This afternoon at around 5pm I get a call from Brad, I'm kicking back havin' a beer and he asks if I'd be keen to go target some Jewies. I honestly say I couldn't really be bothered but I hadn't wet a line in a while and it was something new for me so I decided to have a crack.



The plan was to fish a spot that we've never fished before but it has a bit of a reputation for big Black Jewfish. I rocked up at Brads place a bit late but we headed off about an hour before the low feeling reasonably confident but not really expecting a whole lot.



When we got there we walked to the spot and then set up our gear. First baits went out and it wasn't long before I got a reasonable hit but then I came up solid on a snag. I busted it off and started to re rig. Meanwhile Brad hooks something small and brings in a nice little soapie. Not as big as we were after but the right species so a good sign.











I got my line back in the water and continued to get some good little bites but struggled to hook anything. I got snagged again! So I re rigged and was about to put my line back out when Brad hooks something a bit bigger.







The line peels off his Abu like no tomorrow so he cranks the drag a bit and gives it some more curry. A couple of times I thought he was almost about to get busted off as you could clearly see that the fish had him against some snaggy country. Brad wasn't sure exactly what it was and said it felt sharky but I was optimistic that it was a nice Jewie. As it got closer we saw what we were after, a nice jewie around 80-90cm.



I leadered the fish in and went and got the camera. After a couple of snaps the fish was revived and sent on his way. This was Brads PB for Black Jewfish, well done mate hopefully plenty more bigger ones to come.











After that it went a little quiet and we were just about to go home when I hooked up. It shot off at a rate of knots so I cranked the drag right up, not willing to give him any extra line. After a couple of awesome runs I got him to the rocks and Brad leadered him in.











We decided to keep this one, we both took a fillet each and it topped off a fantistic evening of fishing. All up we probably spent no longer than an hour fishing, and given the fact it was our first time targetting jewies at this spot I was very satisfied with the outcome.



The gear we were using was 30lb braid with 100lb leader. The size fish that we caught really made us work hard on this gear and I think a lot of good luck came into play. Any bigger and I wouldn't hesitate using 50lb gear taking into account the snaggy terrain we caught them in.



Thanks for the evening Brad and can't wait to do it again!

Well I just spent about an hour writing out a huge report for this trip but this piece of crap computer had a spaz attack and I lost everything so I don't think I'll bother anymore.



It was a pretty poor trip, we only caught 2 barra (75, 83cms). Highlight for me was seeing Glenn catch his first for the season and finding out Brads brother Shane had recaptured my barra. It was also good to hear that Shane caught his first barra. I also caught a recaptured mangrove jack which was pretty good too.



Pics can be seen in my gallery or in the Latest Photo's section.



Hopfully things start to warm up because I think this cooler weather has had a negative effect recently.

Went out this arvo to see if I could get any big jacks. Started out at a spot collecting bait and managed to get quite a few MJ mullet baits plus a couple of biiiig mullet. Headed down to the jack spot and started fishing. Fished with a Atomic Prawn for a while while waiting for the tide to get to where I wanted it. Had a couple of awesome hits from Jacks on the SP but no hookups. Started fishing with the baits. Wwas quite slow to start off with, with a only a couple of small jacks and some pikies.



I was sitting down (as you do when it's a bit slow) and suddenly my rod loads up but not the kind of brutal hit you get with jacks. I stood up and with the rod now fully loaded it started to peel off line at a rate of knots. There was a nice boil on the surface and I thought surely it wasn't a barra (barra are pretty rare at this spot) but after the next run he blitzed out of the water with some nice headshakes and I saw it was a nice barra of around 80cm. He got me in the current and pulled more line then on his next jump he backflipped and cut me on his rakers.



I tied on a new hook and by this stage I'm down to my last mullets, the really big ones. I got out one of my 9/0s and put on the bait. I looked at it and thought nothing is going to hit it as it was an absolutely horse of a mullet but I threw it out anyway. It only lasted about 1 minute before it got annihalated and it took off down the creek. This one didn't feel like a barra as it pulled line at a massive rate of knots without jumping or slowing down under a massive amount of drag. I just looked at my spool as it quickly started to empty and I didn't even get a turn on the handle before it went slack. Hooks pulled.



Mullet suggested barra as it was completely scaled and had no evidence of a toothy critter like jack or shark but the fight was unusual.



Bait went out again and it only lasted about 20 seconds before it got inhaled. Same deal as with the last fish it absolutely screamed off and I didn't even get to turn the handle, just as I was about to be spooled it busted me off on the rocks. Only had a few wraps of line left lol..



Had one more bait but by this stage it was completely dark and with no light (didn't have a torch) to re-rig I decided to head home.



A very interesting afternoon and would have loved to know what those big runs were, don't think I've ever been smoked like that before. Don't have any pics unfortunately but just thought I'd share my exciting afternoon.

Went for a fish yesterday afternoon because I had the day off work. Went down to my barra spot and collected some bait then chucked a nice livie out for a barra. Threw a few lures around while the livie was out but it was a little quiet. Headed down to another spot to fish for some jacks.



Wasn't long before I had a good hit but failed to hookup. Next hit came up solid and he pulled a reasable amount of drag before I turned his head and landed him up on the rocks. 460mm tagged and released, a healthy, solid jack.



Next couple of jack hits failed to hookup. Suddenly I got an awesome hit that almost ripped the rod from my hands, he took me into the current and ripped line off like there was no tomorrow, an epic bust off followed from a jack that would have easily gone over 500mm.



Oh well not to worry there's always next time. Fun afternoon here is the 460 fish that I landed.





Big Jacks need to be seen to be beleived, awesome fighters, especially in snaggy water less than 1m deep. Heart in your throat fishing at it's best.

Well friday arvo we set out for our weekend camping adventure. We stopped by Eagle Boys on the way out for a pizza each and then headed to Cossack. Launched the boat, cracked a tinnie then went to get some bait. As usual, bait in cossack was plentiful and it wasn't long before we had heaps of plump mullet. By this stage the sun was down and it was time to anchor up in a hole to fish for some barra. We weren't really concerned about catching fish on friday evening as we just headed out to give ourselves a head start for the trip further up the coast early on Saturday morning - any fish is just a bonus. Things started fairly quickly with a couple of good runs but no solid hookups.



Eventually I hooked up but it felt small so I called it for a cattie. It got closer to the boat so Glenn got the torch out and surprisingly a small barra around 50-55cm jumped out of the water. Second jump saw my hook get ejected from the fishes mouth and he sunk back to the inky depths.



Things quietened down after that so we kicked back and had a few brews while we waited for the wind to die down and decide what we were going to do. Around 1am we made the decision to head up to our next creek. The run there was fairly uneventful but it did start to blow up and get quite rough during the last qtr of the trip. On arrival we realised that our chart plotter had marked the channel way out so we ended up hitting a sand bar. Not to worry, we had plenty of water and it was on the way in. Eventually we found the channel and got in OK. We headed down to where we wanted to sleep/fish and anchored the boat.



Still had a few livies left from cossack so threw them out and sat down for another brew. Unfortunately all we caught were sharks but the tides weren't ideal so we packed it in and hit the sack. The following morning we woke up and started our trolling run. We trolled for about an hour but the fish weren't biting as well as they were last trip so we decided to get some livies.



Bait was scarce, very scarce. We struggled for around an hour and with only about 2 (small) mullet and a couple of good sized bonys we decided to fish with what bait we had before we missed the tide. We anchored up and I threw out a bonie. Soon after I had the distinct tap tap of a bream having a go at my bait. I hooked him and brought him in. Threw the now dead bony back out. Seconds later my rod went ballistic so I called it for a shark (based on what bait I had in the water) but I was surprised when a barra blitzed out of the water (first time hooked one on a dead bony). Unfortunately it spat the hook on the second jump. Geez, seem to be losing a lot of barra lately



The rest of our baits were taken by the usual bait snatchers, bream, catties, sharks etc.. We saw some fish busting up near some mangroves close by so closer inspection was in order. We motored over and I lobbed a snap back in the vicinity. Instantly it was snaffled by a decent fish and soon after I pulled in a nice King Threadfin.





Nice thready on SP



What proceed was the best session on threadies we've ever had, all on artificials which was an added bonus. Glenn and I caught around 20 King Threadfin Salmon between us with a couple of bluennose mixed in between 40-75cm.





Another threadie





Glenn hooking into a nice threadie





Biggest threadie for the trip



There was also a few other fish caught a by-catch... mangrove jacks (a new first for me), bream, cod and flat head.







Aferwards we decided to go and have another try at getting some bait before the tide came in too far so we could use them on the evening low. We found a spot where the mullet were fairly plentiful. Catching them wasn't the problem though, we struggled keeping them alive. Some parts of the creek (flats areas) were 34 degrees and it didn't take much for the water in our bait bucket to exceed that temperature. Unfortunately we only managed to keep about 4 livies alive for the evening.



Once it got to the high tide we shot off down the creek and met another couple of guys. We anchored near them and had a yarn and a few brewskis while we waited for the tide to drop once more so we could go chase some barra.



Once the tide dropped far enough it was a last chance effort to try and get some livies and then over to a spot where I've caught barra before. Unfortunately we had no luck except for a couple of sharks all evening. The other guys that were down the river fished another spot but they had no luck either so it was a quiet night all round.



The following morning we woke up early for one last fish before we came home. Once again bait was extremely hard to get. We got about 4 really small livies and then anchored up. I was hesitant about using one of the livies as they were so small I thought I'd be better of using a big dead bait. I took the risk and threw out the mullet.



It wasn't long before my rod went ballistic in the rod holder. I picked it up and started to play the fish. He had one good run then came in quite easily. There was no jump and he slogged it deep in the creek so he had me guessing a shark for sure. When he emerged from the depths boatside we realised he was a good barra. It was a frantic effort to get the net ready while he had a couple of nice jumps boatside. He wasn't quite ready to come in so I just played him close to the boat for a bit. A bit of spectacular network by Glenn and he was landed. When he went for the first net shot he jumped out of the net and then Glenn caught him in it as it was about to re enter the water.



A really healthy and fat fish he was 880mm long but much heavier than other barra I've caught around that size. After tagging him and a quick photo he was released unharmed. A bit late in the trip but better late than never. Now I could breathe easy knowing we wouldn't have a 0 fish trip.





880mm pilbara barra





Posing with the barra





... and then releasing him



Afterwards I threw out a big dead bait. I left the rest of the livies for Glenn so hopefully he could land a barra for the trip. It wasn't long before I got another hit but he pulled the bait right off the hook. Meanwhile Glenn's livies get destroyed by little catties. I put another big deadie on and cast him out. I'd barely put the rod in the holder before Glenn shouted "you're on!"



It screamed off at a massive rate of knots. Took about 70m of line before slowing down. Imediately I called him for a big shark but I dismissed it soon after. I've caught big creek sharks before but you can usually knock 'em over in about 5 minutes on 30lb gear. This on the other hand wasn't coming in so easily. It was a wrestle for about 15 minutes of the typical gain some, lose some, gain some, lose some kind of fight. I called him for a big threadie which I guessed for 120cm+. When he surfaced about 20cm away we saw the massive yellow paddle tail and we both said, 'BARRA'!. The pressure was on now as this would easily be a PB if it was a barra and waaaay over 1m in length.





About half way through the battle... he's taking another surging run so I take a break on the handle work



I fought him for a bit longer and when he got closer I realised he was an unusual looking barra. Then I realised he was a big Black Jew, no barra but probably the next best thing. He slugged it out for ages next to the boat and then we got the net ready. We realised he was way to big to fit in the net so I got him close to the boat and Glenn leadered him through the transom door.







We measured him and he was 114cm long and est around 15kilos. Unfortunately he was gut hooked and bleeding quite bad. Big jewies like this have little chance of survival so we made the choice to keep him.



After that we put in another half an hour with no more action then decided to head home. Trip home was great as we made it just before the wind picked up. Overall a bit dissapointing on the barra side of things but there was plenty of them around we just didn't have the means to catch them (ie.. not enough bait). Still had fun with the threadies on SP's and the Jewie topped off another good trip in the wonderful Pilbara.



JB

Well Mick and I headed out on Friday afternoon, boat fully loaded with all our food, drinks, fishing gear, camping gear etc... destination; Cossack. We arrived and launched the boat. Lines went out for our first trolling run. It wasn't long before my RMG was nailed, lined peeled off and headed straight for a snag... realising it could be the first barra of the trip I thumbed the spool and put quite a load on the rod to keep him away. Unfortunately this put too much stress on my new Live Fibre baitcaster and it snapped in two! After a bit of cursing it was time to retrieve the fish... turned out to be only a cod anyway.



After that fiasco Mick dropped me at the ramp and I drove back to Karratha to grab a spare baitcasting rod. When I got back it was dark. Mick had been livebaiting a spot where we have picked up a lot of barra in the past with only one decent run and a little shark. We headed down the creek to fish another spot. Livies went out and it was time to sit down and have a beer. After about half an hour I got a wiked run but it stopped, so I waited for a couple of minutes, thinking he'd dropped the bait. I decided wind in my line thinking I'd been baited. There was heaps of slack but once I wound it in the rod loaded up and the first barra of the trip erupupted out of the water. He'd been just sitting on it for about 2 minutes!

Our second hit came soon after, this time on micks rod. His livie was swimming near the surface and we got a nice boof right near the boat. There was no hookup however, his bait was sucked right off the hook. We fished and drank for a bit longer before retiring for bed with a couple of good mullet out. We gad a couple of good hookups during the night but turned out to be sharks.



The following morning we got up before dark, packed up the sleeping gear and made a nice coffee. We headed off to our new destination, quite a bit further up the coast. After a nice ride up there we were delighted to find out there was only two other boats in this river. First things first we went to catch some livies.





Nice Cast



It wasn't easy but we still managed to get quite a few. We caught as many as we could so we wouldn't have to worry about it for most of the day. Mick caught a massive muddy in his net which was quite interesting.



After catching mullet we went to a nice trolling stretch to see if we could pick up any fish on the last few hours of the run-out tide. Lines went out and we started trolling. It wasn't long before Micks classic got inhaled. Instantaneously there was a nice boil on the surface so we called it for a good barra but as he played the fish a little longer we realised it was a nice thready. I netted the fish and we put him on the brag mat. At a little over 100cm it was a nice fish. A couple of quick photos and he was released.

I'm a bit tired at the moment so I'll get it started and I'll add to it later on... feel free to add anything brad and correct any mistakes



Well as you all know Brad and I had two nights barra fishing at our favourite spot this weekend. We both knocked off work early and headed up to Samson quickly as we could on friday afternoon. It's still really early in the season but with 37.7 degrees that afternoon (officially it ended up getting to 38.6 a new highest maximum for september) we were confident the water temps would be good.



We launched and started heading into the chop. As we were wating for Anth and Co, we slowed down and I threw out a Classic 120. It wasn't long before I got a hit but it busted me off straight away, perhaps a school of little mackies?



Once Anth had caught up a bit we continued heading up towards the creek. It was a little uncomfortable but after we slowed down a bit it was fine. It was good having the wind on our backs. It wasn't long before we could see the mouth. Unfortunately Brad lost his track on the GPS so we just had to go by memory and eyesight to find the channel. Fortunately there was plenty of water and we made it in no dramas.







First things first we dumped all our gear at the camp spot and headed up to the shallows to catch some livies. Mullet were pretty scarce. We worked pretty hard all afternoon and we ended up with quite a few average sized ones but not the turbo's we were after. Once the sun went down we found the spot we were looking for and dropped the sand achor. It was time to start fishing.



We both threw our livies out and sat down for a beer, hopefully our afternoons hard work would bring in the goods. We had a couple of early hits but nothing that screamed barra. About 30 minutes into the session Brad had something playing around with his livie. He picked up the rod, ready to strike if it started taking line. It went quiet and then he came back for a second shot a couple of minutes later. He was still only playing around with it, not typical barra behavour.



Eventually it took the bait, brad struck and it was on. He launched out of the water and in the moonlight you could see him get fully airborne. Brad fished with a light drag as it is not snaggy ground, to give himself the best chance of landing the fish. Brad fought the fish for a good 10 min or so, with about 4 jumps thrown in it was one of the best barra fights I've seen. 



We didn't have a net but I was confident that we could leader the fish close to the boat and go for a lip grab. We tried, but he was still a bit green and took off. On the second shot I grabbed him with my left hand, then got my other hand in and pulled it into the boat. We layed him on the brag mat and confirmed he was 915mm. A couple of photos and he was in the water for the release. Brad swam him for quite a while, like you need to do with all big barra and after a while he gave a nice kick and was off.



Very satisfying experience letting those big barra go. Brad and I were stoked and now the pressure was off for the rest of the trip...





91.5cm





Brad is a very happy man...





Release shot



After we released him it was time to start fishing again. We were under the impression that it could have been the start of a good session but the remainder of the night was fairly quiet with a couple of half hearted runs and takes. I managed a small shovelnose and Brad managed a nice blue nose. After a couple of hours it was time to head back to camp for a cook up (sausages in bread with tomato chutney) and bed, ready for the following days fishing.



The following day we were up bright and early and after a good feed of B&E with some spaghetti it was time to gather some mullet. Brad landed a nice cast into his turbo mullet hole which gave us 5 honkers. That put the pressure off a bit. We busted our arses again trying to get some good mullet but it was hard work. We ended up getting a few and soon it was time to start fishing.





Early morning at camp





Brekkie!



Livies went out and thus started the waiting game. We put in quite a few hours with a bit of interest. Micks crew whom were fishing just down from us a bit got a nice boof but it managed to suck the mullet right off the hook. Brad had a couple of good runs but the barra weren't feeding very well. After a hard mornings work brad headed back to camp to get our lunch. A good feed of ham in buns with some of that delicious chutney went down well and then it was back into the fishing. The blue nose salmon kept us occupied while the barra were being difficult.





My little blue nose threadfin





Jonesy's blue nose



We put in a few more hours for nil luck and it was back to camp for a drink and an early dinner. We kept a few of our huge mullet for the night session. The evening wasn't any more eventful than the days fishing. We had a couple of nice hits but every thing failed to hook up and the barra weren't keen for a second shot at the bait. That's what you get when it's early in the season. The highlight of the evening was watching Brad go for a swim to collect our live bait bucket that had started floating down stream



We retired fairly early for a good nights sleep ready for the early start and trip home the following morning. It was a fairly unproductive trip but when fishing so early in the season we didn't really expect any more than what we got.



I'd like to thank Brad for taking me along, there's nothing better than good company and the opportunity to spend time fishing at one of my favourite fishing destinations. Seeing such a qaulity fish nailed early in the season is just a bonus. Well done mate!

After yesterday's success I couldn't resist going down for another crack at some early season barra this afternoon. Had a red hot little session nailing three to 75cm all on lures. Gave poppers a shot in the hope I could get my first barra on popper. Had a couple of strikes but they didn't hit them as hard as the minnows and it didn't hook up. All fish were released.

Headed out to ol' faithful landbased spot #1 this afternoon for a crack at some barra. Weather has been unseasonaly warm for the past week or so, so I felt quietly confident. Struggled to get any livies so I threw out a dead bait and chucked some lures around.

First fish was on the first cast but not the kind of barra I was looking for. A nice little barracuda made his way onto the bank and I unhooked him for a release. As the tide dropped I put on a classic 120 shallow. It wasn't long before I hooked up. Surely this can't be a barra I thought, but once he realised he was hooked he blitzed out of the water and I knew that he was exactly what I was after. After a short tussle a nice little barra around 70cm was on the shore.

Not too many casts later I got a little nudge. At first I thought the lure was on the bottom but then I realised the lure was in fairly deep water. Couple more winds, another nudge. Couple more winds, hooked up. He erupted out of the water. I saw that he wasn't hooked well, he tailwalked across the surface and I saw him spit the lure. Dissapointed but still stoked to get my first barra for the season. It's only going to get better from here!

Went down to the point samson causeway for a fish after work this afternoon. Couldn't be bothered getting any livies so bought a block of mulies on the way up there. Big mistake, couldn't get past the hordes of small fish and even they were a mission to hook before the bait was picked off. Ended up with 5 small jacks to about 35cm, couple were legal but not worth keeping so all fish were released. Didn't get any other species and it was great to see so many small jacks. I'm sure the right lure or a nice livie would have nailed one of the big ones that lurk there. My PB at this spot is 50cm



Got this one on the last cast, so I took a pic.





And a shot of the causeway just as I was leaving, dead low tide.

Well day two went pretty much the same as day one except the wind was even stronger. Was blowing it's box off at 29 knots recorded at 10am. There was even less fish tagged with only 3 sails for the day between all competitors. We didn't get a single line in the water until 2pm as it was so rough... about 10 other boats anchored in the same bay off Rosemary had similar ideas.
Today was a little calmer at 20 knots but still a rough day. We trolled for 7 hours straight with the only fish being caught a small longtail. We didn't raise a single sail for the entire comp. 1 sail and 1 black marlin were tagged today which brings the total for the comp to less than 20 billfish. Way down compared with previous years 150+.

Well, what can I say? Battled the 28 knot winds today for bugger all except for 3 Gold Spot trevors and 1 Longtail Tuna. Only 12 sails landed today compared to around 100 for day one last year. Main reason is the water temp is still too high and the weather forced most boats out of action. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better. I'm stuffed so I'm outta here.

Went out after work today to test our outboard after we lowered it on the transom. Couldn't resist throwing a couple of poppers around. Action was hot at the start with about 6 strikes resulting in 2 hookups within about 15min. Landed my first GT (woohoo ), no monster but glad to nail my first. Glenn got one a bit bigger. As the tide peaked the bite stopped instantly and there was no action for the remainder of the evening.

My first...

Glenn's GT

Another pic...
Can't wait to go there again. Will try and fish more of the incoming tide and with a bit more movement.

Woke up to some lovely weather on Sunday. Couldn't beleive the dreadful 4 knot wind pounding away so we decided to head up to Samson. Launched a little late due to the fact we had a sleep in because of the 15kt + winds that were forecasted in the morning. On the water around 10.30 we headed out to Delambre Reef.
Dropped the bait jigs down and did well on fusilers so quickly switched over to the bottom rigs. Action started slow with a zillion small bites from small snapper and only hooking up juvies now and then. Towards the end of the drift I hooked something decent and pulled in a nice blue lined emperor around 50cm.

Started the drift again and thought things were starting to pick up but it stayed quiet. Just before we were about to move I hooked up again and this time pulled in another nice emperor a little over 50cm.
Thought it was going to be one of those days where you pick up a few good bits and pieces after ALOT of moving around. We decided the weather was too good to miss an oportunity to head out to the #1 marker so we started heading out further.
On the way there we stopped to fish a couple of nice patches of reef and picked up another couple of nice emperor and a nice estuary cod about 8kg.
Kept motoring out and decided to stop at some reef near the #2 marker. Things picked up here and we nailed a couple more snapper as well as a 65cm Coral Trout and a 71cm Chinaman fish.


Total for the day was a half dozen of good sized blue-lined emps, coral trout, chinaman fish and estuary cod.
By-catch was some small rankins, ruby snapper, triggerfish, spanish flag and some other things I can't really remember right now.
All in all a fantastic day fish wise and weather wise.

Drove up to Point Samson for a popping session this afternoon after work. Started off slow but as the sun slowly got lower I hooked a small gueenie on the 150 dumbell that got off right at my feet.
Was a fair few casts between my next hook up which was a small bronzie that couldn't resist the haymaker. Do you know how hard it is to remove two 5/0 trebles from a shark? Bloody impossible. Destroyed my trebles, good thing I've got some 5/0 barbless owners arriving soon!


As it got a little later, towards the end of a retrieve all of a sudden a massive GT rampages in from the right and snaffles the lure right at my feet! It hit the afterburners instantaneously, drag was screaming as lined peeled from the stella. I applied some more hurt and gradually increased drag until it was as high as it could go without pulling me in! Didn't slow it down much. Eventually she eased off and I gave her a couple of violent strikes to make sure the lure hooked up positively. She didn'tlike it and screamed off again almost pulling me into the drink. zzzzzzzzzz... then, NOTHING? Thought I'd been busted off then realised my popper was still attached. Dissapointed? Sure. But I'm still on a high from what was probably the best fishing experience I've had, despite not landing it. It was a big GT, however I'm no expert so I won't try estimating it's size.
I've exeprienced some good times fishing but this probably tops them all, the visual aspect (got drenched by the way.. couldn't beleive the spash it made!) plus the sheer pulling power literaly blew my mind away. The only thing that would top it would be to land one.
That was my 2nd time fishing that location specifically targeting GT's... next time, 3rd time lucky????
Who knows, but I can't wait to find out... too bad it's not more accessible.
Hooked on GT's

Went down to sams creek reef today to launch my GT assualt. Bit of a walk in due to not having a 4WD but it was manageable. Walking along the reef was harder work than the walk in.
Was fishing with my Stella 20000 on my Saltiga GT86 rod. Lure I was using was a river2sea dumbell. Casting was a breeze with the rod. I was able to punch out 50-60m casts with the GT86 and I don't have a great deal of casting experience.
Managed an average reef shark and a decent sized queenie. Got some agressive hits from some small GT's right at my feet but didn't hook up (lure was a bit big).
On one particularly good cast I'd only managed two bloops when I saw a massive splash behind the popper. I almost fell over when my legs turned to jelly. Paused for a couple of seconds and I was hooked up. Had the stella singing for about 20 seconds, cranked to drag a bit more, still singing for about another 10 seconds then nothing. Thought I'd been sharked or busted off on the reef but the hooks just pulled. Didn't hook up on the remainder of the retrieve. To say I was p*&&ed off would be an understatement. The Japanese dudes on the ore ships could probably hear me swearing lol.
Punched out a dozen more casts in the same area, no more hook ups.
Can't call it for a GT as I didn't get a positive ID but it was BIG.
All in all it was good to test out my new rod and suss out some GT ground off Point Samson. Would be a good spot for GT's at the right time I reckon.



Sorry, no pics of the Queenie or Shark.. had to walk through water you can see in the second pic to get to the reef. Was up to my waist and I didn't want to risk getting my camera wet.
Jay