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1770 Red Emperor Trout And Rte


tugger

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I hatched a plan to head up to the Bunker group of reefs off 1770 over the weekend, my son Brock deckied for me and my mate Col and his wife and son travelled with us in their boat. Thursday arvo we left Brisbane and got into 1770 just after dark so we checked into the caravan park to camp for the night over a few drinks we planned our weekend out on the reef for the 3 days and 2 nights. Friday morning i noticed fuel leaking from the bungs in my boat and soon discovered my tank was leaking not what we needed before a big trip so i pulled up the false floor and found the problem where the breather fitting on the tank leaking, there was a boat mechanic in town and he fitted us in straight away.

 

The boat was soon fixed and we hit the water late morning just as the wind was backing off which we planned on leaving late anyway so a easy trip over to the reefs was made with a following sea making it a smooth run. Brock and I put a few good coral trout and red throat emperor in the boat some of the red throat were 55cm and at that size they fight hard it takes a while to get them away from the bottom.

 

The afternoon wore on and with the sun getting low on the horizon we needed to get into our anchorage so we chose the northern top off Heron reef with a southerly wind so we would be in the lee of the reef. We rafted the 2 boats up where we could have dinner together and a few drinks and talk about the days fishing it  had reef bommies around us so we dropped baits down and caught a few good red throat. The sun setting was amazing but the moon rise over the water was better it had its own pefect reflection as it rose just above horizon we all commented we had never seen it that perfect before.

 

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After a good night sleep we were ready for Saturdays action the weather was mint and both boats headed for some marks we have in water about 40 to 50m deep we got a few trout and red throat Brock got a nice moarie cod but the bite dropped off so we split up the boats to look at other marks. Late morning we met up again and i suggested a spot where you can do long drifts where you can start in 18m and end up in 40m covering alot of structure over hour long drifts here we put more good trout, tuskies and red throat in the boat. The call was made to have lunch behind the reef and go for a snorkle after the snorkle we had a few drinks with bikkies and dip.

 

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The arvo was waring on and we made the call to hit up that same reef we started at and fish it through to dark. We found it was a good call as the fish were back on Brock hooked a big fish with wicked head shakes and i called it a Red emperor it was going hard on his light gear he was using a 5000 shimano sustain loaded with 30lb braid on a 15 to 25lb stick. This fish did not want to come away from the bottom and i settled his nerves by just saying to play it out smoothly let it run when it wants to and pump and wind when you can, Brock did well and turned its head and got it up through many tense moments. Brock has never caught a legal Red before so he was estatic when i slipped the net under his 1st good Red high 5s and a few photos followed before we slipped him in the esky to look for more.

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The fish were on the bite as on the next drift Brock hooked up to another Red just as we heard waahoooos coming from the other boat, after another epic fight i slid the net under another nice Red for Brock. We motored over to Col's boat and found Jodie had got her 1st Red ever And Zac had landed 1 as well it was evident there would be more so back in to the drifts saw Brock hooking another good Red i was relegated to being the net boy as i could not land 1. This doesn't bother me as i was so glad to see my son doing well he has been up here 4 times without getting Red's before and he was certainly making up for it. Then again he hooks another Red but the 4th was undersize and went back to catch next time. 

 

 

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The sun had long since set and netting the Red's in  the dark was awesome seeing them come in to the light of the torch just before they surface but eventually all good things come to an end and the fish went off the bite. We headed back to our anchorage above Heron reef again it was glassed out and perfect for rafting the 2 boats up we had many drinks and laughs as we were 2 very happy crews the night was perfect and sleep was easy after 2 big days. We woke to a very windy morning but we headed back out to where we caught the Red's and right on cue Brock hooks a good Red i finally conceded i was using to heavier line so after i netted his fish i dropped a bait with my lighter gear and hooked a Red of coarse my was not to upstage Brocks as it was undersize and i threw him back to catch next time.

 

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The next baot over we heard Col had landed a good Red before the fish went off the bite we moved back in to the shallows and got some more trout in the relative pretection from the reef with the wind still blowing. Late morning we made the call to head for the ramp to bring to an end another epic trip on the southern Great Barrier Reef, today back at home we took the photos of the fish as a whole. I can't wait already to get up there again I hope you all enjoy the report.

 

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3 hours ago, Robgr said:

Sounds like a great long weekend.  Roughly how many k's did you cover?  Wanted to get an idea of how much fuel I would need to do something like this.

We do about 250 to 300km but we go a bit further than most the closets reefs are 55 to 65km double that for your return and add a bit for running around. Our trip was over 3 days as well so that's 70 to 120km of running around.

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19 minutes ago, Poddymullet said:

Wow what a trip! Been hearing lots of great stories about 1770 from work colleagues. New to QLD so starting to lock in some bucket list trips over the next year or so. 

What type of boat were you using? Plate or Glass? Just trying to factor that into my boat

A 5.4m aluminium cuddy cab it's the boat in the 2nd photo

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1 hour ago, tugger said:

You will be hooked and need more like an addict

I know.  I spent from 11pm friday night til 8pm Saturday night fishing the bay for a big snapper with one epic bust up on 40lb and one run. I know what being addict is like..... if any one says the word snapper its like bad fever.  Sleepless nights and cold sweats. Cant wait til my 2 weeks at fraser in August to put some effort in on the red coloued fish up.north 

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10 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Cracking haul and trip Mark, well done mate!!!  Nice solid trout too, yum all round!!  No sharks?

Thanks Kelvin there were 3 big trout and the 8 were all solid to we had about 4 fish taken from sharks luck had it there was none around while we were into the reds

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10 hours ago, Cobiaaddict said:

I know.  I spent from 11pm friday night til 8pm Saturday night fishing the bay for a big snapper with one epic bust up on 40lb and one run. I know what being addict is like..... if any one says the word snapper its like bad fever.  Sleepless nights and cold sweats. Cant wait til my 2 weeks at fraser in August to put some effort in on the red coloued fish up.north 

Fraser should be awesome got a mate goes there every year for a week during the ekka in august they tow the big boats up the beach they get good fish off there

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8 hours ago, aussie123 said:

Another nice haul of fish, well done boys and congratulations Brock for finally getting your Red and also for kicking dads ass.

I was happy for him didn't mind to much being the net boy I was waiting for the big red to come by Col got dusted by 1 big red

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Got a new rod and reel combo for the next trip as I was a bit over being outfish by my son on the light gear. Picked up a Shimano talica size 12 with 18kg drag and spooled it with 40lb the rod is on a Shimano T curve overhead rod this should have the stopping power. I am going to still run 50lb leader like my son was using so look out Reds just need to get up there again and try it out.

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5 hours ago, Drop Bear said:

Nice. When I get back to work I will upgrade a few rigs. 

Speaking of rigs I have been using double ganged 8/0 true turn hooks and best results is a big round sinker running down onto the hooks I have caught every species up there with this rig.

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On 07/06/2018 at 6:37 AM, tugger said:

Got a new rod and reel combo for the next trip as I was a bit over being outfish by my son on the light gear. Picked up a Shimano talica size 12 with 18kg drag and spooled it with 40lb the rod is on a Shimano T curve overhead rod this should have the stopping power. I am going to still run 50lb leader like my son was using so look out Reds just need to get up there again and try it out.

Yeah good combo there I run a talica 10 on a terez for chasing reds, occasionally I’ll stil get dusted but that’s all part of it, I have the torsa for backup if I come across big fish and keep losing them but the talica is my goto. Definitely my fave combo for 1770

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9 minutes ago, jon said:

Yeah good combo there I run a talica 10 on a terez for chasing reds, occasionally I’ll stil get dusted but that’s all part of it, I have the torsa for backup if I come across big fish and keep losing them but the talica is my goto. Definitely my fave combo for 1770

Yeah the size 12 reel and up has the 18kg drag, my reel still has a nice balance on top of the rod can't wait to use it in anger.

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Been wanting to get back up there as soon as time allows.

Cracking photos and trip. Congratulations Brock on the Reds.

Another 3-4 weeks and my boat should be sorted and ready to go again.🙂

Maybe not he most productive way to catch reds but they do take Sp's. Here's one from my first trip to 1770 with @samsteele115.

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3 hours ago, Luvit said:

Been wanting to get back up there as soon as time allows.

Cracking photos and trip. Congratulations Brock on the Reds.

Another 3-4 weeks and my boat should be sorted and ready to go again.🙂

Maybe not he most productive way to catch reds but they do take Sp's. Here's one from my first trip to 1770 with @samsteele115.

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Thanks Wayne the anchorage we used up off Heron was excellent in the southerlies a good 1 for future trips.

 

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