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Once U PopU Can't Stop !!

ONTHECHEW

By ONTHECHEW
in Saltwater

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ONTHECHEW Newbie

ONTHECHEW

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Once again the weather gods have been good to me and the drive down from the big hill was on again. Sunday morning hopes where high on a offshore jigging and popping trip. Met up with fellow AFOer's Mark (Plasticfantasic) and Gordo (Flash 1980) at Cleveland boat ramp at 330am. We where met by a glassed out bay and an almost perfect run out to some of the shallow reefs off Straddie. Target was to first pop for GT's and see how the day goes, as it was the off weekend for tidal run and moon so hopes where not to high. After quiet a few drifts not to much action on the surface and Mark got a decent hit where we had caught cod before, too our surprise it was a very nice Moses Perch. 53cms and very solid, one of the bigger MP's I had seen, I was pretty sure Mark was keen to cover the spot and claim it as a jack (FOTM) but the yellow fins would have given it away, even so a very nice specimen.

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After a couple more drifts for not much action we decided to head up to square patch for a jig, when we arrived there where already a couple of boats up there. Drove around a bit to find the bait, had three of us jigging and was very quiet, Mark changed over to plastic as there was little to no current and proved the goods with his very first drop. Mark landed a kingie of about 4kg, after that Gordie and Mark hooked up again and landed a couple more kingies around the 6 kg mark. Freakiest thing of the day was we had a heap of dolphins hanging around the boat and could not figure out why, Gordie was playing around with his go pro and taking under water footage of the dolphins and he almost pooed himself when he saw a kingie right up under the boat, it must have been the one Mark had first caught and it was too scared to swim down through the dolphins to get to safety.

It was pretty quiet, probably because of no current, so we decided to head back in shallow to try a bit of plasticing and popping again. On arriving back at the reef we where met by a pack of GT's smashing the surface, I have not seen this offshore brisbane before, an amazing sight 20kg plus fish smashing the surface. I could not move quick enough, scrambling from the wheel to the front of the boat and yelling for mark to drive, grabbed my popping rod and got a cast into the middle of the action, two twitches and my popper was smashed, mean while I am yelling at Gordie to try and get a cast in but he had taken his popper off and in all of the action the pack had shut down before he had got a cast in. My quickest straddie GT ever, one cast, two twitches and about five minutes 23kg's later and he was in the boat photos taken and then released.

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Next drift and the tables where turned and Gordie hooked up to a nice GT, after another brief but brutal fight we had number 2 on the boat slightly bigger at 24kg. After this the NE's started to blow up and the fish almost shut down instantly. We tried a few drifts past boat rock and the group to no avail so decided to head in just after lunch.

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After much debate we have decided to put it up to the public to decide for fish of the day, we have a 53cm MP which is a monster for that species (but no jack), A sight casted 23kg Gt :woohoo: or a 24kg GT, biggest fish of the day, we need your help. :unsure::unsure::unsure::unsure:

After hearing about our good day a mate of mine asked me and Mark to come out in his boat. He owns a 6.2m plate alloy boat and had never been offshore and wanted to cross the bar with someone who had done it before. So backed up again monday morning but a bit later start 5am at the ramp. Slightly breezier but being in the bigger boat really made a difference, it was really nice not getting wet with a cross wind. Spent a bit of time talking Kris through the bar and off again to try and repeat the days before result. Signs where good early with some decent surface action, this time mark was keen as to hook a GT on popping gear, he for once was doing the hard yards with the big gear and I chucked a sneaky casting in behind his popper with a soft plastic and I was on. First blood for the day a nice Yellow fin tuna of 5kg.

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Mark was next hooking up a smaller model YFT and then getting his first strike from a GT on popping gear but no hook up. Next was my turn again, got absolutely smashed by a big GT, he took me straight to the bottom and there was no stopping him, this is the first one I have lost for ages, I was kicking my self, but if 200lb leader, 130lb main line was not going to stop him it was not meant to be. I was annoyed at myself to say the least and borrowed Kris's popping rod off him as re-rigging takes ages. On the next drift hooked a nice YFT on the big gear he did not stand much chance on the heavy gear, he put up a good show and an awesome run with a massive rooster tail, but the odds where against him. Went 8kg which is pretty good size for in close reefs.

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Kris decided all of a sudden he wanted the rod back :whistle: and not too much longer Kris had hooked his first fish on popping gear. It was another nice YFT, it was funny to see fish fighting the YFT as with so heavy drag the fish has very little chance to take drag so it is like holding onto the rod with a jack hammer on the other end. But he did well and landed is pb YFT and blooded in the boat on his first trip offshore straddie.

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Was a good day out, Kris had to be back in by 12 so, headed back in for the early mark after a fun and eventful morning, with also taking out Kris's boat for it maiden offshore voyage, a very nice boat with walk around cabin, and hopefully hooked another popping addict.

Andrew

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PlasticFantastic Newbie

PlasticFantastic

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Moses Perch was the best catch by far, there's hordes of 20kg plus Gt's swimming around out there that any mug can catch ;) Gotta admit though it was an awesome two days fishing and it would've been nice to convert a couple of my surface hits but there's always next time. Also know how you feel now with me always putting in the sneaky casts behind the poppers.

Cheers

Mark

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dansike Newbie

dansike

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Moses Perch was the best catch by far, there's hordes of 20kg plus Gt's swimming around out there that any mug can catch ;)

Agreed Mark, even though GT's are my number one fav fish that swims, thats a cracker of a Moses Perch. Really shows the family resemblance to Jacks and Fingermark. Ripper of a fish buddy!! Those GT's are getting me pretty excited for my next heavy popping trip though. Oh and how hard to those YFT pull!!! Love the way their whole body shakes at a hundred miles an hour when you get them in the boat.

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Manni79 Newbie

Manni79

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Threw a vote in for you boys for ROTM - hope you guys win :)

what camera are you shooting with btw?

Yeah great reports guys & some bloody awesome GT"s !!! I'm hoping later this year to have a crack at em !!

Just need to get my new popping combo lol there goes some more money haha

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Do$tylz Newbie

Do$tylz

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Sight cast gt gets the win from me. But i'm just a sucker for big gts. The moses is epic, but wouldn't get the excitement going anywhere near as much as the gt.

Sight, set the perfect cast while hoping not to f up the cast in excitement then the hook up. I can imagine that 15 seconds of rush when all of that happens.

Big moses perch would have only been exciting once it came to the surface. I use the word "only" very lightly.

Sweet report OTC. Good to see that even with living in toowoomba you're still making an epic effort to get out and chase these things.

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ONTHECHEW Newbie

ONTHECHEW

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Thanks for all of the replies guys, have not been able to get back on any sooner as long day at work and then site was down. I have added up the votes and to my disappointment Mark wins FOTD with his Moses perch 4 votes (danslike, surfingant, Zinman and MosesNguyen) to 2 votes for my site casted GT (rosstralia46 and Do$tylz). Looks like the GT's are losing their glamour, still I would take site casting to a moving bommie and then almost getting ripped out of the boat any day. Well done Mark (still no jack) :lol: .

Carter - Have not heard of too much GT action up your way, you being that little further north and having first crack at all of the species at the start of summer would see some impressive action. I am prepared to drive anywhere to catch these fish, want to target wahoo and spaniards this year on stick bait. Even a sail on stick bait would be awesome, I know it has been done just need to find the fish. I have very limited experience any further north than Moreton or south of Brunswick but starting to get to know my own back yard pretty well.

Dassa - Yah definately GT, very different fight between a GT and a YFT, GT's first action is to swim to the bottom, YFT's swim away from you and then when they are buggered swim down and circle under the boat, plus YFT's have insane rapid tail kicks.

51MPL - The camera is a Cannon EOS 550D, with a 15-85mm wide angle lense. Still getting used to using it, also have to get mates used to it as well when they are taking photos of my fish ;) But very nice camera, still a novice, have not even started to try and use the manual side of it except stuffing around at home.

Do$tylz - To see the moving pack of GT's was awesome, I had not seen it before and to see it twice in two days was even better. To get a cast in where I wanted it with every thing going on was sweet. The drive from Toowoomba is very boring but lately the rewards are well worth it. I am still trying to organise a trip with you and Angus and Mark, will have to get off you guys what days you have off. The biggest problem I have now is all of my mates that are too soft to fish in the cold are now hitting me up for trips :whistle:

Andrew

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Angus Rookie

Angus

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Dude I am going to throw another in for site casted GT's!!!

I love the consistancy you get these things. Its really something that until I started reading your reports thought I would have to travel to the GB reef to target. Now I feel like there is a local application for my Stella 10k :)

Angus

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Bagless Newbie

Bagless

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Excellent report, thank you very much for sharing. It's both incredibly inspiring and yet also incredibly frustrating at the same time :) . Inspiring knowing such fishing is accessible from Brisbane and frustrating knowing I don't have a boat big enough to safely get out there :). I have no idea how you can determine which of those fish is better than the other, they're all incredible.

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