Hey all

After so much crappy weather for so long, the weather gods looked like they were about to let us play the game we had been praying for. Forecast was for shit hot weather and as we had the trip planned for awhile it was go, go, go on Thursday and for the entire Easter weekend including the Tuesday. The trip over was sensational to say the least and when getting close we had a couple of drifts at the monopods with little success, but that didn't dampen the spirits much. It was the first time for the young bloke (Josh) and myself but had my great mate Daisy along and was a great opportunity to put the new boat through its paces on a large extended trip. Plenty of food, water, piss and extra fuel came along for the ride as well. After we dropped off the fuel and water we had a bit of a look around the Northern end of the group but not much so settled into a few beers and a feed.

Day Two saw us head over to Tryall rocks for a look and a bit of exploring the area and the young bloke picked up a couple of good Rankins to open the account for the trip. Headed back to the beach for an early arvo swim and a feed and yep, you guessed it.... a few more frosty ales followed by a feed of rankin and trout.

Day three was where the anticipation for the trip had come down to. A trip out to the Rankin Bank with a few stops off along the way. Did around 25 miles out to a spot we thought might be good for a look at, and it didn't disappoint with plenty of good trout (650mm) and rankins along with double headers of trout and coronations also. The grey coats turned up and we lost a fish but that was cool, we headed off to the next spot and as we had to cover a bit of likely ground thought that a wahoo might be a goer. So Daisy rigged up a killer vibe with a wire trace x 2 and off we went. What happened next was a spin out!!! We weren't expecting the billies to play around here as you could guess with the wire business, and although we had the big Tiagra on board, the TLD 25 and the 30W were the reels of choice. I was at the helm when I heard the reel start to make that noise that gets all of our hearts racing and looked around to see a smallish black somersault out of the water...cool shit and the call was to Josh get on the reel and do the work. After half an hour of toil, the boy had the fish at the boat but what happened next chilled us to the bone. As we had the rods rigged to catch a HOO, a leader wasn't a high priority and when tested the fish leapt out of the water and at the angler pushing Mick aside and gave Josh a short sharp jab in the chest with her bill leaving a small wound and the boy with a bit of shock. Thank Christ it didn't hit him a little further North or it would have been all over red rover.

After that had happened, the fish calmed somewhat as had Josh, and he managed a photo with his first 50ish Kg Black Marlin. We pushed on after this with the adrenilin pumping, and nearing the second lump Daisy was on with the Hoo that we were actually chasing (after putting on some 100olb leader just in case). Had a drop as well and got a couple of fish, but the pelagics made a bit of a nuisance of themelves but never the less a cracking mack came to the boat and went into the esky. Off we went and after a little while with nothing happening, the 30w went off and my turn to have a crack and a nice little yellowfin came to the boat not long after with little fuss and was released happily to the esky. Pulled up near the bank and a couple more coronation trout came to the boat however tried to jig up a puppy dog with little success on that front which was not surprising given the hordes of wahoo everywhere. Time was winning the battle of the day and it was decided that we should probably head home to the islands given that dark was not far off, but stuff it... chuck one more lure out and tempt Josh from the cabin after his brush with death :-) Sure enough, the line absolutely peels off the reel and if you have heard a large mackeral go, multiply that by 5 and you have one frigging amazing sound. After a solid fight a cracking wahoo comes to the boat and there were a few high fives going on and a bit of back slapping.

After such a big day thet day before, day four was a quiet affair with plastics chucked around the islands and a bit of time to take in what was around by exploring the group..as well as having a rest, a good feed and a bit of shit talk about the day before.

 Day five saw us plan to explore the southern end and stay close, which we did for a while but the weather was toooooo good to knock back the opportunity to have a look out towards Barrow. As a result we picked up some solid trout, with a good double header coming to yours truly,  as well as daisy with a double header (and not too far off the truth) with  one only having the head left (lucky it was the small one). Explored some more with some quality ground to go back to next time with a decent red coming to the boat. That was it, left the fish biting for a blast back to the anchorage for the night in preparation for the run home the next day.

 Trip home was glass all the way really with a couple of stops along the way to sound out ground we havent been to in a long time and it was a friutful one with a couple of good fish to Daisy.

What a fantastic place to visit and I really can't wait to get back there one day soon to really learn what we have missed out on and only scratched in terms of where to go and what to look for. The fishing was shit hot, and really these words only describe part of it but the company was every bit as good and the memories will last forever!!

Pics are probably in fairly random order but its late :-)

Cheers

Mullows

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