Hi guys,
I love the Town of 1770. I live in Brisbane, but 6 hours north by road is this lovely little paradise, still relatively undeveloped and alive with fish. The bottom bashers come here in droves chasing the mighty Red Emporer, but there is plenty on offer for the sporting angler too. My last couple of trips have involved some hot light jigging action here and I just got back today after fishing yesterday.
I left home @ 3am Friday and was in the water by 10.30. The forecast was for 10-15kt SE turning to NE in the afternoon which is perfect for 1770 because most grounds require a north or north easterly heading from Round Hill Head. With a NE seabreeze in the afternoon, a smooth return journey is on the cards. I tried my luck at a couple of the popular reef areas 12-15 nm out for little success. The SE was a good 15kts but, banking on that noreaster, I headed up to a mark for a wreck that lies about 23nm almost due north of the heads in 39m of water. upon arrival, the HDS 8 told me to prep the jigging gear, the wreck was stacked with bait and arches! Sure enough, the first CB One 160g jig that went down got nailed. It was an Amberjack about 6-8 kg. Really good fun on the T-Curve Deep Jig 200 and Jigging Master PE3 reel ( what a cool piece!!! ). For the next 2 or so hours ( all the fishing time i had) every drift produced a quality fish. Nothing huge, but simply fantastic fun on light gear. The Ajs were joined by some nice Bludger Trevally and even a little Cobia took a liking to a Lucanus Jig. The last fish of the day was a nice 5 kg Bludger taken on a Gulp/Certate 3500HD/20lb braid.
I was by myself and probably released 20-25 fish over 5 kg in that time. Nothing wrong with action like that
By the time I had to leave, the NE had not eventuated and the SE had started pumping up to 20kts, so you wouldnt call the trip home "pleasant", but the memory of those little Ajs pulling like steam trains, had me smiling most of the way home.
I have stored the boat up there for several weeks ( 1770 Boat Storage- $ 5.50 per day) and am taking the family up next week for a little holiday. But the real action will be with a couple of buddys exploring both some more jigging and checking out some popping as well. Hopefully there will be some gtpopping worthy stories to come from that trip!
Anyone with more info about fishing up here, I would love to hear from you!
Cheers
Doug Lindsay
