queensland Xmas break - belated report

[benno573]

Hi all,

Just an update as to my xmas adventures... they are from all over the place so i posted them here as most of the fish come from this area.

20/21 dec - headed up to DIP camping overnight. weather was bad. 20kn + SE. managed a few decent dart, not a lot else. drank nearly a bottle of bourbon.

22/23 dec - anchored up around mud island on the old man's yacht and started drinking and fishing around midday. caught 11 grassy's (avg 35cm, best 42cm), one squire, 2 moses perch and a flounder. drank 1.5 bottles of bourbon.

26/27 dec - headed back to DIP. weather much better. fished through the night around the high tides trying to land a permit around some rocks using "secret" bait. thought i had cracked it around 11pm, only to be "disappointed" with a 54cm approx 3kg tarwhine. back on the beach at 4am, hooked up at 4:30, fish on the beach at 5. one permit, approx 60cm long and 4kg. went dam hard on 10lb gear. biggest permit to date. :woohoo: released to fight again another day. no bourbon consumed... :ohmy:

29 dec - headed out into the bay. quiet day. got one good grassy, a squire, a moses and a tailor. got visited by the infamous DPI blonde twice. :blush: drank 2/3 a bottle of bourbon upon returning.

30 dec - brisbane river with jeff f @ west end. couldn't find enough live bait! grrr... fish were definitely there. got one thready at 62cm, a shark around 90cm. jeff f got busted up by sharks several times. this is the first (and probably only) time i have outfished jeff f. was so excited i forgot to drink.

2/3 jan - went to yamba and caught up with sparksie. fished woody head on dusk, tricky place to fish. dam near got spooled on 250m of 20lb line, only to get busted off after finally stopping it! switched to 30lb spool. hooked up again, landed a reef shark approx 1m in length - suspected younger brother of culprit for first bust off. got very very wet doing so, lucky the 60lb leader and 1/0 long shank hook combo held good! :blush: sparksie caught a very pretty cod, along with getting bricked countless times by unstoppables. definitely worth a future expedition, especially during tailor/australian salmon season. drank well into the night. fished the rock wall at yamba in the morning and got hard core busted up again! i think it was a jew, was very strong, not hugely fast. bugger! that was the only action of the morning, apart from some eye candy here and there but surely no-one cares about that...

5 jan - back to work! :( :( :( :(

sorry it has taken so long to post this - been busy. wish i had got a photo of a few of the sharks on brag mats for FOTM! only means i have to go again now! :woohoo:

thanks for reading

benno <'>-<

p.s. tried to get a decent shot of the permit, very hard when fishing solo on the beach when i was planning to release it. have a great photo of half of it when i almost stood in the right place for the camera timer... :blush:

[ellicat]

Plenty of fishing adventures Benno.

There's a definite correlation between the consumption of Bourbon and the reduced catch numbers:dry:

I managed to do 4000km with eight rods onboard and didn't use them once. I did stand in the water at Nambucca heads with legal bream and whiting swimming all around me and briefly hunted a gobie with Dan, but that was as close to fishing as I came.

4KG is a great dart - well doneB) :fishing:

[benno573]

"I managed to do 4000km with eight rods onboard and didn't use them once."

ummm... wtf dude? it's funny you say that about the bourbon though, the night i got most drunk of all (22nd) i caught the most fish... ah well, it's only your bday once a year, might as well kill a few brain cells to celebrate...

btw - tarwhine are nothing like as good to eat as bream. never bothered before and won't again. maybe it was coz it was big, dunno, but very flavourless and coarse flesh.

[Swagger]

"Disappointed" with a 54cm tarwhine..... thats an absolute horse!!!

[Jordan]

LOL thats awesome.

[Angus]

He he nice one man.

No bourbon and no fishing makes Benno go something something....

Cheers.

Angus

[tacklebox]

mate, when are you taking us fishing on the old man's yacht? seems to have some serious mojo :laugh:

[bootyinblue]

Benno..... great to hear from you after all this time!

I hate to see what you were refering to as 'eye candy' after all that bourbon, could have been anything.

Did you read my latest Pin report with my high 50's flattie in it. I think I should have paid more attention to your filleting demo, as I did atrociously and was flat out ending up with a feed.

Has anyone managed to post the Anaconda demos on Youtube yet?

[benno573]

bootyinblue wrote:

Benno..... great to hear from you after all this time!

I hate to see what you were refering to as 'eye candy' after all that bourbon, could have been anything.

Did you read my latest Pin report with my high 50's flattie in it. I think I should have paid more attention to your filleting demo, as I did atrociously and was flat out ending up with a feed.

Has anyone managed to post the Anaconda demos on Youtube yet?

i'm trying hard to remember - i think her name was bill. :blush:

and i think the being disappointed with the 54cm tarwhine was not really true... was pretty stoked, was a pb by about 30cm!

i unfortunately no longer have the video in my possession - some dirty rotten stinking mongrel stole my camera when they broke into my car... :angry: :angry:

i am happy to organise to do another demo again - whether with anaconda or just me filleting fish somewhere and people can come along if they want. i hate hearing about stories where people catch a decent fish (even if they can't get full take photos of it... ) and don't get the maximum return from it. flatties are one of the easiest to master so next time you get one greg give me a call and will see what we can organise. anyone else interested in another demo?