"Come down to Onslow I'll take you out for a fish."

…Friday night i made a call to see if that offer still stood. It did. After a delayed start due to some car troubles we rolled into town midafternoon Saturday.

Hit the water shortly after in perfect conditions.

A flying fish launched itself out of our way.

Tuna erupted on edges of the currentlines disappearing equally asfast. Occasionally bigger ones glinted in the sun as they rolled on the surface.

The anticipation was high as we prospected a few different marks to see which were holding fish.  Eventuallywe found what we were looking for a school of fish holding close to the bottom.

It didn't take long for Matt onto something unstoppable, we gave chase but it reefed him.

My rod loaded up and I got stuck into my first good fish of the night. My first splanglie

It didn’t take long for Matt get his first keeper too

Lines got tangled as fish were being hooked every drop. I put myrod in the holder to try and help with the untangling. Right on cue my rodloaded up and the tangled braid whizzed through my fingers. I free spooled so I could get the tangle undone. Eventually clear I set about fight what felt like a good fish. The weight on the end of line surged, ‘Sharked!’ I cranked the lever to full and applied my palm to the spool. I gained some line on the beast then lost the weight. Expecting just a head to come up I got a surprise when a big spanglie surface with a bit of damage but still intact.

We drifted away from the spot and the bite shut down. We worked a few different drops and managed a few more keepers mixed in with a lot of smaller stuff. I managed a small one on a SP.

On the way in we made a detour past the wharf. We scored a couple of live baits but couldn’t tempt anyresident beasties. I spotted several solid fish cruising the edge of the light they looked like GTs. We moved spots and I saw the fish again. I cast a big SP in its direction and came up solid. A great aerial display revealed it as a Queenie. It was the thickest Queenie I have seen.

Quickly released. We looked around for its mates. I spotted them again but my cast spooked them.

We called it a night but decided to make the most of the weather and head out again in the morning.

Next day the weather was almost as good,

Reefies were the primary target. Our host showed us how itsdone landing most of the mornings keepers. Including this beast of a cod.

I caught this which I now know is a rainbow monocle bream.

I tried a lucanus jig and got bricked as soon as I dropped. I managed a small trout on a SP.

On the wayback in we spotted tuna bust on the current lines and decided to give them a crack.

I stood at the bow armed with my 20lb spin gear and a halco twisty. We raced around all over the place chasing the bust ups. I got a couple of swipes but didn’t connect. With the forward momentum of the boat I couldn’t wind fast enough to keep the lure skimming on the surface. A new plan was formulated…

We came up on the school, I made my cast right into the action and braced as the boat was cracked into reverse. This gave me the extra speed needed and Bang! Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Is there a sweeter sound?

A solid first run of around 100m then the wide arc and finally

Then it was matts turn. What an introduction to fishing!

I went another just for fun before the bust ups stopped.

We checked out some structure on the way back and found the queenies crawling over each other to eat our lures.

I dropped a jig down the side on the pylon hoping to test out my new outfit.

It easily account for acouple of these with plenty of pulling power in reserve

Sun setting we called it a day, a bloody good day!