Reply With QuoteGreat read Rob. Well done. Hope the foot heals soon.
Been a while since I have made a report, that's all due to the biggest flood in history to hit Bundaberg. The flood was so bad it left 7500 people homeless and major shopping centers and business still have not reopened. River swallowed bridges and carved new rivers through towns. A few weeks after the floods, as people were getting back on their feet we were hit with a second flood....not as bad as the first but devastating still the same. Its been a few weeks now since all the water left town and rivers dropped to normal heights. On top of the floods we have had tornado's, huge winds and almost every day for 2 months it has rained.
For the first time in 2 months a window opened for yesterday and I wasn't going to miss it!
My brother was supposed to join me but rang the night before, he had a tooth pulled and didn't feel up to a trip out.... Bugger! oh well I'm on my own!
Put the boat in the water at 4.30 am and very nervously drove out the river entrance and into the dark ocean. The amount of stuff that was washed into the ocean is amazing, there are tree branches poking out of the ocean, still connected to the tree's... As I left the river entrance I could see yachts and boats crumbled over the break wall and scattered on the rocks. Some of the massive steel seaway light poles were also missing...
I cruised at about 8 knots till the sun gave me enough light to see where I was going then with a sharp eye on the water increased to 15 knots. Amazing to see the brown water went for 7 miles offshore!!
There was a lot of timber floating in the ocean but it all seemed to be concentrated in the smooth current lines so I just idled through those zones carefully.
Arrived at the wreck 11 mile out to find great looking clear water and spent the morning spinning up Spotties and school mackerel and god know show many Mack tuna... Kept the mackerel for a feed and released all the Mack tuna.
I wanted to test out my new home made jig heads, I have had a gut full of paying big $$$ for jig heads only to lose 5 or 6 a day to Mackerel and sharks...So These home made jig heads would fix that problem....if they were strong enough for large pelagic's. Couldn't ask for a better test subject than a Bluefin! Fish went hard as they do and the hook was still perfect so i was stoked!
After the Bluefin I landed 5 or 6 Mack tuna on plastics and Trevally I'm not totally sure of its species....Brassy Trevally perhaps? The sharks were all over it! 2 meters under the boat a big shark went in for the kill.. I stamped my foot on the floor as hard as I could and it turned away giving me enough time to get the fish in the boat.... I released it after a photo...wonder if he evaded the sharks??
With the sharks on the chew I decided to move on and trolled for 5 miles up the coast to another wreck that not many know about up here. Nothing touched the lures on the troll but on arrival at the wreck there were birds and fish everywhere... Stopped the boat and first cast nailed a Spottie, cast 2 to 20 all nailed Mack tuna and wasn't long before they drained my will to live and I returned to throwing plastics. Hooked a monster on the plastics that sadly spat the hook but what ever it was it was HUGE! maybe next time!
While throwing plastic the tuna and birds started circling my boat, was crazy! So I picked up the fly rod and holy crap was I away! Landed my first Blue on fly!! not a monster but still went hard.
I through a raider into the Mack tuna and to my surprise 3 massive Bluefin came leaping after the lure each well over the 20 kg mark... Came up tight about 3 feet from the boat and almost was speared by his 2 mates! After a 45 minute slog and only meters from the boat he straightened the treble....my fault for being lazy and leaving stock hooks on the lure
Not long after this the wind picked up to about 15 knots and being 4 pm it was time to go, was a long day!
Back at the ramp I took my thongs off as they are to slippery on the ramp, some low life and smashed a beer bottle on the ramp and I stepped right on it.... There was blood from one end of the ramp to the other.... I especially loved how a bloke watched it happen and sat and watched me struggle to stop the bleeding and load all the boat etc and then strap it all down and put the light board on the back.... didn't offer to lend a hand and more interested in watching to see how I would manage.
Got home by about 5 pm and after shower of to the hospital to get the foot sorted out. Worst part was when I got home I had to clean all the fish....
Never slept so hard as last night.
Today its 30 knots and raining.....till the next window!
Great read Rob. Well done. Hope the foot heals soon.
nice report Rob...cant wait to get out myself, looks like a window down here on the weekend!!
great chat!
never mind the crumb that watched on whilst you were bleeding out on th ramp.
I imagine his day was a tad more dull than yours.
epic trip
sergio
Thanks for the report and pics. Good reward for your effort. Sucks about your foot. Careful with infection. Plenty of people were getting weird stuff in their cuts from the mud left behind in the 2011 floods.
yeh keeping an eye one it....3 days and no infection yet so looking good. Still bloody sore though!
shame about the foot mate, nice report. what jighead mould? i just bought one from the states will post how it goes.
nice catch, was up in bundy not long ago it was really bad up there along the water acouple of my relitives got flooded and my cousin was going around rescuing people off there roofs
good report thanks,hope the foot heals up well.
Life is short fish hard!!!
21,6 Sea Fox WA Pro ....
Posting Permissions
