Brucesta
02-05-2011, 14:16
Well Photobucket is finally playing the game so heres our report take two - lost the first effort and not happy about it either! Anyway our team this year consisted of myself, Tobi, Pickles and Gareth and we fished out of Tobi and Pickles new 670 Coraline, a big step up from the 5.3m Polycraft we brought with us last year.
We had a more defined plan on what we wanted to target for the comp but that didn't stop us bringing too much tackle with us, i had 7 combos alone and three tackle boxes, not including things like teasers, gimbals etc etc, needless to say we had all bases covered.
Our plan was to load up on fish for the freezer keeping to our limits of course but anything was going to be a win considering we brought back 1 pack of Dolphinfish last year so our main focus was to concetrate on things like Spango's, trout, reds and rankins and well we came home with a full 40L engel for the three families.
We arrived at lunch onthe Wednesday before the comp, unloaded the cars and boat then set about getting our groceries, drop off the kids to the grandparents and get out for a arvo squid session to start the food and bait gathering, this didn't happen due to Pickles and Tobi getting caught up with the oldies but we where set to go and our plan was hatched to hit the marina at 6am and head north to 50m.
Like every well played plan it doesn't always work, we woke to a stiff SE wind, not fazed mind you we packed the boat, grabbed a feed and hit the ramp, it didn't take long to decide we'll park the boat plans that morning and the trip was having an already familiar feel for it, all weather reports suggested good conditions for the whole week but we'd been lied to again so we hit the cape and had a bash from the rocks.
The tide was coming in but it was pretty shallow with turtles EVERYWHERE. We had all bases covered, one person with a popper, one with a twisty, soft plastic and bait to see what was to strike gold first. Bait failed as the reef just swallowed up rig after rig, popper was looking good with some small hits from queenies in the first few casts and lots of effort with the twisty and SP. I cracked the shits with the popper after a while as we said if it's not working this week we need to change it up ASAP so i grabbed my new little 2500 Daiwa SOL combo and tied on a 1/4oz 5/0 jig head with a McArthy 5 inch finesse minnow, now i love these little suckers but i always feel they are too small but after some reading in mags of late it had been 4-5 inch models accounting for the Spangos in the shallows so off i went casting around. 30 mins in and finally we had a hookup and GOD DAMM did it take off, called it for a shark straight away and i was waiting for the inevitable from either it's jaw or the reef but the run slowed and i began working that little combo very cautiously to subdue whatever i had hooked, 10 mins laters and its at the base of the rocks and i couldn't believe it! a bloody monster Spango, i then spent the next 10 minutes trying to get it up on the rocks without a gaff or help from my teammates (thanks guys haha) but he stopped running and i grabbed that 40lb leader and wrapped it around my hand and heaved him up onto the stones.
I peaked WAY too early, a massive PB by 14cm and he measured in at 680mm, it soon had everyone tying on SP's and having a crack but the lack of a esky soon cut this session down and we agreed it was a good start and lets keep it going on the boat. Take two at the ramp and we loaded up the game gear for a test run as we hadn't done it yet from the new boat and with two first timers but we also grabbed the squid gear, the weather had turned better but it was already 3pm and it was going to take 45 mins to get to the 50m line and so we just stuck to squid as rumour had it they where out and about, so i took my little girl out too for her first fishing trip in a boat so we spent 2 hours drifting around in the gulf for 3 squid but the little one had a ball and we enjoyed the afternoon watching the gulf glass off and enjoying some tunes and cold beers, we'll get out tomorrow and make a day of it for sure!
Day two and well there was some shady looking characters rising at 7am, we'd checked the weather that night and we had a repeat from yesterday on our hands so out came the biltong and beef jerky, the scotch, Hahn super drys and red wine until 2am so needless to say we waited for a bit.
It wasn't getting better until 2pm and so after a brekky run to Brumbies we hit the point up again armed with a esky this time, the scraps from the squid on hand for fresh bait and we settled in to another landbash session. i persisted with SP's for the day with a small but very acrobatic queenfish giving me a good fight on 15lb. Gareth was dieing to get into some fish as he had never caught a fish on SP, he was already converted after showing him the number of trout and snapper i had accounted for over the summer back home so he set out to open his account on his new Monstermesh rod and Saragosa 5000 and sure enough he got stuck into a nice little GT for his troubles followed by a Golden Trev.
Pickles in the mean time moved to the western tip of the spot and flung out a hunk of squid and waited patiently away from the shore as we where all copping a hiding from the swell on the rocks, 20 minutes latter he's stuck into a ripper of a fish. he wrestled it to the rocks on 30lb on his 4000 stradic/fin nor ahab combo and he holds high a healthy 630mm spango and so it began a bloody hot session of 1 hour hooking into 5 spangos to Gareth and Pickles between them with the smallest at 560mm as well as a few turtles that just took off like a frieght train.
We called it quits as the esky was getting bloody heavy with all the fish and ice so we loaded the boat for billfish take two. Once again we left from the marina and headed ASAP to 50m but time was really against us and so was the weather and conditions. We set the spread and headed west but we only had 30 mins of fishing time before we had to head back, clean the fish, clean the boat and be at Adams for the briefing night.
We had a more defined plan on what we wanted to target for the comp but that didn't stop us bringing too much tackle with us, i had 7 combos alone and three tackle boxes, not including things like teasers, gimbals etc etc, needless to say we had all bases covered.
Our plan was to load up on fish for the freezer keeping to our limits of course but anything was going to be a win considering we brought back 1 pack of Dolphinfish last year so our main focus was to concetrate on things like Spango's, trout, reds and rankins and well we came home with a full 40L engel for the three families.
We arrived at lunch onthe Wednesday before the comp, unloaded the cars and boat then set about getting our groceries, drop off the kids to the grandparents and get out for a arvo squid session to start the food and bait gathering, this didn't happen due to Pickles and Tobi getting caught up with the oldies but we where set to go and our plan was hatched to hit the marina at 6am and head north to 50m.
Like every well played plan it doesn't always work, we woke to a stiff SE wind, not fazed mind you we packed the boat, grabbed a feed and hit the ramp, it didn't take long to decide we'll park the boat plans that morning and the trip was having an already familiar feel for it, all weather reports suggested good conditions for the whole week but we'd been lied to again so we hit the cape and had a bash from the rocks.
The tide was coming in but it was pretty shallow with turtles EVERYWHERE. We had all bases covered, one person with a popper, one with a twisty, soft plastic and bait to see what was to strike gold first. Bait failed as the reef just swallowed up rig after rig, popper was looking good with some small hits from queenies in the first few casts and lots of effort with the twisty and SP. I cracked the shits with the popper after a while as we said if it's not working this week we need to change it up ASAP so i grabbed my new little 2500 Daiwa SOL combo and tied on a 1/4oz 5/0 jig head with a McArthy 5 inch finesse minnow, now i love these little suckers but i always feel they are too small but after some reading in mags of late it had been 4-5 inch models accounting for the Spangos in the shallows so off i went casting around. 30 mins in and finally we had a hookup and GOD DAMM did it take off, called it for a shark straight away and i was waiting for the inevitable from either it's jaw or the reef but the run slowed and i began working that little combo very cautiously to subdue whatever i had hooked, 10 mins laters and its at the base of the rocks and i couldn't believe it! a bloody monster Spango, i then spent the next 10 minutes trying to get it up on the rocks without a gaff or help from my teammates (thanks guys haha) but he stopped running and i grabbed that 40lb leader and wrapped it around my hand and heaved him up onto the stones.
I peaked WAY too early, a massive PB by 14cm and he measured in at 680mm, it soon had everyone tying on SP's and having a crack but the lack of a esky soon cut this session down and we agreed it was a good start and lets keep it going on the boat. Take two at the ramp and we loaded up the game gear for a test run as we hadn't done it yet from the new boat and with two first timers but we also grabbed the squid gear, the weather had turned better but it was already 3pm and it was going to take 45 mins to get to the 50m line and so we just stuck to squid as rumour had it they where out and about, so i took my little girl out too for her first fishing trip in a boat so we spent 2 hours drifting around in the gulf for 3 squid but the little one had a ball and we enjoyed the afternoon watching the gulf glass off and enjoying some tunes and cold beers, we'll get out tomorrow and make a day of it for sure!
Day two and well there was some shady looking characters rising at 7am, we'd checked the weather that night and we had a repeat from yesterday on our hands so out came the biltong and beef jerky, the scotch, Hahn super drys and red wine until 2am so needless to say we waited for a bit.
It wasn't getting better until 2pm and so after a brekky run to Brumbies we hit the point up again armed with a esky this time, the scraps from the squid on hand for fresh bait and we settled in to another landbash session. i persisted with SP's for the day with a small but very acrobatic queenfish giving me a good fight on 15lb. Gareth was dieing to get into some fish as he had never caught a fish on SP, he was already converted after showing him the number of trout and snapper i had accounted for over the summer back home so he set out to open his account on his new Monstermesh rod and Saragosa 5000 and sure enough he got stuck into a nice little GT for his troubles followed by a Golden Trev.
Pickles in the mean time moved to the western tip of the spot and flung out a hunk of squid and waited patiently away from the shore as we where all copping a hiding from the swell on the rocks, 20 minutes latter he's stuck into a ripper of a fish. he wrestled it to the rocks on 30lb on his 4000 stradic/fin nor ahab combo and he holds high a healthy 630mm spango and so it began a bloody hot session of 1 hour hooking into 5 spangos to Gareth and Pickles between them with the smallest at 560mm as well as a few turtles that just took off like a frieght train.
We called it quits as the esky was getting bloody heavy with all the fish and ice so we loaded the boat for billfish take two. Once again we left from the marina and headed ASAP to 50m but time was really against us and so was the weather and conditions. We set the spread and headed west but we only had 30 mins of fishing time before we had to head back, clean the fish, clean the boat and be at Adams for the briefing night.