queensland Topwater sessions at the Noosa Fishing Shack

[Eug]

First of all a thanks to BFO and the Noosa Fishing Shack for the chance to meet some great people and fish some amazing waters.

Noosa Fishing Shack

A few of our neighbours for the weekend

The place is decorated with cool little quirks which kept Tina busy on the camera

Earlier this year at the Summer Classic I was lucky enough to score the lucky door prize for a night up at the Shack with Greg. The dates aligned and it was by chance we were booked in as the last two guests. As some of you may have seen from a few sneaky pics we had a pretty amazing time up there.

Even the shack itself looks fishy!

Pretty amazing waking up to this in the mornings

We made our way up Friday and were greeted by Dani and the rest of the family before quickly settling in for some refreshments. After catching up with Greg shortly after, he had kindly offered his time to take us for a bit of a fish. A quick game plan for Saturday morning was hatched and we called it a night.

Bumped into Bec and Manni

Fishing and relaxing is thirsty work

A mild easterly greeted us at 04:30 the next day at the ramp. A quick hit at a moored cat proved fruitless and we shortly hit up the flats. Greg had a few hits and was first on the board with a nice flatty taken off the surface, a couple more dud casts and we made our way into the everglades. To say that this place looked fishy would be an understatement. I could have spent a solid few hours just fishing the initial stretch of water at the mouth and missed a few snags which I would have liked to have had a crack at. Greg hinted that there was plenty of ground to cover and was very busy with his foot control leccy (some of you who’ve fished with him will get this!), I was happy to go with the flow and heed his advice.

Tough gig getting up early but you gotta love this!

Greg was the first on the board out on the flats

Beautiful flatty taken off the surface

Bit of an awkward shot sorry I was behind the camera :whistle:

After quite some time away from the rods both Tina and my casts were well off the mark and pretty rubbish. Swapping back and forth between various rods and lures was totally doing my head in and couldn’t get into a rhythm. We were peppering the various overhangs when Greg made a passing comment that he had never seen a particular fish taken from a particular snag. Now that I think back on it maybe he was subtly setting me up, or maybe he really hadn’t? I guess I’ll find out one day.

**Going to pause the report for a minute and ask a question. If your missus says to you one week before a trip use this lure, would you use it?**

As I was sorting through which lures to take up last week Tina picked out the gun lures to use!

A well aimed cast (read: fluked) under a low hanging branch with a walk the dog lure already had me cheering. Now I’ve had plenty of hits on surface but have never actually hooked up, I waited until the ripples cleared and twitched a few times before pausing. A quick swirl behind the lure ensured that I forgot to breathe. Was that a glint of red or just the sun reflecting off the water? Another two or three twitches and followed by another pause. Another swipe... get lost! Pretty sure all three of us saw red that time. Taking care not to rush it I managed to get another few twitches in before this fish smashed the lure off the surface. Ensuring I kept it out of the snags was the first priority and put on a reasonable amount of hurt in the early stages of the fight. I felt a treble let go and once out I was able to back off and play the fish into the net. Hi fives all round... (Greg) Carter is the man! This fish was very much a team effort from lure selection, to location to the actual cast and retrieve. A few snaps and an obligatory mat photo before release.

Both Tina and Greg were on the money!

Amazing fish and kicked off strongly after release

I felt the front treble pull out while trying to wrestle it out of the snags

We moved on and tried to get Tina onto a jack (which was really one of my goals for the trip) but it wasn’t to be. We hit up some of his spots up Kin Kin Ck. Greg and I managed to get few bream on the surface, with Tina on shortly after. Totally unaware that her popper was being followed both Greg and I urged her to give the rod another twitch before she pulled up tight on a healthy bream. Being a plastics/bait girl I was impressed with her perseverance to continue on with throwing surface lures which seem to frustrate her most other times. A cast towards a submerged log saw what appeared to be a bass that took a swipe at my popper, but not before a tarpon jumped on straight after. Making sure to set the hooks hard I was well and truly connected before an acrobatic fight before being skilfully netted by Greg.

Tina opens the account with a breambo taken off the surface

Tina manages to get a shot of a topwater hit from the Tarpon

Tarpon off the bucket list

We tried a few more spots before losing a few lures at a deep hole, the wind began to pick up shortly after and the call was made to try down between the lakes. Greg kindly imparted his knowledge on trolling patterns and techniques. We got two hits but failed to set the hooks. On the way back a bait ball was spotted on the sounder we tried a number of drifts over and Greg manages to hook up on a GT which gave him a decent run on the light gear. Some deft netting by Tina and a few photos and it was released. We returned back to the shack for a bit of lunch, ice-cream and a snooze before Tina and I decided to try again for a quick session in the afternoon.

Greg behind the wheel as we make our way through the everglades

Enjoying the company and the weather, it's not often she gets away from behind the camera

Crazy baitball

Skipper does the damage with a very nice GT

Launching at 17:00 we made our way back down between the lakes. After a bit of a quiet session for her in the morning Tina was keen to get into the fish. Shortly after putting out the lures Tina had a solid hit, a decent fight saw her boat her PB GT in the low 40s. Some quick photos and it was released. After redeploying the lures we hadn’t gone 50 meters before she was on again. This was a solid fish and my initial hopes were for a jack, however after some long solid runs she called it early for another GT. This fish punched well above its weight and very quickly thoughts of jacks were forgotten as she tried to subdue this fish. After a lengthy fight on some light gear we managed to get it in the net, obligatory hi-fives and yahoos were given much to the dismay of neighbouring boaties who didn’t seem to fare as well. Another upgrade on her PB to the low 50s and she was very happy with her efforts. This fish took a while to come good for release due to the extended fight, in the end it kicked of strongly after a bit of swimming and slowly made its way back down to the depths.

Tina's GT upgrade taken on the troll

Say AHHHHHHHHHH

Another upgrade to a very solid low 50s GT

GT release

We continued on the troll but couldn’t raise another scale for the afternoon. We decided to do a few more loops whilst using the side imaging to keep an eye on the other side of the bank. I noted a few rockbars and submerged trees which corresponded to the baitball we found earlier on in the day but the fish had obviously moved on. We called it a night and headed back to the shack where Greg and Dani invited us over for a fantastic dinner of freshly caught flathead fish cakes and homemade sausage rolls. I brought up some extra brewskis thinking that Greg might have a drop or three. Turns out this Greg also drinks bourbon, oh well more for me! Somewhere along the way Tina also managed to finish two bottles of wine not sure how she managed that. Eventually we called it a night but not before Greg tossed up the idea for a quick session in the morning, we thought the better of it shortly after.

Greg mentioned that the everglades were called the land of mirrors, he's not wrong!

Cruising to another one of Greg's spot

Following a nice sleep in on Sunday saw us packing up and saying early farewells as the Carters headed off to the movies. We looked back on our short stay and wished we had the time to come up much sooner in the year. It’ll be a shame to be the last customers but in a way we’re also excited to see what plans are in the pipeline for next year.

Just a few of the ornaments around the place

Packing the gear away after a successful weekend

Thanks to the Carter family for inviting us into your home and sharing a little slice of many of us only wish we could have. The time you took out to show us around despite your busy schedule is appreciated.

Gone fishing!

You’re a champ and all the best with the move. Hope to see you soon!

Cheers

Eug & Tina

Noosa Fishing Shack!

[BASSTURD]

Great report mate.

AWESOME pictures. What camera are they taken with.

[Surfingant]

Loved the report Eug, great fish, great pics and well written, thanks

[Angus]

Epic report!

Well done guys.

Ill miss that shack to tell you the truth!

Angus

[Eug]

Thanks boys.

Bassturd: Most were taken with a Canon 450D and the rest are taken with the Lumix FT3 (mainly Tina's GTs).

[fishingnut]

Well done eug good to see another report from you

[Stevodevo]

Well done mate sounds like both of you had a great weekend and great report and great photos

[Gregpen]

Awesome report guys, fantastic images. Great job

[NightShadow]

Great report an really stunning pictures man.. kudos!!!

[Do$tylz]

awesome photos and report man. Tina is really getting good at this photo thing. Good personal photographer to have with you while fishing

It's an amazing place hey

[Zim man]

fantastic report, one of the best i have read in a while. i will have to head up there soonish.

brilliant pics by the way

[Doobsy]

Fantastic report in all aspects.

The real question is what lens were the Jack & Tarpon pics taken with?

Some beautiful shots.

Thanks for the effort & sharing.

Cheers.

[sweresy]

Winning report.... Thanks mate

[Eug]

Fantastic report in all aspects.

The real question is what lens were the Jack & Tarpon pics taken with?

Some beautiful shots.

Thanks for the effort & sharing.

Cheers.

Thanks Doobs, pretty sure she was using the 50mm 1.8 for most of the weekend.

[Doobsy]

The nifty fifty eh? Quality. Thanks again.

[Bi_polar]

Awesome photo's Tina, looks like you guys had a ball

[Carter]

Wow, what a great report and superb pictures. Thanks for the kind words Eug,that Jack was all yours mate! You did extrememly well to pull it from heavy timber, played it perfectly and was duely rewarded. It was an absolute pleasure fishing with you both. You guys rock!

[Dubbzy]

thankyou for the effort in putting the report up. what a great wekend away.

[ONTHECHEW]

Awesome report, when will Tina be running photography classes, awesome photos.

Andrew

[gardiner]

Great report And A+ photo's, amazing!

[Manni79]

Great report mate, love the pics

[Little Grey Men]

Great to see some photos that capture the beauty of our sport and do it justice. Top notch !

Good fishing to boot !

[FishoDave]

Great report along with some AMAZING looking photos

I can't wait to upgrade to a dslr camera - I just can't afford it right now :/

Thanks for the read guys

[Eug]

Thanks boys will pass on the comments to Tina.

[tugger]

Plenty of cool country to keep trigger finger going Tina luv the shots you'll have to start eating some ginger for offshore now with the mackerel not far away or else who will take care of Eug

Nice work on the jack Eug top report bloke

[tikki169]

Great report Eug. Looks like a good time was had by all and Tina took some superb pics. Love the Tarpon hit pic!