we had a ball, it was the first trip down that way in the new boat "DeLyght" and I was looking forward to going for a run.
First time for a few years that I had driven out to Dundee as well towing the boat, as I always took the old girl Rascal II from Darwin.
Anyway we managed to get there before sunup and organised details for the launch, unhooked the new tub and took a couple of pics while we were waiting for the tractor to start working. the weather looked good, however there was a bit of a southeaster blowing, which after we launched with no problems, seemed to pick up a bit
we cruised west out towards Long Lost to have a look for some birds and fish feeding, the boat went through the chop well and I had to keep from going too fast as the new setup
has a lot more grunt and torque than the old girl. We weren't disappointed and found some fish feeding close to some of my marks, flicked some lures out and Jordan managed a nice little mack tuna
which we kept for bait later that evening. Second cast he hooked up again and this time got a nice little Spaniard to the boat. I dropped my lure to the bottom to have a jig as there were fish showing everywhere and it got snipped off, dammit
We hooked a couple of other firsh, Hayden hooked up solid but lost the fish halfway to the boat. it was a little choppy so I decided to head for Bowra shoal and have a go there on the change of tide. The new boat went well across the lumpy sea, best part was hiding in the cab abd getting no spray over you as you were cruising along. A good test as well with a bit of chop and sloppy seas.
there were a few fish feeding in around Bowra shoal as well, we had a few drifts and I was pretty amazed at how much more stable the new boat is while drifting, it has a bit of a different shaped hull and
rolled a heap less than the old Savage
we managed to get quite a few smaller fish drifting and jigging, but nothing of any size, so I headed in closer along the coast, then out past the North Peron to some of my other marks and we had a go there
we managed some more small reefies there, it was still a little lumpy with the breeze, but a couple of nice Bluebone were landed, they pull hard and are great fun to catch jigging. after a bit more of a go around the area and trying a few more spots I decided to head in as we only managed a few different smaller fish, cod, flag etc
the plan was to have a go at low tide around the sandbars for large queenfish and they did not disappoint, the first shallo section that we came too was covered with them and they attacket our
surface lures vigourously, we had a great session for about 2 hours catching and releasing the great sportfish.
We changed all our hooks to single hooks and crimped the barbs to make it easier to release the fish and less damaging to them, I think we managed t get around 15 fish to the boat between us.
had to stop a few times for a rest as they were everywhere and hunting in packs, we only had to slap our lures on the surface at one stage and they would attack from where they were hiding under the boat.
I had a couple that got the hooks in the gills and kept them, just finished the first batch of my special nummus recipe, yum. The tide had risen enough by now to head in between the Peron Islands and across towards Channel Point to have a go for a jew, even though
the tide was still ripping in I have caught fish there before in a bit of an eddy that I have, this time was no exception, after taking a couple of goes to get anchored in the right spot
Hayden was the first to get his line in, and within 2 minutes I reckon he was hooked up to a solid fish, it gave a good fight but unfortunately the hook pulled fairly early in the fight and he lost it.
I dropped my bait to the bottom, same thing, in no time at all I was hooked up and managed to get a good metre plus fish to the boat In no time at all Hayden was on again, this time he stayed connected and got his fish up, another good Jew just over a metre, before he even managed to get it in the boat
Jordan was on as well, he got another fish in. It took less than 15 minutes and we all had a good sized Jew to take home. Well that's it I said, weve got one each, lets go somewhere else. We cleaned up the fish, filleted, bagged them and then packed them on ice and We headed out to another spot where it is a lot shallower and anchored in about 7 metres over some broken ground, fish were showing and it didn't take long and I was on again, another jew, this time it took off a bit harder and I had to get up the front of the boat and untangle the wraps from the anchor at one stage
Managed to stay connected, got the fish up, a quick snap and let him go, he was fine in the shallower water. Jordan and Hayden both caught another fish each, and had fun in the shallower water. There were a few
sharks around as well and I pulled up a smaller sized Lemon at one stage.
I hooked a bigger fish and on its first run it took out 120metres of line, I was waiting for the braid to hit some coral somewhere off in the distance and get cut like butter
but all held together and I got the fish to the boata 120cm Jew, the biggest for the session, and it was fine and swam off strongly. we ended up with a few more, and using circle hooks they were all caught in the edge of the mouth, except for one which swallowed it too far down and we kept another to end up with a total of 4 Jew. There were also some small Jew around the 30-40cm mark caught which was good to see. Goldies that I have caught in the area regularly were a bit scarce, we only landed one small 30cm one which was released.
It was a great session with the odd shark and Powertail thrown in, the weather was great and we stayed there and had a bit of fun catching small garfish under the lights for a while before passing out.
We awoke early and I decided to head out a bit wider to have a go jigging for some more nice fish, the breeze came up again after sunup, but not as strong as the day before and we were able to make pretty good time to the spot I wanted to get to. Didn't take long and we managed a few nice Trickies to start the morning.
I moved a little and we drifted over some other marks, Jordan hooked up solid on a good fish that gave him some curry on his new 20lb outfit, it fought all the way to the surface and was a good sized Red Emperor. there were some schools of tuna feeding again and we had a quick go for them, Jordan landed a nice longtail and it was release as we already had a fair amount of fish. we hooked a couple of others but lost them, went back to do another drift over the good bottom and this time Jordan brought a nice trout up. I decided to change to a Gulp and have a bit of a go as the wind had died a little and we were drifting slower, didn't take long and bang, good fish, another nice Red then next drift, my turn again, a good Coral trout slammed the lime green gulp and tried to take it home. Unfortunately Hayden didn't manage any of the bigger trout or Reds, but he got a nice little Red Emperor that was released to grow a bit bigger for the future, also some good trickies and another couple of Bluebone.
I decided we had enough for a good feed and headed back in, we had to pass the sandbars again on the way and the queenies were there again, had a bit of fun for half an hour or so before heading back to the ramp at Dundee.
A great first trip down that way in DeLyght, with some good fish caught and some great pics. We also got heaps of footage fighting the fish, and of the amazing Queenie session, so I will have to find some time to edit some of it and post it on UTube to share.
Moving house this weekend, so cant go fishing for a couple of weeks, but will be looking forward to heading out again at the end of the month, might be looking for a couple of deckies as the kids have Cricket now on the weekends for the dry
cheers
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