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Team 27-30 MBC Report with pics

novrain

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novrain Newbie

novrain

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Here's a late report (couldn't get pics out of camera) from the team that was on Scope's choice of ride.

Couldn't get to sleep on Friday night and only managed to doze off at about one and was up two hours later itching to get away. Got down to Manly at five on the dot and boy was it freezing! Gus and Johnny were the two poor souls sitting there freezing their balls off but they still had their happy faces on. Kudos to them once again for organizing the comp. Kev was also milling around having a fag, bleary eyed and all.

Few minutes later, Kreel and Tacklebox rocked up, along with Scope. First time meeting Scope but after spending two days with him, there's only one word - champ.

All four of us signed in. Exchanged greetings and after saying our good byes and good lucks to Gus and Johnny, we set off. Launched in the darkness and headed straight to Mud Island. I for one didn't have a clue where to go and neither did Scope so Kreel took the lead and directed us outsea. Snapped a great pic of Kreel and Scope on the wheel. HUH?!

Rocked up to the 'carpark' as Kreel termed it and proceeded to soak some bait. A little bit of swell and I lost my legs and almost went for an early bath. Recovered just in time to avoid an embarrassing dive.

Here's when it all became the Tbox show. There's silence all round as we all try to hook onto something and then every couple of minutes, there's the inevitable 'I'm on!' from Tbox.

She pulled in squire after squire, after tusk fish after grassy. Now and then us three would get in on the action with a smallish squire but Tbox definitely stole the show.... until Kreel got into the action. All we heard was 'Oof' and I turned just in time to see his rod buckled. What followed were the ubiquitous 'Ugh...oooof... ugh... ahh....' and we all called it for a snapper. Couple of minutes later and Kreel pulled in a shovel nose ray. Couple of snaps later and he went back to his ocean kingdom.

We were all getting small bites and pretty much nothing else happening. So anchored up and moved onto to another spot. Can't quite remember where we were but here we pulled up whiptails after whiptails. Pretty little things they were but not quite the species we were after. Also found out Tbox has an indispensable knowledge of fish species.

Scope didn't quite have things going his way and he spent most of the morning re-rigging after getting snagged. Finally as he settled down again, he went 'Yup, I'm on'. A short struggle later and he pulls up a tusk fish/parrot fish. Beautiful colours on them but unfortunately not a target species. Good eating though so into the icebox he went.

Then again, inevitably, guess who lands a fish. Tbox! I'm sitting just beside here and bang, her rod doubles over. She goes 'This fella has been playing with the bait for the last ten minutes'. 'zzzzzzzz....zzzzzzz' ah, that glorious sound and Tbox does a fantastic job of fighting the fish. We all didn't know what to call it for but I got the net ready and couple of last hard runs later, we had a trev. Smiles and snaps all round followed.

Stayed for a good hour or so and nothing happened. So we anchored up again and moved on to some beacon spot. Here's when I became the gurnard king. Pulled up the red ones over and over again, and each time they swallow the whole hook. Kreel was getting some bites and no hook-ons. Once he was reeling in the line and there was this flash of brown that was following close by. 'Squid Squid, quick get the net!' In my haste to get the net, I probably got it more tangled up in one of the engine knobs. By the time I got it out the cephalopod was gone.

Kreel also put in a call to Tomca to see how they were doing. They were apparently doing pretty good.

This was just about the last excitement before we all sat back for lunch. The squid sparked something in me so I took out a squid jig and started jigging. Got a couple of tugs so I let it take it more and suddenly 'Wham.. I'm on'. Started fighting the fella and was thinking to myself 'Hang on, a squid can't actually pull drag can it?' ... This actually had quite some weight to it. Continued fighting and we see some brown and we all went 'yup definitely squid'

Then it started thrashing in the water and we all saw it was a puffer! A big fat puffer , easily 40cm. It took out more line and just as the net was brought out, it slipped off. Man, that would have made a great basketball.

It was a beautiful day. The bay was all glassed out. The puffer was just about the last action for the day. Headed back in and we couldn't find the channel and had to motor slowly across some flats but after great navigating and driving by Kreel and Scope respectively, we found our way home.

One last bit of excitement for the day. Kreel asked me to jump in and get the boat to shore. I said 'Sure'. In my haste, I jumped way too earlier and ended up swimming beside the boat. Hey, it was still a 'cool' finish to the day.

Day 2

Day 2 started out even earlier for me. I wanted some live bait so I got to Manly early and chucked out the cast net. Managed to get about 12 before Kreel rang to say 'Let's go'. Packed up, ran over and just managed to hear Gus giving Kreel some tips on where to go. Gus was going 'We were catching good size moses perch and kingies'. So upon that advice, we went 'Yup, that's where we were headed.'

Gus disappeared into the car for some shut eye so we geared up and launched. Headed straight out to Straddie. Kreel, Tbox and myself were all rugged up pretty snugly whereas Scope copped the wind pretty badly.

Upon reaching Straddie, we saw Keen-as and Tomca peppering the place with the plastics. Apparently Tomca had a bad case of hay fever over the course of the night (oooh you poor thing you, need a teddy bear to cuddle). Keen-as had landed a good sized kingie and something massive took off with Tomca's favourite popper before.

We moved further down and anchored up next to the pylons in the hope of getting something decent. It was a very cold morning and but we all pretty excited at the thought of getting something from the pylons.

Kreel, Scope and myself were baiting and Tbox was jigging a TT blade. Kreel and Scope were really getting into the pylons with super accurate casts. I was too lazy to really move and just put a herring on and plonked down on the bow. Tbox had a good hit but didn't hook up. A couple of casts later and she hooked up big time......... she went 'oh!' and I turned to see she had caught herself a nice big pylon.

We had to rescue it so we anchored up and I jumped on and pulled it off. Re-anchored and with the same herring, I chucked him right next to a pylon. Couple of minutes later, I see the rod buckle, picked it up and I was on! There were some headshakes but no real drag pull yet. Tbox went 'What's going on here?' and I said 'Not quite sure what it is'. Couple of seconds later and she went 'Its a flattie'. Got him into the net and he went about 47.

There this another boat just next to us. A single gentleman on a boat and he was getting onto fish after fish. He burleyed up with some secret stuff and was pulling them in. Must be local knowledge.

Scope got into spinning some hardbodies and also caught himself a pylon. It was also time to move on so we anchored up and I jumped on to pull it off. Bit off the line and just as I going to grab it, lost my hold on the boat and totally missed the lure. It sunk slowly and despairingly out of our reach. Sorry Jono...

Moved on to the next spot at the wrecks and again it was the Tbox show. She pulled up Moses Perch after Moses Perch. Not too big but they still went hard. Kreel and Scope weren't having much luck and were getting snagged time and time. Kev and Malcolm were just next to us and they got onto some decent pulling fish too.

Scope pulled up a bream and I pulled up a tusk fish as well but after some divers joined the show, we didn't managed anything other than small squire. It was about time to go so we anchored up and made for home.

Checked in, snaffled some snags and had the prize presentation. Heaps of familiar faces around and lots of new ones.

All in all, a fantastic effort by the organizing crew. As for Scope, Kreel and Tbox, they were top company.

Long report but it had to be done. Pics below

Thanks for reading.

Merv Copy_of_IMGP4923.JPG

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kreel Newbie

kreel

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Nice report Merv, it sounds like we had an even better time of it than I remember :laugh: . You've taken some beautiful photos and its good to see Jono combed his hair just for the shots. BT for those out Sunday morning you'll remember how blisteringly cold it was, our skipper must have balls of steel, all he wore all day was a shirt and shorts.

Top comp with some great people.

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tacklebox Newbie

tacklebox

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Great report Merv! You captured the weekend beautifully :)

I don't know all my fish. We kept catching those annoying pickers that look like grassies and after Merv caught a few of them they became known as MervFish :laugh:

Big thank you to Scope for taking three deckies he'd never met before. Legend!

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novrain Newbie

novrain

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jeff - yes! its been a while since I last saw you... was good to see you again

morparkev - you were having a F.A.G

Keen-as - yeah definitely not as cramped as you but I can imagine tomca cuddling up to you...'thanks for making me cugg-cugguly'

till next time

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