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Swaines Reef


North Bound

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Hey guys, I`m in negotiations with the mrs for a trip to Swaines Reef in 2010.

Has anyone fished this area aboard a charter from Gladstone or Yeppoon, if so i`d be interested to hear some recommendations or even those to steer clear of.

I`ve heard pros and cons about the reef but nothing about the charters who fish there.

Cheers..

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The old man used to head out every year from Gladstone. I tagged along one year and struck 7 days of perfect weather. Came back with 10 large bags of fillets which I was realy happy with. Reefies mainly, but always room for a early morning spanish mackeral live bait. We went out from Gladstone. A boat called Grey Scout. The deckies were great. The food on board was brilliant. The only time we saw the captain was one day when one of the deckies caught a large shark and he rocked up with a 303 and blew it away without warning. I couldn't hear anything for about 2 days.

The old man comes down from Yeppoon tomorrow so will pick his brains and post more info on the actual charter name.

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Ummm :blink: didn't think filleting reefies was allowed off shore let alone bag limits of fish in procession ????

Not doubting what you got bud just how does that work :pinch:

I personally find these regs of not filleting fish on the water to be crap :angry: I'd rather clean my catch and dispose of the frames having nice fresh fillets on ice :) before or on the way home / feeding the reef or area it was caught before I head home rather than drag it home and create a smelly bin :woohoo: not only that after a long day on the water it's hard to find the motivation to go about the task knowing you have a boat to clean etc :S

fish cleaning tables are good but be honest when you hit the ramp who feel's like cleaning fish and not all ramps have those any way :woohoo: and it means your boat ties up space in the car park while you do it :P

When fishing in NSW / ViC waters we would often clean and fillet our catch as we fished to add to our burly :woohoo:

providing you leave the skin on surely they could tell the specie and size by the fillet Don't they watch MSI lmao

sorry to hijack your post a bit but it all seemed relevent

as it stands to my knowledge you are only allowed x amount of a certain fish in your poccession at any time ie: in your fridge at home and in your esky on your boat / or any where regardless of time on the water example 5 snapper you caught 2 legal snapper yesterday . but still in the fridge today you can only catch and keep 3 legally :silly: :silly:

Please advise me if I'm wrong

on a foot note to open another can of worms Fred Blogs gives me 2 Snaps which I have not eaten yet but are in my fridge and I head out and get a good run as far as I can tell I can legally only keep 3 of my catch :angry:

your thoughts

Gaz

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Yeah, the rules are weird to say the least. An in possession limit means what you have on you at any given time, so you probably can keep those 5 snapper until you get your front door step Gazza!

It also means as long as you get rid of the fish, you can catch more on the same day, where the old bag limits were per day catch. (IE If you took your 5 snapper back to camp where the wife and kids were, you could go back and catch another 5, and keep repeating until you had 5 for each person in camp, even though your were the only one fishing.)

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Gaz, sorry should have been specific. My trip was in the late eighties and the 10 bags of fillets each were apparently a poor effort. I very much abide by the bag and size limits current on the day.

North Bound: The old man is indicating the Gladstone charter that they regularly went out on was Capricorn Charters. Well he definitely says Capricorn something (his memory is fading). The skipper is Robbie Ben. He thinks they now have 3 boats to charter.

Maybe another option.

Stewie.

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  • 2 weeks later...

have been going to swains 4 last 7 years on 'micat' a 60 foot cat a great charter fishin is very good they take 14 people with 2 deckies food is preety basic but good they only take 3 dories so 9 people go in to the shalow reefs and 5 stay on board and the sipper gos out inthe deeper channels and drifts around looking for the biggr fish reds etc sometimes skip comes down and fishes while drifting when this happens you know yuo ar a chance 4 some reds. accom is a little crampped as 6 sleep in each hull in single bnks and 2 in doubles up front so if you oganise trip you might get one of the doubles highly recommended charter as the skip is a keen fisho and likes to chase the fish so usually a good catch is taken home

cheers warbo:cheer:

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I have been going to the Swains on and off for the past 30 years. Have missed a few years, but have been about twenty times. Always go on the Kanimbla. A great boat. Sleeps 20 comfortably. Double hulled, 84 feet long. Has a good website. Last year 16 of us went in June. Brought home 52 packs of fillets, plus a few whole fish. The crew are counted when it comes to how many fish can be on board. Charter operators have different bag limits. Have never had a bad year, although we lost a couple of days one year due to a low developing and very strong winds. We usually fish the southern Swains now, although have wandered over most of them. Some of the best fishing grounds eg the Howard patch now out of bounds, but still plenty of good reefs available.

Think there are seven dories that hold three people comfortably, deckies fillet and bag fillets and keep count of numbers. A great fishing experience. Kanimbla leaves from Gladstone Saturday afternoon, at the reef Sunday morning, and leaves the reef after lunch on Friday.

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