3 Men And A Trag

[slinkymalinky]

I should have know my Saturday was going to be hopeless after getting all the way to my FIL place to pick him up for fishing only to realise I'd left something critical at home. Thankfully because of Jewhunter "we've still got plenty of yakkas left. We could do another run on the bump" we were still fishing when Saturday arvo turned into Sunday morning and then I came good.

Executive Summary:

1. 2 pending raider record claims for Jewhunter - Trag (PB), Moses Perch (PB) and a 2nd... Pearl Perch (first of species). He'll be damn lucky to have them accepted. I have a sneaking suspicion that bagging the absolute tripe out of the moderator responsible for approving records for his inability to turn a reel while the claimant pulls in fish steadily all day, is not the best tactical approach.

2. First trag for Slinky and Slinky's FIL

3. A great day all around with plenty of laughs (too often at my expense) and plenty of fish

The Details:

We finally all met at the Sundale Bridge ramp at a little after 12.30... we might have been late but we still had to wait for Jewhunter... lazy prima donna!

A quick run to TJs (my never fail bait spot... so far that's about 10 trips without a miss!) and we realise that most fishos up here just follow Jewhunter and I around in the belief they'll find the good spots. What's the point of naming a spot you find after yourself... pretentious prima donna... if other bozos are just going to come along and pinch them!

This wombat drove up to within 20m, had a look at what we were doing, and decided it must be a good bait spot...

Thankfully he has no idea how small the spot is and while we pulled plenty we didn't see him land a single yakka...

TJ's Bait an isolated small patch showing the bait hugging the bottom as is ususal for here

JH putting the finishing touches on a trophy Bullseye (we were meant to be catching bait)

With a tank full of yakkas no thanks to Jewhunter who thought we were meant to be catching Bullseyes, we headed to another spot X, Slinky's Bump... (pretentious prima donna again). FIL landed his first ever Trag and JH a just legal Reddie. I'm a dead set legend as a guide! (self-satisfied prima donna).

FIL with his first Trag

Next we ran out wider towards the 24fthm reef to yet another isolated spot I've marked... now named Grant's Trag because JH was getting sulky about not having a spot named after him. JH managed to pull a mixed bag of fish off the mark including a nice PB Moses Perch. I managed my own first Trag... the only fish apart from yakkas I caught in 11 hours of fishing on Saturday

Slinky's first Trag (you could have told me I had a sunblock moustache you prats)

JH's 38cm Moses Perch

Now all this time FIL was putting in the hard yards that eventually saw him nicknamed 'Alby Tangles'. The entire time we were out it didn't matter where he ran his lines he kept catching someone else... usually just as they were hooking a fish He could cast 30m out from the boat while the other lines were straight down and he still managed it. I must admit I didn't know my FIL knew some of those swear words. The bottom of my boat this morning looks like a tackle box has been dynamited in it... odd hooks, rig remnants and shreds of line are strewn about like confetti.

Eventually JH admitted that my spot was better than his spot (smug prima donna) so we headed back in to Slinky's so that JH and FIL could continue embarrassing me by pulling a steady stream of fish while a sat like a very frustrated rose between 2 annoying thorns. It was great to see QLD fisheries out and about keeping an eye on the long weekend crowd. I now also claim that QLD has the best fiesheries officers since one of them was almost certainly a bikini model in her spare time. Very friendly as they were doing their thankless job.

JH with an evening Trag... first of many for the evening

I got sick of watching my crew catch all the fish so I dragged them away from my spot to the Seaway for the tide change. An hour there saw us catch squat. That's 2 full moon period sessions without turning a reel while the 2 dark moon sessions have seen good fish caught and a lot more activity on the sounder. But I was happy... I'd broken their momentum and shut them both up for a while.

Then JH pointed out that we still had a tank full of yakkas just waiting to be eaten and "we could just run back out to Grant's Trag". The weather was perfect and I figured Mrs Slinky would be understanding about me saying I'd be home around 10ish but instead coming home in the wee small hours. FIL didn't have keys to get back into his place but we also figured that my MIL wouldn't be any more unhappy being dragged out of bed at 3am instead of 10pm So off we went.

Grant's was dead as a doornail... he might be able to catch fish but he can't pick spots to save himself! Of course we just ran back to Slinky's.

Around this time it started drizzling so I helpfully handed out my emergency cheap plastic ponchos. Watching my FIL struggle and curse up in the bow as he tried to untangle his and put it on in the light rain while traveling at 20knots was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. JH and I were literally in tears of laughter. When FIL did finally manage to get the poncho on JH told him it had a hood that he promptly put on over his face... the poncho was backwards. When JH and I finally picked ourselves up off the floor we got back to fishing.

When we got to Slinky's the sounder lit up. Every drift we caught 1 or 2 Trag, even though the spot is small and the effective drift only 50-100m (well, when I say 'we' caught Trag... JH and FIL caught them, I just watched them and copped heaps.

Slinky's Bump and why we like it

A beautiful 43cms of prime fillets... JH's PB Pearlie

and a lovely 58cm Trag... by this stage I was getting sick of the smug bugger pulling up fish after fish and just giving me that pitying look

Amazingly, Saturday turned to Sunday and at almost midnight on the dot, JH lost his mojo (he was bragging about it all day but I've seen it and it's not that impressive). FIL landed a good procession of Trag and a nice Reddie. At the same time JH was looking for his mojo I finally started landing a steady stream of good fish... even managing a double header on the last drift.

We called it a night (morning) as our last drift with our last bait saw us reach our bag limit of trag, with heaps more having been released.

It's great to be in a major city that still sees the value in providing cleaning tables for fishos. We retrieved the boat, cleaned the fish, and wandered around dazed on wobbly legs after a BIIIIG day on the water.

A beautiful place to fish from (indulgent 'arty' photo alert)

With good facilities... I wish Sydney provided good cleaning tables everywhere

Great day with great company and great fishing. I'm very lucky to be up here now with the amazing fishing available and to be able to share it with both my FIL and JH who make trips a whole lot of laughs. Thanks boys.

Cheers, Slinky (exhausted prima donna)

[jahajo]

Great report slinky

Good work on catching all those fish!

[tevoro]

Now THIS is a fishing report!!!

Good stuff slinky!! (And JewHunter!)

Edited June 7, 2009 by tevoro

[A.dawg]

Woah Thats alot of teraglin and Nice report

[robeebee]

great haul fella's

top stuff

[fibbo]

What a lovely day and nice haul gents!

[Ray R]

Wow Slinky I think I need a break after reading that report, a great bunch of fish and variety as well , you blokes have a good time up there , bet it would be a crack up on your boat with all that mud flying around.

Congrats guys..

Cheers..

[brickman]

great read tony would love to have seen a pic off the fil and the poncho saga love the sounder pics also and the dry sarcasim [yes i know my spelling's shit]

cherrs gary

[cat-as-trophy]

Yet another fine report from the Qld annex. Congrats to FIL and JH on your own PB's. These types of hauls are only something some of us southerners dream of.

Slinky, next time let the others do the work on the boat and you show them how it is done,.

Cheers

Mrs Flightmanaget

[Hodgey]

Another terrific report from the Qld boys. It's almost like you're there ... witty banter, diverse fishing, and an eloquent Captain that can capture the whole thing in writing

Well done everyone on a great feed of fish. Keep the photos and reports coming fellas. It sounds like waaay too much fun

Cheers

Skip

[erroll]

what a haul, very well done to you all. Good read as well.

cheers

[Tiger Cam]

Terrific report Slinky That is one great haul of fish for the northern connection. Hope the FIL didn't get into to much strife waking the MIL at 3am

It's Queensalnd reports like this on that makes us Sydney prima donnas veeerry envious.

Cheers,

Cam

[Jewhunter]

That was a bloody long session on the water but with conditions that good & a serious fishing itch to be scratched it was just what we needed.

I must thank Slinky for being such a generous skipper. Being able to put the back & front of the boat onto fish & selflessly drifting over barren ground while he was fishing in the middle of the boat takes real talent.

I'm rapt with the results. 3 p.b's & fish after fish on super Saturday has me still grinning. Of course I was very gracious to the skipper & didn't mention how good I was going at all!! FIL got in on the act as well. I'd call out "Hey Pete, ask Slinky how many fish he's caught" & of course he would ask the question only to be growled at by the frustrated skipper while he was shooting me a filthy look!!

The poncho episode was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Slinky & I were literally in tears at FIL's expense. Bloody hilarious. At least Slinky knows what to give him for Xmas!

The list of species. Yakkas, bullseyes, pike, tarwhine, trevally, sweep, flathead, nannygai, snapper, pearl perch, moses perch, maori cod, trag. 13 for the session. Did I mention that Slinky contributed yakkas & trag to that lot?

Thanks to Slinky & FIL Pete for a memorable day/night/morning out.

I did promise Slinky that I wouldn't mention just how good the pearlie went on the plate. Ahh well, I can't help myself, it was sensational for dinner last night!!

Can't wait to get out there again.

Almost forgot to add. All my fish were caught on fresh yakka & seargent baker fillets using 5/0 gammy circle hooks.

Cheers,

Grant.

[hooklineandsinker]

nice bag of fish there fellas

good read too

great post slinky first you worked the boat and now the keyboard for the report

[slinkymalinky]

Almost forgot to add. All my fish were caught on fresh yakka & seargent baker fillets using 5/0 gammy circle hooks.

Cheers,

Grant.

Yeah I know... and who had to catch all the yakkas while you were tooling around with the Bullseyes

Just ate Trag & chips for lunch.... you were right.... deeeeelicious.

Cheers, Slinky