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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Nov 2022 at 5:23pm

Not much of a report for this morning’s effort. Once again very little bait came through so the fish were hard to entice. But Lee’s Lures poppers work well on the GTs as per previous reports over the years. This morning I scored a 485mm and a 495 mm GT on one of them. As  the tide was low I had to extend my landing net almost to it’s full extent to net these fish. The rocks that get covered by a normal high tide are covered in slime and mud that makes it dangerous to navigate over.

My “landing net” is duct taped to my gasff. The gaff is made from an extandable pool cleaner handle. The ends are blocked off with timber dowel and on the business end a groove is cut to accommodate the gaff’s shaft. I’m going to have to make a new one soon as this one is slipping when using the extention.

Tomorrow through  to Wednesday are looking real good for the reef, especially Monday. Boat is all ready to a trip out tomorrow.




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tony Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Nov 2022 at 6:05pm
Great stuff Martin, love Richard's poppers :)

Good luck tomorrow  Cool 
Cheers, Tony

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sudanraghu2210 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Nov 2022 at 7:02pm
"My “landing net” is duct taped to my gasff. The gaff is made from an extandable pool cleaner handle. The ends are blocked off with timber dowel and on the business end a groove is cut to accommodate the gaff’s shaft. I’m going to have to make a new one soon as this one is slipping when using the extention.

Martin !! all angler find their own creative ideas for hand made tools with the available resources.  They are good & effective as they meet your purpose rather than buying expensive one which again you need to alter as per your need.

Martin, why don't you try with carbon fiber collapsible fishing rod incase you have old one lying around . They portable,  ease to carry and strong with landing net attached to it on the top most blank. 

Any way nice fish you caught.

Regards, Raghubir


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Nov 2022 at 3:57pm
Originally posted by sudanraghu2210 sudanraghu2210 wrote:

"My “landing net” is duct taped to my gasff. The gaff is made from an extandable pool cleaner handle. The ends are blocked off with timber dowel and on the business end a groove is cut to accommodate the gaff’s shaft. I’m going to have to make a new one soon as this one is slipping when using the extention.

Martin !! all angler find their own creative ideas for hand made tools with the available resources.  They are good & effective as they meet your purpose rather than buying expensive one which again you need to alter as per your need.

Martin, why don't you try with carbon fiber collapsible fishing rod incase you have old one lying around . They portable,  ease to carry and strong with landing net attached to it on the top most blank. 

Any way nice fish you caught.

Regards, Raghubir



Thanks Raghubir. I don't have any of these fishing rods, but the pool cleaner handles I use are cheap and I have roof racks on my car and they fit very nicely on them. I have seen landing nets made out of those and they would work very well.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Nov 2022 at 4:14pm

Heading out to the reef today with Mickey Rat we were trying to skirt a down pour that was hanging over the reef we were going to fish. A few plans were changed on the way out but the lightning strike gave us a bit of consternation. The rain seemed to be easing and there was not any follow up lighning strikes so we changed our plans back to the original reef to fish.

We hit our target area dead on low tide. My preference is to fish the falling tide but how often can you get your perfect conditions. You have to take your opportunities as they come up.

We scored a few good fish early upbut as the tide got higher, the fish quietened right down. I got a beautifully coloured 50 cm Chinaman fish and shortly afterwards Michael pulled in a stunning 51 cm red bass. Both of these fish are totally cool to look at and they hammer on the end of the line. I had an agenda today to take home a coral trout and I kept a nice 45 cm model. Soon afterwards I added another in the esky that was larger, but I didn’t measure it (estimate it at 47 cm).

We then scored a few small fish before trying another area on the same reef. This area I have smashed the trout many times before but it was always on the falling tide. This was the first time I had tried this area with the tide so high. We caught a few small fish but I did score a nice 88 cm giant trevally on a Mark A lure. This fish really gave me a hard time. I chased it with the electric outboard for quite a while and  thought I had a metre plus GT.

I used Doc Yarrum lures first off. Then I went to two Snowy lures. I lost one before the braid snapped on a cast and couldn’t locate it again. I used a braid brand that I hadn’t tried before. The other Snowy scored me a few fish including a 52 cm flowery cod. I then had to strip more braid off as I noticed a weak spot after a cast, where they had not been any strain on this section. Michael said that he had used this line before and found it good. At home I checked the runners in case one of them had cracked but they are all good). I then snagged this Snowy lure and it didn’t float back up.

I checked the weather for tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday again and the conditions are going to be similar to today. Now to see if I can wear myself out over the next 3 days.


Tomorrows weather



Michael with his red bass, caught on a beach found Bomber



Doc Yarrum lures

chinaman fish



coral trout




varigated emperor


The giant trevally o the Mark A lure



Snowy lures

stripey



2 photos of the flowery cod




coral trout




I had to take this photo of this little longfin cod. The lure was as big as the fish itself. We caught quite a few stripeys, varigated emperor and various species of longfin but didn't take photos of them all.





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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Nov 2022 at 4:21pm
This is an adult chinaman fish, still very stunning. This one went 1 metre exactly (caught on a HJK stickbait).


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sudanraghu2210 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Nov 2022 at 5:32pm
Martin !

You guys really had a good time.

Wow !!  adorable fishes you guys caught and that too good size almost all of them .............cheers !!

Regards, Raghubir
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chep Buxley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Nov 2022 at 6:40pm
Does every fish have fangs up there? I'd be no good, first thing I would do is go for the thumb grip 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SnowE Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Nov 2022 at 7:39pm
Hi Martin,

Great report as always, good to see the lures getting a workout.
Cheers,

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DocYarrum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Nov 2022 at 9:33pm
Another great read Martin.
You guys sure are blessed up there in that part of the world.

Well done mate! 🤙
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rivoli Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2022 at 8:22am
Nice report Martin. The chinamans look like theyd give you a good workout, tanks of the reef.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Seaweed Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2022 at 11:56am
Yes Marty, up here common knowledge best live bait for barra is a baby barra. Many unscrupulous cast netters would use any small ones exactly for that purpose. Sad really, but happens.
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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 2022 at 4:32pm
Originally posted by Chep Buxley Chep Buxley wrote:

Does every fish have fangs up there? I'd be no good, first thing I would do is go for the thumb grip 

LOLLOLLOL

Lip grips and needle nose pliers are mandatory whenever I go to the reef. What ever doesn't have fangs are generally bait fish. Even queenfish are bait fish for big spanish mackerel and marlin.

I've recently added an old towel that I had sown in a hem and filled that up with sinkers. This is for those bigger fish that are still full of fight and attitude. Wet this towel down and throw it over the head of the fish and it calms them down and even if it does still thrash, the towel would help to stop teeth on my flesh contact.Big smile
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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 2022 at 4:33pm

A near photocopy of yesterday, except for a bit more sun. I was out on my own and a little bit later then what I had originally intended. I slept in for an hour because when my alarm went off there was thunder every 30 seconds. This storm had moved offshore by the time my second alarm went off and according to the weather bureau it had moved past the reef I was going to fish.

I hit the first reef to try GT corner, but I was an hour too late and only saw 0ne giant trevally that could not be enticed. I took out  2 rods. My usual GT outfit and a new casting outfit to see how it performed. The rod was too sloppy and gave the fish too much leeway. This is how I lost my Lobby Lure, the fish was able to gain enough play in the rod to make it to the bommie. Still I caught a couple of small fish with this lure before I lost it.

I went out to my target reef. The same one as yesterday. I wanted to see if I could locate the coral trout. I was still perservering with the sloppy rod and paid the price by loosing a Doc Yarrum and a Kuttafurra. I still caught a couple of small fish on them though.

One went a Mark A lure using my GT rod. This rod is twice the weight of my usual casting rod and I ended up trolling for the rest of the trip. Trying to find the bigger fish I went into deeper water and started getting more fish. As I wanted to go deeper I put on a Ganesy lure and found more fish. My last fish of the day was a 62 cm passionfruit trout in 11 metres of water.

All of my fish went back today as it was purely for fun and tagging fish.

I’m back out again tomorrow with my sister. She hasn’t been out to the coral reefs for over 20 years. I font know how much fishing will get done but it’ll be good to get her out there.

photos in a new post - just in case.

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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 2022 at 4:45pm
I have included photos of some of the small fish, same species but with different lures. This is to show what that lure can catch

Ganesy Lures

coral and passionfruit trout (2 photos of the passionfruit)





This is the orange towel I use to calm down big fish

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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 2022 at 5:07pm
ok another go at this

still with Ganesy lures

remora, longfin cod





Doc Yarrum lures

stripey (snapper), I tag these as these are very popular and many people's favourite eating reef fish even though they are only small


varigated emperor, 



Kuttafurra lures

longfin cod and stripey






Lobby lures

longfin cod, stripey, coral trout








Mark A Lures

varigated emperor, stripey, longfin cod, coral trout









All up today I still caught over 20 fish, so still a good day.






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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chep Buxley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2022 at 9:15pm
Nice mixed bag of fish.
I like the colours on the Mark A lure.
I would never have guessed the Stripeys are good eating. Shocked They would be straight overboard if I caught one. I guess you can never judge a book by it's cover.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Nov 2022 at 1:24pm
Originally posted by Chep Buxley Chep Buxley wrote:

Nice mixed bag of fish.
I like the colours on the Mark A lure.
I would never have guessed the Stripeys are good eating. Shocked They would be straight overboard if I caught one. I guess you can never judge a book by it's cover.

They are a lutjanid, a close relative of the mangrove jack. Roly caught one off the rock a couple of months back and he was so excited you would have thought he won the lottery.
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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 2022 at 1:42pm

Out on the reef with big sister – you can tell us apart, she has the bigger moustache (that gets me in trouble with her Big smile ). Sue got her first fish on a lure- 2 stripeys and a moses perch. Sue was having trouble even getting a hit no matter what lure I put on the end of her line. Eventually I put on a Doc Yarrum lure and she started getting hits. Twice she was broken off by the fish making it to a bommie, but twice the lure floated back up. I firmly believe that I get many lures back because I crush the barbs on my trebles.

Things didn’t start off too smoothly. I told Sue to meet me at the boat ramp at 6 am. I like to launch and retrieve the boat by myself. (That way I don’have to double check that everything has been done. When you get in a groove it becomes more efficient to do it all yourself. ) At 6 am Sue called me and said that she had slept in. So to fill in time I had a cast around the boat ramp. Soon I had a small queenfish on a new Mad Dog lure that I received yesterday.

Our destination today was a different reef, one closer in as I wanted to make it back early. Sue and I continued to use Mad Dog lures and I got a few fish. As we were trolling deeper, we ended up changing over to deeper running lures. I used the same Mark A lure that I got the 88 cm GT on when fishing with Michael on Sunday just gone. That scored me a nice 52 cm coral trout that went into the esky. That lure also scored me a 485 mm spangled emperor. Despite this fish being over legal size, I tagged it and let it go.

We left the reef at 10:30 am and by midday my boat was refuelled, cleaned, fish processed and me showered and now feeling refreshed enough to write this report and send off the tagging details. We only caught the 2 trout today, but we caught a lot of stripey snapper and no varigated emperor. These little emperor are like rats on the reef so their absence is unusual to me.

Tomorrow, Thursday and possibly Friday are looking good. Looks like I’ll be blowing my bi weekly spend on boat fuel for this week Cry , but it may be a while before I can get out again once this spell of good weather ends.


Mad Dog lures

Queenfish, coral trout, stripey





Doc Yarrum lures

stripey, moses perch




Mark A lures

stripey, 52 cm coral trout, 48.5 cm spangled emperor




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Nov 2022 at 4:56pm

Another easy run out to the reefs today. Even though the tide was still falling witnh another 3 hours to low tide, I stopped off at GT corner for a look. Not a thing. But trolling along the outside of this reef with a Mad Dog mackerel lure I scored a little remora. These things are everywhere lately. A bit disappointing to get a good hit only to bring one of these things up. A little later on I past the lure over a deep bommie and I was hit hard, and I mean very very hard, only to have the line suddenly come up slack. I wasn’t busted off as when I would in the line I could feel the lure still attached.

Back in the boat and the lure had the belly treble straightened and the tail treble and split ring missing and not a mark on the lure. So what happened (I hear you ask… well I’ll tell you)? This was a classic GT hit, albeit it would have been a big GT. Now if a fish get a treble in the upper jaw, and gets a treble in the lower jaw when the mouth is fully opened, and the fish closes it’s jaws, then the power in those jaws can easily deform hooks and split rings. This has happened to me a few times with barra. It is unbelievable how powerful many fishes jaws are.

I powered out to my target reef. I hadn’t been at this reef for about 12 months now so I wanted to sample it again. It was now 6:30 am and I was sweating profusely. My first cast with the same Mad Dog lure (I keep spare trebles and split rings with me) and I dropped a coral trout. Second cast and I dropped another one right beside the boat. The reason I lost these fish was because they took the lure on the other side of a shallow bommie and I bullied them over the top of it. I could see that they were only lightly lip hooked and I suspect that my (required) heavy handedness had ripped theit lips. I thought, “now this is going to be a good day”and I didn’t get another hit for another hour.

When that third hit did come, it came from the other side of a bommie and straight underneath it and exit one Mad Dog lure. A few hits started coming but they were only “nipping”at the lure. I switched over to a Doc Yarrum lure and scored a few varigated emperor and stripeys. Then a GT struck and exit that lure only to have it float back up. A little later on it gets hit by a passionfruit trout. I managed to get it through and over some horrendous terrain only to have it make it’s way to a mushroom coral (don’t know it’s proper name but it’s shaped like a mushroom) right beside the boat. I put the electric into spot lock while tying on another leader hoping it will float back up. But no luck this time.

On went another Doc Yarrum, a few more small fish and then I watched something  happen that only comes about around once a year. I watched a stripey snapper attack the lure and get hooked. As I was fighting it, I watched a 37 cm coral trout try to take the lure out of the stripeys mouth and get hooked itself. Thus I landed two fish on the one lure. Feeling pretty cocky with myself and the next cast – GT happens again.

Now I had a dedicated GT rod with me and every time I saw what could have been a GT I cast towards it. All to no avail as a GT didn’t even look like it was going to hit a lure. Unfortunately more lures will fall to these brutes today.

Not wanting to loose three Doc Yarrums in one outing I put on a Fugly Martin’s Minnow. A couple of small fish and – GT happens again. One with another leader and a Blinky lure, a couple of small fish and ….. GT again. This time the lure floated back up, with a broken bib    . I’m beginning to rethink my fondness for this species    .

Out came one of Ganesy’s first model lure. I had some success with this lure on Sunday fishing with Michael. That scored me a nice 42 cm coral trout. Normally I don’t keep these this small but I wanted to take one home.

I rounded the eastern edge of this little reef and threw out a Jollop jewfish lure. This is a big lure that I thought a GT would go for. The lure fouls up, or so I thought, and a baby 27 cm long nose emperor comes on board. This is a lure with a 19 cm body, 22 cm overall. What a greedy little fish. Next up on this lure came a big trigger fish. Both fish only had small mouths and I don’t know how they managed to get hooked.

When I finally looked towards home, I couldn’t see the coast line. All along the coast was showers, and I’m in bright sunshine. It only took me 40 minutes to travel 30 kilometres before I had to throttle down. The waves from the rain storm became too large for my liking so I travelled the last 10 kilometres at a slow pace. At least the rain washed the salt from my eyes.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Nov 2022 at 5:07pm
Rain still hanging around so connectivity suffers. I may have to do a couple of posts for the photos.

What the reef looked like today (jelly much?) Try pulling fish out of this stuff.






















































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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Nov 2022 at 5:23pm
I'll resist (mostly) from showing the smaller species as we have seen these lures catch these small fish before.

Blinky lure - a saddletail




Doc Yarrum lure - coral trout and the double header





Fugly Martin's Minnow and stripey (I had to show something that this lure caught before the GT took it)



The coral trout on the Ganesy lure




Jollop jewfish lure
the baby long nose emperor and the trigger fish






Mad Dog lures
the remora, the lure that was hit by a GT - then lost to one, a stripey on a new model - wolf





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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sudanraghu2210 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Dec 2022 at 12:05am
Martin !! its like going through rainbow colors, beautiful fishes caught and g8 pics of reef capture. True, its not easy to pull out fish after hitting the lure through those reef.Thumbs Up

Regards, Raghubir
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Dec 2022 at 4:08pm

Before I get into todays reef trip, I’ll explain a couple of photos. The first photo is of an extremely aggitated barramundi hanging around the wharf. This fish was about 70 cm long and is displaying the white stripe from it’s mouth up to it’s dorsal fin. I thought maybe it was in extreme breeding mode, until I saw a near 2 metre long barracuda swim out from under the wharf. The barramundi was obviously worried about the ‘çuda.


The next 2 photos are of one of Ryan Moody’s lures that he had lost. As a stickbait, the nose tow had pulled and he tried to use it backwards. I don’t know if Ryan has his own brand of lures now or if he just personalize his lures.

 


 

Now onto today. A bit of a bumpy ride out today. The winds were light but the surface chop was just the wrong shape, but I still had a comfortable ride once I slowed down from 46 kph to 30 kph. I first tried an area that I had plenty of success a couple of years ago. Since then this area had gone quiet for some reason. I didn’t do any good here so I trolled the deeper reef another area of this same reef. I had started getting a few fish, including some legal sized coral trout, but I tagged them and threw them back. I wanted to take a trout home today but, even though I caught a few at legal size, they were still too small for my liking.

I then worked my way around the back of this reef. I have done reasonably well here lately but this time it was pretty quiet with only just a couple of the smaller species. By this time it was low tide so I really didn’t hold much hope until the tide started to run back in again. I did have a school of spangled emperor following my boat for quite a while, however they showed no interest in my divers or stickbaits. I think they were feeding off the smaller species I was releasing. After a while I worked back to the previous productive area and scored a few more just legal trout.  I did see a couple of big giant trevally and a nicely coloured black GT smashed the HJK stickbait I was using but it failed to hook up.

Back at the boat ramp I was talking to Peter Fooks. For those who don’t know, Peter started up “The Lure Shop”  in Cooktown and has now retired. Peter regularly comes up from Brisbane for holidays. I know I am on the right track as he too prefers to fish the falling and low tides on the reef . Good confirmation as Peter is very experienced in fishing these reefs.

The northern Spanish mackerel closure ends after next Monday 12/12/22 and I am eagerly waiting for a trolling session for them.

Doc Yarrum lures. 

The first photo is of a Doc Yarrum lure that was bitten off by a (bloody) long tom. I watched the area for a while and saw a disturbance on the surface of the water, 5 seconds later the lure floated back up. Just as well as "saltwater was welling in my eyes"LOL (Sorry Julian - if ya know- you knowWink ).








I tried Ganesy lures for small species only. However this lure went on at dead low tide which is, in my opinion, the worst time to lure fish the shallow reefs.



This HJK minnow was quite productive on the rising tide. It too caught a lot of the smaller species (stripeys, varigated emperor, longfin cod)




I received this Lip Rip lure on Tuesday .... and lost it today. A big "something" hit the lure and promptly went under a bommie, I circled around to pull it from the opposite direction and managed to pull the fish out, but it went directly under another nearby bommie and cut me off.



I love these stripeys. They pull very hard and the initial hit is often a "slam", and they look very cool 

Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Dec 2022 at 2:58pm

Another solo trip to the reef today. I went to that same reef that I lost the 2 Doc Yarrums, the Martin’s Minnow, the Kuttafurra and another lure (?) on the Thursday last week.

The ride out was very similar to yesterday. The overnight winds had carried on to this morning and only died down for a little while. The only reason why today wasn’t blown out is because it was a westerly wind / breeze that worked against the current. This keeps the wind swell down but chops up the surface layer. In a larger boat it’s not much at all, in my boat it meant either slowing down or have a wet and bumpy ride. I still made pretty good time though.

Today the coral trout were on right from the start. They were mainly  just under/ just over legal but I kept the two larger ones at 45 and 46 cm. I only caught about a dozen of the smaller species and the fishing was hectic for the first hour. The tide started to slow down reaching it’s height and this in turn slowed up the bite.

I actually tried a bit of bait fishing today. I have a spot that comes up from 35 metres to 11 metres covering about half a hectare. Come the mackerel season and I’ll troll this as it often holds big spanish macks. I caught a small coral trout and a couple of stripeys but got bored with using bait so after loosing a fish to a shark then being bitten off by a shark, I packed up and went home.


Ganesy Lures went well in the deeper water




I had 2 Mad Dog lures and a C.R.A.F.T. lure taken by long toms today. These bloody things are haunting me. I got a couple of small species on the Mad Dogs before I lost them but didn't take many photos. I didn't even get a chance to catch a fish on the C.R.A.F.T. lure before it was taken



The Fugly Martin's Minnow worked well. I stopped taking photos of most of the smaller specimens including the smaller trout. Hence only the one photo for this lure.



This HJK minnow worked very well over the very shallow reef. This lure caught 5 trout all up today and a big number of stripeys, varigated emperor, longfin cod.In less then a metre of water you have to high stick the rod to try to lift the fish from the bottom, hence you need an overpowered fast tapered rod for this sort of work.




Doc Yarrum is on a winner with this lure. It's proving itself as a great lure in freshwater (read my Oyala Thumotang N.P. trip) and on the reef.



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Chep Buxley Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Dec 2022 at 5:28pm
You'll be dreaming about Long Toms tonight!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Dec 2022 at 5:56pm
Originally posted by Chep Buxley Chep Buxley wrote:

You'll be dreaming about Long Toms tonight!

Bloody things, I ought to start eating them just to thin them out. You can see them leaping across the surface anticipating where the lure is going to land- the lure is still in mid flight.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rivoli Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Dec 2022 at 6:14pm
Nice work Martin, really living the dream at the moment. When is the best mackerel time?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TimmO Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 Dec 2022 at 8:10pm
Thank you for your informative posts Martin. I check in weekly and love them. I friggen miss NQ. 

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Cut up some longtoms for bait. That'll teach 'em!
a good lure is a tool, not a toy - Vic McCristal
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 2022 at 3:32pm
Originally posted by Rivoli Rivoli wrote:

Nice work Martin, really living the dream at the moment. When is the best mackerel time?

Generally in spring and summer up here in Cooktown. But we now have 2 closed seasons up here in the north - in October / November and in December. I don't know when the closed season/s in south Queensland is. But our season opens up again after midnight Monday.
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Well the weather held again so Mickey Rat and myself went out to the reef from yesterday’s trip. I was hoping that the coral trout were still going to be on the chew like yesterday. But alas, it was not so. We got some fish as soon as we started fishing the shallow water again. We first tried trolling the deeper reef – 7 to 9 metres looking for the bigger fish for no result.

Things quietened down pretty quickly and we had a hard time finding the trout. We found plenty of smaller species, especially the varigated emperor, and as per usual those bloody long toms wanted to get into the act. I did score a nice 46 cm coral trout on a Lobby Lure that took up residence inside the esky. On a Lobby Lure I also caught a 40 cm trout that I tagged yesterday.

Both Michael and I either dropped of were snagged by big fish. The trout seemed to be taking lure "softly" yesterday and today and sometimes it came as a shock to find that you had one on. This happened for both of my dropped big fish anyway.

 I’ll post up photos of the varied fish species caught on DJR (Steiny) and Lobby Lures to show the variety of fish that they can catch. We didn't take any photos of the varigated emperors though but we caught dozens of them. 

55 hours before I can target spanish mackerel again ….. but who’s counting?

fish on Steiny's DJR lures





A 41 cm coral trout on the same HJK minnow that I used yesterday



Lobby Lures next. The first 2  photos are of the same fish - the one that I tagged yesterday.




the 46 cm trout that preferred the ice cold esky




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ducks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Dec 2022 at 6:27am
I want to see some BBQ Long Tom already.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Dec 2022 at 5:49pm
Originally posted by Ducks Ducks wrote:

I want to see some BBQ Long Tom already.


Tghought that was going to happen today - but it missed the trebles and something chased it off.
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First off is a photo of an 80 cm plus female barramundi. Eventhough you can’t see it in this photo, underneath her are a couple of male barra of around 55 – 60 cm just waiting for her to drop her eggs. Once she starts dropping her eggs, the males will then give up their sperm in the hope that some will find the eggs and fertilize them. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of wasted eggs and sperm.

 

Another trip to the reef today. According to the weather forecast, it was going to be a short trip before the winds turn around and increase in speed. On the way out I started trolling a Snowy mackerel lure and a humungous lure made by Beardy once I made it to the first reef. The only thing that happened was a bonito on the Snowy lure and a good hit but no hook up on the Beardy lure leaving some nice character giving tooth marks in it. Apart from the minimal action I happened upon a nice bit of deep reef in 35 metres that I’ll explore later on with metal jigs.

I made it out to my selected reef (tough having so many to choose from) and started off throwing around some topwater lures – stickbaits and poppers. My only joy was a red bass caught on a Goanna popper.After a while I changed over to diving lures starting off with Snowy’s range. I soon landed a little undersized coral trout closely followed by a 58 cm passionfruit trout. I thought “now this is going to be a good day” , but all that happened was a few smaller species.

After a while I noticed the winds slowly changing direction so I started trolling back home. A massive hit on the Snowy mackerel lure that peeled off over 100 metres of line, then threw the hooks. An inspection of the lure showed no tooth marks. I suspect a baby black marlin had slashed at the lure with it’s bill and briefly had tangled up with the trebles.

I trolled close to another reef going home and in 16 metres of water, the Snowy mackerel lure takes off again. A nicely pink coloured 50 cm coral trout comes up. This trout joined it’s brother in the esky (yes I was in need of some fish today). As the boat moved into 27 metres of water, the Snowy lure gets hit again. This time it was a 37 cm coral trout. Now what is a bottom dwelling reef fish doing coming up from 27 metres of water to hit a lure that dives to approx 7 metres?

The rest of the troll home was slow and very bumpy for no more action. Friday may be my next day out. I was thinking about another morning fish tomorrow but I have some trailer maintenance to attend to.

This little bluebone liked this Lobby Lure. I have only caught a few of these fish on lures and none of them have been legal size - yet.



The red bass on the Menchin / Goanna lure



Snowy's lures now.

Bonito 


variegated emperor



Coral trout (including 2 photos of the 58 cm passionfruit trout)






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