billfish bliss at hervey bay m&g

[netmaker]

well. what an absolute rip snorter of an m&g. perry mad mackrel and i left alex hills about 2pm thursday arv and arrived at urangan boat harbour a little after 6. we spent that night at the ramp and were joined just after midnight by brett humdinger, brett bull, graham cobiaman, neil horse, bruce tropicrows and bill 2ic. a few refreshing ales and feed of prawns and we hit the hay. brekky in the morn and we waited for dave tinshack and graham (2) to arrive before the 5 boats left for rooneys. 4 boats then left for the 13 mile at the northern end of the spit and luckily bill and bruce waited for us as we were chasing livies and almost missed the bus! on our way there reports were coming in thick and fast of billfish strikes and we were brimming with anticipation. our first action was a double hookup of large mack tuna that kept us busy for a while. after that things seemed to blur with a seemingly constant amount of marlin strikes. perry was first to land one and i am sure he will post up the footage. not long after, i suffered a bust off on the only marlin i hooked. a few more strikes later and perry is on again. as i was quickly winding in i was smashed and straight away this fish flew out of the water and covered 50m in seconds. it went berserk. unfortunately we got no video of this as we were both busy! minutes later and perrys' fish was around the prop. he put the rod in the holder to help me with mine which was very much appreciated. minutes after hookup and my reel is down to what i guess was the last 25m. unfortunately with another fish around the prop there was no way we could give chase and i was almost filling my pants. i couldn't make myself tighten the drag but i did thumb it and the fish stopped. we then had a stalemate for what seemed like a life time but probably only lasted 20 seconds or so, neither losing nor gaining line. then the fish gave a little towards me and i managed to start getting line back. shortly after i was a bit more comfortable with my spool and a few more smaller runs and he was tired and boatside. a few pics and he was successfully released. in addition, perry still landed his prop-wrapped marlin as an added bonus.
a fantastic fish to lose my billfish virginity on and my deepest thanks go to perry for a memory i will take to the grave... or the psych ward - whichever comes first.
thanks also to bill and bruce for waiting for us and to neil who lent us the gun lures.
i have never witnessed such a crazy fishing session and suffice to say there were birds working gigantic baitballs and bill fish hookups everywhere. i wont say anymore as the others can tell their own stories. cant wait for the next rooneys m&g!!!

[zorro1]

good report mate - catching them on sksirts netmaker?

[Dicktracey]

I'd like to start with ARSEHOLE but that would be rude So well done boys looks like you had as much fun as I did driving to Moura and back
Dick
Dissapointed with shirt Davo

[OODIES]

Awesome stuff Davo, I wasn't there mate, but after your call I feel like I was.
Dave there is nothing like hearing the excitement in a mates voice after an awesome trip.
Congratulations on a fish of a life time mate... Very Jealous.

BINGO

[Todddo]

Holy hell I was expecting a nice size snapper or something lol! Bloody nice catch mate, Thats the one fish I'm really looking forward to catching one day

[Horse]

Well another M&G has been put to bed and what a cracker this one was. A lot of Billfish virgins popped their chery in a Billy Bonanza outside the 13 mile crossing. The Blacks were thick around the boats and at one stage we had three attacking our lures at one time before we hooked up on one of them. It was all good fun but we decided to move on early in the afternoon and get a feed of reefies.
Dave (Tinshack) was giving us the guided tour (thanks Mate) and we ended up fishing a nice show. Bull boated a Cobia and Cobiaman (or is that now Marlinman) added a nice Spangly for the box. We were putting a nice feed in the box when my Fin Nor spin stick folded over and the Stradic started screaming in pain. The boys started joking about sharks and submarines and generally giving me heaps about wasting fishing time. The freight train eventually ran out of steam and I started making some ground on it. Grazza was able to give me live commentary as it kept showing on the sounder. Eventually it hit the surface and Grazz sank the gaff in and pulled 15kg of Green Jobfish into the boat
That sort fish is one that has on my bucket list for many years and to catch one on a M&G was the icing on the cake.
That night we all met around Roonies and at one stage we had seven big boats hanging off Bulls anchor while everyone told war stories and did what we do best at a M&G
The next mornig we had a late start and ran the 4 mile in poor conditions. We got a feed of mixed reefies before pulling the pin as we were low on fuel and ice. We decided it was best to make a run for home a bit early.
On the way we saw a few birds working and decided to give chase. We then spent a couple of hours chasing Spotties and Mac Tuna. We added four nice Spotties to the box before making the run for home.
This trip was one of the best ones I have ever had. Top location, perfect weather, plenty of fish and lots of mates to share it with made it one to remember
Special thanks goes to Chong for getting the idea floated, Phill for his local knowledge, Dave for guiding us around and Brett for putting up with me as a deckie
Lock it in for next year fellas

[netmaker]

zorro. yes mate, skirts were the go.

dt. thanks mate. wanted to release him so didn't have time for wardrobe change. besides which i wouldn't want all that slime on my good shirts

[Horse]

zorro. yes mate, skirts were the go.

dt. thanks mate. wanted to release him so didn't have time for wardrobe change. besides which i wouldn't want all that slime on my good shirts

Yea skirts were the go Dave. We saw you on the island with Perry and that was definitely a skirt you were wearing. I think Zorro wanted to know what lures

By the way it appears Island Madness settles in early on some

[cobiaman]

Well, all i can say is that was one of the best fishing weekends of my life. Not only did i catch a marlin, i caught 2! Also got to watch bull1 catch his first and got to see horse get a cracker job fish as well.

Thanks to horse for organising it and a special thanks to megabite, tinshacks and marvin for all the advice and lures we borrowed.

It was certainly a great bunch of blokes and i think we need to start organising next years m&g!

[netmaker]

Yea skirts were the go Dave. We saw you on the island with Perry and that was definitely a skirt you were wearing. I think Zorro wanted to know what lures

By the way it appears Island Madness settles in early on some

sorry to disappoint neil but that was humdinger. after the great performance he put on out there going solo, he could wear a tutu if he wanted...

[Goodoo haven]

Well done guys. you's caught some awesome fish there.

[shy guys]

Looks like I missed out on a cracker trip only reason I disliked your post looks like me and Craig (ideas) will have to head up next weekend any ways happy for all that cleaned up looks like you all had a great trip spewing I missed it won't miss another

[Lucky_Phill]

From all accounts, the Ausfish Family went well.

That is a Horse / Horse Jobbie................( Neil )...... a $2,000 fish at the Toyota Expo any day of the week and one of my favourite species to catch and eat.

I look forward to more pics. I cauvght up with a few ferrets at the ramp on my return late Saturday arvo.

ME.... I took my cousin and her housemate out for a day inside the bay.

Jigged livies, put some nice fish in the esky. Mainly reef species and couldn't find the Spotties, only Mack Tuna. My best for the day....3.55kg Grunter on 6lb Fireline..... love the light gear.

Only talked to Robtar on channel 22, as apparently... the " chat channel " was changed......

Well done to all.........

Only one pic to show.... at rest.....



cheers.

ps./... Graeme, chong has ya pillies !

[Mossy247]

Awesome .... Well done Davo cracker of a fish.

[Humdinger]

what more can i add to all that . the best trip i've ever had
left brissy about 7 pm with 2ic and tropicows waiting up the gateway for me . we pull into caboolture bp to have a coffee and wait for the (ausfish mitsubishi add )to catch up with us . (will surely be explained in a post very soon )
bull pulls in with the usual ritual of pulling a wheel off the trailer . quick repair and off we go . next stop hervey bay .
meet up with the boys at the ramp for a feed of prawns and a few coldies . up early for a quick brekky and load up with ice . meet up with tinshack for one of his guided cup of tea tours (thanks dave )

we pull up at roonies and the plan gets made to go out the 13 mile off we go .

get outside the 13 mile dropped a couple of skirts in about 5 minutes later the reel is screeming about 2 seconds to realize it's on the "normal reel" bugger i have to wind . start reeling and this fish just launches itself out of the water nice marlin;D;D
couple more jumps and spits the hook:'(
oh well set off again and almost immediately fish on . you beuty on the electric this time .;D;D push the button and watch it start to come in but no this thing has some fight to it and i have to use the handle to help it (bugger just lit that smoke )about 5 minutes later it's alongside . yeehaa dolphin fish my first ;D;D
the fight doesn't stop there this bastard is fighting all the way but i wrestled him into the boat . 1300 long beast .
set up and off again let everyone else know what i got . then bang the electric is peeling out again . another marlin yeehar here we go again good fight and he's at the boat another first ;D i do remember a remark about (you wouldn't be able to catch a marlin on a electric reel ) well there you go done .
got 2 marlin into the boat and another 4 to the leader .
for friday 6 marlin 1 mahi mahi 1 spaniard . best day i've had out in a long time . my deckie was awsome company and kept me entertained for the whole trip ;D

only got a mack tuna for saturday but didn't mind after a day like friday
the best lure i have ever had on a boat was a bit expensive but well above speaks for it i think . totally wrapped with the yammy yeehar too . it lured the fish up to my $2.50 ebay skirts
lets go again;