Small boat GT fishing in Mackay

[Mark Harris]

I've got the same experience. One day they were on and the next weekend they weren't, and we've struggled to find GT action since.

I'm waiting for it to warm up a bit.

Having said that we've had some sweet sessions on Mack's with big poppers and stickbaits lately.

Being tropical in nature, I suspect Mackay is not unlike most Indonesian waters.......... when the water temperature is down we don't even bother trying for top-water GTs.

[Graham Scott]

Hi Mark,

We have no trouble getting GT's in "cold" water. Current water temp is 18.5deg C and thats OK. A couple of years ago I caught a couple on what must have been the coldest day of the year( or it felt like it to me). Air temp was probably 12deg.
Even the photo looks cold

[Mark Harris]

That's great Graham!  You guys are very lucky that the cold water does not shut the fish down. It does up here in Indonesia.  A move from the "normal" 26-28 down to the 22-24 that we get in July and August, means GTs are either shut down completely or extremely hard to catch on the top water.

Local factors are different I guess.

[Andrew Susani]

Yeah I think they have slowed down a bit over winter but today they were keen for the topwater stuff.  I hardly bothered with my stickbaits because if they are keen on the old pop-pop, well there is nothing better.

We did donate my special spanish mackerel pattern stickbait to a rampaging GT we sight cast to in about 2m of water over a shallow reef.  Hooked 3, lost 3! 



The main objective was to get a big one for Lewis, and after he lost 5 in a row, he finally lucked out...



Fairly stoked!



All photos with the Olympus TG-1 (being discussed in another thread), not a bad compact camera.  I got some really good video with it too, I will post the funniest wipeouts to youtube this weekend and share them here 

[Angus Hulme]

Awesome work Andrew....we'll be up that way in a few months for our annual trip, so any local reports definitely help fire me up! They are some excellent fish! Any pics of the spaniards? I would rate any spaniard while targeting GTs as very welcome bycatch. Same goes for trout.

Loving your work with the home made lures too. That fusey coloured stickbait you've fashioned looks great. I have had some success on home spun lures in previous years, and as you seem to suggest, there's enormous satisfaction to be had in landing GTs on homemade lures!

Also, still marveling at the slick job you've done on the boat. Kudos mate.

Cheers
Angus

[Nathan Tsao]

Good Going Andrew!!!   Nice to get action on your home waters eh!

[Andrew Susani]

Thanks Angus, yeah the boat is perfect for me.  I do a lot of light tackle lure fishing so it is at home on dams, creeks and inshore stuff as well as being very comfortable to fish out of when the weather is really good and we hit the offshore islands.  Having a 125L fuel tank is essential for the long offshore jaunts!

Nathan, yeah it is good to get onto these sorts of fish in the colder months here - don't like this jumper weather much!!  Some of the places we are finding now are going to be explosive in the summer months.  Things should start to fire from September onwards, I reckon.

Also nice to fish on a boat full of right hand reels  he he he

Angus, here are some "bycatch" pics from the last 2 offshore trips... Nathan will be pleased to see the red Kona t-shirt in pic 2   

Col with a great spanish after several crazy surface strikes on one of his new Full Scale poppers...


Small longtail on the old Emo Nemo stickbait


Strange squid capture on the fusie stickbait


We got onto a heap of squid in one spot using squid jigs.  Unfortunately for my hatch, squid #5 did not like the idea of confinement 


Big shark mackerel on a popper from the other day, taken right under the nose of a bloke trolling handlines around 

[Andrew Susani]

Here is a funny video from Friday.  We found some GTs feeding just under the surface, on top of a shallow reef surrounded by deeper water.  Not sure what they were eating, but they came up and rolled on their side every now and then once the tide started flowing over the coral.  It was probably only about 3-4ft deep and after Lewis got smashed by 2 fish on light gear, he decided to launch one of my stickbaits at them on the heavy gear and try and extract one.

Apologies in advance for the language 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkDbbZ1kXUk

[andy cooper]

looks like you are getting some great action down there
i am up on magnetic island ,i think i will have to come down and visit you guys

[Angus Hulme]

excellent bycatch pics Andrew. Thought that vid was bloody hilarious too...it's something I reckon most of us can identify with. Somehow that type of scenario doesn't seem quite as funny when it's me holding the rod with the shredded leader!   

[Andrew Susani]

Thanks for the tip Amr!  I was a bit worried when we got the spanish because I somehow had to clear out all the slimy black goop from the mackerel bag, dump the squid in the hatch (it is originally designed to be an insulated fish well anyway) and clean out the mackerel bag, all while Col bled the mackerel.  It was quite hectic but we managed alright    I used autothane paint on the interior and exterior of the deck framework so it cleans up quite easily 

Andy, it is still pretty quiet in close, all of the action we have had recently is quite a long way offshore.

Angus, I have some really good vids of the GT captures, but I don't really like publicising spots.  I just love the reaction of people once they feel the power of these fish, Lewis nearly got pulled overboard twice 

[joe sciberras]

Great photos ,great achievment you should be very proud of yourself....joey

[Andrew Susani]

Solo mission this morning, not something I normally do, but it was nice to not have to dodge casts or worry about what the other person is doing for a change.

Chronic fog and lake-like calmness this morning made things a bit eerie, but that was soon shattered when I had a big fish smash my home made stickbait and thrash around on the surface like a wild thing!  We have had them do this a few times - it is like they are pointing head down in the water, with their tail completely out of the water.  The GT tried to swim down as hard as it could but because its tail was still out of the water, it just made a hell of a racket and didn't go anywhere 

Of course, once that tail got submerged, it was on!  This fish ran hard and long and I was lucky to get it away from the death zone with some quick motoring using the minn kota.  I fought it for about 15 mins and it was a pretty epic battle.  The fish was hooked under the jaw so I guess I was pulling it sideways a bit more than usual.

My arms still had enough strength left to haul it in the boat and I worked quickly to weigh it using bathroom scales (now kept on board permanently).  I got a couple of quick photos before releasing it in good condition.  All up took about 2 mins!







Measured 120cm to the tip of the tail, weighed bang on 30.0kg.  Very thick through the shoulders, as you probably have to be to live with the 6m tidal movement we get.  Our estimates have been pretty good for the last year, considering this is the first one we have properly weighed.

Bring on the rest of the year!!

[andy cooper]

and i was thinking of going to exmouth for my holidays ,but i think i will just go 4 hours down the road to Mackay, does reefari do any GT fishing?

[harley ray]

Thats cool to catch one on one of your own on your own