queensland Been To Long (report Added)

[jon]

Well I’ve been trying to get away all year to 1770 and beyond and something always gets in the way but it’s looking like this weekend might be a goer fingers crossed. Anyone else heading up??

Edited July 21, 2020 by jon

[Ed.]

Unfortunately, I am going up on the 4 Sept. Hope you enjoy yourself up there. If you do catch some nice fish, pics are always required or they didn't happen!

Cheers

Ed.

[Cobiaaddict]

1 hour ago, jon said:

Well I’ve been trying to get away all year to 1770 and beyond and something always gets in the way but it’s looking like this weekend might be a goer fingers crossed. Anyone else heading up??

Good Luck @jon   Hope you fill the eskys mate.  

 

[ellicat]

Good luck. Safe journey.

Do the Reds bite all year 'round up there ?

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi jon

Best of wishes. I hope you get some bigguns and a great feed of fish. I look forward to seeing how you go.

Cheers Hamish

[jon]

2 hours ago, ellicat said:

Good luck. Safe journey.

Do the Reds bite all year 'round up there ?

There’s definitely better times of year than other times. But if your willing to push out a bit further than Fitzroy/Sykes you have a great chance of most species

Edited July 16, 2020 by jon

[kmcrosby78]

Good luck Sef, have a safe and fun trip . Heading up with any other boats?

[jon]

10 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Good luck Sef, have a safe and fun trip . Heading up with any other boats?

Nah not at this stage 

[jon]

[kmcrosby78]

Enjoy Sef. I've forgotten what boat you have?

[jon]

I’ve got six metre custom platey, but we went in my mates boat, it’s a bit bigger

[kmcrosby78]

10 hours ago, jon said:

I’ve got six metre custom platey, but we went in my mates boat, it’s a bit bigger

Cheers - was trying to work out if you were being serious about burning 600 litres of fuel .......  

[jon]

Yeah we’d planned on doing a much bigger trip than we did, we had some serious engine dramas and spent most of the trip in limp mode. This was combined with a broken marine radio which made this interesting to say the least Especially as the dramas started 100km offshore. Most importantly we made it home safely. Worst part was the motor was serviced two days before the trip ( specifically for the trip) and radio was three weeks old. We didn’t get to fish our big red grounds but thanks to some bush mechanics and luckily having good tools and spares on board we still had a great trip considering.  I CANT stress enough to anyone undertaking long range trips how important it is to be prepared for the worst and have a good understanding of your equipment the weather and the grounds you are heading to. We were able to do the majority of our fishing on anchor in the shallows withIn protection of the reef Or at least in sight of it. Then it was a matter waiting  it out two nights for a break in weather for the run home. We spoke to another boat we knew out there who was heading home on Monday and gave them the track we would be taking home (as we had zero radio comms) and left four hours before them as we were at fairly lows speeds. Knowing if engine totally gave up the ghost we could drop anchor and wait for them to come by. This option was probably a result of good karma as on day one that other boat had busted a hydraulic steering line and luckily we had a few litres of hydraulic steering fluid to give to them and some hose clamps which saved their trip. Keep in mind both boats are well maintained and always serviced and regularly checked over before big trips so it can happen at any time. And last but not least on night one our gas mate cooker with a Brand new freshly opened canister started spewing flames at a rate of knots directly from where the canister connects to the cooker so was promptly sent for a permanent time out at Davey Jones’s locker, as with 300 litres of petrol on the deck this was NOT good . So it was cornchip an salsa sandwiches and a couple of skipped meals for the next day and a half( not ideal in the middle of winter)

in conclusion with high spirits and a bit of know how we still had a really good trip which could have been so much worse we managed three reds, twenty one trout, 1 gold band and then a good mixed bag of lipper parrot and some nice coral tomato and Māori cods. So the fishing front was pretty great! ( I’ll get my big red next time !!)

anyways enough dramas here’s some pics enjoy and stay safe !!!

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by jon

[Ed.]

Nice feed of fish there!  so not a total disaster then. How many hours to get back?

[jon]

Close to five Hours  we were down a few cylinders but did some re arranging of weight and after twenty five minutes of full throttle ( limited to just shy of 4000 rpm we managed to get on the plane thank christ

[Ed.]

My engine did the same a few days ago on the way to Hutchinsons but we're limited to 1200-1600 RPM  so 3.5 hours later we got home to Bribie Isl. , at least you managed to get 4000RPM and got on plane otherwise it would have been a very, very long trip home. Otherwise your trip could have been much worse but you did catch some fish so that is a positive! I take it you got out to the reef?

[ellicat]

Less than ideal, Sef. I'd have been excreting bricks the whole time.

Well done on getting an esky together. Looks like @Shane69 was the red king.

[jon]

2 hours ago, ellicat said:

Less than ideal, Sef. I'd have been excreting bricks the whole time.

Well done on getting an esky together. Looks like @Shane69 was the red king.

Yeah he fished pretty well and was an even better skipper considering the issues. I’m still not gonna hear the end of it from him coz I lost two massive reds lol. I had to remind him who got the massive nannygai last time lol 

Edited July 21, 2020 by jon

[jon]

2 hours ago, Ed. said:

My engine did the same a few days ago on the way to Hutchinsons but we're limited to 1200-1600 RPM  so 3.5 hours later we got home to Bribie Isl. , at least you managed to get 4000RPM and got on plane otherwise it would have been a very, very long trip home. Otherwise your trip could have been much worse but you did catch some fish so that is a positive! I take it you got out to the reef?

Yeah mate made to broomfield but the plan was to go to innamincka. I’m glad it happened a broomfield tho would have been In a world of hurt if it was out at the shoals

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hi jon

Ripper trip.

Its a bugger about the engine but at least you still caught some marvellous fish. YUM!

Good job on it all, the fish alone look great with all the colours. Shane69 seemed to have done exceptional, as well!

Cheers Hamish

[jon]

Cheers Hamish we’ll be eating good for quite a while! Sounds crazy to most people but I’d rather to catch more big lipper than trout as in my opinion are a far better table fish. Still can’t complain about trout tho

[kmcrosby78]

Wow, very interesting trip there Sef but somehow you guys managed to still catch some awesome fish, well done! Lucky you were able to help the other boat too, goes to show you never know what can happen out there. I certainly need to up my mechanical knowledge before contemplating trips like that.

[jon]

5 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Wow, very interesting trip there Sef but somehow you guys managed to still catch some awesome fish, well done! Lucky you were able to help the other boat too, goes to show you never know what can happen out there. I certainly need to up my mechanical knowledge before contemplating trips like that.

Best advice kelvin is go in tandem for your first few trips

[Drop Bear]

13 hours ago, jon said:

Cheers Hamish we’ll be eating good for quite a while! Sounds crazy to most people but I’d rather to catch more big lipper than trout as in my opinion are a far better table fish. Still can’t complain about trout tho

100% agree mate. Trout are the most overrated fish I know. 

[Drop Bear]

Great trip mate and good advice. Thanks. 

Some fantastic meals ahead of you all. Very jealous

 

[jon]

Well My mate got the report back from the mechanic turns out we initially dropped a cylinder then bent a piston rod and eventually cracked the head  The whole engine now a complete write off. He said he was very surprised we were even able to get back to the ramp. At least we didn’t have 1500 plus dollar bill from the coastguard for a tow I suppose. Positive is can’t wait for my mate to repower with a new 250 over the old 200

[ellicat]

Ouch

[Ed.]

Well, that's gotta hurt. I hope I don't have the same issue!

[aussie123]

Nice bag of fish Jon considering the issues you had out there.

I imagine Shane's motor had a few hours up on her now, absolute shame but a new repower will be nice, especially for those long range trips.

[Old Scaley]

Wow!  The cost of those fillets just went up by a few $ per kilo. Glad you made it home safe and sound.

[jon]

3 hours ago, aussie123 said:

Nice bag of fish Jon considering the issues you had out there.

I imagine Shane's motor had a few hours up on her now, absolute shame but a new repower will be nice, especially for those long range trips.

Yeah cheers mate, that engine has certainly been put through its paces. Should get better fuel economy with a 250 ap lean burn aswell.

[GregOug]

1 hour ago, jon said:

Yeah cheers mate, that engine has certainly been put through its paces. Should get better fuel economy with a 250 ap lean burn aswell.

The latest engines seem to be very economical to me.

[kmcrosby78]

What motor was it Sef out of interest and do they know what caused it?

[Leosonfire]

Wow just wow! U guys were very lucky  

[jon]

12 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

What motor was it Sef out of interest and do they know what caused it?

Suzuki df 200, 2008 model. Not sure what the cause was but the engine did have a few thousand hours on it

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

On 21/07/2020 at 7:16 PM, jon said:

Cheers Hamish we’ll be eating good for quite a while! Sounds crazy to most people but I’d rather to catch more big lipper than trout as in my opinion are a far better table fish. Still can’t complain about trout tho

OK jon, that is interesting. I have never had fresh trout (had store trout and like it) so I can't imagine how go lipper would be! 

And as you said above, it will be nice on your mates' boat with the 250

Cheers Hamish

[kmcrosby78]

8 hours ago, jon said:

Suzuki df 200, 2008 model. Not sure what the cause was but the engine did have a few thousand hours on it

A few thousand hours is a pretty good run ...  

[tugger]

Good you got home alright it's a long way back at slow speed some nice fish in that lot Sef

[jon]

2 hours ago, tugger said:

Good you got home alright it's a long way back at slow speed some nice fish in that lot Sef

Yeah certainly was a long run home mark, we even nailed one of the legal reds in 14 metres of water on anchorage at night time which was a great surprise

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 minute ago, jon said:

Yeah certainly was a long run home mark, we even nailed one of the legal reds in 14 metres of water on anchorage at night time which was a great surprise

Hi jon

Just a bit curious on this one. Do you find the reefs will fish better on nights or day time. 

Cheers Hamish