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Thread: Fitzroy Trip

  1. #1

    Fitzroy Trip

    With a weather break finally coming on, I figured the boat had sat in the shed long enough. Brother Ray was keen to do a trip, but a couple of other mates who I thought would be keen had to pull out at the last moment due to more pressing conditions - being single, I was not aware that a better half's birthday is more important than a fishing trip. In the end, I decided that we would do the trip with just 2 on board.

    Also, I recently sold the trusty Patrol and upgraded to a 2015 model 200 series Cruiser and was very keen to see just how easily it would tow the boat. Being the start of the school holidays, and the best weather for a long while, I figured the ramp would be a bit chaotic in the morning, so we left Brisbane early afternoon and headed north, stopping at Apple Tree Creek to fill the Cruiser and averaged just under 6ks to the litre towing a 3 ton outfit. Certainly a fair bit better than the Patrol used to do. We did a quick top up on boat fuel and ice at the Agnes servo, and dropped the boat into the water just on 8 o'clock. Rather than heading out in the dark, we anchored in the creek and enjoyed a hot coffee while rigging all the gear ready for fishing the next day. The view of the ramp just before daylight showed that we had avoided the traffic jam. The run to the reef was pretty much flat calm.

    First thing I noticed was the lack of current out on the reef which was very surprising given it was the day of the new moon. The fishing was fairly slow at first but we chipped away gradually adding a few nice fish to the ice box. We had already decided that we did not want to bring a huge catch home, so quite a number of just legal fish went back including plenty of legal red throats and venus tuskies. In some spots the hussar were ravenous, and there were some really good specimens among them, but a few that were badly hooked did help to add to the bait supply. The first decent fish that I caught for the trip proved to be a first for me, being a rusty jobfish caught in just 50 metres depth.



    Throughout the day we added a few nice trout, red throat and venus tusk fish to the ice box, and also got to see the low fly over by the crew in one of the Border Force Protection planes. The plane flew over heading south, banked around and came back towards us. Just after he passed us, we heard the plane calling another boat by name fishing close to Llewellyn Reef. I figured some bloke was going to receive a nasty surprise photo in the mail. By early afternoon, we decided to head into the shallows around Boult to try out some micro jigs to see if we could score a few fish on them. Despite snagging a few jigs, which we successfully retrieved, we only managed a couple of nice sized red throats and a legal trout. A few throw back cod of various species also hit the jigs. I could see that form of fishing getting very expensive based on the number of reef hookups experienced.

    We headed up to Fitzroy just on dark, and on entering the lagoon counted 29 boats already anchored there. After finding a vacant spot, we got the anchor down and got stuck into a nice hot feed before grabbing some sleep. Sunday morning started off by heading wide to the hundred metre line and again the current was non existent. You could have floated a pilchard to the bottom without any problems. The boat drifted at 0.2 knots and when I snagged a sinker in the bottom, it anchored the boat rather than breaking the leader. I eventually started a motor and drove forward to break the line. The lack of current showed in the catch and other than a decent brown maori and a snapper the rest were throw backs so it was again back to the shallower water looking for some better fish. Ray scored a 65cm red, and that put a smile on our faces. Its always good to see that first red hit the deck.



    Shortly afterwards, I had a great hit and hooked up on a heavy fish. The head shakes had me calling it for a red as well, but a 7kg spangled emperor that came to the surface beside the boat had me saying a few bad words. I was happy to let that fish go as well. We fished through to 4pm before heading in, and having enough water to cross the shallows at the mouth of the creek in the dark. The only issue with the creek was the clown on the shore at the caravan park who decided to test his spot light out by lighting up the creek and the boat as we cruised up the creek. Morons everywhere. I got Ray to stand and block the light and keep an eye out for obstacles while I buried my head in the GPS and drove by following my saved track until we got far enough upstream to get out of the light's glare. It was an easy run home, arriving back in Brisbane in the early hours, although a dragging brake pad on one of the trailer wheels did cause a bit of concern with a heating disk. Another job to fix later this week,



    cheers

    Jeff

  2. #2

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Some nice fish Jeff, thanks for the report!

    Cheers

    jim

  3. #3

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Sounds like a nice short trip congrats
    happy days ahead summer is coming

  4. #4

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    That's a great read Jeff.

    Tony

  5. #5

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Thanks for the report

    Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk

  6. #6

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Sounds like you had a great time. Next time I see Allan I'll let him know you actually got one of his boats wet.

  7. #7

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    It's great to see a few reports coming through, particularlygood reads like this one....

  8. #8

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Hey it's good to see you take the big rig out, no incidents to report apart from a dragging disc pad. That's gold! I might write a report on my bay trip over the weekend too.😉

    Sent from my HTC_0P6B6 using Ausfish mobile app

  9. #9

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Thanks Jeff for the great report. Takes a bit of effort to type one up like that, cheers (y)


    LP
    Kingfisher Painting Solutions:- Domestic and Commercial.

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  10. #10

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Good report Geoff..saw you going through Tiaro Friday arvo .A mate had his brakes tampered with overnite in the car park at 1770..his calipers were loosened,one came off & caused a blow out on trailer on way back to goldy.Might pay for everyone to give there trailer a good going over before putting boats on..bloody pricks

  11. #11

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Hey soulfish. Not the first time this has occurred. I had a tire slashed. One year Hummy had his wheel nuts all loosened. I also believe ShaneC has had numerous issues. Pack of dogs...

  12. #12

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Great report Jeff, we did a trip out of Turkey same days and had a ripper trip. Seen Short Fuse in the lagoon on the Sunday morning. Boats looks awesome on the water. A great place to fish up there. Bit more relaxing than Breaksea trips.

  13. #13

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Jeff, has the issues with the Suzzies been settled, Allan reckons he can still get a good deal on a pair of Yammys.

  14. #14

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Hi Sam. I have actually managed to get 3 trips in where both motors have worked for the entire trip. Throughout the last 18 months, I have experienced an IAC valve failure around every 4th or 5th trip, so I guess the critical time will be in the next couple of trips.

    When we were up in 1770 for the PBA trip last October, I had a failure on the port motor at the end of the first days fishing. I rang the Suzi dealer in Bundy and told them that I had an IAC failure on a motor under waranty. I was told to bring the boat down, and they would do a check and tell me if that was the issue. We towed the boat back to Bundy, and as I pulled up outside the workshop, the mechanic walked out and said "Oh f**k its you. Your the bloke they talk about at the Suzuki dealers conferences. You have had more issues with your motors than any other Suzuki owner in Australia".

    Needless to say they were quick to help. They did not have spares in the workshop, but grabbed the IAC and throttle control body off a new 140 that was sitting in the showroom. 2 hours later we were on our way back to 1770. The onlu problem was they could not replace the ECU because the unit on the 140 would not work on the 115 so I did not have the proper idle settings for the rest of the week. On return to Brisbane. I had to take it back to Motorsport and they put another new set (IAC, throttle control body and ECU) into the motor.

    The problem is its not just one motor. The starboard motor has now had 4 sets and the port 2 sets replaced. I can say that Motorsport has gone out of their way to look after me whenever another failure occurs, but my confidence in the motors is pretty much shot. I suggested to Suzuki that maybe they should be looking to take the motors back and replacing them under the lemon laws, but they have not made any effort to help out. The best they have offered is a 10 grand changeover on a set of motors that were under 3 years old and less than 300 hours on them.

    I am very keen to talk to Allan about replacing the Suzis with a new set of Yammies. Problem is my conscience wont let me sell these motors to someone else without telling them the history of the motors and that pretty much makes them unsaleable in my opinion. One thing for sure, I will never buy another Suzuki outboard in my lifetime.

    cheers

    Jeff

  15. #15

    Re: Fitzroy Trip

    Jeff, hopefully all sorted and I under stand your dilema, I also wouldn't try and pass the motors off. Pity they didn't give you the 140 electronics, probably you would have ended up with higher hp motors. Give us a call next time your short of crew although I suspect only having 2 onboard makes life aboard simpler.

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