1770. M & G. round up ..progress 2103

[Muddy Toes]

If only 2 weeks at work went that quick hey? It doesn't matter how many times you've done it or how old you are the excitement never seems to dissipate. As if two weeks wasn't long enough to spend up there Cobiaman and I thought we'd see if we could get our house early and put an end to the sleepless nights back home. We arrived a week and one day early for the official M&G and wasted no time getting out there. Our first trip was up around the Sykes area and back down to meet Black Magic and 2 DEEP for an overnighter at Fitzroy. Still to this day I think I was set up but about 2am a pretty big storm front with an honest 20kts of wind came in and while the details are still a bit blurry I seem to remember bits of pieces of pulled moorings, blown globes in torches, coral bommies, ramming boats and a few well earned tears. Like I said the details are still sketchy so lets all be polite and not pry for answers!!!
Apart from that the first week was pretty relaxing with the 'my house is your house' clause being used to its greatest effect by everyone up there at the time but none more so than Jim and Julie Hog and their house partners Jarrah Jack and Jarrah Jackie. Truly great people!!!! In the same spirit of last year Boat Hog and Boss Hog put on an absolutely tremendous BBQ for all that were up there and man can those hogs cook!!! Some may so I don't get out often enough but I'm making the call, here as I stand, of sound mind and body and with god as my witness the steak I had that night was the best bbq'ed steak I have ever eaten and don't get me started on the potato bake....that stuffs enough to sell your soul for! Boat Hog and Boss Hog.........thank you both for everything you have done for this boat full of orphans!!
Week two saw Graeme and I joined by Tim the tiler to complete our crew and my brother in law and my sister in their boat. We filled the week with a lot of good fishing with many PB's caught between our two boats. The plan for fishing from the get go was simple for us.....we didn't want to fish between One Tree and Musgrave as we normally would but instead our main goal was to explore new ground for us between Lady Musgrave and Lady Elliot to the South and Skyes to Innaminca to the North. We didn't get enough good weather to explore as far as we had hoped but with the windows of good weather we had we made the most of it.
All in all it was two weeks filled with great memories. Fishing way offshore, pulling worms on the beach and whiting fishing on the windy days (even if you get the location wrong!), taking in the sights that magnificent coast line has to offer and spending time with some truly great people, what more would you need to have a good time.
To the people that organise these events I know it's no simple task so on behalf of myself and my crew....thank you!!!!
Enough rambling from me............we all know pics paint a better picture.....

[marvin]

This year was another enjoyable holiday for my family with the guys and girls of Ausfish. Myself, Margie, Brodie, Jesse and Abby all meet some wonderful people and enjoyed some memorable times over the week. Some of these included play dates with the Boony kids, beers and barby que meals with other ausfishers on the back patio of our house, roasting marshmallows with the kids at night, snorkelling in the creek, bouggy boarding at the Springs and main beaches, ice creams near daily from Madonna's café, dinner and beers at the Tavern.

The fishing kicked off the very afternoon we arrived with a post put up on the forum asking for crewmembers, well I ended up taking out two total strangers one from Victoria and another new member to Ausfish. I did not put the guys onto the usual quality of fish that I can usually find up there, but the snapper king from Victoria landed a 6kg snapper after losing a few big reds on the initial hook-ups. The sharks ate nearly every fish over 6kg that we hooked using live yakkas.

We returned home Saturday morning for a rest and then attended the cook off to catch up with people I had not seen for twelve months and to help raise the donations for VMR.
The next afternoon I anticipated the wind to drop off around 10pm so another ask around for crew found Murf and Les along with Eggy a mate from Bundy. Off we went again and with Murf landing a huge Chinaman and sustaining a tiny spike in his finger pretty much made it a trip that he will never forget, sorry mate about no reds and your traumatic injury that lead you to head home early on antibiotics

Eggy did land his first legal red and came up with a huge 4.25kg pearly and a 70cm flathead caught 50kms offshore. The mid week had us chilling out with ausfish visitors to our place and spending time with the kids. When the weather turned good Friday, I took out Dave and Darren for an afternoon trip before they had to check out of their house on the Saturday morning, we tried for some big ones, and unfortunately the ones we hooked were lost to sharks also. We did manage to scrap up a few kgs of nice mixed reef fish fillets each time we headed out during the week.

A trip up the creek in our small boat midweek saw us with a couple of nice muddies for lunch and a fun session on soft plastics with little flatties. So all in all, our nine days up at Agnes waters and 1770 were absolutely fantastic. Thank you to all the guys who came out on Whitehorse 2 with me and the kind comments some have made on the forum about our 2013 adventures. Hopefully we can all do it again next year. We will be in the same house all being well so I look forward to seeing you all again then if not before. Kind regards Marvin.

[Muddy Toes]

A few of our favorite spots............

[Muddy Toes]

Where we'd all rather be................

[clevelandv8]

Some pretty impressive screens there muddy!

[trymyluck]

Hey Muddy, heard some rumors of some special interactions with your neighbors, care to elaborate??

[Jarrah Jack]

Had a fantastic time. Having met just a few Ausfishers in four years you could hardly walk anywhere around Agnes without falling over them. If I wasn't out fishing during tavern night I would've fallen over 'em

Couldn't believe how well the cook off went. Some of those sort of events can have their flat moments were things don't quiet work out but not this one. I was warned that Chong was a bit of a character but his prawn peeling performance was from another planet. I don't think the judge was too keen on eating one of his specimens, she was still talking about it days later.

T'was handy having the big cleaning table at the house. You never knew who would turn up with what but it was usually Muddy with more and more big reds and a big pink when Cobe's was in his T shirt. Always had a big smile, Cobe's. Maybe something to do with those empty flagon's he gave to Hog to take back to Murf for a refill. Something worked for him seeing he ended up with the biggest Red.

Haven't eaten so well for years, well, ever really.
Sorry Mrs JJ but Mrs Boat Hog can put on a spread and a half. Like what Muddy said those steaks are unbelievable. I think she fed twenty people one night. Then Apollo and Try fed us with sit down country gentlemen's stainless steel silver service and white paper napkins. I thought I was at a fancy restaurant for a while. We had prawns for starters just like on the boat with Marvin when he dished up a tub of them on the bait board and I thought they were for bait. Some of these Ausfishers know how to live it up.

After the first day coming back from the reef on Phil's boat I remember thinking that it was all worthwhile even if that was the only day out. Now I know what a special place it is out there. The reef and Musgrave in particular seemed just the right distance from the mainland to give you a feeling that it was a great adventure to be there in a small boat. I could see myself being drawn back to that place again and again. I hope I am.

[cobiaman]

Had a fantastic time. Having met just a few Ausfishers in four years you could hardly walk anywhere around Agnes without falling over them. If I wasn't out fishing during tavern night I would've fallen over 'em

Couldn't believe how well the cook off went. Some of those sort of events can have their flat moments were things don't quiet work out but not this one. I was warned that Chong was a bit of a character but his prawn peeling performance was from another planet. I don't think the judge was too keen on eating one of his specimens, she was still talking about it days later.

T'was handy having the big cleaning table at the house. You never knew who would turn up with what but it was usually Muddy with more and more big reds and a big pink when Cobe's was in his T shirt. Always had a big smile, Cobe's. Maybe something to do with those empty flagon's he gave to Hog to take back to Murf for a refill. Something worked for him seeing he ended up with the biggest Red.

Haven't eaten so well for years, well, ever really.
Sorry Mrs JJ but Mrs Boat Hog can put on a spread and a half. Like what Muddy said those steaks are unbelievable. I think she fed twenty people one night. Then Apollo and Try fed us with sit down country gentlemen's stainless steel silver service and white paper napkins. I thought I was at a fancy restaurant for a while. We had prawns for starters just like on the boat with Marvin when he dished up a tub of them on the bait board and I thought they were for bait. Some of these Ausfishers know how to live it up.

After the first day coming back from the reef on Phil's boat I remember thinking that it was all worthwhile even if that was the only day out. Now I know what a special place it is out there. The reef and Musgrave in particular seemed just the right distance from the mainland to give you a feeling that it was a great adventure to be there in a small boat. I could see myself being drawn back to that place again and again. I hope I am.

Who wouldnt be smiling all day when your spending 2 weeks in paradise!

[Lucky_Phill]

I know some may not want to participate in the Expenses Data I am collecting, but I thought I would recieve more than the 9 responses out of 49 emails ?

This info will, hopefully, improve our stays / M & G's at Agnes Water & 1770.

Looking forward to more responses...............


LP

[Giffo65]

Sorry Phillllllllllll I forgot !

[trymyluck]

I know some may not want to participate in the Expenses Data I am collecting, but I thought I would recieve more than the 9 responses out of 49 emails ?

This info will, hopefully, improve our stays / M & G's at Agnes Water & 1770.

Looking forward to more responses...............


LP

Maybe some are afraid of adding it all up....And their wives reading it......

[cobiaman]

I dont think i could do it accurately, it was a lot though....

[Jarrah Jack]

Maybe some are afraid of adding it all up....And their wives reading it......

Could be very dangerous information in the wrong hands and see a reduced number of married guys being allowed to turn up next year.

[Lucky_Phill]

send it through email and delete immediately.

I suppose if we really knew the price of ladies shoes and handbags, they would not complain about a fishing trip !!!

LP

[hooknpull]

Phill can u post the prices up so some of us who want to make the trip can work out a ball park figure.. I'm super keen to come one year but can't find any friends who would want to take 2 weeks off to come up with me.. Maybe if I knew how much it will cost abouts I may be able to persuade them or find someone on here willing to do a trip with me..