That's another awesome trip Keith.
Well done mate and its good to hear the boat is finally performing the way it should.
Finally after a long year working to resolve the ride issues on my boat I'm finally there and more than happy with the end product. A boat that now goes better than it looks...Bloody unreal.
I took my boat up to 1770 for our annual easter camping break and was lucky enough to get out for two day trips and a morning trip with my young fella making the long wait more than worth while. I would of loved to do an overnighter but with the family at the camp site it just wasn't right so I stuck with the day trips. The first day trip was chasing a few reds out NE of Sykes. The fishing was slow but we still managed to scrape together 13 reds and some quality pearlies and trout to go with them in the box. It could of been more if someone was able to take a gaff shot at the appropriate time when an 12kg+ red was boat side for the taking...but we wont get into that or throw stones. All up a good feed was caught and was really good meeting up with fello Ausfishers Graham and Brett for the trip.
Second trip was just a short morning session with a mate and my young fella and his mate Sam. We only fished 17k's out from Round Hill but still managed a quality feed with multiple spaniards to 20+kgs and my son bagged a nice red and blue moarie with another 30 odd quality mixed reef species to 5kgs as well. it was only a short session but the rods were continually bent making it a great morning. It just goes to show that rather than run 100+k's off shore you could opt to go a short distance out and still get the same if not better quality fish. We lost some good reds to sharks and plenty of big trout that were too good for the boys on the day but the boys had a ball and thats all that I was really after. A box full of fish was a bonus.
The next day trip was targeting trout and red throats. We went east of Fitzroy reef and on arriving I accidentally dropped in on another boat....f$#k sorry champ.. I was looking at my gps and following my plotter to a few marks when one of the guys said theres another fella here. I thought he was just motoring north but he stopped and started drifting. Im glad he didn't throw any sinkers at me. Anyway we just motored of once we knew he was doing the same drift i was about to do. So we moved further north to other bombes and pulled trout consistently before everything started slowing. As the afternoon arrived we moved to the north eastern corner of Fitzroy reef in about 20mtrs and started working the shallows where we came across trout after trout. The guys were all catching red throats at first but once they realised i was using a 6 ball while they were using a 5 ball things quickly changed for them and it was a trout slaughter all round with our bag of trout hitting the floor in no time with the same bag of red throats as a handy by-catch. Plenty other mixed reef fish were caught for the day but we had our box of about 80 fish so we decided to head home with a storm on the horizon and get back to camp and get on the turps.
The next day was filleting and what an effort with filleting approx 140 fish. Thank god thats out the way.... I will point out that each day we emptied the fish out of my boat and I was camping with my family and friends in a group of 25 of us so theres no over bagging of species even thou we caught about 40 trout all up over the 3 trips. Everything was within bag limits and the fish well shared around our friends and families.
Anyway the boats going great and is back in her shed loaded and ready to go again the next time I get some decent wether and a gap in work. Hopefully an overnighter to the top end of the break sea and back to Musgrave....Fingers crossed
cheers
Keith
That's another awesome trip Keith.
Well done mate and its good to hear the boat is finally performing the way it should.
Good to hear mate
Well done mate. You certainly know how to fish up there.
Mate what sounder is the photos from. Is that the tzt14? Those photos look nice.
shane
Phenomenal report Keith. Glad to hear the bugs are finally worked out.
Love that bottom right pic. Looks like your about to pash that cod!! LOL
Tony
Good stuff mate.. That cod looks like hard work .. Lol.. Rob and I had fun both hooked up too the same shark 2nd drop of the trip.. Harharhar
...........GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO BAIT.........
Rob look how good Keith's photos look mate...
...........GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO BAIT.........
If I can ask, what sounder are you using? Great fishing, anytime on the water with friends and family is good and the fish are just a bonus. I was up there a couple of weeks before Easter an over nighter at Musgrave, fishing was slow but managed a good feed with biggest red just a little over 12kg.
Cheers George
I do this sort of trip all the time, no drama! Then I woke up. Magical shots Keith, thanks, the work was obviously worth it.
Scalem
Good darts Keith.
cheers shane
mate the pics are from the 1150 transferred to the tzt. I had better shows but didn't mark them. I took these pics the other day at a later time just to show what sort of ground we caught the Reds on. Usually I fish flatter bottom but it was a slow day so we were hitting small structure holding fish. There was a couple of 3-4 way hook ups but really was hard work the rest of the time. Mate if you ever want to go up there and catch a box full of fish just go to the 100mtr line with electrics...... It's that simple. Spend a day out there and it's bag just about every time. Gets a little boring though. plenty of bigger red throats, cod, the odd red, big pearlies and snapper with aj's etc... It goes off out there. 50-70mtrs is the hardest depth to fish but best depth for the Reds.
Well done George you bettered us mate as far as the biggest red goes. Bull had a great fish next to the boat but some silly prick with the gaff didn't pull the trigger and have a swipe early enough and the big fella swam away...you should have seen Bull's face...pricless.
Mate I use an 1150 and couldn't be happier. Not the cheapest gear on the market but is sensational in my opinion. Really easy to find fish. I figure some guys invest over a 100k to go offshore fishing (smarter guys get out of it a hell of a lot cheaper) but have a cheap sounder. I put safety first, sounder second and everything else a long way third. Without a well set up sounder you just keep going back to the same area and hitting old marks. the good fisherman (pros, charter guys etc) can easily get away with a lesser unit because they spend time on the water we can only dream of and have honed their skills of sniffing out fish. I need to cheat and rely heavily on my 1150.
cheers
Didn't you see the cod pics mate??? I let someone else take a pic and all of a sudden I have 5 chins!!! No warning or "hey Keith pull your chins in".... It's bullshit..lol
I must say I was laughing at your guys pics yesterday when i put them on my computer. You looked to be straining your arse of and had more chins than me..lol If your going to extend your arms you need to do more gym work...lol
Well done on the fish guys too mate you cleaned up. No wonder Rob stole you back... Lets just say it would of been a different story if lucky mic wasn't on board.... One guys lucky rabbits foot is anothers bad luck charm.
cheers
Looks like you had a good trip Keith,,,as always.
Life is short fish hard!!!
21,6 Sea Fox WA Pro ....