Hi team this is the last report from this block of trips, we'll be back out at sea from 21 May.
Damon:- What an amazing day, and what a simply excellent way to finish a trip. We moved today to a new area where we hoped there was no whitebait, and we got lucky. The guys all enjoyed a relaxed breakfast on the mothership while enroute to the new location. It was a big call to move on the last day of the trip, but it paid off in a big way. No whitebait and the Gts were going crazy, actually all the fish were going crazy. I can't even begin to tell all the stories from today, but we did not start fishing until about 9:30am due to the move, and we went tight on 44 Gts, by that I mean we were hooked up and fighting for more than 20 seconds on 44 GTs. We saw countless other GTs of all sizes, from small to massive, and we landed 18 GTs plus a whole host of other species for the day. We had Spanish mackerel, shark mackerel, goldspot, bludger trevally, rainbow runners, tuna, coral trout, stripey's and many more. The fish were simply ravenous today and we had a great time catching and releasing them. Dave Hovenden caught 10 Gts for the day and lost plenty more. It was again interesting to see how many pulled hooks we had on trebles. Dave was fishing alongside 2 japanese anglers with trebles and he was using singles. Dave only pulled the hooks on 3 fish for the day, and the Japanese guys pulled the hooks on about 15 fish for the day - very interesting. We got busted off in the shallows on light tackle, and also on heavy tackle, caught fish in the shallows, on fusiliers, it was simply a great day, and the wind even backed off to15kn for a pleasant change. It is hard to pick a highlight for the day because there were so many amazing strikes and hook-ups, but chasing dave's 30kg GT across the flats in 2m of water on the plane on light tackle in the contender was pretty cool. The GT eventually made it into a blue hole and cut us off on the edge. I cannot believe how fast those fish can swim on the shallows.
Can't wait for the next block of trips, and all I can say is that if we see massive shoals of whitebait again we will pack up and keep moving until it is nowhere to be seen.
Nick Report :- This morning started off with a bang! Fusies everywhere and lures getting smashed as they hit the water, we had three fish in the boat in the first 40 mins of fishing. As time trailed on the fish wised up pretty quickly and the current dissapeard in the lagoon. A bit of frustration as the guys using those evil trebles loosing fish left right and centre. With lunch upon us we stopped for a short while to rethink our game plan and decided to head out to another reef where one of the other boats had seen plenty bait and fish. So we headed out to the next reef and drifted along the edged picking up a few fish and also naturally realeasing them from a distance with these new nature conservationist trebles. At the end of the day the wind died and the fish were biting just what we have been waiting for.
Glanville Report:-We decided to relocate as the fishing had seemed to have slowed down some what. What an awesome decision it turned out to be, I think it was 2nd cast for the morning and a mad pack of Gts came up and destroyed the lures, we ended up only getting 1 in and somehow a big shark got hold of the other lure, Khoo and Alex tag teamed the shark and after a mammoth struggle they decided to have a rest for the next drift but they proposed that I have a cast and so I took up the opportunity, armed with Wild Violence and a locked up drag I took to the battle fields, 3rd pop and bang a fish of 30kg demolished the popper with an explosion of white water, the battle only lasted about 30 seconds and the fish was at the side of the boat and decided to go for a last burn, what happened next was an almighty bang as the wild violence exploded in the grip between my hands, first time I have ever seen one bust but let me warn you I nearly popped an o-ring in the process. The rest of the day was very relaxed and became a given that every spot we stopped at there would no doubt be a pack of Gts just waiting for our lures to hit the water we were continuously seeing Gts all day and it just showed how with a little bit of calmer weather the fish came on the chew, before we knew it we were back at the mothership at 4 30pm with 13 Gts, 4 of which were 30kg it was a really enjoyable day out on the water and between the great fishing a lot of entertaining conversation and even more laughter were to be had. Another thing that stood out like a saw thumb was the outstanding hook up rate, it was the first time this week that I convinced one of the Japanese anglers to fish with singles and I think Break is sold on it just about every fish that hooked up properly came to the boat which was really great to see and even more convincing for us that singles are the way forward as far as Gt fishing goes. What a perfect way to end off the trip topped off with a great BBQ with some fresh mackerel that Brett prepared for us, which we enjoyed on the top deck under the stars accompanied by a couple drinks, some good company and the great stories from the week's fishing and of course the one that got away but wait we will be back for them
