Feb Fever.
Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2021 4:11 pm
So I realised I never wrote a report.
I was lucky enough to find myself with enough time and a willing CarlG to make an epic February trip up to 1770/Agnes Waters with a stop in Coffs Harbour on the way home.
23 hours each way, a total of 5000kms over 19 days, saw us with about 4 really good days of fishing. The wind and swell basically fisted us out of most of the bite windows.
"The Catwalk" at 1770 is up there with 'The Tubes' as in the very top echelon of rock ledges on the east coast, and infact in the country. Most photos don't do justice to the size or scale of the place, and the effort people go to to get to, and effectively fish from this kind of thing.
View to the Catwalk from the headland.
A really awkward, tide sensitive spot in the walk in makes it extremely difficult to get too unless you time it properly. But, it's a stunning, stunning spot to fish, jutting out into the EAC and almost every pelagic imaginable swims past at some point.
First day of spinning, about an hour after we got started, my Samson slim minnow had an explosion of water around it about 2m out from the ledge, and the forked tail of what i thought was a GT slashed through the water and went straight down.
Being about 3m up with significant swell smashing at our feet, and dodging the bommie immediately in front, after we identified it as a big Queenie, Carl hit some fancy gaff work and we landed out first fish of the trip. 117cm and just on 8kg.
F...this is easy, we thought to ourselves, oh little did we know.
Over the next two weeks, we got absolutely weather fisted and shark molested to the point where I think Carl might need counselling.
We landed a total of 2 more school mackeral, a bunch of little fish in the estuary, and nothing else. I got nearspooled to what we think was a Queenie turned shark on the inside, and Carl got sharked hard on what was a very very nice spanish mack.
The place is stunning, but between the weird swell the locals were accounting to La Nina, the heavy crosswind that seems to go whichever direction was the worst for us no matter where we fished, the sharks, and the eventually frustration, we barely landed anything decent. So instead have a heap of photos.
Biiiiig flatty.
Same fish if I used a daiwa and had hair product in.
As always, I got to share some Jiu Jitsu while we were up there, dropping into the Hervey Bay Shark Cage and C4 in Coffs.
And stopped in Coffs Harbour for a few days on the way home. Same deal, heavy winds, 3+ metres of swell and brutal rainstorms saw us confined to limited sessions on the little breakwall, as all the ledges were inaccessible for all but a fraction. Had a spanish jump in front of us a couple of times, and hooked a BIG king out of a school that instantly broke me off on my light setup. Amazing place though.
Coffs is an incredible place and I can see myself living there one day. 1770 / Agnes waters is a beautiful area, but probably a little bit too isolated / small to be able to make a good living. The Catwalk is a spectacular ledge and on it's day one of the best fishing platforms in the country, but i'm not sure i'd ever go back there.
A great trip with great company, smashed by things out of our control.
Till next time kids.
I was lucky enough to find myself with enough time and a willing CarlG to make an epic February trip up to 1770/Agnes Waters with a stop in Coffs Harbour on the way home.
23 hours each way, a total of 5000kms over 19 days, saw us with about 4 really good days of fishing. The wind and swell basically fisted us out of most of the bite windows.
"The Catwalk" at 1770 is up there with 'The Tubes' as in the very top echelon of rock ledges on the east coast, and infact in the country. Most photos don't do justice to the size or scale of the place, and the effort people go to to get to, and effectively fish from this kind of thing.
View to the Catwalk from the headland.
A really awkward, tide sensitive spot in the walk in makes it extremely difficult to get too unless you time it properly. But, it's a stunning, stunning spot to fish, jutting out into the EAC and almost every pelagic imaginable swims past at some point.
First day of spinning, about an hour after we got started, my Samson slim minnow had an explosion of water around it about 2m out from the ledge, and the forked tail of what i thought was a GT slashed through the water and went straight down.
Being about 3m up with significant swell smashing at our feet, and dodging the bommie immediately in front, after we identified it as a big Queenie, Carl hit some fancy gaff work and we landed out first fish of the trip. 117cm and just on 8kg.
F...this is easy, we thought to ourselves, oh little did we know.
Over the next two weeks, we got absolutely weather fisted and shark molested to the point where I think Carl might need counselling.
We landed a total of 2 more school mackeral, a bunch of little fish in the estuary, and nothing else. I got nearspooled to what we think was a Queenie turned shark on the inside, and Carl got sharked hard on what was a very very nice spanish mack.
The place is stunning, but between the weird swell the locals were accounting to La Nina, the heavy crosswind that seems to go whichever direction was the worst for us no matter where we fished, the sharks, and the eventually frustration, we barely landed anything decent. So instead have a heap of photos.
Biiiiig flatty.
Same fish if I used a daiwa and had hair product in.
As always, I got to share some Jiu Jitsu while we were up there, dropping into the Hervey Bay Shark Cage and C4 in Coffs.
And stopped in Coffs Harbour for a few days on the way home. Same deal, heavy winds, 3+ metres of swell and brutal rainstorms saw us confined to limited sessions on the little breakwall, as all the ledges were inaccessible for all but a fraction. Had a spanish jump in front of us a couple of times, and hooked a BIG king out of a school that instantly broke me off on my light setup. Amazing place though.
Coffs is an incredible place and I can see myself living there one day. 1770 / Agnes waters is a beautiful area, but probably a little bit too isolated / small to be able to make a good living. The Catwalk is a spectacular ledge and on it's day one of the best fishing platforms in the country, but i'm not sure i'd ever go back there.
A great trip with great company, smashed by things out of our control.
Till next time kids.
and great report.