queensland Swains Oct 2021 Pt2

[Another Wazza]

Whilst fishing out wide, the skipper pushed south that afternoon to another reef where he anchored up for the night, we woke the following day to good weather, but there was some instability on the horizon.

We made the most of the good conditions working the eastern side of this reef where I managed to boat a solid Coronation Trout of about 65/67cm

The weather from the south got a touch nasty just before lunch, a squall came through which saw us don the wet weather gear, one of my mates had left his jacket on the mothership, he was sending a whole squid down on 6 O gangs when it hit, he stopped his drop midway down to find something to use as protection from the rain, when he got belted by this thing

He was stoked to get this one to the boat in one piece, as it was him who got sharked earlier, getting wet doesn’t bother you too much when your catching fish like that.

The weather passed through, and later that afternoon we pushed further south to a reef I had fished before, this reef holds a good population of GT’s, and I was looking forward to having a crack at them on stickbaits. Whilst having dinner anchored in the safety of that lagoon, the menacing weather from the south west rolled through

There were 2 solid storms back to back that evening, with the boat recording 55 knot winds, the skipper had his hands full that night, he kept the engines running in case we pulled anchor and made our way onto the reef. It passed through and all was well, the big rig handled it nicely.

The next morning at this reef the weather was sloppy, standing at the front of the tender pegging stickbaits was out of the question, fishing the eastern side of the reef wasn’t possible as there was a northerly blowing.

We worked the southern edge for a couple of hours, for no result, after each unproductive drift, I’d move east just a little more until we were at the south eastern extremity of the reef, it was a washing machine here, but we found the fish.

I soon realised soft vibes should be made illegal, they are like fish crack, they can’t get enough of them, the take on the drop is awesome, far more aggressive then I expected. We all caught good fish here, and I managed to lose quite a few also, sometimes we were out gunned, other times you would win the battle only to have the sharks rob you, 

That afternoon we could work the eastern side, having gone through my supply of soft vibes, I resorted to old faithful, a big pink grub, that plastic out fished both my mates with bait that arvo, with the highlight being a trout that took it mid drop, I was minding my own business just talking to my mate when I had to thumb the spool hard to pull it up, expecting a red throat, I was shocked to see a trout on the end, it was a memorable afternoon.

We left the Swains that night pushing south back to Sykes reef for our last day. We woke to more bad weather, with storms all around us, and the decision was made not to crane the tenders off the mothership, no objections from me here, we had gone hard the last 5 days and I was beginning to feel a bit rusty.

Speaking to the skipper that morning he told me that at 2am we went through some of the worst weather he has experienced, massive electrical storms all around us with the boat recording a maximum of 78 knots of wind, a deckie filmed some of it on his phone and took a screenshot

 

It shows 73 knots at that stage, all the while I should probably mention I had my best nights sleep of the trip that night, didn’t wake once during the 3m+ seas, testament to the boat really, with only some superficial damage done to the roof, and a lot of people losing clothes that were hanging out on the top deck rails.

The fishing was slow that day at Sykes, my mates got a couple of trout, and one of the other punters got a legal cobia which he caught on a prawn plastic, we headed to Lamont reef for a few more drifts before pulling the pin and beginning the journey back to reality. Having not caught a proper Gt on a stickbait yet, I feel obligated to do this trip, or a similar one again. Thanks for reading, and here are a few more random pics of the trip.

 

[Old Scaley]

Great report @Another Wazza.  I think I would need a change of underwear in those winds!

[ellicat]

Mammoth Coronation Trout !

It sounds like the best way to deal with that storm was definitely to sleep through it. Haha

Great trip. Glad you got amongst them.

Will you be giving the soft vibes a go in the bay ?

[Another Wazza]

40 minutes ago, ellicat said:

Will you be giving the soft vibes a go in the bay ?

For sure Brian, I’ll have to replenish my stock first, but they have definitely earnt their spot in my tackle bag

[Another Wazza]

I almost left this little fella out of the trip pics, he was stunning, and looked mighty tasty, but there’s no way I could’ve brained him

[ellicat]

Pretty fish. Some sort of Wrasse ?

[Another Wazza]

Ringed parrot I believe?, unusual capture on bait.

[Rick Ludd]

Great report and some great fish. That Coronation Trout is a cracker.

I think the last photo is a Ringed Slender Wrasse. Nice looking fish, good on you for letting it go. 

[tugger]

Heading up that way myself soon that's some wicked weather and I plan to see none of that lol.

[Drop Bear]

Wow I don't think I have been in 70+ knots on land let alone at sea! 

Some beautiful fish in there mate. Well done. Glad you had a great trip. 

[Kimtown]

Unreal read

I’m heading up there on the 28th of October next year with big cat also. Great to hear the vessel performed in the slop, and even better to hear you fished well!

I wasn’t really going to bother with soft plastics up there until I read your couple of threads, but I’ll be definitely making sure I take a good selection now. 

[Drop Bear]

On 28/11/2021 at 3:48 PM, Kimtown said:

Unreal read

I’m heading up there on the 28th of October next year with big cat also. Great to hear the vessel performed in the slop, and even better to hear you fished well!

I wasn’t really going to bother with soft plastics up there until I read your couple of threads, but I’ll be definitely making sure I take a good selection now. 

Sometimes they are the only thing that works. Sometimes they are rubbish. If you ever work out why please let me know

 

[Another Wazza]

On 28/11/2021 at 3:48 PM, Kimtown said:

I wasn’t really going to bother with soft plastics up there until I read your couple of threads, but I’ll be definitely making sure I take a good selection now. 

Take some plastics up there for sure man, on that trip one of the deckies got a chance to take a tender out for a fish, he is an extremely able fisherman, and caught 8 nice coral trout in 1 hour using a generic prawn plastic, he has well and truely mastered the art of working that prawn, to put it into perspective, a lot of people onboard fished the entire week and didn’t catch 8 trout.