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Luring Cooktown

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SnowE View Drop Down
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Snowys Lures

Joined: 29 Aug 2010
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SnowE Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Feb 2024 at 10:05pm
Sounds like another good trip Martin! Did you get any photos of the SnowE lure after it got roughed up? Send it back to me and I will rebuild it if you like.
Glad you got a few fish, pity about the lure loses though.
Cheers,

SnowE
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Feb 2024 at 8:45am
It’s the rear hook hanger with how chewed up it got. I’ve got to go to Brisbane within the next week. Once I know the details I can drop it off to you.. I was thinking of cutting a small end off the tail and RE drilling and RE gluing in the hook hanger.

We had the gaff in it’s mouth to keep it open. Without that it would have chowed down on the lure more 


Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ducks Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Feb 2024 at 8:58am
Just hang it on the wall! Don't put it through anymore torment...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SnowE Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Feb 2024 at 10:43am
Maybe you should just retire it.
Cheers,

SnowE
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Rivoli Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Feb 2024 at 3:02pm
Thats got 20 more fish in it for sure haha. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Feb 2024 at 12:17pm
Originally posted by SnowE SnowE wrote:

Maybe you should just retire it.

HMMMM … maybe I should. I’ve retired a First Strike lure after it’s first swim after it got mauled by a 2 metre + barracuda.

Here’s some of my retired lures. You’ll see a lot of broken bibs or nose tow lures with broken bibs there. Reef fish like to hit the head of lures so the bibs are one of the weakest points.


Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p.j. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Feb 2024 at 10:33pm
I see a perfect preserved 60mm. Banana with broken Bib. Next time I send you Lures I can send spare Bibs, so it can come out fish again 

  Knaek & Break 
          Per

Originally posted by horrorhead horrorhead wrote:

Originally posted by SnowE SnowE wrote:

Maybe you should just retire it.

HMMMM … maybe I should. I’ve retired a First Strike lure after it’s first swim after it got mauled by a 2 metre + barracuda.

Here’s some of my retired lures. You’ll see a lot of broken bibs or nose tow lures with broken bibs there. Reef fish like to hit the head of lures so the bibs are one of the weakest points.


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: 09 Feb 2024 at 1:41am
Well spotted Per. Yes that was a big coral trout that broke the bib on that one.
Martin-

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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 Feb 2024 at 5:17am
Hang that one up too mate. It looks great all chewed up!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Mar 2024 at 9:21pm

This is what it's like at the moment. I was itching to get back to Cooktown after attending personal business in Brisbane. I was only to find more bad weather. Just when it looked like we were able to get to a cattle station to chase barra only for the weather to get bad again.

I have a few new lures to try out and I'm itching to get things done.


Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Mar 2024 at 6:36pm
We have a tropical low in the Northern Territory heading towards Cape York and another further south near Townsville, both could turn into cyclones. But at the moment we have a few days of god wind’s coming up. Boat is all ready for a reef trip tomorrow. Good weather over the weekend means plenty of boats out but I may still go out. Monday is still looking pretty good.


Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote puglee62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Mar 2024 at 9:23am
get into it mate just keep a little closer to shore and head in if you see any whispy stormy looking fronts coming in
that's no how ye make porridge!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Mar 2024 at 8:48pm

So this morning my niece, her boyfriend and I had come off the plane and started trolling along a reef edge. There was plenty of bait showing on the sounder so our hopes were high on landing a spanish mackerel or two. Niece Tiffany was using an orange Ganesy lure and I was using a big saltwater trolling lure from Kuttafurra. Pretty soon Tiffany had hooked up, then just as quickly the line came up loose. She hadn’t been using a wire trace. I circled the boat around and found the lure floating. Crimped points on the hooks assists the fish in throwing a lure once the pressure comes off.

With a wire trace tied on we started trolling again, Tiffany opting to fish the orange Ganesy lure again. She was hit a few more times but the fish would not stay connected. I ended up setting the hooks of my Kuttafurra into a solid spanish mackerel and it jumped all over the place. After it’s final jump in came in relatively easy – it’s tail had been bitten off by a shark with tooth marks all up one side, one wasted fish.

We started a troll to the next reef making sure we didn’t stray into the nearby green zone. Tiffany hooks up again and spends 10 minutes fighting kin a rather large bonito. Boyfriend Shannon bleeds the fish over the side with thoughts of sushi, or crab bait, only to drop it overboard. Now, I’m not going to say that Shannon was given hell over this, but let’s just say that … OK OK OK, we gave him bucket loads of crap and he will cop it for a while yet to come. Somebody else will have to mess up to alleviate the verbal diarrhoea that will be thrown at him until that time.

At the next reef we tried our hardest. I was hit by an undersized coral trout that attacked my Bullship lure on the surface. Shannon managed a little queenfish on a DJR proto lure then he lands a just undersized spangled emperor. This was pretty poor going for this reef. The tides didn’t really help with only a 10 cm difference between low tide and high tide. As the old saying goes – no run no fun. I did loose a brand new First Strike lure on it's first run to something big that took it under a bommie though.

We decided on a troll back to the first reef but I took us over a little bommie that rises from 29 metres to 12 metres on the way. The bait was stacked on this reef and we pulled in a few big scad to use as bait off the wharf. The sounder showed a few big fish hanging around this bait so we trolled around this bommie. Shannon hooked onto a 108 cm spanish mackerel caught on a Kuttafurra Scud, one of Aaron’s timber models (not bad for a yellowbelly lure). A little while later Tiffany hooks onto something B.I.G. using that orange Ganesy. Our first thoughts were of a mega sized spanish mackerek with the first blistering run. But after 15 minutes the fight changed from a span mack fight into xsomething else. I was hoping for a huge coral trout with the slug fest that was happening (wishful thinking) but knew it had to be – a shark. At over 2 metres long and a near 30 minute fight Tiffany did well to bring this shark to the surface. Shannon was able to see just the tip of the bib protruding from the shark’s mouth so it was obvious that this lure was not coming back.

So once the line was cut Tiffany then put on a DJR Jack Hammer and was soon hooked onto a spanisk mackerel. This one stayed connected and now, after 2 previous good fights was into another fight. Little girl- big fight, she was hurting with tired muscles but this fish came on board at 104 cm. This was the fish she really wanted and is her biggest lure caught fish. With 2 big mackerel in an esky that couldn’t close because of tails hanging out we called it a day as we didn’t want these fish to spoil.

A slow day on the reef fish but a good day overall.

Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Mar 2024 at 8:54pm
Fish on DJR lures










One of the big scads caught on the Fugly lure




The spanish mackerel on Kuttafurra lures




Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote p.j. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Mar 2024 at 11:34pm
Not many fish compared to what you usually catch
But I'm sure Tiffany in particular will remember this trip for a while Big smile

    Knaek & break
            Per
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote sudanraghu2210 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16 Mar 2024 at 2:02am
Martin ! seems you & your team had exciting day, on the reef with adrenaline running very high with some good hits and catches of legal size.  Saw the video posted on your Facebook,  there was excitement onboard and the hits and catches tells the whole story.   

Thanks for sharing details story on your todays trip, look forward see more.

Regards, Raghubir
Its takes years of hard work, commitment and passion to give a life to a piece of raw timber !!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 hours 29 minutes ago at 7:19pm

With dingoes howling from the north shore in the early morning pre dawn I cast my lure out again. I had just launched my boat and was waiting for my crew to arrive when I saw a big barra roll on the surface less then a metre from the boat ramp pontoon. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, I starting casting my moulded Kuttafurra Scud – Aaron’s lastest lure he started to mould instead of making them from timber.On the third cast, the barra of around 80 cm followed my lure, saw my ugly face and quickly turned away refusing to come aback again. I must have really scared it.

Just as this happened my nieces boyfriend turned up, minus my nephew. So Shannon and myself set off. We trolled for a bit as I wanted to find some structure that years ago anchored one of the marker bouys for the channel. Shannon and my niece found it the previous day when they trolled up a couple of school mackerel.

This structure was quickly found using his trolling marks that he was using on Grassy Hill ined up with a section of beach near Indian Head. Shannon hooked a wolf herring (no photo) on a DJR Creak Freak and I hooked a small barracuda on a Fugly trolling lure. With this marked on my slunder / GPS unit, we powered ou to our chosen reef. This is the reef where I had my spanish mackerel from the previous trip bitten in half. As we approached the reef Shannon hooks a bonito on a DJR proto lure.

Trolling further around the reef we both had a couple of missed hook ups. I made sure we trolled over a deep section hole that drops dramatically from the reef. Shannon hooks and lands a 104 cm spanish mackerel on a First Strike lure. On the second pass I landed a nice 112 cm spanish mack using the Fugly trolling lure. Now my fish really gave md some stick and as per the photo, you can see how fat and healthy it was.

With our boat limit od spanish mackerel on board we started flicking the shallow reef. This was the reef section directly on the windward side of the reef we caught very little. I had previously proven to myself that the reef fish prefer the lee side of the reef. So we motored over to the other side of the reef and we were entertained by a constant stream of fish.

Only one of these fish was a keeper and normally I would have put back a coral trout of this size. But as my niece loves a feed of coral trout we kept this just legal fish at 40 cm. I normally don’t like keeping them under 46 cm but today’s lack of bigger fish was the exception.

During our reef foray I kept a close eye on the weather. The various forecasts I use all said north / north easterly winds dropping down to zro kilometres per hour. The actual winds were south easterly and didn’t drop under 15 kilometrs per hour. Rain hit us but no lightning so we were not worried at all. I just don’t like having my vision impaired by rain drops on my glasses. Once again we called an early stop to fishing to make sure the mackerel were still in optimal eating condition.

Another fun trip. Now early tomorrow morning, I’ll see if that big barra is still around that pontoon.

Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote horrorhead Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 hours 10 minutes ago at 7:38pm
Shannon's spanish mackerel on the First Strike lure




DJR lure photos now. The first photo is Shannon diving for a snagged lure - he wasn't going to loose 5 in a day. I made sure he took the extra long nosed, long handled fishing pliers with him












Fish on the Fugly trolling lure






Fish on Kuttafurra Scud lures. Shannon's Scud is a timber lure, mine are Aaron's new moulded Scud lures.














Martin-

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote puglee62 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 hours 12 minutes ago at 6:36am
good to see you getting into a few at last Martin,thats a nice Mac you got on the mickey mangrove lure!
that's no how ye make porridge!
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