Advice required on very long boat trip

Been asked to help a mate deliver a 56ft boat to PNG from the Gold Coast QLD, then off to Darwin to stay on another boat.... If you could only take 2-3 rods with you, what would you take? I have a TLD 25 on a beastmaster, a stradic 6000 on a terez and other crap, I'll probably take the stradic/terez combo but will need something for Dogtooth and possibly stickfaces. I dont want to be wasting time on Marlin and stuff but we will be most likely hook a few so I will need to stop them.

I am considering towing 1 lure the whole way (amongst the spread of others)  1 in the water at all times and tick off the species it gets...suggestions?

 

Thanks for any info/knowledge you may have, I've never fished that area before and a couple of places we are going hardly anyone has fished.....apparently :)


Posts: 1522

Date Joined: 09/03/13

personally haven't fished

Wed, 2015-11-18 18:16

personally haven't fished that area but have been on some lengthy trips.
if only 3
I would take 5000/6000 (shimano) on pe 3/4 jig rod.
tiagra 30w on 15-24kg stick
then
toss up between 10000 shimano on 8-8'6 casting pe 4-8 rod
and 8000 on pe 4-6 rod.

not sure if "wasting time" and ....Marlin go in the same sentence ;)

good luck awesome trip

Posts: 619

Date Joined: 18/04/08

Thanks

Wed, 2015-11-18 21:04

I'll check them out, not really into jigging but maybe I should graduate from the old school and get into it, rods cant be too long for some small planes I'll be on. The comment about the Marlin is because she has an aft cabin, no deck and no chair, I dont want to break my back in a stand up battle for 10hrs on a 1000 pounder

Posts: 2946

Date Joined: 03/03/10

wouldnt be worring about fishing gear

Wed, 2015-11-18 19:54

I hope you have good navigation skills , if your gps goes down if you don't have good maps compass and sextant skills and know how to use them you will get in strife

Posts: 619

Date Joined: 18/04/08

Stars mate

Wed, 2015-11-18 20:55

If we keep the Southern Cross behind us we should be heading North......right?, During the day we shall follow the migrating Red Necked Warbler that nests at the Port Moresby yacht club, we have it sussed mate

Posts: 78

Date Joined: 25/03/13

Red Necked Warbler

Thu, 2015-11-19 09:16

 lol!

Posts: 744

Date Joined: 29/03/13

for lures I would keep it simple

Thu, 2015-11-19 05:16

 a rapala deep diver 10 m+ and a skirt. Trolling setup go heavy and even think about using a bike tube as a spring. 

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Posts: 619

Date Joined: 18/04/08

Bike tube could be a great

Fri, 2015-11-20 01:05

Bike tube could be a great idea, I understand what your saying. I might even spool up with nylon instead of braid for a bit more spring

Walfootrot's picture

Posts: 1386

Date Joined: 23/07/12

Have taken a few boats from

Thu, 2015-11-19 08:39

Have taken a few boats from Freo to Coral Bay and back at the end of the season. sitting on 18knots, only slow down at steep point for a fish. Would say you could run skirts at 18 ( Maybe ).
What speed are you sitting on?

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More drum lines, kill the bloody sharks!

Posts: 619

Date Joined: 18/04/08

We will be on 12-14knots to

Thu, 2015-11-19 16:56

We will be on 12-14knots to Cooktown and then backing off to 6-8knots to PNG cause of the fuel load, want to make sure we have some extra fuel for a slight detour to the Eastern Fields. Going to be a slow trip

Posts: 4561

Date Joined: 01/02/10

Perfect support vessel for a

Thu, 2015-11-19 09:24

Perfect support vessel for a jet ski crossing I reckon Fathom.

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Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

pelagicyachts's picture

Posts: 1293

Date Joined: 23/02/11

assume for fuel burn you will

Thu, 2015-11-19 11:15

assume for fuel burn you will be sitting on 8-10 knots, in which case I would take skirts - hours and hours of running through swells gets pretty boring adjusting drag
I have done two long haul runs -Phuket to Freo and Japan to Freo and would have to agree with Petermac - you want to be focussed on the boat no.1 and fishing about no 20! - running over a semi-submerged log in the Straits of Mallaca because the guy at the helm was not paying attention we were lucky to be able to limp to Port Dickson for prop repairs
On the fishing side - we did run skirts and the only strike we got spooled on a fully loaded penn senator 9'0 - that was about 400k's west of Carnarvon .......
Sounds like a great trip - enjoy

Posts: 619

Date Joined: 18/04/08

We have been warned about

Thu, 2015-11-19 17:11

We have been warned about logs close to PNG, I guess a thousand things could go wrong hope nothing too major.

I'll get some skirts

pelagicyachts's picture

Posts: 1293

Date Joined: 23/02/11

at low speed (8-10 knots) you

Fri, 2015-11-20 09:07

at low speed (8-10 knots) you are relatively safe, you would be amazed (or not..!) about how much sh 1t there is in the ocean, we copped a few plastic bags in the water intakes too - pays to check your raw water strainers often when travelling through dirty water. I was quite surprised about how little we saw in the way of fish, you will have a blast though - its a rare opportunity and you should jump at it
cheers

dkonig82's picture

Posts: 2091

Date Joined: 06/07/10

unrelated mate but when will

Thu, 2015-11-19 20:54

unrelated mate but when will you be hitting the Eastern Fields? I should be there in 3 weeks

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When asked by a non-fisherman 'how many fishing rods do you really need?' the correct answer is either:

n+1 (where n is the number of fishing rods you currently own); or

n-1 (where n is the number of fishing rods which would cause your significant other to dump you. 

Posts: 619

Date Joined: 18/04/08

If all goes to plan we should

Fri, 2015-11-20 00:16

If all goes to plan we should be leaving Cooktown on the 15th Dec and be at the Fields around the 17th, could be earlier/later but I have set those dates to get our visas , what will you be out there for, if you dont mind me asking?

Might catch up for a beverage out in the middle of nowhere, you never know

dkonig82's picture

Posts: 2091

Date Joined: 06/07/10

Ahh - close, but you'll just

Fri, 2015-11-20 02:23

Ahh - close, but you'll just miss us. We finish up on the 13th. Chasing doggies, GTs, whatever else wants to grab a popper or a stickbait basically

____________________________________________________________________________

When asked by a non-fisherman 'how many fishing rods do you really need?' the correct answer is either:

n+1 (where n is the number of fishing rods you currently own); or

n-1 (where n is the number of fishing rods which would cause your significant other to dump you. 

Posts: 744

Date Joined: 29/03/13

definitely stay away from braid my mates

Fri, 2015-11-20 06:01

 dad has sailed around the world and did 200lb hand to a bike tube and then lets the fish tire out themselves caught makies all different kinds of tuna. The only time they get into trouble when some grabs the smaller tuna that you might be skull dragging 

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Date Joined: 21/05/12

shimano makes a 24 kg travel

Fri, 2015-11-20 10:21

shimano makes a 24 kg travel rod it packs to fit in a travel bag easy, that with a big overhead has done all my darwin to barrow and back a few times as well as a cairns to png and back
skirts are good but the lively lures mack baits did better than skirts- they swim up to 12 knots

Posts: 619

Date Joined: 18/04/08

Thanks for the input

Sat, 2015-11-21 14:53

Everything has been taken on board, so much stuff running through my head at the moment getting the logistics done. PNG makes it very hard for Aussies to visit. Job done just hope our visas are ready in Cairns when we arrive there. I'll make a movie and post up how the trip went if I survive, Thanks fellas