Just back from five days up and 1770 and we had a ball. Managed to fish Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in brilliant conditions with warm sunny weather and flat seas. As it was our first time up there we were booked in with Fishing Offshore 1770 for a full day charter Monday and the other two days saw us doing our own bit of exploring around the inner reefs - thanks Phil for the info.
Sunday
After travelling up on Saturday we got the boat fuelled and gear ready and were at the ramp at 4 am on Sunday morning. Very busy place with everyone making the most of the great conditions - cars were parked over a kilometre from the ramp it was that busy.
It was a dead low tide when we went out and going over the last sand bar before the entrance saw us in under half a metre of water but we made it across and headed out find some bait. We picked up a few yakkas but pretty slow so we headed out to one of the local wrecks for a look around to find huge schools of Tealeaf Trevally which were some fun but not what we were after. I did, however, get some good fights on a micro jig on light gear which was great.
We kept pushing out and exploring and picked up some Hussar, a nice Cod and some Parrot Fish between the never ending supply of Iodine Bream and Rainbow Runners that seem to be in massive numbers everywhere. Whilst exploring we had a floater out which screamed off and a short fight saw a nice fat Spotted Mackeral on board just under the meter mark. Great fish for the fight and the guys I was with were happy with that.
We got out to the Inner Wides which is North East of 1770 in the early afternoon and picked up a few nice fish including a couple of Coral trout in the 40s and 50s, a couple of Red Throat and a few more decent Parrot fish. Great first day and we headed home getting back to the ramp around 4.
Monday
Early morning again at the ramp at 5 for our charter. We were greeted by James from Fishing Offshore 1770, a great guy - nothing too much trouble, funny buggar and just loves putting people on fish. First stop was to get some bait and we soon filled up on Yakkas and headed out to the reefs around Lady Musgrave and Fitzroy.
This guy knows how to find the fish and we loaded up with a variety of species from the first drop. We caught Hussar, Cod, Trout in rapid succession as well as a couple of Red Emporer that were just below legal size (53 and 54 cms). I was fishing my own gear and a little worried that I would get smoked as I was fishing relatively light (30lb braid) but was really happy how it performed - Pflueger makes a great set of rods that fight above their weight.
The highlight of the day for me was a stonking Coral Trout that went just short of around 8kgs and gave me a great scrap to keep him off the bottom. This was rapidly followed by another trout just slightly smaller and I was soon at my limit for the day so it was time for a beer. We finished up around 2 pm with a full esky of premium reef fish and with some good tips from James that would set us up for the next day.
One great thing we found up there was a guy called Rex. He is an ex-commercial fisherman who is now retired but will prepare all your fish for you for $25 per hour. Filleted, bagged, named - everything. Well worth the money after a long days fishing and he will pick them up from the ramp for you.
Tuesday
Have to admit age must be catching up with me as I was pretty knackered by Tuesday but with awesome weather and a good fishing forecast we headed out early again from a much quieter boat ramp. This time we were heading to the outer wides chasing reef fish and there had been some good Spanish Mackeral catches up there and I was pretty keen to see if they were still around.
On the way up we looked for some livies but only got a couple but we had a ton of bait (Mullet Fillets work the best) so all good. The first drop saw a nice Red Throat onboard followed by some decent size Hussar and a couple of Parrot Fish. We continued to work the shows we were seeing and I got in a massive brawl with a stonker Sweetlip that saw it pulling drag off a locked up big reel with 50lb braid. It was a great fish and I finally got it on the boat with sore arms but a big grin.
We had a Garfish on a gang floating out the back and this was taken with a huge hit and run on the bait runner that I then locked into drag and the fight was one. I was guessing a good size Mackeral after the first run, it then headed towards the boat and had a massive second run taking around 100 metres of line before again coming at the boat and coming up to the surface. I could see silver at this stage and was getting pretty excited. We got it closer to the boat and saw it was a big Spanish - a great gaff shot by my mate saw us hauling it on board - it went over 120cms and well over 15kgs - I was stoked! New PB for me and a great fish.
It was fairly consistent for the rest of the day with a few more reefies coming up and we headed back in about 2 happy with our haul. A great run back on smooth seas and plenty of Whales and Dolphins around. All in all a fantastic trip and cannot wait to get back up there.
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