Well weather was forecast as great so a cpl of friends from coast guard suggested we take a boat down to barracoota reef some 24nm south of lakes Bar.
I haven't been down that way for many years. i had a GPS mark for the area but wasn't sure how accurate it was. Headed off over a flat calm bar at 5am after working thru ramp mayhem. Something we are not used to. Must have been a few hundred boats heading offshore today.
After a bit over an hours travel we arrived at the mark, approx 2nm East of Barracoota oil platform. Bottom was rough and bumpy but no big reef. Scouted around but couldn't find anything bigger. So we decided to have a bit of a fish. After half an hour and about 20 bulleye gurnard we decided to go looking further inshore.
Stopped in 40mtrs to prospect for flathead and maybe gummies. Only took a couple of minutes and I had the first blue spot flathead onboard. This was followed over the next half hour with another 10, while the other two guys looked glum and landed a heap of bulleyes and small flatties.
Then their luck changed and they started to ping flatties. I had the inevitable tangle with one of the guys and while untangling, my line took off. With a couple of quick twists we managed to clear the tangle only to have my line wrap around the motor cowl. Another panic and get it off, then a quick wind in to see if I still had something, err,... bit of weight then zzzzzzzzz.. off it went. Slowed the thing and finally stopped it. Gained about ten meters after some serious hard work, then off it went again. All this in 40 mtrs of water. Slow fight probably got about 20mtrs in, thinking yes I am beating it, then zzzzzzzzzzz of she went back to the bottom. Deep breath, slow lift and wind, slow lift and wind, getting sweaty by this time, slow tail shakes, not a stingray, not a snapper. Keep working at it, could feel the line sort of vibrate and give a bit like something was sliding down it. Still taking line every now and then. Looked over the side could see a faint flash of white. Few more meters and a gummy comes into site. Looks pretty big and it is wrapped around and around the line. One guy gets the net which looked pitifully small, finally get it, and the huge tangle to the surface, only the head and about a quarter of the body fits in the net. There are yells of grab its tail. It kicks so hard my mate nearly lost his teeth , but finally up over the side and its on the deck, thrashing around and knocking things over. Had to kill it with a brain spike just to stop it.
Final tally for the day, me 16 flatties 1 gummy. Two mates both on 15 flatties some thumpers too.Biggest flatty was a bluespot close to 60cm.
After filleting them at home I had more gummy fillets than flathead fillets.
So no mythical reef but a darn good day.
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A day out offshore lakes entrance
- re-tyred
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A day out offshore lakes entrance
Post by re-tyred » Sun Dec 29, 2019 6:11 pm
There's nothing . . . absolutely nothing . . . half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats.
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (River Rat to Mole)
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (River Rat to Mole)
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