October, considered by those of us who live north of the Tropic of Capricorn to be one of the best fishing months in the tropics.
The South East trades have all but ceased winds are light and variable from all points of the compass keeping the days cool under
the tropical sun. The smell of sunscreen giving the days that real tropical holiday atmosphere and cold beer and mangos adding to
the ambiance and charm of this time of year.
As I type steaming up the coast on day last of trip #322 with the sun reflecting off the oily calm clear blue water dancing a mirrored
light show on the ceiling of the wheelhouse like a disco in the seventies, I spin the swivel seat I am on away from the laptop put my
feet up on the dash surveying the expansive view with interspersed flocks of diving birds jumping fishes and the occasional manta ray
I really do have to take stock and realise why people say "you have the best job in the world".
Over half the anglers onboard this trip have experienced this coast with us previously and knew what to expect, the others were in
for an experience leaving them with a head full of memories when looking forward to doing it all again.
Any one who knows a bit about photography knows that one of the secrets to success is to take a lot of photos, of the same thing with
different angles and framing, something easily done with digital cameras.
Please note no fish was harmed in the taking of these photographs. Dave with
a nice golden that was mixed with a large school of Permit and Chris with a lure caught Cobia.Permit and Goldens in a mixed school are easy to distinguish apart, the Goldens are the ones that eat any thing
thrown at them and the Permit are the ones you tear your hair out over.
When the water is calm it is not only the boaties, fishermen and women that revel in the conditions, the fish also are much happier
and higher in the water column seeming to frolic as they sip baitfish from the surface.. This time of year is also when a lot of our
target sport fish congregate to breed. Barramundi in the lower estuaries and the foreshores, Spanish Mackerals close in shore with the
Long tail Tunas, giant Manta rays and Cobia, daisy chaining Permit at the tail end of their breeding are still found on the flats with
Goldens, large Queenies and the frustrating Milkfish that we have yet to work out how to catch with any regularity.
Our magnificent and diverse fishery always amazes me with at least some of the multitude of species available readily climbing on
our varied artificials worked through the water to imitate a wounded or escaping baitfish in the harsh world of nature to arouse a
fishes curiosity to make "the enquiry" as to what this thing is that is in its realm. Not many places in the world I would guess
you can catch Spanish Mackerel, Tunas, Coral Trout and Fingermark in the blue water in the morning and Saratoga and other fresh
water exotics in the afternoon (with Thai beef salad for lunch and rack of lamb for dinner after) one hundred miles from every
one and every thing in the rest of the world.
Stand out catches for the week were the Spanish Mackeral that brought joy to
the anglers with their blistering fast runs and fed us all on a couple of occasions with their succulent white flesh. We caught a
lot of these magnificent fish this weekLong tail Tunas were in small schools as were Mac Tunas feeding on the tiniest of bait and tiny puffer fish, which I think make
the tunas a little crazy. Having no lures flys as small as these 3 to 5mm (1/8 to 1/4inch) forage fish regurgitated by the landed
fish that surcome to the instinct to nail anything that is "getting away" even if it did not belong. Our 45gm slices, 3/0 flys
and 70mm soft plastics retrieved fast caught them regardless of the fact they had not the slightest resemblance to the food source... so
much for matching the hatch.
Part of the results of a great afternoon session, these hard pulling fish are
regular captures at a certain location, a small expanse of rubble named by the boys "the jewie spot". Black Jew or Northern Mulloway.
Other sessions on our in and off shore rubble grounds proved fruitful with many of the of the succulent reef fish species caught. The Red Emperor (left) was caught on a herring bait and the Fingermark was caught trolling a 5m deep diving 150 Halco scorpion. Previous Fishing Trip Reports:
