Awesome Fishing Session at Groote Eylandt - my best yet!
Like a good decky, I packed up the boat yesterday arvo and sent Wade off to work his last nightshift. Woke up this morning, chucked the bait in, made hubby a bacon and egg sanga and waited for him to come home - and then we were off on the 2 min drive to the ramp. It was chokas (well for Groote Eylandt - about 30 trailers!) as there is a billfish comp on this weekend but although chasing the black marlin was tempting, we though a casual trawl and bottom bounce for a couple of hours sounded much beter!
I have yet to catch a Spaniard so I threw out a deep diver and a new lure (on Wade's recommendation) - a Ritcher Junior Tornado. After a few minutes we heard zzzzzzzzzz from the rod with the Ritcher on it. Holy moly, I was getting spooled. I pulled the rod up and started gaining some line back. We were excited - whatever was on the end of the line was on the surface and it had all the fighting characteristics of a Mack. As it got closer excitement turned to dismay when we saw it was a shark a little over 1m. Worse still, just as I was bringing it closer to the boat the top of the rod snapped. Doh!
I quickly swapped the lure onto another rod and put it out the back to swim along side the deep diver. 5 minutes later line started peeling off again. Wow! This was a tough fight! Like the last fight, this fish went to the surface and as it got closer to the boat started to circle it. Wade was giving me some great advice to ensure I missed hitting the aerials and prop! I finally pulled it in and realised it wasn't my day to catch a Mack - attached to the deep diver was a 10kg Tuna. Wasn't sad though - it was a great fight!
We decided it was time for a bottom bash and Wade drove over to a sensational lump he found as we were trawling.
First drop and Wade was on! We were overjoyed when he pulled up a Tuskfish - our first keeper at Groote! I was so excited I forgot to get photos :-( As the current was racing, Wade decided to let me fish while he drove to keep me on the spot. All of a sudden I had a massive hook-up! It was a Coral Trout and after getting my PB last week, I beat it by 2cm today (55cm trout). I dropped again and pulled up a second Coral Trout! With that we decided to call it a day. Got home, Skipper went for a shower and sleep and #1 Deckie washed the boat and cleaned up!
Another awesome Groote Fishing Adventure!
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
Wow.
Nice writeup and photos, claire! Can't beat a good bend in the rod with the pelagics and then scoring a top-notch feed off the bottom!
So jealous of all these FW'd members killing the pig in exotic locations!
Anytime Brad
Posts: 237
Date Joined: 20/07/09
Tough life
Who said life is tought? What a deckie, letting the skipper sleep after such a sesion.
Well done there Clair. Hope you enjoyed you little nanna nap wade.
I would rather be fishing
STEVE231
Posts: 1443
Date Joined: 05/01/10
Well done Claire, those
Well done Claire, those longtail tuna go like rockets!!
You guys certainly live in paradise!!
abeldog
Posts: 801
Date Joined: 12/04/10
Geat Writeup
Great photos and writeup Claire,
Makes us green with envy during the fishing ban.
"People See Things As They Are & Ask Why???
We Can All Dream of Things That Never Were and Ask Why Not!!"( RK )
Brock O
Posts: 3243
Date Joined: 11/01/08
Great
Report Claire, i rate the coral trout above all.
You pack the boat, catch the fish and clean and fillit.
Amazing, i am trying to get my wife to read this report as we speak but she wont be in it.
claire
Posts: 98
Date Joined: 11/09/09
don't fillet!
Cheers Brock! I dont clean or fillet fish any more. A month ago I was filleting fish and slipped with the knife. Had to get 2 stitches and now I'm not allowed near knives except to cut bait!
claire
Posts: 98
Date Joined: 11/09/09
Thanks for the comments!
Thanks for the comments! Every day we're grateful we made the choice to live in paradise! Its got its ups and downs, but fishing wise its magic. Wind usually <10 knots in bad weather, swell non existent, tides vary 1m and coral everywhere (even if you are landbased fishing!).
Just gotta watch out for crocs, sharks, irukanji, stonefish, seasnakes and ignore the 90% humidity!!
Life is great and too short not to make the most of it!
Faulksy
Posts: 67
Date Joined: 05/05/10
Great fish and top pics
Great fish and top pics
grayzeee
Posts: 2283
Date Joined: 09/07/09
top write up claire. well
top write up claire. well done on pb. shame about the rod tho.
fantastic sounder pic
If I spent half as long fishing , as I do reading this bloody forum , I'd be twice the fisherman I am.
damo6230
Posts: 2029
Date Joined: 07/06/08
Great report Claire
Your certainly out exploring and experiencing the best the Territory has to offer.
Hope Wade does the cooking (and dishes ha ha)
Rodrat
Posts: 1672
Date Joined: 13/01/07
Great report
From the sounds of it we all need a deckie like you claire! lol
FISH FOR THE FUTURE
soupster51
Posts: 2724
Date Joined: 29/11/06
Top Day
Great write up Claire and congrats on the PB Trout. I'm sure it won't be long before you nail a nice mac, not that a 10kg tuna isn't a good subsitute. Life in paradise, got to love it.
The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.
Pete D
Posts: 1681
Date Joined: 07/06/07
Congrats on the PB trout
Congrats on the PB trout Claire and I'm sure that big mac will engulf your lure soon!
Cheers Pete
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18057
Date Joined: 11/03/08
well done Claire. some nice
well done Claire. some nice fish there again.as far as cleaning and filleting the fish, there is such thing as a chain mesh glove to avoid the cuts
. might have to send Wade a pm about them 
. altho you didnt get that mack , you still ended up with a nice tuna for dinner
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
claire
Posts: 98
Date Joined: 11/09/09
haha!
haha! I doubt even a chain mesh glove will improve my filleting Russ! Ended up throwing the tuna back as well - didn't really need it and gave our mates one last weekend so their freezer was already full.
Plenty of time to catch that Mack - its just getting bigger while I'm waiting! Doesn't matter though, every time we go out in the boat we always catch a 'new' species
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15648
Date Joined: 29/11/05
billfish
I hear its nearly billfish season up there, keep trolling those skirted lures and I'm sure it won't be long before your getting into a few. Nice trout too!
Site Admin - Just ask if you need assistance
claire
Posts: 98
Date Joined: 11/09/09
Yeah Adam, the Billfish have
Yeah Adam, the Billfish have been around for the last 2-3 months. There was lots of talk on the radio today - at least 4 or 5 boats tagging multiple black marlin and lots of sailfish. One poor bugger had 1hr 40min fight with a marlin.
A guy I worked with hooked up to a sailfish the other day about 10 minutes drive from the ramp! Pretty exciting stuff and will be a good experience when it happens!
claire
Posts: 98
Date Joined: 11/09/09
Just heard that a lady had a
Just heard that a lady had a fight with a black marlin on Sunday for 3 1/2 hours. The weather was so bad the 3 kids on board were sea sick. Apparently lots of radio chat on how to land it faster, and whether or not the kids could transfer to another boat to head back in, or whether the lady could transfer boats. Apparently the weather was so rough no boat transfers could be done so they had to bust the marlin off so they could take the kids home. You'd be devastated!
crasny1
Posts: 7003
Date Joined: 16/10/08
After 3.5 hrs, I would have thrown the kids overboard rather
than cut the line. Now she will be buggered and grumpy at the same time. LOL
Neels
PS nice trouts for burgers
"I would like to die on Mars. Just not on impact!!" _ Elon Musk
WesternPacific
Posts: 11
Date Joined: 02/11/10
nice trout
nice trout
Andy Mac
Posts: 4778
Date Joined: 03/02/06
Top report Claire
yet another PB, you are racking them up quickly up there.
Wayne's got the good life... boat packed before he gets home, fish filletted and boat cleaned while he has a snooze. The lotto life without the lotto!
Cheers
Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)
Youngest member of the Fishwrecked Old Farts Club