queensland Hervey Bay Fishing Report Easter Monday !!

[Manni79]

Over the Easter Long Weekend, The Mrs and I had organised a camping trip up at Hervey Bay for a few days to get away from the daily grind. The plan was to try and get some sun and relax at the beach and do as much fishing as possible!!

A lot of guys on AFO kindly provided tips, location and advice on where to go and over time I thought to myself as a land based angler it’s going to be hard to cover a lot of ground over a short space and make it a productive session(s).

Seeing as I have never been to Hervey Bay I started to troll through the internet looking for a fishing guide who could show me some good local spots and also have an opportunity to check out more of the Bay including Fraser Island. After a fair bit of searching I ended up on YouTube and found a couple cool video’s of guys chasing and catching Golden Trevally on the flats off the coast of Fraser, it wasn’t long til I called them and straight from the get go these guys were awesome, I told them I wanted to chase the Trev’s and hopefully some Tuna and also see Fraser Island and the Bay. The weather forecast wasn’t great and the guide gave many fishing options to account for the weather and even on the eve of the trip with 20/25 knot winds and bigger swells predicted he gave me many chances to cancel if I felt is wasn’t worth it, needless to say I was super keen and nothing was stopping this trip.

Easter Monday we get up at the crack of dawn and meet my guide “Andrew from Fraser Guided Fishing Toursâ€. A quick chat and were off making our way across the bay the morning weather was very kind, little wind, overcast and pretty calm conditions with a beautiful sunrise, so we were keen to chase some Tuna on the way out.

It wasn’t long until we saw some birds circling the skies and diving in to the water so we headed straight for it, as we got closer the surface was full of activity with massive bust ups, This got the heart pumping, so grabbing the rods to have a cast as we carefully approach them you could see some massive Tuna hitting the surface to which my girlfriend first thought they were Dolphins LOL. Unfortunately the school was moving too quick and as we had one or two casts the Tuna would have already moved a few hundred metres, we followed for a little while but to no avail.

Andrew took us to a couple spots he liked and we decided to do some trolling, we cruised around for about 15 minutes and then a big hit with the rod tip bending furiously, then nothing.... I start to bring the line in and It seemed as though we got bricked so some clever manoeuvring by the skipper and the line was free.... it took a while to reel the line in and it felt as though I caught the bottom of the ocean, pump & wind, pump and wind just lifting dead weight to find on the other end a 50cm Cod!!! I was very surprised but underwhelmed by the lack of fight, seeing as he didn’t have the will to live we decided to keep him for lunch

Bec's 1st Mack

The morning went on and it got a bit quite we just cruised to a couple more spots talking about all the fishing and then WHACK!!!! the rod has loaded right up and the reel starts screaming, straight away I grab the rod and have a massive fight on my hands, This was indeed going to be the biggest fish caught to date and I was pumped, I start wrestling this fish but also take my timer as I didn’t want to lose him either, you’re not sure what will happen, will I pull the hook or snap the line, will I get bricked, all these thoughts go through your mind but I was patient and kept pulling line back where I could, it definitely was a tug of war, lose 30 metres of line then reel in 40, lose 20 more and so on.... I finally could see colour and it was my first Golden Trevally, what can I say I was totally stoked, my first Golden Trevally weighing in at 7kgs over 70cm’s a few happy snaps and away he went !!!

As they day went on the weather got worst, the wind was blowing hard, the water was very choppy and bumpy which made it difficult to reach certain spots let alone fish them, so we cruised up along the coast of Fraser, looking for fish on the flats, it was very quiet but I must say it’s such a beautiful place and the water has amazing colours, every now and then we would get a glimpse of sunshine and the water would light up with awesome green and turquoise colours...

We have lunch and laze about the boat for a little bit and the Andrew decided to hit a couple more spots a few km’s off Fraser to chase the Golden’s one more time, I was really keen as it wanted to catch one on plastic as oppose to trolling, so we headed back and before you know it we have our lines sinking to the bottom, we have a quick look on the sounder and there is bait everywhere, the sounders was chock full!! So we work the plastic and BANG!! Straight away this fish just starts bolting, the way it stripped line we thought it was a Tuna, every time I work the fish closer he peels twice as much back, by this point I was a lot more aggressive and had more trust in my gear, so keep pushing and pushing and after 25/30 minutes I landed an 86cm 9/10KG Golden Trevally and new PB and the biggest for the day, HI Fives and cheers all round this was AWESOME!!! A few more happy snaps and off he goes back in the water

[Manni79]

We drop the plastics back in, every second cast we were getting hits however I was either pulling the hook or not getting a good strike, one fish even bent the hook after only a few seconds, he must have been big boy, not longer after that I hook up again, the more of these I caught the more confident I got and I felt more in control and could work the fish back to the boat more comfortably this one only a little fella around 6/7kg’s but only took around 10 minutes to land!!

Last catch of the day and pic with my guide Andrew

Overall the day was brilliant, I got to see a huge chunk of Fraser Island, Dolphins, Turtles, Massive Tuna busting up on the surface, and also caught some great fish throughout the day. The best thing about it was that it was only me, Bec & the Guide in the boat so as the day went on Andrew felt more like hanging out with a friend than a fishing guide.

After the last Golden we headed back in a called it a day. I will definitely be heading back to the Bay in the warmer months and will be fishing with Andrew no doubt about it, highly recommend these guys!!!

Very long report but thank a lot for reading, Manni !!!!

[MoparKevUk]

Fantastic Report, Fantastic Fish, Fantastic Pics! Were the fish good on the chew???

Thanks for the report.

[Manni79]

Video of 86cm Golden Trevally peeling line off my Stradic 3000 FI

/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX-Uytn_Bqw

[Manni79]

Fantastic Report, Fantastic Fish, Fantastic Pics! Were the fish good on the chew???

Thanks for the report.

Thanks mate appreciate it, the cod & mackerel were very tasty, we grilled the Cod with herbs and made it fish and chips for lunch and the Mack went in to a Thai Red Curry which Bec made and was very tasty !!!

All the Trev's went back in the water, a fish that fights to the very last second deserves to fight again another day !!!

[rosstralia46]

awesome stuff mate great report good read

[fishingnut]

Awesome mate well done

[Funfisher]

great session mate love the golden trevs

[Manni79]

awesome stuff mate great report good read

Thanks mate, wrote a bit more than planned but was a big day after all lol :woohoo:

[fishing_teen]

good stuff mate, looks like it was a cracker of a day

[eg_vtec]

awsome report mate. already said it when you post up the trev vid but monster trev! well done

[Manni79]

A couple more pics of the Shimano Jewel Loaded !!

[tacklebox]

Thanks Manni. That was a great read, impressive fish and it's nice to see your other half getting into it too.

What sort of lures were you trolling?

[Perky]

Great read Manni, looks like you and the missus landed some top fish and the scenery looks beautiful.

[Manni79]

Thanks Manni. That was a great read, impressive fish and it's nice to see your other half getting into it too.

What sort of lures were you trolling?

Thanks Tacklebox, glad you liked my report, Yeah Bec had fun but it was a very long day and she was patient letting me play out in the bay all day long !!

Trolling lures... The guide provided them as most of my hard bodies are like 50mm long hehehe they were approx 20cm long they looked like Halco deep diving lures, we used them from a depth between 15 to 25 feet

Trolling we caught the Cod, Macks and my first Golden oh yeah and a small Bonito that was smaller than the lure, the remaining Goldens were caught on 5 inch plastics with 1/2 ounce jig heads.

[kreel]

Thanks for the great report Manni, next time you think to return a nice trev like those - just bring them on home to me. If tBox hadn't already nominated you for ROTM I would have.

[Manni79]

Thanks for the great report Manni, next time you think to return a nice trev like those - just bring them on home to me. If tBox hadn't already nominated you for ROTM I would have.

Thanks Kreel !! well I will be heading back in August for another session, so I would be more than happy to slice up 2 big fillets and put em' on ice for you !!

[kreel]

Don't tease me Manni, I'm counting the days.

[keen_as]

Your a lucky man manni, congrats on the great fish.

[Manni79]

Don't tease me Manni, I'm counting the days.

Will let you know once booked, 2nd/3rd week of August and i'm there, gonna be my Birthday treat !!

[ellicat]

Good Times ! :woohoo:

[Manni79]

awsome report mate. already said it when you post up the trev vid but monster trev! well done

Thanks mate, hoping to crack 15kgs next trip !!!

[Genesis]

Fantastic report and photos Manni. Hope you get bigger ones on your next trip in Aug.

[Angus]

Very nice goldens Manni!

Got me fired up all over again!

[Manni79]

This trip was nearly 2 years ago now, feels like it was only yesterday - Can't wait til i nail a nice Golden on fly :woohoo: