted to do, rather than determining the target species and the location, i have mapped the whole trip on my ipad and the overall distance we have travelled is well over 300nm, i think there was absolutely no need to travel these excessive distances in the hope thngs might change, some of the locations like on day 4, we should have stayed and put numbers in the box, some of the places we have fished have simply been found on a chart and decided to fish there, a least having a chart on my ipad i have been able to see this first hand, personally some of the locations and contour lines i would not have looked twice at,
In closing the reputation that Why Not charters had was nothing short of fantastic, we all understand that fishing can be slow and fish dont always play the game, however i believe a cardinal rule for any fisherman is that if fishing is slow and you find fish that want to bite, dont leave them to find fish, get your bag limit or a good box full of fish then look for more ground and different target species.
For $2500 each just for the charter, plus flights, we expected a whole lot more fishing action and more edible fish in the box.
Would i come back, not at this stage and not for that $$$$.
We both had a Ball but the excess KMS and Lack of fish takes away from a trip like that.
On a side note Wade and I decided to hand feed southern bluefin tuna while in port lincoln, i can tell u anyone that goes to lincoln would be mad not to do it, a fantastic experience, if only we Had more time we would have swam with them as well.
i will add some photos once i download the camera.
Happy for any comments good and bad from anyone, one of the guys on our trip had been on this charter before and he even stated that this trip was crap compared to others.
Cheers Lee