North West 2006 in full living colour !!!!

[craigie]

Well finally got a couple of hours spare to put the full version together.


As I may have mentioned in the preview, this is an annual trip that has existed for the previous 25 years.
It's based around a core group of guys from Tewantin that make the 2 week pilgrimage to North West Island. For those of you not sure where this place is, it's located approx 70 k's North East of Gladstone and 30k's North of Heron Island on the great Barrier Reef.

The trip would not exist if not for the efforts of our dedicated leader, Jeffie (Rumbo). For the full 12 months prior to the trip, this guy just lives and prepares for the upcoming trip.
Through this planning the camp on the Island is set up like a home away home !!

Apart from the Tewantin connection, we have a slightly different crew of people each year, with a mix of new and old faces turning up for a fix of reef fishing. Some years the "Reserve List" can fill a full page in Jeffies big red book.
For the 2006 trip we had a interesting cross section of proffessions. Several Firemen, Chippies, plumbers, Dedicated Public Servants , a few retirees, a chef, butcher, pro fisher, mechanic .....the list goes on. We may be employed in a wide variety of areas, but the hunger to catch quality reef fish remains the same !!!

With 6 boats and 21 people in the party, the majority of the crew made there way in convoy from the gathering area in Tewantin to Gladstone. It has been traditional to spend the first and last evenings of the trip in the small highway town of Bororen, 50k's to the south of Gladstone. Helps to break up the travelling fatigue and also gives the boys a chance to refresh etc

We all survive the night in Bororen and make it to the barge compound well before departure time. The 3 larger boats are driven to the island, while most of the gear and party are loaded onto the barge. We have always used the "Robert Poulsen" as our barge of choice, although another option is the "Curtis Endevour" which is a larger (more expensive) option.

Everything safely arrives at the island and after the frenzy of manually unloading all our gear from the barge, we spend the next day or so setting up the camp.
Just to give you an idea of what we take, following is a list of major items that are carried or rolled from the barge -
1800 litres of fuel
1200 litres of water
180 cartons of beer
20 cartons of soft drinks
50 x 15 kg bags of ice
4 large gas freezers
3 large gas fridge freezers
1 large gas stove
1 large b-b-q
1 deep frier
4.3m runabout on trailer
2 x 3.7m tinnies with outboards
add to this all the gas cyclinders, tents, food, fishing gear, clothing and you have plenty of gear to move when the barge hits the beach.


o.k enough intro, time to talk about the fishing !!
Fishing times on the island are dictated by the tides and weather. Boats can only get in and out of the safety of the Lagoon an hour and a half to 2 hours either side of high tide.
For the first few days our guys just fished this window as the alternative is to stay out for the full 12 hours until the next high tide arrives.
From the first lines in the water the usual species were hitting the fish boxes. Parrot, Cod, lippers, hussar.
These reults came from the usual haunts around the island and from the "Horseshoe" reef a couple of k's back to the South West.
Mixed in with the first catches were a couple of nice Coral Trout, allways a pleasant sight !!

The following day saw more of the same but for a change of pace an afternnon session of trolling was planned and what a great decision that turned out to be . The plan was to again fish the Horseshoe with the Bottom gear with a troll first up. Well, what followed has left me and fellow crew members babbling like fools. We had crossed paths with a massive show of Spanish Mackerel !! With each of 4 boats trolling 2 laser pro or similar bibbed minows, strikes, hook-ups, bust-off's and gaffed fish kept us flat out as the place went balistic !!!!
Double hook-up's were the norm, although rarely did you land both fish. Geez I pulled the hooks on a couple of ball tearers !! At times you would get your hooked fish to the side of the boat to see 6 of his mates free swimming beside him. The Macks averaged between 8 - 10 kg's, the largest one going about 12 kg. With 17 macks between us with one being a shark Mackerel, esky space was gone and the tide had now dropped to low to return to the lagoon. A radio call was made back to base to bring ice to the reef edge so we could at least ice this catch down until the next days cleaning session.

With plenty of time on our hands until the tide rose again, the lines went back to bottom fishing on the fringes of Horseshoe reef. Apart from the usual bottom dwellers, a couple of keeper size Red Emperor were also pulled up, much to the amazement of us all !! Not something that is usually caught from this area, BONUS !!!

With the weather looking good for the next few days, the larger boats went off exploring a few areas several more k's away from the Island. With a couple of GPS marks as starting points, this new area looked excellent. 45m on top, dropping down a steep ledge into 65m and more. I was not onboard for the first mission to this new area, so when the lads returned to base with a few more of the "Red Ones", I was excited !!
Each mission back to this ledge produced Reds, Trout, Big Spangled Emp,s Cod, plagues of Hussar, parrot, Red throat Lippers. Some boats faired better than others, the bottom of the ledge didn't fish as well as the top, anchoring had to be precise !!
While the weather was good this area got plenty of attention and the Red Emperor kept coming in !! Not huge numbers and not the oversize fish we see from Double Island, but beautiful fish all the same.
Average size for the Reds was around 4 or 5 kg's, but a few around 6 & 7 k'gs and the largest by Banksy going about 8kg's.

The weather had been kind to us for the first 9 days, with all boats getting out to fish for the duration. The reef edge that encloses the Ilsand fished very poorly. Not sure if it was because of the time of day we fished it (still waiting for the daybreak high tides to come around) or weather the fishing preassure is starting to catch up ?? Possibly we were being spoilt by the macks and Reds ?

With the weather closing in and high winds forecast for the last 5 days, a couple of crews went out at 2.00am for a 12 hour stint on the ledge to get maybe one last crack before the 25 to 30 knotters arrived.
It proved to be a master stroke, as we were greeted with a glassout for this session.
The fishing was slow to start with but as soon as a the orange glow started to tickle the horizon, it was quality fish only hitting the esky. First up it was a few Freight Train Spangles Emp's, then a quick succession of quality red Emp's. Now that the sun had fully risen, the Coral Trout were awake, so chrisso wacks a few healthy specimens into the slurry. Our 120 litre ice box is chockers !! What a memorable session Ended up with 6 legal Reds, the best catch by any boat for the trip.

What is written above is only the tip of the iceberg as far as the 2006 North West Adventure goes. We had some moments of disaster where boats and cars lost wheels while travelling the highway.
Johnny's boat sunk in the lagoon one evening when the weather turned nasty. Motor and Electronics appear to be shot, fishing gear etc floated away !!
We all hope John gets a favourable outcome with the insurance company.

Overall it was a fantastic trip (how could it not be with all that intoxicating liquid), outstanding fishing, great humour and comradery.
I hear positions for next years trip will be hotly contested


Plenty of pics to enjoy

Regards

Craigie

p.s. a special thanks to Jeffie (Rumbo) for your efforts to pull this trip together. dead set logistical nightmare !!!

[craigie]

Spanish ready to go to the fillet table

[craigie]

Sharks like Red Emperor as well !!

[craigie]

Banksy with an avg red

[craigie]

Mess tent with all the fridges and freezers etc.

The guys that carried them there were shouted beers for the rest of the trip

[craigie]

With Morrie as our chef, we ate like kings.
Ate fish every second meal, does not get any fresher than that !!

Also did a few prawn dishes. Honey and Green Currey on this particular evening........magnificent !!

[craigie]

time for a few more reds.

Gordo and Bazza with hands full of 3 - 5 kg models

[craigie]

a couple more around 6 kg's

[craigie]

a wide variety of species were caught over the 2 weeks

a couple of Tomato Cod

[craigie]

This ones for Smithy and the Wello Point plastic boys, a few Frying pan Snapper.
We caught quite a few of these around the ledge area

[craigie]

For all the lovers of MILF'S, I didn't forget you !!

[craigie]

At times the Hussar drove you mad, this is part of one days catch !!

[wayne_cook]

thanks for sharing!!!!!
sounds like a trip of a lifetime fun plus.
great fish and report

[craigie]

Apart from the fishing on the reef, the lagoon holds a few surprises on high tide.

We caught Dart and Whiting on small pippi.

Some of the Whiting were 3 tinnies long !!

[craigie]

Coral Trout were a daily catch.

Here are a few around the 4kg size held aloft by morrie.