Bream? What are they?

[Piscineidiot]

Well, as a distraction from studying for exams, Laura, Ted and I headed out to a fabled location near Townsville...

[Piscineidiot]

O'course none of us had a boat, so we were restricted to the actual jetty that I haven't taken a photo of...It's not that photogenic to begin with.

Anyway, we hop to it and start fishing, with Laura opening the account with a good fish as the tide really picks up pace.

[Shortlite]

Ha!! Been waiting, bring it on!!!! Just send a bunch of pics to Laura. I'll add a couple on here too if that's cool. Also, could you send me the full size pics? Cheers.

Ted..

[Piscineidiot]

I followed a bit after, after I'd figured out that the bastards were feeding just under the surface...Unfortunately, it was still a bit blowy, so I didn't pull out the fly rod...

[Piscineidiot]

After grumbling for a bit due to missed and dropped fish, Ted finally manages to toss the monkey from his back with an acrobatic little tacker...

[Piscineidiot]

And then, after a few fish, it was dead.

That was until the tide started rising with a bit of pace, and the action picked up again. At one stage, Ted and I had a double hook-up, resulting in twins at 51cm to the fork.:D

[Piscineidiot]

We caught so many fish that we just stopped counting. The fish were hitting plastics sunk deep and rising up with the run of the tide (another reason why I didn't manage one on fly). In ridiculous amounts of current, even smallish fish were tough. We were using 8-15lb braid on our bream sized tackle and associated drag settings, but still, Ted and I were done by a coupla big buggers. Who woulda thought? Tarpon CAN fight dirty...Still, Ted did manage to get the better of one of them as morning arrived: 54cm to the fork.

[Piscineidiot]

Overall, a great night. Thank you Laura for taking us out there and back again. Next time, I'll actually GET one on fly.

Cheers,

Owen:)

[Piscineidiot]

Uh Ted, full sized pics would probably max out your inbox...camera's 7megapixels...Cool if you want to post here too though, by all means!

[Shortlite]

Holy crap dude, if you can get them down to 800 x 640 that'd be great.

Getting done by a couple of horses just wasn't cool. Then a smaller one did me and that got me close to spitting the dummy, big style!! Yours at least went nuts right away. The only clue I had that mine were a better class was that they stayed right down and their runs were down deep, into the pylons.

Overall though, heaps of fun. Thanks Laura, it was cool.

Couple of pics from last weekend. Laura and I overnighted there and fished till about 4 am. The camera was giving us grief, so the few tarpon pics we took were ruined. Late in the tide fish started blowing up on the surface out past the middle. Cue the funny stuff. Laura: "Hey Ted, watch this!!!", as she let rip with a 7 g jighead and BM on 10lb braid. A ripsnorter of a cast that flew close to 50 m easily. As we laughed, she gave 2 jigs and nearly had the rod ripped out of her hand. Unfortunately she missed the fish. 2 more big casts, more hits, but no fish. I send out 3g and a BM for no result, then stick the rod in a rod holder while I fumble in the bag for a bigger jighead. Collect the rod, give it 2 half hearted shakes, then connect with this puppy.
Laura: "I hate you".

Bigeye Trevally, estimated high 50's fork.

[Shortlite]

Nothing eventful until a series of massive explosions at the ramp attracts our attention. I decide to re-rig with something heavier, and while I'm making up my mind, in goes Laura. One accurate cast, straight into the carnage, and she's off to the races. Rod hoops over, and a tight ( "extract big fish from pylons" tight) drag howls in protest as 100m of line disappears in seconds. Rod tip is flat as fish settles and starts to turn. Another quick spurt, then she has it turned. A glimpse of a win maybe? POW!!! Leader knot fails. Back comes the bimini with a beautiful pig tail in the end.

My toin!!! Out goes a C'ultiva Gobo Popper. No joy, and the actions slowing. Then, about 20 m out a huge slash tosses the popper in the air, a second submerges it, then on the third strike I connect. The strike leaves a huge hole in the water, and in the dim light I glimpse big grey shoulders, then nothing, 'cos this fish was off faster than greased lightning.

30m, 50 m, 75 m, oh sugar, there goes my braid. Nice new backing, sweet! Hang on, there's only 50 yds!! Dammit. With bare metal showing, the fish slows and stops. I count 10 wraps left on the spool. A couple of pumps and short winds gets some line back on, then some heavy pulling takes it back. Tug of war for 2 seconds more, then POW!!! I stumble back, shaking like a malaria victim, then slowly reel up to find my 40 lb leader bitten right through, in the loop knot.

We called both fish for GT's. Nothing more after that, so we called it a night.
Back on the water at 9:30 am, after a bit of sleep, brekky and more sleep.

Laura then gets on the board with this fella, a new species, and a good size to boot.

[Shortlite]

No, not a tuna of any kind. it's actually a torpedo scad, a member of the trevally family. Surface feeding fish, had me stumped until we pulled it up and I saw the scutes, Then it did the blurting.

After that, the bright sunshine and slowing tide put paid to any more action for us, but on the way off the jetty, some commotion, a howling drag and a lot of splashing had the drop net deployed quick smart to help someone out. Tense moments as the fish wrapped him in the pylons, then was successfully extracted, only to take off on another run. Couple of minutes later, a quick net job brings up this bad boy.

[Piscineidiot]

Bery NiiIIiicce...I still maintain that it was a pity about the dirty water moving in the other night...Damn it all to hell. Reckon the tarpon would've been more eager to eat the fly had the water been clear enough for them to see the fly properly. Grrrr...:mad:

[Shortlite]

No doubt, but them moving up and down in the water column, and with the water really ripping through, I think a sinking line would have been better than your floater.

They were feeding on 3" garfish that were getting tumbled about in the water, which is why deadsticking and just letting it drift through was getting the hits.

A DC (density compensated) fast sinker and one of those deceivers...;)

[Piscineidiot]

Was thinking that about the line too...floating line meant that the fly just got ripped up the water column too quickly. Even a sink tip would've been fine, but then I'd have contact to worry about. Bad enough that we're that high off the water, feeling the bites through a slack line would be even harder...I do actually have some garfish flies...maybe I'll give them a throw next time, along with a new one I've in mind. That, or of course, the old reliable clouser...

[bushido]

Ahhhhhh beautiful Lucinda:D BTW those tarpon under that jetty grow a lotttttttt bigger.

Cheers Samurai

[Piscineidiot]

Tis a beautiful place indeed. You know, I've been told that they do too...You know how to catch them reliably (well, hook them anyway...tarpon being what they are...)? Thinking a couple of the dust-ups we suffered were from the bigger fish, but aside from a roll of three fish that looked positively gigantic, I didn't see anything to suggest that they were there.

Owen

[bushido]

The secret to to big guys is small metal slugs around 2inches long, drop to the bottom raise them up about a foot of the bottom, late at night, under the light at the southern end of the jetty, next to the shed on the end.
The best are the little silver R2S sea rocks, you can get them at Fisherman's warehouse in Townsville. BTW my pb tarpon from that spot went just on 85cm


Cheers Samurai

[Piscineidiot]

CRIPES...Have GOT to do that! Thank you for that. 85cm...My GOD that would've gone nuts! Did it fight dirty too? Happen to have a photo?

[bushido]

We have it on video, there have been several around the 1 metre mark taken on the years, I have been chasing tarpon at that place every year for the last 15 years:)
When I was guiding at Hinchinbrook I would some times take clients out there at night. Also at the start of the barra season some of the biggest barra up there are taken from that little jetty.

Cheers Samurai

[Piscineidiot]

Wow...that place has some potential. Blows anything around Townsville out of the water. Hahahaha, all those land-based hardcore breamers need to have a look at what jettys really CAN have to offer. Real eye-opener that place. What time of year do you go there? Could catch up some time if you're up for it. Still can't believe the Australian record for indo-pacific tarpon is only 3.33kg or something stupid. You guys would've caught fish over that weight over and over...

[bushido]

I go up several times a year, every May for a couple weeks for the Hinchinbrook barra comp, and then later in the year Sept and Oct. A mate of mine has a cane farm just near the Gentle Annie bridge, about 2k out of Lucinda.

Samurai

[Piscineidiot]

Maybe next year then. I'll hopefully be working full-time at that stage, so won't have homework to get in the way. Ted, well, it'll be his last year, so it'll be hell for him, and I'm not sure about Laura and whether she'll be here or not. Either way, if you want to let us know in advance, we'll see if we can make it. We'll definitely be there again.

Owen

[bushido]

If you want to get the bigger tarpon, don't use braid, use mono or fluoro around the thirty pound mark, when we get serious with them I use a 8k 7ft custom loomis that was built for me to use on billfish:D match to a shimano lever drag charter special spooled with thirty pound fluoro. and these little sea rocks but with the hooks beefed up:D .

Cheers Samurai

[panger]

Samurai,
do you jig these things off the bottom or do a straight retrieve for them tarps?

[bushido]

Hi Panger,
just jig them up and down about 2 or 3 feet of the bottom and hang on.
Pisc I will let you know next time I'm going up.


Cheers Samurai.

[yellow door 1]

Awesome report Lads - reminds me of a night I once had on St Kilda pier........Salmon to 23cm, flathead to 18cm and enough under sized pinkies to fill a 20litre chlorine bucket - it was going off.

But seriously that is some crazy action. What sort of gear are you using to winch them up with.

[Shortlite]

Warren, 85 cm is a freakin' awesome fish. Thanks for the tip on getting the biggies to bite. A lot of the locals we spoke to on the weekend also said metals were key to getting the bigger ones. My SJ783 will definitely get a workout up there.

Now, I reckon one of those big boys would be more than a handful landbased. Do they fight as dirty as, say, the GT's? Funny you mention the shed corner. We saw some big goldens, a couple of permit, and a huge school of GT's under there. The smallest GT would probably be about 60 cm, and there were at least 2 metre long fish down there too. I had them rise up and take a good hard look at my lure a couple of times. I just sat there crapping myself saying, "Eat it!!", and "Don't eat it!!" at the same time.

Owen, I reckon even a sink tip would struggle. A sinking shooting head maybe, but the weight you need to get down quickly would rule out the 5 wt.

Lawrence, once the incoming started snorting through we were getting 5 or six bites per cast!!! On the weekend gone the water was much clearer and the fish were even more aggressive. A fish a chuck for almost 2 hrs.

[bushido]

Hi Shortlite,
we had a special net very long handle:D hooking them is one thing getting them up is another:) I reckon their must be at least a couple of hundred sea rock lures hooked around those pylons and that's just the ones Iv lost.
There are some very big nasty things live under there. but damn good fun trying to get them up lol.

Cheers Samurai

[Shortlite]

Oh, yeah, for sure. We can attest to that: some monster smokings and spectacular bustoffs!!

We have a drop net (crab drop pot) on a long cord. A long handle net with screw together handle sections, kinda like a StrikeBack, could work well: not being dragged around by the water too much.

[Piscineidiot]

Cheers bushido.

Lawry, we were just using our bream gear with heavier line classes. Not such a bad way to kill a reel...:D ;) You should've heard my cappy by the end of it, 15lb braid and heavy drag settings do not do wonders to a 1500 sized reel, was like using a cement mixer after a while.:D

It's a pity you weren't there, you would've had a ball!

Owen

[Shortlite]

Swordplay with Buccaneer Customs. I think Owen's is the heaviest out of the lot, 2-5 kg. Laura's is 2-4 kg, and mine redlines the 1-3 kg class.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Certainly a lot of ducking, bobbing and weaving. Owen had 15 lb braid on trying to murder his cappy. Laura fished 10 lb braid on her Shimano Nexave, and my President was spooled with 8 lb.

Good times, good times!! And all three reels now sound like 2 sheets of sandpaper being rubbed together.:D

[Hyper Tackle]

Nice effort there fellas,

Always like your bragging posts.

Zipman

[Shortlite]

And I do believe it will have to be done again sometime soon......

[Hyper Tackle]

Better sooner than later:D

Some folks are so lucky to live in places where you can pick up rippers like that:D

Looking forward to the next installment fellas

ZipMan