Just a quick report.
Some will know my new boat has finally arrived, a purpose built GT rig. I have been waiting all summer to put it through its paces, and after 2 cyclones, a month long flood, I have finally had the opportunity to take it on the trip it was designed for with the blessing from the minister for war and finance.
The weather forecast firmed up, and it was decided on Thursday night to give the weekend a shot. Deckie nos 1 (Wes) and 2 (Franco) both bailed, so it ended being another solo mission (sorry Brandon and Tak but I thought it might be a little too short notice for interstate deckies!).
The run up to the reef was interspresed with intermittent showers and wind squalls, making some of the trip less than comfortable. On the way I run into a white hooker (boat that is) with Jay (who I believe is a gtpopping member) aboard. It's a small world.
Finally get to the reef, and there are the occasional whitecaps all around with 1.5-2m ocean swell pushing in. Luckily the forecast is for dropping swell throughout the day. The first session was only a morning session, as it was blew up in the afternoon. Day 2 was also a morning session, again the the wind blowing up in the afternoon. It started to blow up at 9 oclock and after a several technicolour yawns, I decided to cut the session short and headed back in.
My memory is a little hazy from the Kwells, so I'll stick to the highlights.
Session 1:
I fire the first cast out, an orion, into the dstance and work it back - nothing. The second goes out - nothing. Third cast - a massive crash and boil behind, but no hookup. Several more casts, and a 4+ ft spaniard launches about 6ft into the air from under the orion. The spaniards were thick, and I ended up losing about 4 orions to them. I hookup and after a short little struggle a nice tea leaf trevally comes aboard. I move to a spot where the current and the swell are hitting a point. I first cast, Massive hit and miss. Second cast big boil behind, but no strike. Third cast, a it looks like a shark behind it, darting around, which then slams it side on. Solid hookup, followed by several hook sets and the fish is off. Its a solid fish, with fast powerful runs, with no headshakes, just stops and runs, stops and runs. I struggle with it for about 15 minutes, as it goes around and around the boat, staying deep. I finally see some colour, and am surprised its a GT, and a nice one at that. Thick and about 1.5-1.6m long. A couple of photos and back over she goes. I's stuffed and seriously worried about hooking another in the next short while, so I take a break for about 20 minutes. Countless casts later another smaller GT comes aboard.
Session 2:
Started out like it was going to be a better day, with the swell down, but that quickly changed and by 0900 I was chucking up over the side. Anyway, a couple of average fish and several mackeral thefts before abandoning the session. It got quite windy by the afternoon 20-25kts, so in hindsight I got out at the right time.
The purpose of the trip was to trial the boat, and it performed flawlessly. No doubt there will be more missions to come.
