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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote puglee62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Nov 2019 at 7:16am
i'm not surprised at all that Pers lures are kicking arse,good stuff fellasThumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 3:57pm
Originally posted by rodsncods rodsncods wrote:

I've got the cod fillets, where's my redthroat/coral trout/nannygai fillets???????.....mick

LOLLOLLOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 4:01pm
Originally posted by p.j. p.j. wrote:

This tread is becoming better and better LOL
sounds like Rob have taking a fancy on the deep diver. Is it one particular color that works 
Great to see the Spoons in action
Thanks fore using and sharing 

      Knaek & Break
               Per


I don't generally go for certain colours Per. The reef fish are just as likely to hit any colour placed in front of them as long as the action is right and they don't have to go too far from cover. We have only used this one of the deep divers so far as I don't want to loose them all at onceLOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 4:23pm
Well I did go out on Monday. It was only going to be a troll for mackerel around the headlands as the wind was supposed to get up after lunch time and the tides were wrong for what I usually like to fish the reef with.

Michael and I tried for 4 hours  trolling with a wolf herring the only result. We tried lure casting around Colishaw Reef  for a small tea leaf trevally and a couple of small reef fish. We then decided to troll out to one of the further reefs, still for no result.

When we got to the reef we started lure flicking the shallow bommies again. These bommies are usually 2 to 2.5 metres deep when I like to fish them but this time were averaging 4 metres deep. We still managed some good fish bringing back 3 coral trout and a spangled emperor as well as other fish caught and released.

I took Michael to what I call GT corner (yes Mr Sinclair - that section of the reef). I was still using the little rod that I use for coral trout - a Shimano StarloX 8kg soft plastics rod when I was smashed by a big giant trevally. For 15 minutes I chased that fish around bommies with the electric outboard before Michael could "tail"it for me. That ended up being my biggest GT ever at 106 cm. I had previously caught about 6 GTs all at a 103 cm  so I was glad to finally break my record.

Over the next hour I had a big jointed Zoomy murray cod paddler, and a Headland Lure popper taken off my hands by GTs and Michael  sacrificed a Darren Ringelstein (DJR) Creak Freak to one.

The troll home produced nothing but the predicted winds were late getting up so the trip home was still quite calm.

the wolf herring on a 16 cm Illusion Lure Wedgetail. The only fish caught on the troll


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 4:27pm
more fish
tea leaf trevally on one of Per Johannsen's spoons.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 4:43pm

a 40 cm coral trout on a Per Johannsen minnow





a nice spangled emperor on a Mark Andrew's lure


a little cod on a DJR Creak Freak



a 44 cm coral trout on Darren Ringelstein's Creak Freak



a 154 cm long tom on a DJR Creak Freak



My new personal best giant trevally of 106 cm on a Vicious Fishes minnow



a close up of the head and the lure of my GT



48 cm coral trout on a Zoomy Menice

Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote HARTE Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 6:22pm
Great work Martin,
congratulations on the PB 106cm GT, I bet that pulled like a freight train!Thumbs Up
Your arms look a little longer in the photo LOL
Cheers, Graham

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p.j. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 6:32pm
Thats GT looks massive. What a Fish. Congrats on the new PB 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote steiny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Nov 2019 at 7:12pm
Nice fish all round
cheers steiny
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote hooknose Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Nov 2019 at 11:17am
Well done Marty 👍👍😁
Cheers Steve R  !!!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2019 at 12:21pm
Been a bit slow lately in posting on Lurelovers. Trying to work out how to post photos with the new laptop changing the orientation of them as well as where I am now staying has poor connectivity to the internet.

On Monday just gone I was able to get out onto the reef with Mike. Being in the middle of a "reef fin fish closure"our aim was to troll for pelagics then to throw lures around for big giant trevally. The mackerel have been timid this year with not even a strike even though we trolled for a total of about 5 hours.

We tried a "new" reef but we gave that up because all we could catch was the no take species without any sign of a GT. We went back to my "GT corner"" and within 2 minutes we both had a good strike each but the fish missed the hooks on both lures. A bit of a slow patch then things got really interesting with multiple hook ups, strikes and bust offs.

One of my bust offs I was using a Richard Lee made popper. The GT that grabbed it took me around the reef and that was the end of it. 10 minutes later I sight casted to a big black GT easily in excess of 120 cm using a popper made by Cam Cupitt (Headland Lures). I was getting the better of it as it played out in a relatively clear area. It then tried to make for a channel between 2 bommies and as there was a curve in the channel I knew I had to try to turn him again otherwise I would have been cut off. A locked up drag was too much pressure and the 15 kilo braid parted, I still suspect that the line may have contacted the reef.

Within a minute the popper floated back up and I tied it back on again. A big GT came out of a bommie buzzed the popper just metres from the boat. A quick cast back to the same area and it smashed the popper after just one turn of the reel handle. This fish did not fight like most GTs, it stayed down deep without the long blistering runs and just slogged it out. I eventually got it  up short and it was circling about 3 metres beneath my boat still very green and full of fight - then the hooks pulled.

Mike was using some mega huge timber poppers that he bought online. He lost one to a big GT that found the reef and was getting strike after strike on another without further hook ups.

When we get reefed by GTs, it's normally because they hit the lure of the other side of a bommie. When they hit a surface lure they come up to the lure then turn to go back down straight away, this contacts the line on the reef and it's all over. When you hook a GT away from the reef they usually try to fight with long runs. If you are in a confined area then they try to swim around the reef into open water. If you can follow them with the boat and stop the line from touching the bommie they are trying to swim around, then you can usually land them. Needless to say, you have to be quick on the motor especially when the bommies are close together.

While search casting looking for more GTs, I noticed something in the water. We swent over to it and I picked up the Richard Lee popper  that I lost earlier. These 2 lures that floated back up had their barbs squashed down so it was easier for the fish to rid themselves of it once the pressure was off.

A nice 45 cm + coral trout that Mike released while still in the water - sorry, no other photos.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2019 at 12:56pm
The next day Mickey Rat and myself went for a look around the Annan River as more of an exploratory mission then anything else. I haven't fish this river much but was interested in seeing more of it.

Birds working near the mouth and Michael scored a nice 74 cm spotty mackerel on an RMG Classic (sorry, no photo). We saw a lot of other birds working but couldn't entice anything else. A look up a side creek for a few hits and flashes then Michael scored this gold spot cod-


This fish went back into the water despite being legal sized. Gold spot cod are mentioned in the "no take"list of fish with the "reef fin fish"closure. But a local guide said to me this morning (2 days afterwards) that they are not a reef fin fish as they breed and can live their whole life in an estaurine environment. He also stated that he had this confirmed by the Qld DPI. Michael wasn't interested in keeping this fish anyway.

A few hours passed while we looked all around. Me seeing how things have changed since the last time I had been right up the river, Michael seeing it all for the first time. Drifting along the shoreline on the way back casting for mangrove jacks, we both had our lures land within centimetres of each other. A jack came out and hit my lure (a Mark A Lure - herring), missed the hooks and smashed Michaels Killalure River Ratz (or was it a Flat Ratz?) resulting in this nice fish for him-


And that's how the day ended. The river has a couple more rock bars now that the floods of previous years since I had been upstream has eroded of the the banks away that will warrant further investigation in the future.

I'm keeping an eye on the winds for next week. So far it is looking like Sunday through to Thursday is going to be good. The next week I'll be travelling again and spending the first few days at Tinaroo with Bill Caracatsoudis chasing my first big barra from that dam.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rodsncods Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2019 at 4:23pm
where are you heading this time martin? if you come down this way , have a look at the dam, 3.5%. people have been getting into the caves for a long time now. hope to be out there next week and again towards the end of December....mick
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote rally44 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2019 at 6:25pm
Hope you have more luck with my old Popper, getting anything back is a bonus!Cheers Richard.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mickey Rat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2019 at 10:35am
That was a Flatz Rat and thanks for not mentioning  my human hookups. Thumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2019 at 1:32pm
Originally posted by rodsncods rodsncods wrote:

where are you heading this time martin? if you come down this way , have a look at the dam, 3.5%. people have been getting into the caves for a long time now. hope to be out there next week and again towards the end of December....mick

May not make it as far south this time Mick. But to Townsville at least spending Xmas with a mate and his sister and brothers (one that I bought my last boat off).

I have put an offer on a place in town, if that falls through then I'll be looking at what is available to me between here and Townsville.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2019 at 7:36pm
Out on the reef today with my nephew. Bad tides with good winds all week, but today was his only opportunity before he flies back to Vietnam.

The troll out saw Andrew with a nice spanish mackerel of about 90 cm on a Tilsen minnow. He was later to loose this to "a big red thing", only for us to come across it 3 hours later, and for it to be bitten off on the troll home.



On the reef itself the action was very slow with a rising tide. I like to lure the shallow reefs on the last of the run out tide. We managed a few various small reef species. Andrew had a non descript timber lure eaten by a shark and I had a DJR eaten by a shark, I managed a legal passionfruit trout and a painted sweetlip on the DJR before it got sharked.

We went to my "GT corner"even though the tide was still quite high. Once again I like to fish this area with little water over the reefs, it cuts down on looking for them - and once again the fishing was slow. An hour afterwards we both got our first hits. Andrew hooked up on a metre plus GT but was busted off. 40 minutes later I hooked onto a 105 cm model using a Vicious Fishes 120 mm Turmoil stickbait. This fish did not want to run, only 3 short bursts. It preferred to slug it out under the boat, I was always on the electric motor trying to keep the fish from going underneath the boat and potentially contacting the hull or the petrol or electric  motors. This was a 35 minute fight that left me exhausted. My bucket list says a 1.5 metre GT - I may have to re-think thisConfusedConfusedLOL 

I'll have to put photo up on another post as the connectivity is very slow at the moment and it is taking photos over 30 minutes to upload.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2019 at 8:34pm
The trout and sweetlip on the DJR



My giant trevally, I was too  exhausted gto try to lift it any higher



A passionfruit trout on a timber lure made by Per Johannsen


Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tony Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2019 at 9:44pm
wow missed a few here, awesome stuff Martin, and a big congrats on the new pb, amazing fish and such talented luremakers! ClapCool
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p.j. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Dec 2019 at 6:57am
some great Fish again Martin. Congrats on the new PB GT Smile
Once again thanks fore using my Lures. That  Trout have some awesome colors 

     Knaek & Break
              Per
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Dec 2019 at 6:20pm
I took Scotch n Dry (Ed) out today. Calm morning, as flat as a board , but the wind got up at about 10.30 am instead of the 1:00 pm so we missed the easy run back and had to contend with a bumpy troll home.

On the way out I scored a nice 70 cm spotty mackerel and a smaller model on a Mencho made herring type lure. After a quick troll we hurried to the reef eager to get amongst the reefies.

The reef was slow but we caught a huge variety of critters on many different types of lures. We lost a few  due to being smashed into the reef by the reef so we had to change styles often. I got a nice 40 cm coral trout on one of Per's deep diving minnows (one of those taken into the reef later on) then a 62 cm coral trout on a Jeremy Menchin made Zoomy Menace.  Things went  quiet but we did see 2 mega huge trout easily 80 cm long and possibly over 90 cm swimming around 2 small bommies - but they were not interested in the lures.

A troll over to the next reef to find the GTs. A couple of half interested fish before I had a huge popper made by Sandy Tymack from Wodonga unceremoniously smashed and busted off as the fish swam too close to a bommie. A little while later using that same Lee's Lure popper used last Sunday was smashed and I landed a 90 cm GT that swallowed the popper completely. I tried to get the popper out but the fish kept on swallowing and the rear trebles (found when cleaning it) actually entered the stomach. When the fish turned to a pale colour we knew that it was not going to survive. I did try swimming it with the popper still down it's throat but it didn't kick. Not wanting to waste the fish and knowing somebody who would want it, I kept it.

photos to follow.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Dec 2019 at 6:54pm
the mackerel on Darcy's lure


the bigger coral trout on the Zoomy



the GT, LETS PLAY "SPOT THE POPPER


there it is. I almost had the popper out and then the  fish swallowed it down more as I was cutting the barbs off the belly treble as it was hooking up all the time.



Per's lure caught trout


a couple of fish on a B.O.B. lure



and we also lost this Gil Hop lure later as well


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Kimo Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Dec 2019 at 9:38pm
Very Nice Fish Martin and an entertaining read as well Congratulations on your PB
1.5 GT
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Not thing that will likely stretch ya entire body before killing ya
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote puglee62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Dec 2019 at 4:49pm
you look buggered in that first pic mate must be starting to get hot and humid up there,nice fish and good to see bad boy Bobbys still producingThumbs Up,the Gilhops are good eh?,Gil puts a lot of research into his lures ive done well with them too
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote HARTE Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Dec 2019 at 5:17pm
Nice work Martin! Thumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tony Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 Dec 2019 at 10:44pm
Some awesome lures and nice fish Martin, love your work Big smileCool
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Dec 2019 at 1:26pm
Originally posted by puglee62 puglee62 wrote:

you look buggered in that first pic mate must be starting to get hot and humid up there,nice fish and good to see bad boy Bobbys still producingThumbs Up,the Gilhops are good eh?,Gil puts a lot of research into his lures ive done well with them too

Hot and very very humid. The ice water in the esky is used more to pour over your head then to drink.

The Gilhops produce well and importantly when lure fishing the shallow reefs, cast well also.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Dec 2019 at 2:19pm
I'll mix up a couple of trips together, for 2 reasons. First is we didn't get much due to the very bad tides this week - no run no fun is so true on the reefs, unless you are bait fishing the deep reefs. The winds have been great in the morning with glassed out conditions. The water so clear, you can bounce a jig in front of coral trout in 15 metres of water - but they still didn't bite.

The second reason is our crap NBN up here. I have to post during the day or have long delays in connecting to the service and to actually post anything all the while hoping that the service doesn't drop out and lose everything.

Wednesday Mike and I went out checking out a reef I have barely been to before. We found lots of fish visually and on the sounder but ..... we could only manage small fish. We then hit my favourite coral trout reef and flooged it hard, still for only small fish.

The weather on Wednesday morning-


 A  spanish flag / stripey on one of Per's lures


A small coral trout on a DJR Creak Freak by Steiny


Thursday Mickey Rat and I went along the coast a bit. On the troll saw a few wolf herring and small spotty mackerel. The were schools of small tuna species busting up and Micheal scored a small Watson's leaping bonito and a frigate tuna. When we got to the rocky reef section we had a few good hits but no hook ups and a few small reefies. 

Dawn on Thursday morning


Some of the fish on the troll, the frigate was taken by casting into a pack of fish (tried rotating this photo a few times, each time it orientated itself in this direction)

a small spotty mackerel on a Per herring type lure

We hit a beach to do a bit of beach combing. Whoever was in charge needs to be sacked because we didn't anchor in deep enough water - and the tide went outEmbarrassed. Well we found all up about 15 lures and a few other bits and pieces.  

At least we could reach the reef by wading out and casting to the edge. I was using the same shallow running Per lure as in the photo above and scored a few small parrot fish, a small giant trevally and about 8 small cod of various species. I did get some serious hits as well but they failed to hook up.

the small parrot fish




The little GT, it was about 50 cm long. The other good hits I had may also have been little GTs


One of the little cod species


Four hours after webecame stuck, we tried the reef again from the boat for only a few more little cod. The troll on the way home saw us both get strikes for no hook up but I was left with some awesome tooth marks in my Illusio Lure made 16 cm wedgetail.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ducks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Dec 2019 at 2:27pm
Some good new species for PJ there but Geeze those spotty you get up there look like a wolf herring :-P
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Dec 2019 at 6:14pm
     HAHAHA I must have uploaded the wrong photo. Just realised that the photos that I uploaded on my laptop come out totally different in orientation on my phone.      
Originally posted by Ducks Ducks wrote:

Some good new species for PJ there but Geeze those spotty you get up there look like a wolf herring :-P
Martin-

you don't havta be pretty to fish
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P.J's Lures

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p.j. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 2019 at 5:56am
Looks like my Lures have good fun Big smile
Thanks Martin Thumbs Up
P.J. LURES
SO SMOKING HOT
EVEN CUSTOM DOGS LIKE THEM
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Dec 2019 at 6:26pm
I hadn't fished much in the week before I left Cooktown for a trip to Townsville. But I did get a couple of casts in and got this 50 cm + GT on a Vicious Fishes stick bait from the wharf. Next cast a metre + spanish mackerel swiped the lure leaving some teeth marks in the paint work.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Mar 2020 at 9:51am
Got back from Townsville last week - a much longer stay then originally planned as I had a few things go wrong.

Came back with a new Triton as the last one suddenly gave up the ghost and I managed to get a trade in on it before it completely shuffled off from it's earthly presence.

My boat is still in Townsville , but that's another story.

Next week I leave from Brisbane again, then to Victoria and I'll pick up my boat on my way back.

If anybody in Cooktown, or holidaying in Cookie has some success, feel free to use this post if the desire takes you. It's not just for my reporting of what's happening here.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Mar 2020 at 8:45pm
Mickeyrat took me out onto the reef today. A very slow day with me only catching 2 small ooglies and a possible just legal coral trout (on a HJK Lure) that went back to grow larger.

Michael had a better day with about a dozen small ooglies of various small cod species and stripies (Spanish flags) and a small coral trout.

Over to GT corner and I still missed out using various poppers, stickbaits and other surface lures. Michael scored a brassy trevally, a nice 90+ cm (maybe a metre) GT and got creamed by a bigger GT. 

I got a few teeth marks in a Gary Ransom made mackerel lure on the troll out swith a hit that didn't register on the rod tip.

my little trout 


Michael's little trout


Micheal's brassy trevally and his giant trevally on a Reidy's lure




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nicho Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Mar 2020 at 3:44pm
OH STOP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOUR KILLING ME
Nichos Maulers Homemade timber lures....THEY CATCH FISH!

YA DONT KNOW...IF YA DONT GO...SO GET OUT THERE AND... FISH IT
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