Cairns - Vlassoff reef lure session

[scuttlebutt]

Went out to Vlassoff Cay from Yorkeys knob this morning for a lure session across the shallow reefs. I’ve been developing a bit of an addiction for luring the reef lately, and while the freezer’s still full of trout from past trips, there’s no pressure to bring home fish – just enjoy the challenge.

So first stop was the sand cay to drop off the girlfriend, then I commenced drifting across the adjacent reef, casting deep divers on 20 pound braid. First customer was a solid trout on the second cast

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A couple of casts later saw a double header with purple cod and stripey. Seems there’s a bit of competition down there at times

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The bulk of the fish were yellow tail sweetlip and stripeys. I lost count of the number of these tough little customers, but would guess more than twenty.

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A tough spangled emperor jumped on for a bit of variety before things went bad. First casualty was caused by a huge long-tom that hammered the Mad-mullet and got it’s teeth wrapped up in the trace. I was just starting to get attached to that lure too. Then as soon as I could tie on his brother, it got hammered by a big dark shape that effortlessly powered under a bommie. Couldn’t say for sure, but my guess was either a red bass or a jack.

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I then trolled for a while with a wolfie and barracuda caught the day before, looking for a Spaniard. Sure enough, after about twenty minutes the inter started to growl and a nice Spaniard made it’s way to the boat. Unfortunately the hooks pulled just as I was reaching for the gaff, but that’s life. We anchored up for a while, and the girlie caught a big bludger trevally…

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And I got a nice pink trout, the only fish kept from this trip..

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On the way home there were tuna feeding all over the place, so we stopped to have some fun. The first hookup ended with a huge (and I mean huge) barracuda shortening my mack tuna right next to the boat…

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Second time lucky though, and I eventually landed a whole tuna.


So that was the day. Fantastic weather, great variety of fish, also went snorkeling and the water is beautiful at the moment. Couldn’t live anywhere else!

Cheers,

steve

[vertico]

thats a nice shortened mac tuna you got there
very common around structure :)
;)

[morty103]

Mate thats unreal, i bet that lure fishing around the reef would be heart stopping stuff ;D
Weather looks magnificent as well
Morty

[slacky]

Flicking lures around the reef looks like fun.I will give it a go.great catch.cheers

[Mad_fisherman]

Pure gold yet again Dude

Hey can you flick me a pm in relation to lures/jigs/poppers

i have no idea where to start

Cheers

MAD!

[Scott15]

niiiice ;)

[no_wind]

good variety there mate top effort.

[HOOKLINEnSINKER]

looked like a great day out there. you arrived just in time at the ramp to winch my boat onto the trailer too ;)
thanks for that.
daniel
ps. if your ever short of a fishn partner let me know . we can take either boat.

[scuttlebutt]

Mad, I mainly use deep diving minnows like Mad mullets and Deep Bombers, though SP's work just as well. It's more to do with location than anything else (ie GBR).

Daniel, no probs, was good to meet you. Always keen for a trip (looks like that boat of yours could do with a fish-blood christening!)

cheers,

steve

[HOOKLINEnSINKER]

ye i know ..its too clean. I just got a 178c garmin on ebay today. like yours i think you mentioned in one of the chats. it will prob take 2 weeks to arrive. :( but well worth the savings) especially when i need other things like bimbini, live bait tank,more rod holders ,big eskie seat,vhs radio,etc.... santas come early this year :)
il let you know when i got the gps and we will go.
daniel

[HOOKLINEnSINKER]

oh if you wana try a hand at salt fly fishn ,i have a 10weight up for a few tuna etc... might be something diff for you
daniel

[Bad_Bubby]

Some nice fish you got there Steve, conditions look great! Did you get the tuna by spinning slugs?

[Moffy]

great fishing there steve [smiley=thumbsup.gif] - must pack the baitcaster for the next trip out.

[longtail]

nice fish mate [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]
makes our catches down here pale in comparison

cheers
jason

[scuttlebutt]

thanks guys, yeah the tuna were caught on slugs (gillies). #I got a fair bit of action on video - here's a snap from where the barracuda bit my tuna. #If I didn't see it happen I would have thought it was a shark

cheers,

steve

[mattooty]

Thats an awesome pic of the cuta chasing the mack tuna. How big do you reckon he would have been? Looks like awesome fun luring the reefs.
Matt

[scuttlebutt]

I reckon the barracuda would have been at least six feet long. Here's another snap taken from my video. What was left of the tuna weighed 4kg.

cheers,

steve