Great White, Reds, Trout and Muddies

[Spot82]

Got in a 1.5 day trip to 1770 just prior to easter, weather man got forecast for day 1 correct but we were late getting away and didn't start fishing until 2pm and didn't put much in the box, day 2 was blowing 20knots but bumped out way out to a couple of marks and found some cracker ground on the way only to be continually nailed by the tax man. Managed a couple of good reds but sharks got more than we did, I have never had them so thick in all of my trips to the Bunker Group, even in the shallows at night we had 5 reef sharks circling the boat!! Not long after bringing up half a red on the second day we had a very large and very toothy visitor come check us out for about 15 minutes!! Solid 4 metre+ Great White!! Very very cool to see up close, was in no way aggressive and just an awesome sight! 8-)
Baits were Hussar, Mullet and Tuna slabs and fished 50-65 metres with the usual PEtackle flys attached :)

Did a day trip out of Hervey Bay to the Gutters on Saturday and scored some quality fish but once again the sharks got more than we did. I did score my second ever Large Mouth Nanny and a nice Bar Cheek Trout which nudged the 5kg mark. Got a dozen Grassies/Coral Bream which are always good chewing, no real big ones amoungst them though. Used the PEtackle shrimps in 2/0 through the nose of some livies with great results.

Run the pots Sunday and checked them Monday and Tuesday morning and managed to get 9 good muddies although a couple were missing a claw or two all of them were full and made for a good couple of feeds for the family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJPFzEv7ml0&list=UUi1M7gB2vUdMOJzF6PI7eYA&index=1&feature=plcp

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[Spot82]

Oh and the water quality everywhere was really bad, on the shelf east of the reefs you couldn't even see your fish 10 metres down when usually you can see them coming from at least 20! Northern gutters was filthy as well and that is about 75kms north of Urangan. Might explain why the sharks are so bad everywhere, but I have never lost so many fish from sharks in two trips!

[honda900]

Mate looks like a good trip, good quality fish and crabs for a couple of days effort.

Regards
Honda.

[marto78]

Sean said to me you seen a great white up there, I told him Anthony doesn't know what hes talking about it was probably a tiger, GW's dont go that far north.
But there you go thats definetly a white my apologies mate lol
Nice fish Anthony pity about the sharks tho.

[cuzzamundi]

Great stuff, Anthony. Awsome footage of the White. They go much further north than 1770, too. Strange time of year to see one there, though. Must have caught a cooler current north.

The water did look terrible from the footage. Why do you think it's so bad? Did it look like sediment suspended, like after a big blow, or was there huge amounts of run-off? Either way great to see you still slay 'em. And yeah, we find the crapier water encourages more toothies - easier for them to ambush prey.

Great report, mate.

Cuzza

[warti]

Great catch mate. Apparently great whites have turned up at douglas shoals before so they definitely come up a bit higher. I am also pretty sure they have been tracked on some study in that region aswell. Was a few years ago. Cheers.

[Spot82]

Sean said to me you seen a great white up there, I told him Anthony doesn't know what hes talking about it was probably a tiger, GW's dont go that far north.
But there you go thats definetly a white my apologies mate lol
Nice fish Anthony pity about the sharks tho.

Haha bit of credit bro, geez! lol I sent Sean the pics the next day lol!

[Spot82]

Great stuff, Anthony. Awsome footage of the White. They go much further north than 1770, too. Strange time of year to see one there, though. Must have caught a cooler current north.

The water did look terrible from the footage. Why do you think it's so bad? Did it look like sediment suspended, like after a big blow, or was there huge amounts of run-off? Either way great to see you still slay 'em. And yeah, we find the crapier water encourages more toothies - easier for them to ambush prey.

Great report, mate.

Cuzza

Mate the water temp was a pretty solid 26 degrees. I would say the water quality is due to the Mary River basically being in flood for the past month and central coast copping heaps of rain as well, coupled with big tides this week I guess the dirty water is finally pushing all the way out to the shelf.

I know Whites do go north but usually they follow the humpbacks up looking for a calf to chew on or around the time of turtles breeding. I have head stories of a resident white that lives around the top of Fraser, not sure how reliable the story is though.... Still was very cool so see up close in the felsh and for so long!

[Scott79]

Great catch mate. Apparently great whites have turned up at douglas shoals before so they definitely come up a bit higher. I am also pretty sure they have been tracked on some study in that region aswell. Was a few years ago. Cheers.

CSIRO "Ocean Tracks" has a few, pretty interesting. http://www.oceantracks.csiro.au/index.html You do need to download a plugin (software) to get the most out of it though.
Scott.

[MyWay]

Great work spot82
awesome footage of shark .

did you hold camera with your hand or on stick :) while you recording ?

[Spot82]

Just holding it by hand mate, he wasn't aggressive at all, so never had any dramas with hanging my limbs in the water...

[-Chris-]

They have caught whites on set lines off Mackay in the past.

[Postal]

What size boat were you out in mate?

[jake the snake]

mmmmm ye wouldnt wanna see him when spearing

[lightsout76]

As per normal Anthony, nice fish and love the footage would've been good to see in the flesh definately.

I'm just hangin for the weather to be kind to me on my RDO's so that i can get back up there again.

Thanks for the report too.
Leon.

[XtremeBoony]

Hey bud, thanks for the report, the sharks have been bad up this way too except last trip with Jt at the ferns only got bitten off once and got a six foot bronzey to the boat and didn't lose any quality to the sharks. Up north towards flat/perforated they are really thick.

Cheers from boony

P.s hope u threw those floaters back ;D

[waterbouy]

Very nice!!!

[Tim_N]

Great stuff Anthony, awesome Noah and Reds.
Tim

[webby nq]

Cant get much better than that Anthony, Reds, trout and muddies all washed down with a couple of coronas, by the look on your old mans face those bloody sharks must have nailed yas, I think id rather come across the other white pointers too

[Spot82]

Cant get much better than that Anthony, Reds, trout and muddies all washed down with a couple of coronas, by the look on your old mans face those bloody sharks must have nailed yas, I think id rather come across the other white pointers too

Haha yeah mate the sharks absolutely nailed us, along with mr weather man getting the forecast wrong, by that stage in the arvo we had had more than enough of feeding good fish to sharks, even after continually moving spots, just couldn't get away from them!

Parents rung me yesterday they got another 12 big muddies for one night of running the pots, guess I know what they are eating for the next week!

Thanks for all the comments

Anthony