Mike and I went to the vernons again today. First cast I got a massive pike and from there a bunch of smaller trevally. We went exploring for a new spot and got a variety of very small things like trout, cod and bluebones. Then we hit the goldie hole and it really fired – got quite a decent feed.
So all in all it was a good day, the only thing it was lacking was a real “photo fish”.
Maggie and I went down to a barra farm today. We also went on Saturday but didn’t manage to get anything.
On my fourth cast of the day I managed to hook a little fella. Maggie helped me wind it in.
A bit later on I hooked my second barra and Maggie reeled it in by herself.
At this point I cast and let her wind it in (teaching her how to jerk it a bit) and soon enough she hooked it herself! I had to get it off a pipe but otherwise she reeled it in all the way by herself. She was very proud and so was Dad!
She really liked the farm, additionally it is a great place to practice casting. She seems to be quite good at it too.
We went fishing on a charter in the harbour today with Maggie. I don’t love the style of fishing, nor do I ever have much hope of getting good stuff. However she loves it and I want to encourage the hobby while I can. It was ideal conditions but the day wasn’t great. We didn’t get much and the gear was very old and Maggie had a lot of trouble winding it. She still had loads of fun and the guide let her wind in a fish of his.
Went out exploring today. Lots of small fish and a few “alright”ones.
Mike got a great Queenie in and two big trevelly nearly in but sharks took them. We found a stream full of life but there were sharks everywhere. Did some shore fishing too – always fun.
Got 10 coral trout on lures all quite small. Probably 30-50 bluebones all small
My best was working for 30 mins to get what we thought was a metre trevelly in… only to find a shark!
Two sad stories of the day was hooking up a decent trevelly and having the hook pull free from my new expensive lure. The other was me filliting the Queenie for dinner… dropped it in the water to give it a quick clean and the fish grippers somehow came out from its jaw! Dropped it right under so no dinner for me.
Some trips just work!
Mike and I went out together looking for some Trevelly and Queenfish action. The plan was to throw lures around – I personally think Queenfish are very underrated as a table fish, though everyone agrees both are terrific fighters.
We went out and it was one of those (great) days! We caught loads, in fact, I twice caught two trevelly on the same lure! I had not seen this before, but it is not likely not that uncommon. They swim as a pack and because of the clear water I could see a fish follow the guy I had on my hook and try to grab the “food” out of its mouth and in doing so get hooked.
Mike caught something huge, it took him a very long time to even get a glimpse of it – brassy trevelly! 74cm and it fought like all hell. Was quite entertaining too, he would get it to the boat and I would get the net out, suddenly the fish would take off and threaten to spool Mike so I would have to start the boat up and chase him down. Then Mike would win the fight, get him to the boat and I’d get the net… only to have to start the boat again. That happened 4-5 times, we started calling him the “gym junkie trevelly”.
My best fish for the day was a 58cm Queenfish (a PB).
We finished the day with some bait in a hole. Not much was happening when suddenly I hooked something huge! I thought perhaps a ray because of how it could stick to the bottom. But it went on long runs, so I was daring to dream I had caught a monster jewie! It took me about 20 minutes to get it to the surface, and it was a turtle. Dissapointing and also a bit upsetting, I love turtles. It went back under and the line snapped right at the point which was good, hopefully it gives it a fighting chance.
Got:
Me – 58cm Queenie, approx 6 queenies, approx 10 trevelly.
Mike – 74cm Brassy Trevelly, approx 3 queenies, approx 15 trevelly, and lots of catfish on bait!