Jewell Reef Ultimate Adventure 28 Oct 2011:
Saltaire: Today the guys flew in at 8 o'clock and we left Lizard Island and headed straight out to the reef. The boys were keen on the idea of trolling all day so we had the lines wet by 10 o'clock. We were getting constant hits and hook ups on fish but couldn't seem to get them away from the sharks. One was a nice size Spanish that was leaping around like a marlin with sharks on its tail but unfortunately it to fell victim to the tax men with teeth. It was around 1 o'clock when we decided to put out the heavy rods and chase a marlin. We didn't manage to raise one today only getting baits chopped by Wahoo and big barracuda. The water looks good out there though hopefully tomorrow big black betty will show us her face.
John:- First up today we headed to the reef and the guys were really keen to get into some GT action, unfortunately the fish didn't want to play the game as a lone shark was the only critter keen to eat our offerings, after a long stint casting the guys were rewarded with a nice GT, unfortunately that was going to be all the GT for us today with Red Bass and Cudas making a strong showing, after lunch we had a short troll for no luck with some solid hook ups that fell off or got sharked. A last ditch effort to catch a GT was made just before stumps with one follow from a goldspot but no bite, can't wait till tommorrow as Jewell awaits our arrival, bring on the Carnage !!!!!
Damon:- Rough water, BIG fish - hold on TIGHT!!! I flew in to Lizard with the new group of guests today, and we jumped straight onto Odyssey, got the gear ready and headed out to the reef in Contender to start the assault on the local GT population. The second cast on the outside edge confirmed that the GTs were around but also that standing up in the rough water was going to be fun! We pretty much just worked the outside edge of the reef all morning, and landed a bunch of nice GTs, red bass and bluefin. Lunch was taken back on Odyssey anchored just around the corner of the reef, and after some rerigging, we were back to the outside edge. First cast after lunch yieled a 10kg coral trout for Dave. He then followed this with his PB 26kg GT, and within half an hour of this he was hooked to a freight train GT heading west across the shallows very fast. With a good degree of luck and some more luck, we landed a very solid 40kg GT, which was his new PB fish!!
Quite a few GTs later and Mark then ended the day with his biggest GT of around 26kg. We released 14 GTs for the day, with most over 25kg, and also a bunch of very nice trout and red bass. A damned good way to start a trip, and to think I was sitting in the office in Brisbane yesterday afternoon, and now in the middle of the ocean catching big fish with a great group... good times and looking forward to exploring some new ground tomorrow to the north.
