I haven't posted before so i may need to apologise in advance.
As previously posted by Brandon we were due to go on the first week fishing at Shoalwater and even with the best efforts of Nomad trying to organise a boat pick up from Hamilton island and a localised tour around the Whitsundays the weather gods prevailed with 85knot gusts and eventuated in the first cancellation of a trip.
i was fortunate to pick up a spot on the third week
With the weather reports looking good i was comforted with the sight of calm conditions as we flew in to the Percy group.
As Brandon has mentioned there were 6 guys from Jakarta, three from Brisbane,one Finnish native and a New Yorker (Long island)who i had the pleasure of meeting up with.
The Thai guys were in fact there to catch Marlin and had very little experience in both casting and jigging.They have as brandon mentioned already re-booked for the
Day One
The Nomad crew did their best for the Indo boys in organising a long distance run for trolling which resulted in a couple of decent Spanish mackerel,
For our boat Glanville was the guide it was me, Lenny (from Long island) and Folke who if you forgot his name (unlikely) kindly wore his name tag for two days.
If you ever thought this sport was fair forget it! Glanville was giving a casting lesson to Folke short of our intended spot, he fluffed the cast which went some 15 feet away from "Tight Stick" and a Gt which had no right to be there swallowed his cubera,to be lost after a explosive run.
We ended up this day having a triple hook up with the two new Gt boys each landing a 33-35 Kilo model.I dropped mine on the first run, but ended up with a couple of smaller models for the day
Day 2
Brett as Guide
When things run well you can do no wrong- everything stuck i ended with 5 for the day three 30-33 kilo fish and a couple of smaller ones
I managed to catch one on a prototype 100gm stick-bait, kindly sent over by Jon keep an eye for this in the marketplace its a sinker with plenty of movement and casts a dream and the finish i think is more elaborate.Hopefully the photo comes out OK bit mangled though courtesy of the GT.I know Malcolm will be testing its big brother (125 gm) in Bugatti
Day 3
Tim as Guide
Next day the mothership moved some 40 miles we all fished ahead of it again a good day with me holding on to three with the bigger one being the standout it was as Jon has mentioned 139cm from snout to fork it took some 10 minutes to cajole it to the boat with the new custom build carpenter SP78UHL SHP being put through its paces. I think there are 3 of these in Australia i know Brock has one and Malcolm the other (Thanks Jon for delivering and Brock for driving the demand) In between the tides in the last two days there were enough long tail tuna to keep us happy..
Day 4
Glanville as Guide
R.I.P Lures
Had a host of follows on the boat "Tight Stick" and we explored a previously unfished island Glanville had identified from the charts which with the tides looked promising, if the run ins were producing the strikes the run outs seemed to create a lethargy.
The island produced,I lost a lure to a rampaging GT had another run and spit, Folke produced (who i might add is 61) but a alpha male had hunted most living things around the world and eaten them! was introduced to a testosterone charged GT Aussie style which dragged him nearly through the bowspit of "Tight Stick" (We worked out Folke must have meant figurehead as he spent all the time at the
front of the boat!)back to the run... by 50metres he had dropped to one knee with the ripple fisher bent at a crazy angle across the top of the rail with line screaming out under it, how the rod didn't break i don't know but mercifully the line parted as the GT reached cover. That evening (Saturday)saw the mothership surrounded by day old turtles fresh from hatching,wasn't sure that was why the Gt's went off the bite!!
Day 5
Tim as Guide
The change arrived with a confused sea and rain there were two options stay on the mothership while we moved or fish over, Lenny and i chose the fish option, the contenders deep v hull was fantastic and whilst we didn't boat any big Gt's we had runs, a couple of smaller ones to the boat on light tackle, a Spanish mackerel.The Indo boys left about 4 pm as they had organised the plane which left the six of us on 4 boats
Days 6 and 7
The water conditions had deteriorated with a green sea and debris from the floods
Lenny caught a 25 Kilo fish in an amazing drain that was flowing at 8 knots (or that's what the boat was doing to hold position)Some queenfish strikes but not much else to report.
I ended up with 12 Gt's (4 decent) for the time ,Lenny would have caught 2 good ones and two to three smaller ones and overall the rest of the group would have netted another 6-8.
Thanks Guys....
