I just returned from a terrific trip to Osprey reef with East Coast Angling. A wonderful week with finally a bit of luck with weather! Eight of us set off on 30 November on a chartered flight for a rendezvous with the mothership Elizabeth E II at Lizard Island. The group comprised myself, Shaun Raymond, Arnold Joseph, Will Flanagan, Jesse Flanagan, Ryan Keith, Jay Kim and Tony Fowler. Most are members of this club. Our guides were Nick Milford and Declan Williams.
Anticipation was high with the weather outlook looking really promising.
A overnight run saw us at Osprey at daybreak on the next morning. We boarded the two big 32 foot centre consoles and we were off! The five days we were out at Osprey passed in a bit of a blur. It took us a little bit of time to work out the reef and how the tides and currents interact and truth be told, I think we still have a lot to learn there but we certainly worked it out well enough to find a lot of fish. I have no idea how many GTs we got but my boat would have had a forty to fifty GT day on one of our days. I caught enough red bass to give me nightmares for the rest of my life and we saw a few wrasse come on board as by-catch when we were targeting GTs. As with all the GTs, these were quickly snapped and released.
The variety of fish was really impressive with GTs, doggies, yellowfin and a plethora of reefies, especially monster trout. I think nearly every day, we took the opportunity to chase yellowfin that we saw. We did see some monsters barreling out of the water but I had no luck hooking one of these myself. A number of good quality GTs were landed but the monsters around the atoll were too strong for the guys. A few of the guys had hook-ups on monster GTs but were smoked. Not much luck on the doggies, unlike previous trips. The guys struggled to get a consistent bite going while jigging although there were a number of monumental wipe-outs by unstoppable sized fish.
We took the opportunity for some snorkeling on the glassed out days and for me, this was a bit of a highlight. The fish life at Osprey and the hard edge (Ribbon Reefs) is astounding.
For me, it was a relatively new group for this trip and it was great to see some great young anglers. Guys like Jay, Ryan, Jesse and Will are machines. These young guys are the new generation of the sport and will take over when old guys like me eventually hang our Gammas up on the wall.
East Coast Angling is a new but already fantastic set-up. I can’t say enough about how well things were organised and run. Nick has only just started operations this year but already, I will be looking at organising at least a couple of trips with him for 2018. The big centre consoles are fabulous vessels – big and stable and great fishing platforms but most important of all, Nick and Declan’s ability to find fish is what makes a charter.
Thanks again to East Coast Angling and I look forward to our trips in 2018!
