Another 1770 outing

[Any_Weather]

G'day guys, just another 1770 trip for those interested. We had 11 days up at Agnes from 5th of May staying at a house called "Seachange Loft" which has served us extremely well for the last 6 years. 8 blokes in 2 boats stay there comfortably.
we left the Sunshine Coast at 3am on the Tuesday with the intention of dropping our gear at the house and heading straight out. After unloading and fuelling up we were at the ramp at 10am and heading East on a glassy sea. After filling up with livies at about the halfway mark to musgrave we continued at a good pace. Fished a lot of 70m country NE of Musgrave for some good parrot and mixed remedies but no reds. Headed in to Stuart shoal to camp the night and got a few red throat and massive Moses perch. Up early Wednesday and out to 100/110m to try and get some pearlies for nil. Off home to clean them with a nice feed.

Had a round of golf in Friday whilst trying to sort out battery charging issues!!!!!!! House battery dead flat and both engine charging system fuses blown???? Replaced fuses and disconnected house battery for rest of trip and just ran everything off start batteries. Was wishing I had yamahas at the time but I am sure it will be sorted at the 100hour service?

Saturday back Sunday up to Lamont was the next plan. Was a little bumpy with a 15/20se forecast dropping out to nil in the afternoon. We left the ramp at 4am in a very shallow creek for a reasonable run toward Lamont until about 5km short of Fitzroy the 6.5m centre cab plate boat that was with us somehow ride into the back of a swell and submarined through it instead of riding up and over it causing major damage. The windscreen was smashed off and pushed in through the cab ripping all the electronics off and flooding them. No sounder or GPS or radio working and freezing cold blokes with a boat full to the gunnels with water. Not fun 60 odd km offshore. Helped those blokes get sorted and we all continued. Camped the night on the NW side of Lamont and got hammered with sharks. 1 legal red and a few red throats and mixed bag again.

The Lamont trip marked the end for the second boat so we headed back to Musgrave for 1 last overnighter. Once sagging it was a sloppy trip out but dropping in the afternoon made for a great afternoon and evening. Once again some great parrot and mixed others and a nice red. We lost a BIG red at the boat with a bit too much enthusiasm from the bloke on the net. Long story but the guts of it is there was a big mess of lines(we didn't even know this red was on) and all lines were cut and this fish was hand lined in on the tangled lines, he came in backwards as another hook was in his tail. The bloke on the net hit the line trying to get the fish in head first and gone. It was a big fish!!!!! After the tears and should haves were finished we went back into Stuart shoal for nil. We put our heads down on a glassy sea at about 10pm only to be woken about midnight to howling wind and that made for a long night then. Had an early fish then went home to clean fish and have a couple of beers.

Played a game of barefoot bowls on Friday afternoon. Great afternoon out with VERY cheap drinks and a $6 build your own hamburger. Anyone who is trapped up there on Friday because of wind, it is worth the money.

Stayed through till early Saturday morning then came back to reality.

The standout fish of the trip was a 5.4kg red throat caught in 25m of water.

[Any_Weather]

Sorry for the pics being the wrong way, I am unsure how to rotate them now? A couple more pics of sea conditions on first trip.

[Crunchy]

Sounds like a bit of an adventure there! Good read - thanks

[Jsmfun]

nice read mate

[TREVELLY]

A good read.

Shame about the centre cab submarine
- what make?
- the screen perspex? Or is it a curved glass that has a long failure line - if so that looks potentially dangerous?
- bugger!
Could have been a real mess if they were alone.
Going with the sea and nose dived?

A feed for your efforts and a fish to go back for - it's probably still laughing

Thanks for the post and pics.

[Moejoes]

Well done all,
I like the bait you used to catch that Red

[rtp1984]

Sounds like a great trip mate.
I am staying in the seachangs loft for the M&G with a buch of muppets, good to hear some good feedback on it, I have only seen it on the net.

Thanks
Rob

[Spaniard_King]

I hope you left my house clean !!

SCL is good until they sell that block, then it will be a struggle. we stay there every year for a week or 2

[The Black Unicorn]

Great report. Thanks for posting

[Any_Weather]

G'day guys, yeh the Seachange is the perfect house hey, as you say Garry, until they sell the vacant block. I book the house directly through the owner and I also met the neighbour on the other side of the block and they both say that a local has recently purchased the block and has no plans to build on it in the near future.

The windscreen was a one piece curved Perspex screen that I have seen take big green waves over on the Noosa bar and not sustain any damage but it made a hell of a mess this time. It happened in a following sea and they were not travelling very fast either, I am still scratching my head as to how it could possibly happen, my suspicion is far too much weight up front and incorrect trim but I wasn't on the boat so don't really know??

Lee

[Any_Weather]

G'day Moejoes, mate reds love a beer. Here's one I got 2 years ago in the same area

[bannana]

Sounds like a great time and good fish to go with it. It would of been hard watching the big red just swim away like that. I did a similar thing to Bull a couple of months ago so I can relate to how the fella on the net was feeling.

[Any_Weather]

Hi Banana, yeh mate disappointing to say the least but that's fishing hey. I heard "Giddy Up" log off with VMR on the Wednesday and then showed your report to the other guys in the house, understandably we were all very envious and impressed. Well done to yourself and your crew.
Cheers
Lee

[The Silver Unicorn]

Sounds like a great time and good fish to go with it. It would of been hard watching the big red just swim away like that. I did a similar thing to Bull a couple of months ago so I can relate to how the fella on the net was feeling.

The rest of us thought it was funny so dont worry too much....

[soulfish]

Thanks for the report Lee..i'm sure you guys had a good break from the real word & a lot of laughs,shame about old mates boat & lucky you were on the scene...