No Fear
10-05-2012, 12:51 PM
Normally when Anthony Goulding rings me up it is normally to score some work off me, sell me fishing gear and electronics, ask for a hand to move house, score more tickets to the Broncos corporate box or brag about the ridiculous amount of fish he caught on the last trip. All of which excite me no end! But finally I got the call I had been waiting for…… “Do you want to come red fishing with me?” The same phone call did also include bragging about big barra and electronics but I didn’t listen to any of that! I was finally going on one of these well renowned red fishing trips!
Now I have done my share of red fishing up there and normally take about 4 or 5 home along with a few other mixed reefies, but none of my prior trips compared to this- well the final result anyway.
Headed up to Hervey Bay and met at Goulding’s Tackle World (aka his parents house but you should see their shed) around lunchtime Saturday and hooked the Cruise Craft up and cruised to Agnes. Old man Goulding was at the wheel and tried his best to mess with my orientation early taking secret backroads so I wouldn’t be able to work out where we were fishing (plan worked as I had no idea where I was). Boat in the water just on dark and headed to a spot half way out to the islands to prospect. Before we knew it, the boat was surrounded by a massive ball of baitfish which were attracted to the boat lights. Loaded up the live bait tank (or a compartment that held water) with 50 odd in an hour after old man Goulding sorted out the flyfishing technique for catching livies off the surface. A good start to the trip with plenty of life evident.
Headed to a spot north of an island in about 55-60m (I had no idea where we were and had to pass through the metal and phone detection system to get on the boat so it would be difficult to take the tracking device) and searched around for a while. We scored a mosses perch and a couple of other small reefies in the first few hours but nothing to brag about. Ran into PE tackle Sean out there in his stabicraft and shortly after Anthony made the call to anchor on a pinnacle he had found on a previous trip. Sure enough, right on the turn of the tide, the place went off……well on one side of the boat anyway. I am not sure how the skipper managed to place the boat so that all the fish were on the port side, but Anthony and his old man had 6 reds in the boat before I knew it. I was using the same rigs 1m away and apart from good bites, couldn’t get them to stick. I cannot recall how big the fish were as at this stage I was basically swearing and blaming my new rod I had bought. Anthony did agree that he had an advantage with the Prototype fly that he was testing for the first time (5 reds in 5 drops and then first drop the next day it got monstered and buried in the reef) however, did advise at this stage of his and his father’s vastly greater fishing skill. During this time of 30 minutes of chaos, the wind went from about 2knots and glassed out conditions to 30 knots and a washing machine. Which cause the anchor retrieval buoy to become detached from the anchor line and me and Anthony to have to retrieve 200m of rope and 30lb of anchor and chain by hand with waves breaking on top of us! Not fun at 2am in the morning! We headed into anchorage with the stabicraft following (skippered by a man with big gonads being out in this) and had a feed and camped up for the night. Now normally when you park up in a reef you would expect it to be pretty easy to get a sleep however, with 30knots and the odd greeny coming over the front, it wasn’t the best camp I have ever had but still managed a bit of shut-eye.
The next morning we awoke to conditions as per the forecast – a beautiful 5 knot southerly on a flat ocean……….NOT!!!!! Still 20 odd knots, white capping washing machine and less than pleasant. Managed to cook a feed on the moving butane burner but we were in no rush to get out there….well I wasn’t but the skipper had different plans.
Punched out to a spot in close, semi protected by the reef and although fishable, it certainly wasn’t the beautiful forecast we had hoped for. The wind kept up until about lunchtime and during this time, only put a couple of reefies in the box. We plodded around over different ground on some awesome shows but the fish didn’t want to play the game. The current was also raging at times due to the big tides surrounding the full moon so fishing wasn’t really exciting and this certainly wasn’t from lack of trying. Reports from Sean in close were similar as well so continued out wide. The biggest issue was the amount of Hussar that terrorised that bait and after catching the first 1000, they became a massive pain as the bait couldn’t last for the big red to get a chance at it. We put a few hussar in the esky for a feed as fishing was slow. Managed a few reasonable parrot during the day just to keep us occupied but frustration was starting to creep in and the banter was increasing 10 fold. I was constantly reminded of my poor fishing performance the night before and apart from the 5 minute crying session I had hiding in the cab, thought I handled it pretty well. Anthony and his old man were throwing sinkers at one another on a few occasions but this seemed like a standard family feud, so just let it go. Bob could snap the little kid like a twig anyway so knew he could handle himself.
That night after the wind died down I finally hooked up a decent fish and thought I was going to get my first red to the boat. Little did I know that Pearl Perch grow to 74cm. Easily my PB by almost 10cm and although pretty happy with the fish, it was no red (promptly reminded by Anthony at that stage once again). The pearly had smashed a full hussar fillet with a Red Zebra Glow fly stuck in it and was a nice way to christen the new G-loomis. Apart from this, there was not too much going in the esky. After dark, we headed to a spot which Anthony called “Shark Alley” and it certainly lived up to its name. Each drop we would hook up to a fish but it would be hammered by the tax man in no time. We probably would have bagged out at this stage but the sharks had their say in that. To Anthony’s disgust he did get a couple of fish up – two red bass and a spangled emperor. Obviously the sharks have good taste and left these alone. We did get a few sharks to the surface which certainly stretched the arms and following this session we were all wrecked and needed a sleep.
Up until lunchtime on day 3, there wasn’t too much else thrown in the esky either. Anthony did say that we would go to a spot with good red structure and where he normally sees wahoo. I thought he was pulling my leg, but sure enough, 30 minutes after pulling up we had wahoo tailing around the boat….what the hell. Managed to score a Spanish on a floating dead yakka but nothing off the bottom and none of the wahoo we had seen. Was awesome seeing 20+kg wahoo swimming around the boat though!
So after 48 hours fishing the score was a white wash – Anthony 6 reds; Bob 1 red; Nathan 0. At this stage, I thought the only way I was going to get a red was to take to both Gouldings with the priest that was in the side pocket and flip them over board, but I kept my nerve (despite continually being reminded of the score). At this stage, Seano had headed home which changed everything. I now know those red emperors are scared of that little boat. Over the past few years, they have obviously been tortured enough by the tinny and go into hiding as soon as they hear it slapping on the surface. Once it was back on the trailer, the fishing heated up.
First drift over another mark and I get hammered. A red – a big red surely……It banged and carried on the whole way up and if this was going to be a red, it was going to be big! But alas…up pops an AJ around the metre 1300 mark – “insert multiple swear words here”. A small kingy also found its way to the boat on this drift and things were starting to happen
Next drift Anthony is on – a solid red this time – surely. It had to be a red because no other fish would snap a torsa 20 handle! The footage will tell the story but fighting a solid fish on a reel without a handle is quite entertaining. Surely the pain Anthony was enduring to bring this fish up would be rewarded with a red… Nope – just a bunky old 70+cm pearly. It didn’t even raise any interest from me following my fish the night before. Surprised Anthony even kept it as it looked undersized to me. Same drift and I hook up to a fish – alright this must be a red. Nope – just a solid spangled emperor “insert more swear words here”. We knew we were on good reef as all fish were quality and there had to be a red or two down there.
But it was to be third time lucky for the next drift – all 3 off us are hooked up, and hooked up hard. Mine was fighting harder than my girlfriend trying to kick me off in the morning and following 3 days of fishing I was hurting (and sooking like a girl which no doubt Anthony will not edit out of the footage we captured). No red I had caught had ever fought like this – I called it for a shark, or maybe even a bigger AJ ( reverse psychology was the plan here). Finally got the big bopper to the surface and sure enough, it was the red from the hell……A stonker…huge…massive. You beauty……The PE tackle Pilly Glow fly hanging out its mouth looked like an ant on an elephants back and at around 90cm and around 14kg, my faith in Anthony had returned. This bloke could actually put ordinary fisherman onto reds….This was an epic drift and all 3 fish we got in were solid. A few quick photos and over the mark again. At this stage I had my mojo back so got another solid red to the surface for the esky as did Anthony. Although nothing like Gigantor in the esky, it made up for the previous 2 and a half days of “boating” and I was cheering.
With now 11 reds in the esky and the tide running hard, we headed in and I was back on speaking terms with the Goulding family. Despite the score now being 7:2:2, I was more than happy with my catch and as usual, had a bigger one than Anthony (which he was quietly reminded of for the 2.5 hr joy ride home to the ramp……plus the 3 hour drive to Hervey Bay………plus the constant texts on Tuesday……..plus the post of this report on Ausfish)
All of mine and Anthony's fish were caught on PE Tackle flies which accounted for the majority of fish. Anthony’s old man didn’t use them this trip as Anthony's sponsor had insufficient stock. The results again obvious with 9 reds on the flys and 2 without, plus three horse Pearlies falling to flies. Best bait on the first night was definitely the yakkas, mainly dead as they ended up floating in the unlive-bait tank (fix that will you Goulding) . Big hussar fillets and some gold coast tuna caught on NumNuts accounted for basically the rest of the fish.
Thanks very much to both Anthony and Bob for a ripper trip, to Mrs Goulding for a first class feed and to Sean Munro for going home early and bringing the fish on the chew!
I was just glad to get back home so I could finally remove the tracking device that I had secretly hidden in the least comfortable place – thank god for vasoline!!!! Looking forward to getting the big cat up there now and tracking down my own reds!!!
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/2774/dsc2716s.jpg
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4640/dsc2727ko.jpg
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/1016/dsc2620.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1808/dsc2659i.jpg
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/7289/dsc2615g.jpg
http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/8384/dsc2691m.jpg
http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/130/dsc2649l.jpg
Now I have done my share of red fishing up there and normally take about 4 or 5 home along with a few other mixed reefies, but none of my prior trips compared to this- well the final result anyway.
Headed up to Hervey Bay and met at Goulding’s Tackle World (aka his parents house but you should see their shed) around lunchtime Saturday and hooked the Cruise Craft up and cruised to Agnes. Old man Goulding was at the wheel and tried his best to mess with my orientation early taking secret backroads so I wouldn’t be able to work out where we were fishing (plan worked as I had no idea where I was). Boat in the water just on dark and headed to a spot half way out to the islands to prospect. Before we knew it, the boat was surrounded by a massive ball of baitfish which were attracted to the boat lights. Loaded up the live bait tank (or a compartment that held water) with 50 odd in an hour after old man Goulding sorted out the flyfishing technique for catching livies off the surface. A good start to the trip with plenty of life evident.
Headed to a spot north of an island in about 55-60m (I had no idea where we were and had to pass through the metal and phone detection system to get on the boat so it would be difficult to take the tracking device) and searched around for a while. We scored a mosses perch and a couple of other small reefies in the first few hours but nothing to brag about. Ran into PE tackle Sean out there in his stabicraft and shortly after Anthony made the call to anchor on a pinnacle he had found on a previous trip. Sure enough, right on the turn of the tide, the place went off……well on one side of the boat anyway. I am not sure how the skipper managed to place the boat so that all the fish were on the port side, but Anthony and his old man had 6 reds in the boat before I knew it. I was using the same rigs 1m away and apart from good bites, couldn’t get them to stick. I cannot recall how big the fish were as at this stage I was basically swearing and blaming my new rod I had bought. Anthony did agree that he had an advantage with the Prototype fly that he was testing for the first time (5 reds in 5 drops and then first drop the next day it got monstered and buried in the reef) however, did advise at this stage of his and his father’s vastly greater fishing skill. During this time of 30 minutes of chaos, the wind went from about 2knots and glassed out conditions to 30 knots and a washing machine. Which cause the anchor retrieval buoy to become detached from the anchor line and me and Anthony to have to retrieve 200m of rope and 30lb of anchor and chain by hand with waves breaking on top of us! Not fun at 2am in the morning! We headed into anchorage with the stabicraft following (skippered by a man with big gonads being out in this) and had a feed and camped up for the night. Now normally when you park up in a reef you would expect it to be pretty easy to get a sleep however, with 30knots and the odd greeny coming over the front, it wasn’t the best camp I have ever had but still managed a bit of shut-eye.
The next morning we awoke to conditions as per the forecast – a beautiful 5 knot southerly on a flat ocean……….NOT!!!!! Still 20 odd knots, white capping washing machine and less than pleasant. Managed to cook a feed on the moving butane burner but we were in no rush to get out there….well I wasn’t but the skipper had different plans.
Punched out to a spot in close, semi protected by the reef and although fishable, it certainly wasn’t the beautiful forecast we had hoped for. The wind kept up until about lunchtime and during this time, only put a couple of reefies in the box. We plodded around over different ground on some awesome shows but the fish didn’t want to play the game. The current was also raging at times due to the big tides surrounding the full moon so fishing wasn’t really exciting and this certainly wasn’t from lack of trying. Reports from Sean in close were similar as well so continued out wide. The biggest issue was the amount of Hussar that terrorised that bait and after catching the first 1000, they became a massive pain as the bait couldn’t last for the big red to get a chance at it. We put a few hussar in the esky for a feed as fishing was slow. Managed a few reasonable parrot during the day just to keep us occupied but frustration was starting to creep in and the banter was increasing 10 fold. I was constantly reminded of my poor fishing performance the night before and apart from the 5 minute crying session I had hiding in the cab, thought I handled it pretty well. Anthony and his old man were throwing sinkers at one another on a few occasions but this seemed like a standard family feud, so just let it go. Bob could snap the little kid like a twig anyway so knew he could handle himself.
That night after the wind died down I finally hooked up a decent fish and thought I was going to get my first red to the boat. Little did I know that Pearl Perch grow to 74cm. Easily my PB by almost 10cm and although pretty happy with the fish, it was no red (promptly reminded by Anthony at that stage once again). The pearly had smashed a full hussar fillet with a Red Zebra Glow fly stuck in it and was a nice way to christen the new G-loomis. Apart from this, there was not too much going in the esky. After dark, we headed to a spot which Anthony called “Shark Alley” and it certainly lived up to its name. Each drop we would hook up to a fish but it would be hammered by the tax man in no time. We probably would have bagged out at this stage but the sharks had their say in that. To Anthony’s disgust he did get a couple of fish up – two red bass and a spangled emperor. Obviously the sharks have good taste and left these alone. We did get a few sharks to the surface which certainly stretched the arms and following this session we were all wrecked and needed a sleep.
Up until lunchtime on day 3, there wasn’t too much else thrown in the esky either. Anthony did say that we would go to a spot with good red structure and where he normally sees wahoo. I thought he was pulling my leg, but sure enough, 30 minutes after pulling up we had wahoo tailing around the boat….what the hell. Managed to score a Spanish on a floating dead yakka but nothing off the bottom and none of the wahoo we had seen. Was awesome seeing 20+kg wahoo swimming around the boat though!
So after 48 hours fishing the score was a white wash – Anthony 6 reds; Bob 1 red; Nathan 0. At this stage, I thought the only way I was going to get a red was to take to both Gouldings with the priest that was in the side pocket and flip them over board, but I kept my nerve (despite continually being reminded of the score). At this stage, Seano had headed home which changed everything. I now know those red emperors are scared of that little boat. Over the past few years, they have obviously been tortured enough by the tinny and go into hiding as soon as they hear it slapping on the surface. Once it was back on the trailer, the fishing heated up.
First drift over another mark and I get hammered. A red – a big red surely……It banged and carried on the whole way up and if this was going to be a red, it was going to be big! But alas…up pops an AJ around the metre 1300 mark – “insert multiple swear words here”. A small kingy also found its way to the boat on this drift and things were starting to happen
Next drift Anthony is on – a solid red this time – surely. It had to be a red because no other fish would snap a torsa 20 handle! The footage will tell the story but fighting a solid fish on a reel without a handle is quite entertaining. Surely the pain Anthony was enduring to bring this fish up would be rewarded with a red… Nope – just a bunky old 70+cm pearly. It didn’t even raise any interest from me following my fish the night before. Surprised Anthony even kept it as it looked undersized to me. Same drift and I hook up to a fish – alright this must be a red. Nope – just a solid spangled emperor “insert more swear words here”. We knew we were on good reef as all fish were quality and there had to be a red or two down there.
But it was to be third time lucky for the next drift – all 3 off us are hooked up, and hooked up hard. Mine was fighting harder than my girlfriend trying to kick me off in the morning and following 3 days of fishing I was hurting (and sooking like a girl which no doubt Anthony will not edit out of the footage we captured). No red I had caught had ever fought like this – I called it for a shark, or maybe even a bigger AJ ( reverse psychology was the plan here). Finally got the big bopper to the surface and sure enough, it was the red from the hell……A stonker…huge…massive. You beauty……The PE tackle Pilly Glow fly hanging out its mouth looked like an ant on an elephants back and at around 90cm and around 14kg, my faith in Anthony had returned. This bloke could actually put ordinary fisherman onto reds….This was an epic drift and all 3 fish we got in were solid. A few quick photos and over the mark again. At this stage I had my mojo back so got another solid red to the surface for the esky as did Anthony. Although nothing like Gigantor in the esky, it made up for the previous 2 and a half days of “boating” and I was cheering.
With now 11 reds in the esky and the tide running hard, we headed in and I was back on speaking terms with the Goulding family. Despite the score now being 7:2:2, I was more than happy with my catch and as usual, had a bigger one than Anthony (which he was quietly reminded of for the 2.5 hr joy ride home to the ramp……plus the 3 hour drive to Hervey Bay………plus the constant texts on Tuesday……..plus the post of this report on Ausfish)
All of mine and Anthony's fish were caught on PE Tackle flies which accounted for the majority of fish. Anthony’s old man didn’t use them this trip as Anthony's sponsor had insufficient stock. The results again obvious with 9 reds on the flys and 2 without, plus three horse Pearlies falling to flies. Best bait on the first night was definitely the yakkas, mainly dead as they ended up floating in the unlive-bait tank (fix that will you Goulding) . Big hussar fillets and some gold coast tuna caught on NumNuts accounted for basically the rest of the fish.
Thanks very much to both Anthony and Bob for a ripper trip, to Mrs Goulding for a first class feed and to Sean Munro for going home early and bringing the fish on the chew!
I was just glad to get back home so I could finally remove the tracking device that I had secretly hidden in the least comfortable place – thank god for vasoline!!!! Looking forward to getting the big cat up there now and tracking down my own reds!!!
http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/2774/dsc2716s.jpg
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/4640/dsc2727ko.jpg
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/1016/dsc2620.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1808/dsc2659i.jpg
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/7289/dsc2615g.jpg
http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/8384/dsc2691m.jpg
http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/130/dsc2649l.jpg