queensland Hervey Bay last weekend

[samsteele115]

Weather permitting, Wayne and I planned to go for a weekend trip up to the Great Sandy Island and fish the waters in between. It was my last chance for an entire weekend trip as I now start working Saturdays until early next year.

Luckily the forecast was looking great so we packed our things and drove up there Thursday night.

The weather on Friday was absolutely magical. Could not ask for better conditions and the 'lake' stayed flat the whole weekend which was a bonus.

It didn't take long to notice the large amount of whales in the bay. We saw the first one just five minutes outside the harbour.

The plan was to find bait and microjig and if we saw any feeding pelagics on the way, well, does the bear shit in the woods?

The first fish on board were these snapper caught by Wayne.

It wasn't too hard to find the bait, so once we did we tried to hover over them to send the jigs down and hold on...... We didn't have to hold on too tight though because the majority of the fish caught were very small. We boated over 20 species for the trip which was great, but size was lacking on most of the fish hooked.

Every now and then our rods would load up on a solid fish. However much to our disappointment they turned out to be these. We hooked about a dozen on the first day on micro jigs. Good fun, but not really what we were after.

On both days we had some mac tuna pop up around us when we were fishing the bait balls. They were feeding very passively and without the great conditions we would not have seen them. Wayne got 6 and I got 2. They certainly went hard for their size and it was a lot of fun!

We were catching a fair few yakkas on our jigs, so it only made sense to hang one out the back of the boat with a circle hook through its nose. The highlight of the trip was a big fish taking Wayne's livie and shooting off on a sizzling run. After losing a couple of hundred metres on the first run, Wayne started to get some line back and he had it on the surface about 30m from the boat. We couldn't see exactly what it was but we are both nearly certain it was a large Spanish Mackerel. Teeth on leader spelt the end of the fight.

I must mention I was severely outfished on this trip by the skipper, but with conditions like this it didn't really bother me .

We packed up Sunday morning and headed home from a good couple of days fishing!

[curranboy99]

It looks like you had a great weekend

[aussie123]

Sounds like a great trip Sam.

How good was the weather up there on the weekend.

We launched at 1770 about 2am Friday morning and headed off and Friday was an amazing day out there.

Sat morning was a bit messy but the arvo was great and Sunday was a glass out.

Anyway well done guys,looks like a cracker of a trip.

[Luvit]

Thanks for writing the report Sam.

We'll get the big one next time. The run of that Spanish was exciting and to get it so close on mono. Missed on the video it was so fast.

Aussie, we passed a massive boat as we passed through Gympie on Thursday night and thought it may have been you guys. Probably not but was thinking if you were on the road and excited like we were in anticipation of the weekend to come.

The weather was so good over the weekend.

[aussie123]

Thanks for writing the report Sam.

We'll get the big one next time. The run of that Spanish was exciting and to get it so close on mono. Missed on the video it was so fast.

Aussie, we passed a massive boat as we passed through Gympie on Thursday night and thought it may have been you guys. Probably not but was thinking if you were on the road and excited like we were in anticipation of the weekend to come.

The weather was so good over the weekend.

Was that boat pulled over on the northern side of Gympie, if so that was us.

We had to restock the car with beers from the boats icebox, oops I meant check the bearings, lol

[Binder]

looks fantastic conditions. A few nice fish fish to make it a great trip!

[Luvit]

It was just as we entered Gympie township at the lights. Twin hull, twin motors big white boat. I think my boat would have fitted on its deck.

[Luvit]

We had great time even though there were no stand out fish. A few firsts for me. A squire on a micro jig, first cobia, 6 small tuna in a day and first hook up to a Spanish Mackel.

Always a bonus if you don't lose anything over board or break anything. Successful trip!

[samsteele115]

Always a bonus if you don't lose anything over board or break anything. Successful trip!

Hey yeah! that's a first for me

[demarc]

Great effort boys! Love ya pics, you seem to put a bit of effort into them. I wish I had that energy!

[aussie123]

Probably was us Wayne

It was a 27ft white noosa cat towed by a white F250 ute and has twin Honda 150's on her.

[Luvit]

Yep it was you then.

I could stayed behind you in your slip stream.

[Luvit]

Sam is getting the knack of using the DSLR camera so we can take the memories home.

(Its has been like trying to train a monkey )

He is even starting to remember to pull in the electric motor sometimes.

[samsteele115]

Sam is getting the knack of using the DSLR camera so we can take the memories home.

(Its has been like trying to train a monkey )

He is even starting to remember to pull in the electric motor sometimes.

As long as I'm showing improvements!

[Luvit]

You finally learnt to let me catch more fish than you.

Thanks