Time for another report guys!

A decent weather forecast and a snap decision thursday afternoon saw Spooled & Myself load up the Blackfin with swags and gear and get ready to hit the islands. A few phone calls and talking tackle with Twitchemup and it was found out that we where not going to be solo in our mish. Twitchy unfortunently (probably fortunently for the fish tho) couldnt stay the night but Flagpole had crew and was keen as mustard. So it began

6am get go after a cricket function for paul and myself the night before saw us fuel up and head out from the marina. Flaggy was an early riser and already 3/4 to the first point of interest by the time we where wet but after a steady run of organising we where under way crusing over at about 19-20knots into a yucky nth - nthwest chop. 

First stop just to stretch the legs was 14clicks short of the islands proper on a small coral patch id marked on a previous trip , a couple of quick drifts saw Spooleds stock of Gulp grubs depleted by a couple , one good fish lost and some small odds n sodds landed. We pressed on , contact over the radio reported nothing of huge note for the lads as yet.

Abit more steaming and we arrived at Wreck Point. Striped tuna busted up everywhere and it didnt take long for our spread of skirts to find its first taker. A nice tuna for Spooled. Back underway and a couple of hits later another striper showed. Wanting something of abit more note the decision was made between us to throw some bigger pushers and a teaser out the back and head for the deep stuff! Out went a Pink soft oscar for Spooled and a big lumo Pakula for myself. Must admit i was fairly confident of raising something! The lure worked wonder bubble trail ripping away and the water was a magnificent shade of purpley blue.

Alas after 3hrs of ziggin n zagging we had just another pup tuna to show for it. Did mark a lump that showed from 80-100m out on the 150m drop tho that could warrant a return visit. The lowrance showing just enough to spike my interests!

Racing back into Wreck point itself the pushers where replaced with hard bodies , A brand new CD 18 in orange and black ( christmas present from the bro in law barty85) and a big Xrap for Spooled... Radio chat told us Lloyd was killing it and Flaggy had landed a Troutosaur plus odds n sodds.. It didnt take long

One big charter vessel towing tenders was trolling the breakers so we stayed a tad further out inching back and forth from 40 upto 20m. Would have been a great time to remember the ratchet on my Penn! Bang the 24kg stick peeled over and we had our first REAL fish for the trip....

Lots of line was stripped extremely quickly and the fish went very high in the water column straight up. Dare we say it but we both actually called it for a wahoo , had only 5mins before hand been discussing wahoo captures off the point so we had high hopes... After a 10min fight we had it boatside and lit up! BIG WHO! Big shake of the head dislodged one treble but Spooled managed to pin a good gaff shot into the shoulder and it was ours! WOOT WOOT

Mandatory photo sesh began , slimy messy fish delt with and despatched into the brand new Xtreme Coolers box with slurry and we where back under way. Headed over to Flagpole and crew for a brag sesh , during which Paulie managed to get SMOKED by another troutosaur and deplete his stock of grubs again. Big fish he had half way up before it decided which way it prefered and bricked him.... The fish was actually still attached and after some manouvering of the tub it came back out but one shake of the head and it was gone, Result = broken jig head hook & a pissed off fisho.

The rest of the arvo was spent trolling back and forth , Some big hookups to unknowns , couple of good spanish landed including a double hookup and one badly damaged Rapala CD18. Flagpole managed to break the spanish duck on his tub and also got a double of small YFT which we very quickly begged them to despatch for the evenings dinner! FISHWRECKED COMP STYLE YUMMO!

Twitchy and his mate had by this time joined the party and we left them to a radio call of BIG hookup. By the time we had ripped around the point to flagpoles Coronation spot came the news lloyd had just landed a very large Head. Mr tiger had so kindly robbed him of a XOS spanish...

Into the drink for a quick free dive with flaggy , heaaaaaaps of trout everywhere - nothing monsterous but some decent fish amongst them. I nailed one for dinner and flagpole shot a big Coral Cod for his curry which i hear was a hit! Also had the privelage of company by a very large YTK.

Lump hopped back towards our camp site with nothing special happening , some lovely cool ales going down a treat. Spooled and I hit one more little ledge 4clicks from camp as the sunset and did it turn on! Pinkies everywhere from 30cms tiddlers to solid 6kg fish smaaaashing our plasitcs... Throw in a couple of small dhuies and groper and it was a ripper session. Some goodens again pulling the hooks or finding the coral. Everything released!

The navigation back thru the small passage to camp was a mission but no dramas and we settled in for the night joined by another group of boats up from perth. Asleep by 2030 knackered!

Next morning was a get up , eat breakie and off affair. Straight back to last nights hot ledge , and first drop i came up trumps with a STODGER pink on he light gear. Top fish and it joined the wahoo in the slurry. Flagpole managed some small dhuies and stuff but other then that it was quiet.

Moved around to the GeeBank area and this also proved fairly quiet to start with. Flagpole lost something large and we had our first pinger for the day come in to great us while we where occupied with fish. Honestly its a huggggge ocean out there and to have a boat pull up 50m from you in your drift line is absolute bullcrap! More on that later!

Couple of move and another of our little hotspots showed promise but shutdown after we got absolutely taken to the cleaners a couple of times so we decided to head to some ground for a swim 12k away

This spot was magnificent , jumbo crays everywhere but kew they where safe and every type of fish imaginable for a shallowish reef system. Everything except fish worht shooting that is! Did spot one large trout but he FLEW away on spying me and i think the area may have copped abit of pressure previously. 

Just before departure tho a stud groper was found hiding almost straight under the boat and my RA Sparid did the rest. RIP fella

With time getting on and only 3 fish in the tub , spooled and i headed west abit more while Flagpole began the 80odd k trip home... This dive was to be veryyyyy different!

Anchored up in 6m of dirtyish water , nothing special on the bottom and began the hunt. Straight up a very good baldie of 6kg came in and was despatched. Then while sorting him out the biggest spangled emporer ive seen freediving joined in racing around chewing on the baldies innards. Tried unsuccessfully to sink a shaft in but no avail so took the groper back to boat and swapped guns to the big riffe for extra range. Was to be a wise decision

Used the yellowfin carcass for burly in an attempt to bring the spangos back , saw one breifly but again quick departure when the burly ran out. Then a large shadow caught my eye. Spanish Mack 

Bit odd in such shallow yucky water i thought but i did a drop to midwater to see what it would do. I didnt really want to kill a spanish but orders from the boatman for some fish where in the head so i thought about it , then realised just how big it was! Not a monster by most standards but far bigger than any ive shot. Lined up and smashed it midbody. Couple of huge runs later and it was over.... Long swim back to the boat and pics 

Bottomed out my 22kg shimano scales easily and im calling it 24kg which i rekon aint far off. Very happy spearo!

By now time was really gettin on so we headed back towards Gee Bank , only to stumble across a tiny lump in absolutely nowhere! Stoked we did a drift , myself loosing a gooden and Spooled picking up a charlie court. Reset the drift and bang spooleds on! As im checking the sounder i spy our 2nd pinger for the day approach. Outriggers out etc not a care in the world.... Bad timing on the fish front cause as they pass us by 30m away - no wave nothing gallash is landing a stud trout. Then they proceed to park right ontop of the lump!!!! GRRRRRR

Did 3 laps of the boat trying to get another drift but the lump was that small they had it covered before we saw red and a few words where exchanged.... They uplined and off they went again... Still it pissed us off muchly

Tried one more spot to get parked over by a well known local charter boat aswell . Hattrick for the day i guess before we had enough and departed for G-Town. 

Lovely conditions the whole way back , cold beers and a couple of quality fish in the box for Spooled to restock. He was down to one pack of King George poor bugger! End result was the wahoo , spanish , 1 pink , 1 trout 2 baldies. Still a shitload of fish but well under what someone could possibly take if that way inclined....

Hope you enjoyed the read and the pics as much as we enjoyed our time out there! Next good weather break we will be back!

Cheers poddy & spooled

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