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Clay Hilbert

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Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 01, 2011, 04:52:20 PM
Finally, Ive got the chance to write up a trip report for the two trips I went on In late April and early may! Between Uni, work (saving for more GT trips  :P) bream fishing and trout fishing I haven't had time to write up a good report! This is my first report So go easy fellas  ;)

After seeing family friends go over to Ono Island in 2010 me and the old man decided it was time for us to get amongst a few of these GT's on poppers and stickbaits! We had to bring mum and my little sister with us, so we decided that our port of call was Fiji on the Coral Coast. We booked our trip through Ocean Blue and we couldn't have been happier with the way they helped us design our trip.

Day 1: We flew from, melbourne to Nadi and caught a bus down to the Mango Bay resort on Fiji's Coral coast, we were greeted by all the staff at the resort which was a beautiful reception. I'd be lucky enough to go to Fiji before, but my parents were blown away by Fijian Hospitality. It truly is amazing. After a snorkel, and a beautiful feed it was time to get the gear ready for our first day out on the boat. Unfortunately, our rods didn't arrive with flight so we had to wait a day until we had our gear. So we decided the Local wahoo populations would be our first challenge.

Day 2: Set out from Mango bay towards some of the islands located off the coast, we trolled for Wahoo and managed 8-10 for the day, with a few solid fish amongst them. I managed one on a jig which I was pretty happy about. While only being a smaller fish I was still happy to get my first on a jig. When we got back to the resort they cooked us up a beautiful feed of chargrilled wahoo which was amazing. We were greeted with our rod tubes which had been dropped off my air pacific!

Day 3: Because it was a sunday, we decided to go with the Fijian tradition and have a rest day. The weather was too flash, so hours were spent by the pool while the rest of the family went on a Jet boat ride up the sigatoka river! They said it was an excellent experience!

Day 4: In the morning we decided to hit up a few coral drop offs in search for a dogtooth Tuna. I had one solid hit, and hook up but I was done and dusted within in seconds. Managed a couple of small Barracuda but that was about it. With the tides and swell rising, we decided to see if we could find a GT on the back of some of the bommies. On the way to the bommies we stopped to fuel up and have somethin to eat, next thing you know we see a few birds working out in the distance, so we we drove over to investigate! To our amazement, there were hundreds of 40-80kg yellowfin busting up all around the boat. It was all systems GO!!! We threw our poppers out and worked them back at hih speed, my offerin was engulfed by a fish we estimated to be around 80kg. With the road loaded up and the Stella locked, the fish ripped about 80m of braid of the pool before It pulled the hooks. Dad was on aswell and the same thing happened, much to our dismay! GUTTED!...Back to the GT'S... Casting all afternoon we had 20-30 solid fish come out of the water towards our stickbaits and poppers but we only had one strike, which resulted in a estroyed FCL squidpen. Me and the old man still hadn't managed to get our first GT's in 2 days of fishing! The deckies Johnny and Micky ensured our enthusiasm stayed high!

Day 5: The boys decided that we needed to get a few fish on the scoreboard so we decided to go chase some bluefin trevally inside the lagoons. Using P.E 5 gear and smaller sized poppers we managed 9 Bluefin trevally! It was nice to get a few on the board and it got us excited to chase something bigger in the afternoon. With a bit more solid swell and the correct tides we scooted out to the islands to find some GT's on the fringing reefs. We were greeted with some solid fish that were wuite aggressive towards our lures. Using our P.E 8 gear we weren't quite getting the casts close enough to the reef to get strikes, so we decided to downgrade to our P.E 5 gear to get out lures in there a bit further. We had 15-20 strikes for the afternoon, and I managed to get my first 15kg model on 50lb gear, on a nomad ulua stickbait. Dad got blown away by 2 solid fish, and he also managed a few red bass and bluefin trevally. My last cast resulted in something quite amazin, while twitchin my Nomad Ulua, I noticed a solid figure dwarfing the lure but i couldn't quite fiure out what it was. To my amazement, a 80-90k marlin came out of the water swatting my offering with his bill. I changed up the way I was retriving the lure but couldn't induce a strike. To see the fish was simply magical I was so pumped!

Day 6: Our final rest day we decided to go up the upper navua gorge to do some whitewater rafting! If anyone ever goes to Fiji I could not recommend this day higher! We Rafted a 35km stretch of the river and it was simply amazing, The whitewater sections weren't too full on so its something you could take you family too. My younger sister and Mum had an amazing time! The Scenery up there is simply stunning!

Day 7: Decided to dedicate this one to castin for GT's all day and we were rewarded. We managed 9 fish for the day with the biggest being around 23-24kg mark. All of the fish except one were pulled out from the reef on 50lb Gear, which i thought was quite an effort! They defeinately put up a solid fight on that gear! The final spot we went to on  the way home was just off the mian island, where we encounted some very solid 30kg+ models. We had 3 solid hits and we got monstered by all 3 fish. Bit disappointing but as I found out! Thats GT fishing.  It was honestly an amazing first trip and the boys from the boat made the trip 10 times better just because of their jokes and kind nature. On the last day they invited us back to their village to have A lovo. We ate the Lovo and talked to the village elders for a good 4 hours. Had a nice Kava ceremony and headed back to the resort. A day that will stay with me for a very long time! Here are the results  ::)

Rods Used: Illex Ashura 240H and Illex Ashura 270M
Reels: Shimano Stella 20000SW, Daiwa Saltist 4500H
Braid: 80lb TufLine and 50lb TD sensor
Lures: 120g Squid Pencil, Nomad Ulua's, Nomad Cubera, Smith Baby Runboh's, Nomad Bopara, Halco Roosters















Last Edit: September 01, 2011, 05:52:54 PM by Clay Hilbert

Clay Hilbert

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 01, 2011, 04:53:11 PM
Exmouth!

So after we got a taste, of the GT fishing we decided to get up to exmouth and do a trip With Eddy Lawler who runs Peak Sportsfishing, after hearing how his first few buissness trips went we were keen to up there and get amongst some fish. First and foremost, I have to commend Eddy, he runs an excellent charter up there and provides the best gear. We done a bit of everything up there and managed to get us onto fish even though the fishing was relatively tough. We had 2 guys on our trip who had never casted poppers before, and this was a severe hinderance on how many fish we actually caught. We would have caught alot more fish if we had of got more lures near the reef.

Day 1: We got to Exmouth and we were Greeted by his Eddy at the airport, took us for a tour of exmouth, and recommended where we should have a feed. He was serviceing the new motors on the back of contender so he offered his car to us and we went for a drive out to the west side and went for a snorkel at a few places that he recommended. The ningaloo marine park is absoluetely stunning and we saw a vast array of fish, corals and colours!

Day 2: Straight out to the GT grounds where we motored along the fringing reef, we had a few hits but the fishing was relatively quiet, the swell was pumping and the wind was picking up so Eddy decided to go inside the reef and use light gear to chase some spangled emperor. They co-operated and we managed 10-12 fish in short space of time, it was really good fun on 20lb gear and small poppers. On the way back to the ramp, Eddy with some expert spotting, spotted 3-4 Cobia schooling around a bommie in 5m of water. We hooked 3 of the fish on the light gear, and 2 of them manage to dust us. With some excellent driving i manage to coax mine out of his home and scored a Cobia of around 6-8kg. Was such a fun fish on 20lb gear and shallow water.

Day 3: weather was too kind, so we just had a few games of mini golf and went for a swim. Had a meal at the Italian restuarant in exmouth, the seafood pasta was one of the best meals I've ever had.

Day 4: Weather forecast was playing tricks on us, was saying 10 knots was actually blowing about 25. But we headed out anyway, as the swell had dropped off a fair bit, we worked our way down the fringing reef casting lures, and managed a mix array of fish including spangos, spanish mackeral, solid red bass and coronation trout. We had alot of GT's coming up to our lures, they were just ghosting the lures and not actually striking them. The other fish kept our head in the game! We got down a fair way, when Eddy from the tuna tower told us there were some solid GT's schooling on the riht side of the boat, Dad got his lure in their first and the surface erupted and his squid pencil ot inhaled by a solid fish, I was up next and cast towards the action, 4-5 solid came out from the bommie and compteted over my lure. A solid 25kg slammed me and reefed me within seconds. Dad managed to get his fish up, and the result was a solid 20k model. He managed to land another 2 GT's that day, while I got destroyed by everything that touched my lures!

On the way home we decided to troll for a marlin. So we put the poppin rods away and set up the trolling gear and set off for the  grounds. Its a nice way to sit back and relax, after an intense mornin of casting lures. After a few solid dolphin fish and small tuna, Eddy screamed "right out rigger, right out rigger" within seconds, we had a juvenile black marlin on! After an intense 15 min I had my first Marlin beside the boat! A nice 50kg model! Made my trip!!! Few quick snaps and he was released unharmed. We had another 8 fish come up to the lures in the space of 4 hours with one other hook-up, but the lure didn't stick! The sheer number of Billfish amazed me.

Day 5: The forecest said 5 knot variables so Eddy decided he would spoil us and we'd head out the islands for the day. We launched at the gulf boatramp and headed towards the islands. We were greeted with 20 knot winds.  and they intensified to 25 to 30knots. we managed to get a wide variety of fish along the outskirts of the island, includin spangled emporer, small GT's, bludger trevally, rainbow runners, and red bass. The fishing was a little uncomfortable and the wind just wouldnt die down so non-surpisingly  Eddy decided to pull the pin.

Day 6: With an afternoon flight, we decided to head out for a quick troll in the morning, we managed 6-7 solid dolphin fish. In 5 hours we raised 4 marlin, 1 sailfish. We managed to hook one fish but it pulled the hooks after 30 seconds.

Overall the weather dampened what would have been an epic trip. Although the GT's didn't really come to play we still managed 8 or so fish, with 3 solid ones. However as I stated earlier we would have caught alot more fish if we had of had 2 other anglers who knew how to cast. Full credit goes to Eddy who got us onto some fish and managed to get me my first marlin!!! Eddy's contender is the ultimate fishing vessel, and it is set up perfectly for fishing in Exmouth! Eddy is as passionate as anyone when it comes to getting fish, and his enthusiasm kept my head high after I got dusted a number of times!  Definately will be getting up there again ASAP. Its a cheaper GT trip compared to others in Oz, so I'd encourage everyone to get up there and head out with peak sportsfishing!


















Last Edit: September 01, 2011, 05:44:32 PM by Clay Hilbert

Dan Konig

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 01, 2011, 06:29:24 PM
Great report, and a few awesome photos there too.

Weatherwise sounds like my last Exmouth trip, but sounds like you still did better on the fish than we did!


Gary Prerost

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 01, 2011, 07:17:58 PM
Great photos and was great to here it how it was congrats on some great captures Gary

Travis Heaps

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 02, 2011, 07:46:36 AM
Great report Clay - thanks for the read.  That rafting looks awesome. 

Know what you mean about beginners and casting poppers - i'm thinking about making it a rule on our boat that if you're coming out GT fishing you need to be able to go down the beach and cast a popper 70m before you're allowed to step on board!   ;D

Rob Langridge

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 02, 2011, 08:03:43 AM
Great report Clay

I have had my eye on  Peak Sportfishing Web Site for a month or so now and really like what i see and your report has put the icing on the cake for me.

Looks like i will have to try and get a team of mates together and give it a shot. You and your old man got a good variety of fish and the GT`s are of a nice size.

Looking at all of the pictures with you in them shows you had a great trip. You have a smile like the Fox that has just left the chook pen.

Congrats on your first marlin Clay
Cheers,
Rob

Nathan Cefai

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 02, 2011, 09:51:38 AM
Mate that's a wicked trip,paddling threw those cliffs would be insane,some nice fish caught especially little blacks there always special..

David Noble

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 02, 2011, 10:24:27 AM
Hi Clay, What do you think of the Illex Ashura rods? and where and how did you manage to get hold of them, rare as hens teeth outside of Europe! I've never used the 270M, just the 240H.

Glad everything went well, great report and photo's mate.

Cheers David

Clay Hilbert

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 02, 2011, 06:15:51 PM
Great report Clay - thanks for the read.  That rafting looks awesome. 

Know what you mean about beginners and casting poppers - i'm thinking about making it a rule on our boat that if you're coming out GT fishing you need to be able to go down the beach and cast a popper 70m before you're allowed to step on board!   ;D

The rafting absolutely blew my mind, I'd done a little bit before In Cairns and up the Mitta Mitta, but those sheer cliff faces were something to behold.

I'm not expert at casting, but I'd had a bit more experience than the guys we went with. I picked it up quick because of previous fishing exploits, where as they had no experience of any sportsfishing whatsoever. They are top blokes, but they were just very cumbersome, with the heavy rods and big poppers. Their persistence with giving lures action was much to be desired. Not to worry! Was still an epic trip!

Clay Hilbert

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 02, 2011, 06:19:39 PM
Great report Clay

I have had my eye on  Peak Sportfishing Web Site for a month or so now and really like what i see and your report has put the icing on the cake for me.

Looks like i will have to try and get a team of mates together and give it a shot. You and your old man got a good variety of fish and the GT`s are of a nice size.

Looking at all of the pictures with you in them shows you had a great trip. You have a smile like the Fox that has just left the chook pen.

Congrats on your first marlin Clay

Thanks mate! You honestly couldn't wipe the smile off my face! Just being lucky enough to go to places like those has made me appreciate everything else so much more. I guess thats what Fishing is all about! I'll hopefully be doing another trip up there late this year or early next year. Eddy is top bloke, and he just makes the experience worthwhile. If you haven't got peak sportsfishing on facebook, I suggest you have a look at that because he updates his pictures daily! It'll motivate you to get up there even more.

Clay Hilbert

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 02, 2011, 06:30:09 PM
Hi Clay, What do you think of the Illex Ashura rods? and where and how did you manage to get hold of them, rare as hens teeth outside of Europe! I've never used the 270M, just the 240H.

Glad everything went well, great report and photo's mate.

Cheers David

I used a Calstar aswell and the Illex blew it out of the water. With the 240H I ran 80lb and 100lb through it comfortably. To be honest it wasn't really flash working heavier poppers over 150grams as the tip is a bit soft. But I found it perfect for working 120g stickbaits and when casting the tip loaded up really well. The lighter rod is actually a 3 piece rod with "exposed joins". Its a bit hard to explain, but the pieces don't go all the way together, so there is about a half inch section of flexible exposed graphite. When I saw it I had my doubts. I landed my first GT on it, and I put as much drag through it as I could (saltist 4500h) and I couldn't have been happier.

I got the rods from a french site called www.au-royaume-de-la-peche.com but unfortunatly they said they aren't in production anymore. However, they did also say they were in the trial stages of new p.e 10 rods.

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 02, 2011, 07:32:16 PM
love the reports.... its getting me excited for my trip on tuesday ........

Sami Ghandour

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 02, 2011, 08:47:10 PM
Nice report with great variety  :)

Clay Hilbert

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 09, 2011, 11:32:43 PM
love the reports.... its getting me excited for my trip on tuesday ........

Where are you off too? Look forward to a report!!  ;D

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Re: Coral Coast and Exmouth Trip Report 2011
September 27, 2011, 09:58:29 AM
great report mate. exmouth will always have a special place in my heart, something about that place. Keeps wanting me to get back. Had no marlin early this year for me :( still yet to catch one
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