My Northern Migration Part 2 (airlie Beach/lucinda)

[Ovington]

My trailer was back to a functional state which allowed me to get up north and hopefully catch a few different fish or at least some more noteworthy ones. I made the drive from 1770 to Airlie in the greatest of anticipation with perfect forecasts for a number of days. I stayed at the van park near Shute Harbour so it was only a small drive to the ramp and out to the islands. The first day involved dropping some of my family off for a girls day at Daydream Island before going fishing with the old man. First spot was out to the passage between Hook Island and Whitsunday to try and find a trout or a GT. It wasn't long before I came up tight on an ambitious little Coral Trout that nailed a slowly worked Aquaholics stick bait made by our very own @bersim . 

My old man had a follow up by a pair of big GTs on a plastic but they disappeared after that. With the weather too good to turn back I decided to check out the eastern side of Hook and come back in around Hayman island up North. It was a dream run with the only captures being some big Finny Scad on microjigs and a few follows from over fed GTs around the eastern side of Hook. 

We headed back to pick up the girls from Daydream (who had a ball living the resort life whilst camping) and returned home to plan my next days fishing.

The next day I did a solo mission out to Hook and Nara inlet to try and find some fish and check out the scenery. I caught heaps of cool reefies dropping plastics along coral ledges all of which loved destroying my leader in the coral but I had a ball none the less.

That afternoon I took my little sisters for another run and managed to pick up a nice little Queenie on a Gsplash in Shute Harbour which was a first for me.

The next day I planned to do a day trip to Whitehaven with the family and hopefully drop them off here and there for a fish too. We made it to Whitehaven and I let everyone out and went for a fish in the creek there and found a nice little school of GTs.

The little GTs shut down so I decided to throw around a 4" Zman shrimp to see what else was around and came up tight on a solid fish on one of my lighter rods. I was pleased to see after a couple minutes a beautiful Diamond Trevally come to the surface.

On the way home we also managed a massive feed of squid, a legal trout and a legal narrow bar mackeral to feed the family which was a nice bonus. This concluded the Airlie Beach stay as the weather only looked to be holding off for a few more days and I wanted a couple days in Lucinda of good weather to fish that area.
This was the best decision possible as Lucinda really turned it on for us. The forecast didn't quite hold true as it showed a spike during the day which mean't I wasn't confident going out to the islands in a new area with questionable weather so we headed to Lucinda jetty and fished that area. It wasn't long before the tuna schools moved in around the Jetty and we had a double hook up on some solid little Macs, I got busted off but my dad managed to land his.

Wasn't long after we found a solid bait ball closer to the jetty that my Dad was on again but this fish was going skyward fast. The large chrome flanks of a big queenie launched itself into the air and hit the deck shortly after. A P.B of 95cm for dad which was nice (I was jealous).

Dad and my little sister were getting too hot and the fishing quietened down so I dropped them off on the beach and headed back out for a solo session. The fish started going ballistic around the Jetty upon my return and it was like nothing I have ever experienced before. There were Queenies, Juvie Gts and Tuna busting up like crazy left right and center and there wasn't a boat in sight. I had a Blue Aquaholics stickbait on and everything wanted a taste. In 10 casts I caught 10 fish all of which were solid fish and at one stage I caught a 60cm GT, followed by a 105cm Queenie then a 102cm Longtail. I was Physically exhausted with hands that had been destroyed from landing all these fish solo by tailing. Unfortunately as I was solo and busy fishing I didn't manage any reasonable photos. A working crew on break on the Jetty got the whole thing on film but didn't get to talk to the bloke about getting a copy haha. Wish my Go Pro still worked. I managed 1 self timed pic on my phone of a queenie before telling my dad to haul his A#@e back out to catch come more fish and take some pics.  

I dragged dad back out into the fish and they had slowed down a bit but still managed another few big Queenies including my pb at 106cm and some Juvie Gts.

The surface action died down but the bait was still sounding up so I dropped a micro jig and came up tight on a solid meter of mackeral, as it approached the bottom of the boat a massive brown shape appeared under it and the mackeral soon disappeared. The big shape continued to come up to the boat where we realised I had just been Giant Groupered by a fish that would have been an easy 3m long. What a Thrill!!!! The grouper chilled under the boat for a while before disappearing into the depths. Not long after my little sister managed to connect to another Mac which made it to the boat this time.

I continued sounding about and found a different bait ball with some solid arches under it. I gave my sister my Dobyns Saavy series 8-17lb rod and 3000 Sol and she dropped straight onto the nose of the fish of the trip! After about 10 mins of fighting a 10kg+ Gt surfaced!! Big fish for a little girl on a light rod.

That was the last of the bait ball action we managed and I decided to have a crack at some big Fingermark along the jetty with plastics. No fingermark came aboard but found some solid Goldspot Cod which was a PB for me also.

 

The fishing gods dished up an amazing day before the gale force winds hit which sent me into the hills to chase Jungle perch. We stayed at Big Crystal creek national park which had a beautiful swimming hole filled with Jungle Perch and freshwater Jacks which were awesome to snorkel with however no fishing is allowed in that area so I was forced downstream out of the National park in search of a JP.

 

After a couple days of searching I finally found a promising hole where a well presented frog lure didn't even hit the water before the peaceful crystal clear waters were disrupted by an eruption. I guided the beautiful fish to the bank for a few pics before it peacefully retreated back to its feeding location.   

 

A few cold beers around the camp fire in celebration and I parted ways with the family to go back to work  But what a trip!! Can't wait for a similar one next year with the small amount of insight I have gained.

[The Mad Hughesy]

such an epic report!

[Luvit]

What a great report and some excellent fish.

Your sis has already accomplished what a lot of angler dream of, the GT, so good.

James will be stoked to see so many fish falling to his sticks baits.

Congrats on the PB's for all the family.

I have a US trailer too and changed the springs etc, so off the shelf springs will now fit. Peace of mind for the future trips. 

[Ovington]

Yeah mate she is such a tinny bum but loves her fishing so I do my best to put her onto fish. 

Yeah a big thanks to James for making some on such short notice. They  killed it up there and the trout love them!

Yeah mate standard springs will be a life saver in the future no doubt. Still have a bit of work to do on the trailer to fix up the bodge job i had done on it hah. 

[T_H]

Great work mate. Some class fish and beautiful looking conditions 

[bersim]

Awesome report Shane!  So jealous by all those acrobatic fish that you caught.  Looks like a great place to fish and a place I'll be putting on my bucket list.  Thanks again for using my lures and getting such great photos!  

James

[Luke Landrunner]

Great trip!

I am doing something similar mid August for three weeks, although not towing a boat.

Any fishy spots for land based you came across?

Cheers Luke.

 

[Angus]

So good! Thanks for keeping us updated mate!

[samsteele115]

Wow mate. Got no words. Such an awesome trip!! I'll be in touch cos I'm thinking of doing similar 

[Ovington]

6 hours ago, Luke Landrunner said:

Great trip!

I am doing something similar mid August for three weeks, although not towing a boat.

Any fishy spots for land based you came across?

Cheers Luke.

 

Hey mate, depends where you are heading. There is decent facilities at shute harbour in airlie beach but there are lots of people that use them. Lucinda has a good fishing jetty with serious fish around it like tuna, queenies and gts but its about 6m high so hard to use conventional gear. Let me know if you had anything specific. Plenty of awesome water inland for sooties and JPs just make sure there isnt any crocs around.

 

[PA Pete]

What a epic report!! A dream trip filled with family, PB's, good times and lessons learnt. Well done young fella!! 

[Nog]

Epic!!!!

Love those Junglies.....

[tugger]

Awesome trip I used to love going north to Bowen and fishing that whole area, always wanted to fish Lucinda jetty it always has great reports of top fishing I fished 1 similar for years just north of Bowen at the Abbot point jetty which would be very similar. You definitely packed in plenty on this trip and would love to get my son up there again when I get a chance, Lucinda area will be on my to do list for sure. Thanks for a great report it will now cost me a trip to FNQ

[Ovington]

Yeah the next trip up there is already being planned. Think I will have another go at the end of the year finances pending and have a crack at some barra whilst im at it. The boat has barely seen water since this trip but hopefully will be hitting the water in the coming weeks.