West Point and wide
Tuesday afternoon we put the boat in with plans to fish West Point for some Mackerel, then stay overnight and go wide Wednesday morning. The forecast was good, without being great. The trip to West Point was fantastic. With winds from the NE, the run in front of the island was almost a glass off. But once turning the corner we were greeted with a stiff 15knot breeze. With a very large incoming tide in the same direction as the wind, the drift was very fast. So we attempted to anchor on our mark. But even with a full length of rope out, we couldn't hold bottom. After 3 attempts we stuck with the quick drift. I was hoping for 1/2 a dozen doggies in the boat before the sun set, and I almost did. Well.....I got the numbers, but all where about 40cm. We then headed into 5-beach bay for dinner and to anchor for the night.
The boys were up bright and early (5am) the following morning, so we quickly gathered some live bait before heading to a spot wide off the back of Rattlesnake Island. The run was good, with just a light chop on the water. We drifted the mark for a while with both live baits and metal slices. Tania managed one small Coral Trout that was probably just legal, but we put him back anyway. NOTING in way of Mackerel. So we decided to work some marks on the way back.
I had passed over some bait on the way out, and had marked it on the GPS. On the way back past bait was still showing there so I had a bit of a look around. I couldn't find and kind of structure, but there was bait and big arches off the bottom for a good 500m. So we dropped the live baits down for a bit of a look. It wasn't long and one of the baits went off. Obviously a big fish, holding the bottom hard and taking some good long runs against an almost locked up 50lb braid. Hoping for a good Red Emperor I was rather disappointed when a hefty Catty came to the side of the boat! "That can't be all thats down there" I thought. We were in 25m of crystal clear blue water some 16nm out! But successive live baits only managed to nail more bit Catfish. I was stuffed after 2 of these monsters, so Tania had a bit of a go too. A drop of the bait jig revealed there was indeed massive amounts of bait down there. What they were I'm not sure? Kind of a cross between a gar with no beak and a pilchard? Died pretty quick in the tank too, just like a herring. I'll keep this spot marked and try it again some day, I'm not sure if there is any bottom structure there, but something was holding the bait and catfish.
The boys were up bright and early (5am) the following morning, so we quickly gathered some live bait before heading to a spot wide off the back of Rattlesnake Island. The run was good, with just a light chop on the water. We drifted the mark for a while with both live baits and metal slices. Tania managed one small Coral Trout that was probably just legal, but we put him back anyway. NOTING in way of Mackerel. So we decided to work some marks on the way back.
I had passed over some bait on the way out, and had marked it on the GPS. On the way back past bait was still showing there so I had a bit of a look around. I couldn't find and kind of structure, but there was bait and big arches off the bottom for a good 500m. So we dropped the live baits down for a bit of a look. It wasn't long and one of the baits went off. Obviously a big fish, holding the bottom hard and taking some good long runs against an almost locked up 50lb braid. Hoping for a good Red Emperor I was rather disappointed when a hefty Catty came to the side of the boat! "That can't be all thats down there" I thought. We were in 25m of crystal clear blue water some 16nm out! But successive live baits only managed to nail more bit Catfish. I was stuffed after 2 of these monsters, so Tania had a bit of a go too. A drop of the bait jig revealed there was indeed massive amounts of bait down there. What they were I'm not sure? Kind of a cross between a gar with no beak and a pilchard? Died pretty quick in the tank too, just like a herring. I'll keep this spot marked and try it again some day, I'm not sure if there is any bottom structure there, but something was holding the bait and catfish.
Other marks on the way back yielded nothing more than a couple of sharks and more undersized Doggie Mackerel. Luckily the day was salvaged by a couple of 60cm Doggies back at West Point. Probably should have saved the fuel and fished there for the morning! But I'm still chasing my first Spanish Mackerel for the year!!!