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couple more pics
This Christmas holiday season saw me with an opportunity to tick a box on one of my fishing bucket lists.... Fishing Agnes Water and 1770! I wanted to score a jack and land a few reefies if the opportunity arose. I was going to stay with my good mate who is also a mad keen fisho and his family. I set out early on Boxing Day and arrived mid morning in Agnes after a pretty good run up the coast. My mate was sitting there shooting the breeze with his mate.... After 15 mins of me pestering him we began to get ready for a creek session chasing jacks on placcies. We got up the creek around lunch time and tried a few spots without so much as a touch. We finally settled at a likely looking spot and set about landing a red dog if the fishing gods would allow it. I was rigged up with 20lb braid and 20lb flourocarbon leader. (old mate kept telling me I would get smoked with such light leader). I had a 4 inch Zman curl tail placcy on which was rigged weedless with a smudge of pro cure. I threw a few casts around some likely looking snags and could feel the jighead bouncing off submerged trees and rocks.... I knew I was in the right territory. A nice long cast landed cms from a mangrove root lined drop off and as the plastic dropped in the water column it got smashed by a solid fish. He ran straight for a snag and was peeling off too much line for my liking....Bugger, I had not tightened it after loosening it a bit to change luresAs I was shouting and yahooing that I was on he had me deep in the snag and all my mate could say is "it's just a snag!" I put some pressure on him and he freed himself and started a run back the other way as my mates eyes boggled that a snag could move so fast! I just held the spool and kept it locked so he couldn’t gain any more ground on me. It wasn't too long until I had him subdued and on his way to the tinny. After 4 net shots (yep, 4.!! My heart was in my mouth) my mate had him secured and we lifted him into the tinny. He was 48.5cms of fat healthy red!! After some quick pics and some vid we released him.
We continued to work the snags, drop offs and rocks for little interest for the next hour or so. As my mate was slow rolling in his plastic a flash of silver appeared behind his lure but then just as quickly turned and hid back in the dark depths. This scenario was played out a couple more times until eventually he enticed the bite and hooked a nice 59cm barra on 10lb braid. After a short tussle the fish was boated. Some quick snaps and back in the briny he goes. We noticed after the fish was released he was lucky to land it given the state of the hook afterwards. We continued flicking for a while for not much and headed for home trolling lures for flattys. We managed to land 3 but dropped a few.
After a fruitful first day had a few beers and hit the hay. Up and at them next morning, we headed to the beach for a swim with his kids. Of course I took the rod but for no return on investment. We headed home and rigged up to hit Eurimbula creek. We got there just after noon and started chasing jacks again. I decided I would live on the edge and used my flatty setup. 6lb nanofil and 8lb flouro. I had a 3inch curl tail grub on an 8th of an ounce jighead. It wasn't long and I had a solid hit and a powerful run but then nothing. Things went quiet for a while then I got hit again. This time I managed to keep it pinned and got it to the tinny. A 38cm jack! Sweet :-) Vary happy with that effort on the silly string!! We continued to fish the spot with another jack and a grunter landed by one of my mates on bait. I scored a small jewwy as well on my curl tail grub. The guys said they had not seen a jewwy caught this far up the system before. Things died off again so we headed up the creek further to a likely looking spot. We anchored up on a corner and second cast you will never guess what I hooked up on!!! Yep, a flatty.... A nice fat 65cm specimen. Quick pics and back she goes. That was it for the day and we headed off for a feeds and a few beers.... We needed to regroup and rest up because tomorrow was the reef trip!!!
Up at 4:45am to make sangas and get the gear ready. We met Damian from Hooked on 1770 Offshore tours at the spot at 6am. Loaded up and headed off. We pulled up chasing macs about 40 mins into the 75klm trip out but had no interest. We sat back and enjoyed good conditions on the way out to the reef. We pulled up at the 1st spot and my mate and I decided to try plastics until either we hooked up or bait seemed the better option (as the rest of the guys were using). For the next hour or so there was very little action. Damian worked hard moving us around until finally he started to find the fish. Unfortunately my plastic rig had a malfunction so I put it away and had to stick with bait for the rest of the day. The next 5 or so hrs saw a variety of nice fish come over the side. I got a nice bag of a variety of reefies that I was quite pleased with. The highlights of the trip were a 12kg red, a big cod (in the pic I am holding but my mate caught). He wanted it to go back but it just couldn't be revived despite a big effort from Damian to revive it
The next day we had a bit of a sleep in and then hit the beach for a swim and I flicked for flattys along some drop offs, again.... Nuthin. Then back on the water to hit the last of the run out tide trolling hard bodies for flattys. One Moses perch was all I could muster until we hit our deep water spot to chase jacks. I had found the fish quite finicky and not willing to bite as the wind had really come up so out came the light gear again(6lb nanofil, 8lb leader) after a thousand casts my 3 inch curl tail curb was smashed by something.... Wooooohoooo I screamed at the top of my lungs as this thing screamed across the channel towards the snags. It headed for the surface and leapt from the water shaking its head. "BARRA" my mate and I cried in unison. Another short hard run and my flimsy 8lb leader was shredded and ping!!! Fish gone but I was left with an adrenalin rush I will remember for years!!! My mate estimated it at around 70cms. We headed in shortly after that as the wind had really come up I had to clean the reefies from the day before hat had been firming up on ice.
The next day after a big sleep in I said goodbye to my friends and headed for home. I stopped at a likely looking little spot just south of Bargara and flicked for a last jack but all I could muster was a little cod.
A fantastic week with great friends. I will be heading back up again in barra season for sure!!!
couple more pics
How did the frog taste?
great stuff mate , a trip you wont forget any time soon
Dad reckons fishing is 10% brains and 95% muscle, the rest is just good luck.
Originally Posted by morphias
How did the frog taste?
Tasted a bit like chicken actually ;-)
sweet mate. congrats on a great holiday effort.
fishing's as simple as 3 P's - patience, perserverance and PLASTIC!
Nice trip and great report - its an addictive spot - now you have me looking at my calendar
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