Fishing Hopetoun
G,day fishwreckers,
Thought it about time to post a thread on the trip we just done down to hopey, decided to drag the cat down for a couple of days of fishing if the weather held up. First mistake of the trip was towing the boat with the brother inlaws troopy instead of ny 4.8l patrol, struggled big time when we hit hills and chewed a similar amount of juice. In the end though it didn't miss a beat so can't really complain!!
Day one friday 24/7/11 Beach fishing
Rolled into Hopey around lunch time and decided to fish from the beach as the wind was up.
Hopetoun 1 Us 0
Day two saturday 25/7/11 Water in Fuel
Decided to head out on the boat around 11 it was pretty messy out there, got just outside the inner reef and water in the fuel alarm comes on, turn round and head back to the ramp on one motor. Spent the rest of the arvo trying to sort the motor out, ended up following a forum members advice and got her firing again (cheers Scott), rigged up a makeshift fuel tank out of a jerry can and we were good to go. Sunday was looking good.
Day three Sunday 26/7/11 Grouper day
Hit the water round 8 and it was messyer than expected but would be the only day out. Found a nice lump in round 30m got a couple of queenies, a nanie, a nice bb and a few skippy. Had a couple of big bust offs which we put down to sharks.
Fished a few more lumps heading out to the 50's with a few bits and pieces, plenty of fish on the sounder and great ground but they had really gone off the bite. Got a massive cuttley that should have gone in the photo comp but got cut up for bait and dinner!! Conditions got better as the day went on and we slowly caught ourselves a nice feed.
The clock hit round 4.30 so it was about time to head in, I'm always a sucker to do one more drop so back to the first spot we went to do one more. First drop was a couple of skips, dropped them on the deck and back to the bottom when all hell broke loose. The TLD 50 was screaming with a big fish that was fighting dirty, if it wasn't for the head shakes might have called it a ray or shark. Was so hard to pull from the bottom but slowly made progress, about 30 min later I could see a big blue shape under the boat and I knew exactley what it was. Would have loved to see the big fella swim off but with such a big fight he was gone. Went just over a metre and at a guess round the 40 kg mark.
Couple of entries for the comp and a few nice fillets headed home the monday, back at work tomorrow but hopefully I can get a few more on the score board when I get back!!
Tight lines to all :)
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Nice fish, even better that
Nice fish, even better that you made it after a few motor problems ;)
Anthony Hall 87
Posts: 193
Date Joined: 09/01/10
Yeah could have been I lot
Yeah could have been I lot worse I guess!!
Tight lines to all :)
adam87
Posts: 291
Date Joined: 16/05/11
Nice fish
it looks like yous had a good time apart from the probs!
gregg_13
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 10/02/11
Just realised who your In
Just realised who your In Laws are, Saw the boat parked up when we got home Sunday Afternoon. We live on Maitland too, A few doors up and across the road. Eko was showing us the photos on Monday on the bus home, well done.
Anthony Hall 87
Posts: 193
Date Joined: 09/01/10
It's a small world hey,
It's a small world hey, cheers mate.
Tight lines to all :)
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
well done mate, Planning a
well done mate,
Planning a trip to hopetoun around november during the demersal ban. So all the info i can find is good :)
Question I've asked a few people, do dhu's get caught that far south?
keen as to get into the nannys, seen some thumper ones caught on fishingWA!
Busted Arse
Posts: 253
Date Joined: 02/07/10
The time i lived in Hopey we
The time i lived in Hopey we never come across a dhuie. Mainly Nanny's, Pinkies, Queenies, Blackarse, Harlies,sweep, skippy, occasional blue groper.
Ryan C
Posts: 1575
Date Joined: 08/07/10
nice groper!!
a big one of those heads the list of "things i really want to catch" for me well done i bet it pulled like a bulldozer! cheers
Anthony Hall 87
Posts: 193
Date Joined: 09/01/10
Bodie, Got a mate that has a
Bodie,
Got a mate that has a farm in Ravy and a holiday house in hopey, they have fished there for years and only ever got one dhu of about 10 kg.
I found some great ground out there pretty much just sounding off my charts, a lot of the lumps on your charts have been smashed but there is plenty of ground in the surrounding area's like anywhere I guess. I was suprised by some of the ground they have down there, make sure your prepared to lose plenty of gear. Would have loved to do more exploring down there but only really got that one good day, would love to hit the deeper stuff and see what is lurking, massive sections on the charts are unsurveyed!!
I would definately be keen on heading down there during the ban, I work week on week off so if you want to hook up and head out with 2 boats let us know. If you go down in my break mught be able to shoot down.
Tight lines to all :)
Bodie
Posts: 3758
Date Joined: 05/11/07
hey mate, Yep for sure, will
hey mate,
Yep for sure, will let you knwo when we are heading down.
Keen to see what will take plastics and jigs down that way!!!
carps
Posts: 126
Date Joined: 01/03/10
good blue there.had the
good blue there.
had the privlidge of growing up down there and fishing hopey and bremer.
unbelievable fishing down there.
Bodie
You do get them but not as much as on the west coast.
Once again nice fish.
cheers
dkonig82
Posts: 2091
Date Joined: 06/07/10
Great fish there mate!Love to
Great fish there mate!
Love to get a big blue like that.
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.
Nauti Buoy
Posts: 595
Date Joined: 20/04/09
Dhuies
Caught a few dhuies off Bremer- but they are few and far between- Hopetoun they would even be more scarce.
THE GERMAN
Posts: 607
Date Joined: 20/07/06
awsome
trip by the looks that blues a corker