Myself and three mates left the Friday before last and headed to Mackay for a three day trip with the Nomad boys on there 51 foot Riv. We departed on Sat morning at 3.30am (got back to the hotel at 2.45am after a "couple" of drinks) all a little concerned about the large seas after a big night. We steamed out and arrived at the reef around 10am. First drift saw a Gt landed around 20kg and I dropped one around the same size also had a doggie have a look at my stick bait. So fishing looked good but unfortunately it died off with only one more Gt landed on the first day. We caught a stack of sweatlip that night anchored up and a couple of sharks.
Second day saw the weather improve and was perfect conditions
. We travelled to a different reef still the Gt fishing was hard with only stickbaits rising fish. I changed to a large soft plastic and finally landed my first Gt for the trip around 18kg. Then lot long had another around 12kg on soft plastic. Then only 15mins after that Lay managed one on a stickbait, things were looking up.
But unfortunately that was it for Gts for the day. On anchoring we cummed the water for some bait fishing, and to our supprise two Gts started circling the boat so we dropped bait down and finally Matt was on! for about 10seconds as it busted him on the boat
. To say we were disappointed was an understatement, But then Matt hooked up again this time keeping clear of the boat, he was in the clear, or so we thought, the Gt ran about 70m to bust him off on the closest reef.
That was it for the Gts that night we managed allot of sweatlip up to 5kg and plenty of sharks which kept Matty happy
(he loves the sharks)
The third day saw the weather improve yet again and the conditions could not be better. We had a hot session on Gts in the morning with Matt landing his first ever Gt
it was about 18kg and as it was being dragged aboard by Rod our decky he said "boy that was fun!". Matt managed another one that hit right at the boat so he was stocked he we forgave him for dropping the two the night before. We also had about 8 strikes that morning with Kris dropping a good fish of an estimated 27kg-30kg.
Oh and I got a 20kg Doggie on the troll my first doggie and i was impressed carnt wait to catch a bigger one. Lay also hooked and landed a 18kg Spanish on a stickbait.
After the morning we went for a Jig but had no luck only more Sweatlip and sharks. So we proceded home with a popping session on the way back only rising a few fish but no hook ups.
All in all it was a great trip the fishing was a little disappointing but hey that's fishing, the boat is amazing and Our skipper Tim and decky Rod were a pleasure to fish under and made the trip and the weather was amazing you could have just staded out and soaked it up.
