Well work unfortunately got in the way of some spectacular mid-week weather. By all reports it was glassed out Wednesday and Thursday with plenty of fish being caught. Not only was the weather good, but it was New Moon time too, good Reef and Pelagic time! I'm hearing reports of plenty of Spanish Mackerel being caught around the shoals, Red fish out on the reef and Billies around Bowling Green Bay. But the winds were predicted to return during Friday with 10/15's for Saturday. So we decided not to tackle the offshore chop, and instead played around in the calm waters of the bay.
We put the boat in at the Coast Guard ramp about 6.30am and headed off. But we were slightly delayed when we spotted a boat a few hundred meters from the ramp drifting ever so close to the rocks. On investigation a family heading off for the day were having some motor trouble. They had a brand spanking new Suzuki installed and this was their first run. They only got a few hundred meters when it stopped and wouldn't re-start. Needless to say the owner of the boat was most unimpressed with new Suzuki dealers. We gave them a quick tow back to the ramp and headed off. Hopefully its something simple for them to fix up.
It was only a little lumpy out the front of the harbor, and we were able to head comfortably to our spot at almost 30knots. And when we got into the protection of the land, it almost glassed off.
We quickly sounded up some fish on the Side Image of the Humminbird 998 and deployed the Minn Kota. I hit the anchor button right where I wanted the boat to sit and put the first cast in the water. I hardly had two turns on the reel and the Thready Buster was smashed and screaming off. I turn around to see Tania is also hooked up with drag racing! Sebastian is jumping and yelling for joy and Lachlan is grabbing for the net. All hell had broken loose and the Minn Kota hadn't even settled us into position yet! Both fish turned out to be nice plump Blue Salmon. I don't think I need to say too much more! For the next hour and half we caught more fish than I care to count. We had almost a fish a cast, and many double hookups. At the end of the session we had caught numerous Blue Salmon, multiple Trevally species, Queenfish, Grunter, Barracuda and a couple of small Fingermark. Lachy even commented at one stage that we had caught so many fish it was starting to get boring. Kids! The Thready Buster soft plastic vibe was the standout lure of the day. But after losing a couple to the rough mouth of the Salmon, I changed over to some Squidgie flick baits. Tania even tried, with great success, a metal slice when we thought we spotted some Mackerel chasing the lures. But the flick baits were really only good on the pelagics, most the demersal species like the Fingermark fell to the Thready. The Quickcatch hard vibe was also quite successful, especially on the Salmon, but also accounted for one of the Fingers.
We did have to move the boat around a few times to re-locate the bait and schools of fish. But with the Side Image of the Humminbird sounder and silent movement of the Minn Kota electric, this wasn't difficult. It never took more than 5 or 10 minutes to find and re-position the boat. At one stage the breeze came up a little and turned the boat a complete 180. But the 'spot-lock' feature of the Minn Kota took care of this, and we didn't move at all from our location. For most of the morning I didn't even touch the remote! If we had been anchored with a traditional rope and chain the boat would have swung off the mark with the change in breeze and/or tide, and I would have had to re-anchor. And when I wanted to move position I would have had to haul the anchor and re-deploy. This really does away with all that hassle. Its nice to be able to completely forget about the position of the boat and have full confidence you are not going to move. 100% concentration is then on the fishing! Townsville Marine is your local stockist of Minn Kota electric motors and Humminbird sounders.
This week I was again using a 2500 Ci4 Stradic as my Stella is still holidaying with Shimano. This reel was originally purchased for Sebastian to use. It was placed on a light Jewel Rod, and while he has used it a few times, this is really the first time I have used it casting lures. Sebastian unfortunately broke the tip of the Jewel, and it hadn't been used much since. But even sitting on the T-curve 661 I am very impressed with the reel. I feel its a bit large for this particular rod, but the reel itself is very light, super smooth and comfortable to use. I am definitely going to get another rod for this one and start using it more.
I just want to take a moment to publically thank Pat at Townsville Marine for making some adjustments to my trailer. I had been having great difficulties getting the boat on and off the trailer. Even with the trailer well dunked the boat just wouldn't roll cleanly. I dropped the boat of last Monday and picked it up Friday afternoon. Pat had taken the boat off the trailer and fixed it up good! When I picked it up again he assured me it would only take two finger to get it off! Well, turned out it didn't even take that! It now rolls off completely unassisted, and drives back up smoothly with just a little controlled throttle. I'm very impressed as launching and retrieving is now a pleasure, rather than a chore! It really is worth having your trailer set up correctly for the boat!
It looks like the good weather is again forecast for mid-week this week. So best of luck if you are able to get out and amongst them. If you do, feel free to share some pics and a few words on the Fishing Townsville Facebook Page.
