Well the time had come for the next Abrolhos trip, it’s been a while. Jesse and I had been getting stuff loaded for days before the planned date. When all had arrived and loaded I then realised how much stuff we were taking. Soon Steve and crew rolled up and it was time to hit the road. 5 hours later and we were on the ramp ready to launch.  Lyndon was on the water and fast asleep, ready for an early start. 4:00 am and the alarm goes off. all hands on deck and we are on our way.

Once out the marina and down with the throttle, mmmmmm we weren’t going anywhere fast as the poor boat was grossly over loaded. It was a slow trip across but once there all was forgotten, with memories of past trips and fish everywhere came into our heads. We had permission to use one of the jetties for mooring on which was great as we could offload most of the gear and only put on what was needed each day.

Day 1, started off in the shallows 1-4m casting bull chops around the coral outcrops, we were getting hit by trout near every cast, only small but great fun on the light gear. After a few hours we went out for a bottom bash, sorry that was sending me to sleep so back to the jetty for some lunch. After a quick bite to eat, we went for a ride in the dingy. great fun but hell felt so small after sitting in the other boat. still gets you into some shallow ground you would not normally get into. Jesse and I did a little free diving in a couple of holes with no joy. first day no fish in the bag

Day 2 Up early for a run to wreck point for a trolling sesh .Wasn’t long and the reel was alive with a nice Mac, after a few missed fish we were onto a good solid fish with Jody on the strike. Could this be our first YFT? we will never know as the hooks let go with metres to go...Still a good start to the morning. next Jesse was on and this time we got our first YFT head as the sharks got the rest. this went on for the next hour or so with YFT, sharks and lost fish. We decided to have a go at bottom fishing as its not too often you get outside the main reef without the wind be there .well the dhuies were going off with double headers and single hook-ups for the next hour. A fun morning and a couple of firsts. After lunch we were back in the dingy buzzing around the shallows flicking lures . nothing big but still fun . We did an arvo dive on the dhuie hole but no one was home . George did hook up to a monster shark ,and I bet he is still feeling it 3 days later .

Day 3 We head out for a little more trolling picking up a another nice tuna on light gear, then it was back to the shallows for some free diving, we got a couple of nice trout and a baldie and missed some set shots . had a visit from the grey coats they didn’t seem to be bothered that we were there .The weather forecast had changed so we packed up and headed back to Gero .nice ride back at 24-26knots. not a lot of fish but who cares . The rods will be staying home next time. Long way to go bottom fish ,as we do most weekends . I think free diving and couple of tank dives will be on the next trip . And that is only weeks away.