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.

[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...

[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...