I recently had the privilege of fishing with Nomad Sportfishing departing Cairns 14 September and arriving Portland Roads 24 September. It was a really special trip because my dad was with me, we got to fish a huge amount of water and we had nice weather (except for two days which were 25 knots or so, but still very fishable).
The trip consisted of departings Cairns friday evening, motoring until about 2pm the next day on the mothership then a quick 2 hour session. THe next day we had a good fish until about 2pm then a 30 mile run in the small boats, then we progressively fished out way north, staying at the same anchorage a few times, fishing 12-20 miles north per day etc.
The variety of popping and light tackle species caught was mind boggling. Some really nice fish were taken on both light and heavy gear in the shallows. Several 'fish of a lifetime' were taken, including me getting the Maori Wrasse I have been wanting for a while (in fact I landed 5 for the trip....from 13 confirmed hook ups. Dirty and powerful!), a 38lb Coral Trout, a fairly large Trigger Fish (on a stick shad)....my dad got some really nice GT in really shallow water and a doggie on popper....I guess the list could go on but I will let some of the photos do the talking there.
The fishing was good to sensational. There were the few mandatory slow sessions but by and large it was just really consistent and a lot of fun. There were days where boats chasing GT landed well over 20 (I think one of the boats landed over 30 one day) and quite a few decent size fish of 30kg+. I got properly smoked by a big GT on the final morning fishing. It peeled at least 100m of line off in one run without slowing, before pinging me on a bommie. It literally left me shaking (and swearing).
Here is a summary of the variety. One day we had a chance at some sailfish and missed them, I hooked up a small black marlin which charged the boat and jumped, throwing the hook. We caught yellowfin and dogtooth, then, after morning tea (!) we caught a few GT and finished the day with an epic shallows session.
On another day we stopped for lunch on a sand cay for 20 minutes or so. 4 1/2 hours we left, after catching 14 species casting the shallows all around the cay. You will see a photo of me nearly neck deep trying (unsuccessfully) to extract a wrasse that had me bricked, a large 'cuda caught in 2 feet of water and other pics from this session. Just as well there were a few fish around too, since Glanny misjudged the timing and we were in fact stranded there until the tide change haha....
Big respect to my dad too, you will see him bending on a nice GT and although he had to resort to holding the rod with his wrists at one stage, he would not hand over the rod. You can see him slumped in the cage of the Contender afterwards, a spent force haha.
Anyway, here are the pics.
special mention to this clever longtom which tried to eat my lure and snapped his beak off in the hook eye!
