Good Friday Banks Report (Late)

[Volcano]

I wasn't going to post this but felt it was so comical it deserved to be shared.
Headed up to Mooloolaba with the aim of hitting the Banks for the first time.. was keen as mustard, had a few marks to try out thanks to a neighbour of mine and had ground up about 30 litres of great burley.

Arrived at the boat ramp later than expected only to find the other boat we were meeting there also arrived 30 minutes late, putting us out on the water at about 6am... at least an hour after our planned launch time.

First stuff up... I simply had a case of foot and mouth disease. I could not log on to the coast guard for love nor money. The poor bloke who was taking my details must have had grave fears for our safety [smiley=laugh.gif]. Anyway, headed around the marina on our way out to the banks through a bit of swell, get about 6 klms out and come down from a fairly big roller... boom. I reckon we dropped about 3 metres..

With me in the drivers seat, my old man in the passengers seat and the deckie standing up behind us holding onto the rocket launchers we pretty much all went everywhere... quick check... everyone okay? yup.. great... lets get going.

I noticed the canopy looked a bit sloppy, thats when I realised the rocket launchers had litterally pulled out of the boat. Out of 12 S/S self tappers, 1 was still in the glass, 4 were missing and the rest just hanging about. :o

Lashed the rocket launchers down, and the deckie declares he doesn't feel too good. Watched him for about 5 minutes as he turned from a nice pinky color to something resembling vanilla yoghurt. 2 spews later, we decide to drop him back off at shore.

We decided it was just too rough and dangerous with the launchers hanging on by a thread, so scouted around Gneerings, chasing birds smashing up bait and bottom bashing for a sum total of around 200 undersize grassy sweetlip, moses perch, squire and of course the old Happy Moments - one of which kindly enough lent me some of its spines and the associated venom.

Shining light was the undersize Red Emperor running in at a tiny 38cm and a nice red rock cod at about 47cm. Decided it was too cruel to take 1 fish between the 2 of us so back in the drink he went. Sad. Just sad.

Anyways, just seemed to be one thing after another (after another). Hopefully next time we go out, we'll actually make it to where we want to get to [smiley=dunce.gif]

Cheers and Beers! (I know I had a few after that trip....)

[Dave]

I know exactly how you feel. First attempt at the banks called off after 20k due to bad weather. Second attempt crook deckie, launched at 4 in the morn back by 6. did manage to make it to murphies before I took him back. Third attempt nailed it and been going ever since. Keep with it you will be rewarded in the end.

Dave

[Volcano]

Hey Dave,
I heard you logging on just as we were coming into the harbour...
Yeah. I know we'll get there. Just that first hump lol.

[sempre]

sounds like you had a great day :'( :'( :'(

[sempre]

B.T.W , that was not in any way having a go at you . It happenes to everyone and if someone says it hasen't happened to them , they're lying .

[SeaSaw]

It hasn't happened to me ::) ...... my rocket lauchers are fine ;D ;D

Although the rest sounds familiar lol

It can only get better from there.


Cheers,

Mark

[finding_time]

Volcano

Those waves do tend to stand up on the Gneerings shoals sometimes. :o I head out to the banks quite often and my usual deckie is the father in law as we stay at their place he's generally got first rights to the spot. The big problem is that although he loves his fishing he's the most nervous sailer i know and as we leave in the dark wee hours it doesn't help this condition. It seems just as we clear the break wall where the waves are comming from every direction and the water is 7m deep he tell me in an all to unsuttle hint that it very rough. >:(The next spot that presents a problem is the gneerings as these waves do tend to stand up there and the comment is usually " There seems to be alot of swell about" Once we get to about 50m of water is when i take serious note of the sea conditions an make a call on the trip ,i find you get a truer indication of what the day holds. ;)

Ian

Ps. The new rule with the father in law is that he can say what he likes after we are in 50m + of water :) Then the comments are along the lines of " why do we travel all this way when there are plenty of good inshore reefs" There is no pleasing some people, that is until they catch 5 large snapper an few pearlies and quite a few other species then the banks are the best place on earth!! :P

[-spiro-]

It will make it all the better when you finealy get there. Maybe you might want to tag along with someone thats been before. I remember my first trip it took 2 hours to get there and then we couldn't hit bottom out there. We tried to fish it for about 1 hour without any luck. Then a huge storm come over and made conditions even worse. So we headed for home and that took 2 hours. If i knew then what i know now i wouldn't of went. But the lesson to this story is make sure you check the forcast before you leave home 8-)

[Fixation]

Hey Volcano,

Sound like us about 4 trips ago. We were heading out to the banks and it was rough as guts and the stereo falls out of it's mount and the passenger seat cracks. Conditions weren't good. Don't worry mate you'll get out there. We all have trips like those.

[Volcano]

Thanks for the voices of support guys.
I didnt even think about the whole 50m of water issue... never even considered that ;D
As far as following another boat out, we were. My neighbour from 2 doors down headed out in front of us... but we sent him on his way when we dropped the sick deckie in.

My confidence grows with each failed attempt... so I reckon next trip will be the goer
;)

[reeldreamer]

What boat have you got Volcano? Looks like a 600f?

[Volcano]

Close...
It's a 542f.
If I had to choose between my house and my boat I sure would miss my kitchen ;D

[620sf]

Been there and done that too many times, although we keep going and cop it for 1 1/2 hours each way, which is the dumb thing to do. It does get better as you hit the deeper water. Just keep lining up.

Luke

[revs57]

Yeah, don't lose heart volcano...pick your day...It'll be worth it

Cheers

Rhys

[sf_russian]

It's all but worth it.
This is what you can get just in 3 hours ;)

[Volcano]

:o
damn.... nice catch!

[Big_Ren]

Hey Volcano. Mike's photo should serve as just the inspiration.

Anything is possible once you're out there. Just ask Mark (See Saw) when he caught his first billie, or any of the other firsts some of the Ausfishers have conjured up.

One of my deckies had never been to the Banks before and as we poked our nose out past 2nM, he started feeling queezy so I headed back to Old Woman and he started to feel better. So then he asked if I could head over to the lee side side of the island and in the most mirror-like conditions he started spewing as he laid the anchor. He persisted though. We then got buzzed (probably on purpose by a very very low flying F-18 Hornet directly overhead which made him crap himself as well lol ;D

Still the bugger is a keen fisho. Three weeks later he is as keen as mustard so we aim for the Banks again, only this time it's an overnighter. He's in the aft quarter seat on the way out in joggly conditions and one of us forgot to put the lid on our berley bucket of beautifully pureed pillies, chicken pellets and tuna oil. First lumpy wave we copped and the bucket launched skyward and guess where the contents landed.

Anyway, despite his stench, he hung in there and outfished us all. He's a convert now and you can't keep the bugger out of our boat when a Banks trip is planned. The lesson we have all learned over the years though is that safety does come first. A feed of fish is not worth the compromise. Hang in there and the rewards will come.

Cheers
Paul ;)