Steep point trip 2 for the year

After having a quiet trip in january up to steep i was looking forward to getting back there and hopefully having some better luck and to get some good fish on the rocks. the days leading up looked promising with mates having an amazing day on macks landing 15 between them so hopes where high. 
we arrived a few days later and reports where not good, the fish had shut down and it was hard work apparently.

the first morning spinning we hooked maybe 15 fish but pulled hooks and sharks made it tough with only a few small fish coming up and from then on the days got harder and harder with less and less hookups and sharks onto any pelagic fish we hooked within seconds. good numbers of cobia where the only thing keeping us going and having fun on plastics and spinning. even the bottom fish where shut down and didnt see a pinky until the last arvo when we got a good session with 7 coming up. for my 6 days pretty much solid of spinnnig the only decent fish i got up was my first longtail tuna. landed a few cobia on plastics and bait, mulloway made a couple of suprise visits and even more to our disbelief 2 huge bonefish came up. one after dark for rob and i got one myself on the 4-6kg rod and it gave me hell on that gear. both where over 80cm and maybe 4kg? 
balooning was non existent with my one mack being the only fish for a week of 2-3 balloons out each day. went and chased tailor for a day and i helped put the others in our group onto some great fish over 70cm, i didnt fish much but got 2 smaller ones around 50cm which i was happy with. i did a few dives mostly for crays and im fairly sure i figured out why the fish where shut down, water temps at the end of febuary at steep point sitting at 20.1c?? ive never seen it that cold that time of year. i got my possession limit of big crays and picked up a few baldies as well so thats also added to the slow trip and made it a bit better. shot a cobia off the back of a rather large shark that had 6 following it which was a scary but exciting experience seeing as i was solo off the cliffs with the other guys watching me from above safely on the rocks.

all in all we still did alright with slow and steady catches and the unusual number of cobia keeping the freezer looking healthy. ended up with 12 cobia, 2 mulloway, few baldies, few spangos, macks, tuna and all the usual by catch of trevs, mack tuna, sharkies and others to keep it fun. great group of guys i went with and had a great time even with how exhausting it was for so much effort for not a huge return.
few of my photos from the trip ill throw up.

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always looking for a new challenge!!

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Dale's picture

Posts: 7930

Date Joined: 13/09/05

Tue, 2016-05-10 20:51

 Nice pics there, that bone would have surprised ya.

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"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."

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Date Joined: 26/04/14

 Bonefish  looks like another

Wed, 2016-05-11 05:59

 Bonefish  looks like another epic trip cheers for the post

Boydy's picture

Posts: 623

Date Joined: 26/09/12

Good write up as usual and

Wed, 2016-05-11 08:28

Good write up as usual and top camera work.
Man you must have some big kahunas, solo free diving up there, pinging fish off the back of big sharks!
Good stuff.

Posts: 744

Date Joined: 29/03/13

ide be happy with that trip

Wed, 2016-05-11 14:32

good times with mates plus a few fillets to take home

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Coombsy's picture

Posts: 15

Date Joined: 25/05/15

 Heading up to Denham on the

Thu, 2016-05-12 12:05

 Heading up to Denham on the 26th for a couple of weeks do you think the mackies will be around then, planning on heading that way in the boat if we get the weather. looks like you fellas done well!

Chris fish's picture

Posts: 847

Date Joined: 23/02/11

 they should be, i bloody

Thu, 2016-05-12 18:03

 they should be, i bloody hope so because im off to dirk in a month and macks are my main target. good time of year for the larger fish

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always looking for a new challenge!!

Dale's picture

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Date Joined: 13/09/05

Thu, 2016-05-12 18:50

 Should be good, we used to go up there in any month without an R in it. Always cleaned up.

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"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."

Mr Wolf

 

 

Fireguard's picture

Posts: 75

Date Joined: 13/09/09

I was up there end of March

Thu, 2016-05-12 23:10

I was up there end of March beginning of April, fishing was pretty quite then too - cold green water...

We're heading back up for a couple days at the end of this month - not expecting many mackies, but hopefully we'll land a few cobia and some decent pinkies