queensland Headed north to red country

[jon]

Been months since I got out for a fish. So was more than happy to get an invite to head up north and launch from turkey beach to hunt down some reds and other big reefies. We left brissy on Monday night for the seven hour journey north. Arived at turkey beach at some ungodly hour and launched the boat for the 120km trip out to innamincka shoals. Got out there in good time  to drop our first baits not long after sunrise on Tuesday. Fishing was a bit slow at first but we were getting the usual small reefies such as parrot various cods and plenty of hussar which were kept for big fillet baits. We sounded around for about 40 mins to find some good isolated lumps to drop over sized baits on and from this point on the big fish started coming onboard quite consistently.

the sharks were up to there usual tricks but spent the day nailing some nice gold band snapper, red emporer and nannygai. In all my years of heading up here, this was by far the best weather I had experienced. 
 

 

Day one saw four nannygai, five reds and over a dozen gold band hit the deck so the call was made to head south to broomfield reef and anchor up for the night then chase some trout in the shallows before heading home at lunch time on day two. 
 

woke up before the sun up and had a quick feed then commenced chasing trout. The trout weren’t really playing the game initially but after dropping down sinker sizes we managed to get six or seven coral trout and coronation trout on board and plenty of Maori cod too. By this point the sharks were really becoming a pain so the call was made to move 
After this we went out to the 60 metre line for a last attempt at some good red fish we ended up with two more nannygai and one more red so we were stoked. I even managed to nail my pb dolly and a not bad cobia aswell. 

with more than enough fish to last our families (and very select friends lol) for months we pointed the boat home for a smooth trip back to the ramp in glass conditions. All in all was one of the best trips I’d had up there, especially considering the last one was full of all sorts of engine and boat dramas.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Hey jon

What a trip! Some excellent fish there and you got a wonderful final haul! Good work! All those fish would taste great and feed everyone. The dolly is an absolute horse too. What sort of tackle are you using to stop them? 

One day I will go to 1770    !

Cheers Hamish

[jon]

Thanks Hamish. We fish talicas and torsas generally talica tens and twelves on 40 to 60 lb line but when we know the reds are around we pull out the torsa 20’s and 30’s and fish 80lb line and leader especially if the sharks are about!

[ellicat]

Sounds like a lot of fun. The colours on the coronation are magnificent. Conditions look bloody good too.

[Do$tylz]

Mate thats an awesome trip.

How do you guys do that drive home safely? Id be passed out sleeping within a couple of hours.

Good to see you and shane still out there smashing the trips and fish.

 

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

3 hours ago, jon said:

Thanks Hamish. We fish talicas and torsas generally talica tens and twelves on 40 to 60 lb line but when we know the reds are around we pull out the torsa 20’s and 30’s and fish 80lb line and leader especially if the sharks are about!

Hi jon

Cheers for the advice. Makes lots of sense about the heavier lines. You'd probably want to be getting fish up ASAP if there's lots of shark about!

Cheers Hamish

[benno573]

Cracker trip sef. One where everything just lined up perfectly and the fish played the game too. 

 

Whats your preference - red, trout, nanny or goldband? For me the coro wins hands down.

[kmcrosby78]

Nailed it again @jon, that's a VERY impressive (and tasty!!) haul of fish. How did you catch the dolphinfish and what length did it go? Also, how long is the boat out of interest? I hadn't heard of them before but looks a nice rig.

[jon]

7 hours ago, benno573 said:

Cracker trip sef. One where everything just lined up perfectly and the fish played the game too. 

 

Whats your preference - red, trout, nanny or goldband? For me the coro wins hands down.

Anything but coral trout lol, tbh red throat would have to be close to my favourite along side red emporer. But it all tastes pretty good I just find coral trout to be a bit bland.

Edited January 11, 2021 by jon

[jon]

6 hours ago, kmcrosby78 said:

Nailed it again @jon, that's a VERY impressive (and tasty!!) haul of fish. How did you catch the dolphinfish and what length did it go? Also, how long is the boat out of interest? I hadn't heard of them before but looks a nice rig.

 Not to sure kelvin as I didn’t measure it I just knew it was bigger than any that I had caught before. It was a total fluke as I dropped a massive squid with a 12 ball sinker my mates yelled out there was two huge dollies under the boat. Next thing I know there was no weight on my line and the braid started to go horizontal, luckily I had the brains to quickly back the drag of sunset to a more acceptable level for Pelagics lol  .

I think the boat is about 7.5 close to 8 metres it’s  hands down the best boat I have been in. Apparently there real popular down south I think there’s a 3 year wait to get one built custom. It turned what is 4 hour trip in my boat into about 2.5 hrs. He got No change out of 200k though. So much space though and just eats the chop. And still gets 1km per litre fully loaded up and doing 30 knots

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by jon

[jon]

9 hours ago, Do$tylz said:

Mate thats an awesome trip.

How do you guys do that drive home safely? Id be passed out sleeping within a couple of hours.

Good to see you and shane still out there smashing the trips and fish.

 

Cheers bro, yeah the drive home is a killer, everyone one wants to take first shift and no one wants to drive the last few hundred coz we’re all wrecked. This time we couldn’t handle it and pulled up on the side of the road at Tiaro slept for about five hours then hit the road again. Was the safe thing to do.

[kmcrosby78]

4 hours ago, jon said:

Cheers bro, yeah the drive home is a killer, everyone one wants to take first shift and no one wants to drive the last few hundred coz we’re all wrecked. This time we couldn’t handle it and pulled up on the side of the road at Tiaro slept for about five hours then hit the road again. Was the safe thing to do.

Yeah I've always wondered that when I've read 1770 reports - I couldn't do it (well, not solo anyway .....). Good to hear you guys pulled over and recharged when you needed to Sef . Oh and nice quick thinking on the dollie - nice work!! And that boat sounds like a beast!

[GregOug]

Hi Jon,

Well done! What brand of boat is it and what motor is on the back? And what size tank does he have in it to head 120km out, run around and then come back?

cheers

Greg

[jon]

10 hours ago, GregOug said:

Hi Jon,

Well done! What brand of boat is it and what motor is on the back? And what size tank does he have in it to head 120km out, run around and then come back?

cheers

Greg

It’s a cootacraft, has twin 200 hp Suzuki engines, it has a seven hundred litre tank but we burnt roughly 520 litres for the trip I think. Which isn’t too bad considering the boat is nearly 8 metres long and we would comfortably do 30knots offshore.  I would have used about 450 to 480 in my six metre plate boat with a single 150 and would have been belted all over the joint and would have had to take two big auxiliary tanks which makes it crowded

[Drop Bear]

Yew cracking trip mate. Some beasts in that lot!!!! Well done. 

[jon]

1 hour ago, Drop Bear said:

Yew cracking trip mate. Some beasts in that lot!!!! Well done. 

Thanks mate, been eating fillets every day for over a week now bloody good.

[tugger]

Gets me keen for another trip up there, just awesome