April 18 2005

After consulting with some of the trawler guys in town I got some marks for some different areas to try on the way back up to the Gold Coast. Ran out and with the angle of the swell ended up a bit further north than where I wanted to start, but did find some good territory off Evans Head, and then also up off Fingal /Hastings area in about 250-500 meters. Tagged a really nice blue around 400lbs after a great fight in ordinary conditions with a short crew of myself, and dad in the chair. Fun trying to fight a fish with out being able to really use the boat, so we cheated and put the drag up!!! Really nice fat fish, single hook corner of the mouth, easy to remove so I did after tagging him, and off we went. Kept in about 500-700 meters from there till up off Kirra out wide, there are no canyons out that far, a few areas where it drops off, and the 500 hook on the C-map does not exist north of the Pt Danger area from what I could see. The boat is back on the Gold Coast till we head north in early August. Got some charters to fish in the next few weeks and with the ship arriving this week, all my toys will be here soon, so off to the boat yard after Sanctuary Cove.