GT'sville

[dipster]

G'Day all,

near perfect weather meant that the trip out from the Bohle river north of Townsville to the adjacent islands was flat and a good stretch of the legs for my 60hp yammy after its service (my wallet still hurts). Anyway, a quick trip out soon had us flicking squiggies and storm twisty tail grubs over coral in about 3m of water. Almost every cast was nailed by smallish down to ridiculously tiny cod and whilst it was fun for a while, even Hayden my young bloke was soon jack of them. Mate Brendon (BJ) and his girlfriend Viera were right into them also and were just holding out for the trout strike that just didnt come after an hour or so.

Decided to try a reef discovered by HappyGilmour and his brother BJ the week before. Didnt have the GPS plot and so a bit of guestimation and zig-zagging was required before we found it. We anchored up and started bottom bashing with squid and small dead mullet. A school of yellowtail reefies soon arrived and one was duly sent out by BJ on a snelled rig. Whilst an hour went by of more small cod and beautifully coloured wrasse captures, the weather got even flatter and we noticed that the bottom was clearly visible even in 8 metres of water, gotta love North queensland, the tropics, the serenity, the laid back lifestyle....ZZZ.ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."BLOODY HELL, get the rods in and pull the pick" screams BJ as his Tecotas ratchett fairly screeches.

I jump up to pull the anchor and after it decides to not want to let go of the reef BJ yells "Im down to backing!!", oh bugger, big yank and up she comes, then its off to the helm to chase it down and get some braid back onto BJ's rod.

Fish took 3 more big strong runs until it decided to go to the bottom and hang sideways in the current. BJ played him expertly and after another 10 mins or so we could see silver (always better than grey). The visibility was so good we could see him from what turned out to be quite deep, at first it looked relatively small, but as it kept coming up , we realised that this was yet again another massive GT to add to a great summer for them. A mouth gaff shot and a big heave by both BL and I had 21kgs of GT on board, wow, what a fish!! BJ's ladyfriend Viera has not long moved to OZ from Ireland and she was quite gobsmacked at the size of fish encountered in her new hometown. Photos were taken and the big brute swum for a little while and away he goes.

After that, we continue to bottom bounce for a while until Viera hooks up to a nice coral trout which comes in at the legal size (sorry no photos for my camera, will post when I see BJ), and we have finally got what we came for. Another trout soon follows although she has to throw him back as its a little undersized.

After a speculative troll around another island, we head back in closer to some more coral flats and try placcies with predictable results, plenty of small cod. This time however, BJ gets nailed by a good trout not far from the boat which snaps his 15lb braid main line.. he's not a happy boy and dont be surprised to see him down at the tackle shop looking fro 30lb+ for next time.

After that, we decide to head for home as the weather and tide were still good for a fast run back home. All in all, a great day for weather, big and small fish and to spend time on the water with my son and good friends.

Cheers

Daryl

[happygilmour]

You know how to make a man wish he can turn back time 24hrs and take that call ya gave me to go fishing!!!

Well done to brother Bj with a awesome trev. That new tekota has had some serrious fish on it over the last month or so. Shame the trout werent out in numbers.

Amazes me that the water was so clear after all that rain we have had. Would love to be able to see the reef and explore and mark some good looking territory.

Will post pics from bj tomorrow when he pops around.

Cheers

Aaron

[virty]

Dipster - Good report mate and a horse of a fish, that's what i's all about having a great time with family and friend's on the water.

[Beevor]

STONKER of a fish there Dipster

[Daniel W]

Any day you get a fish like that on board is a great day,what a beauty Well done.

[maxi]

hooter of a gt mate..

Maxi

[adidaspeteman]

Love seeing GT photos! NIce work dipster.

[Rob Pirie]

Nice GT well done.....

[dipster]

Thanks for the replies. Here are the piccies of Vieras trout and a better shot of GT.

Dipster

[adidaspeteman]

love them electric spots.......