Oct 29 2009 Jewell Reef
Wow, what a difference a few days and some wind can make!!! The day of the last report, yeah I have been slack, was an awesome day on the Reef, we started our first of 3 days with Jason from the US, and while the wind was up to 25 knots, the fish were here in vengeance. we started on number 7 Ribbon and fished up to the top of No: 8. We had 2 bites and tagged one about 150 lb. Meanwhile up on No: 10, there were 6 fish over 1000 lb released!!! Next day on 10 we saw 5, had 3 bites and tagged 2 of 400 and 150 lb, and again 3 more fish around or over 1000 lbs were released. Friday the 23rd was Jason’s last day fishing and in good wind we saw 6 fish, including a pod of 3, where the big girl was about 800, but no bites from any of them, I guess they were busy doing their own thing.
Saturday we just snorkeled the clam gardens and relaxed while waiting for the charter flight.
Sunday we started up again and headed up to the top end, fishing Day and Hicks Reefs, saw 5 , had 3 bites and got 2 small ones. Monday we fished Hicks and tagged one about 550 lb after a morning spearing coral trout!!! Tuesday was just an awesome day, got to sleep in, caught a few fresh baits, went for an incredible spear at the top corner of Jewel Reef, where we speared 15 trout. Started fishing about 2 pm, and headed north from Jewel Reef about 10 miles, and then back again. We raised 7 fish, had 4 bites and some of the most incredible towcam footage ever!!! At one point we had 2 marlin up, one after the scad, the other small one on the pitch bait. We were feeding the pitch, while the bigger marlin came in on the scad, and we had a double hookup!!! But the problem was that on the camera, the marlin on the scad got beaten to the punch by a giant dogtooth Tuna, and our double header marlin became a 120 lb doggie and a tagged 150 lb black on the pitch rod.
It was getting late and we were heading down Jewel when I saw 2 fish on the camera, one about 400, the other about 700 or so, got the bite, but pulled the hook on the bigger one. The boys put the baits back out, and just before dark we had a bite on the big tuna, I looked at the screen and again there was another fish on the scad. I waited for the double but no go and we got squared away and the fish had not jumped or really done anything. Well that generally means a nice one, and after about 10 minutes she started to come up, Tradition shot back and Brett grabbed the leader on a real nice one about 900+ lbs.
A great finish to a great day!!! In the last 6 days of fishing we have seen 27 fish, had 13 bites and caught 10 black marlin !!!!!
Have the following openings available if you want to experience the GBR with Tradition:
Nov 1 – 6 inclusive – Heavy tackle with choice of motherships or liveaboard
Nov 29 – Dec 4 Cairns Heavy tackle with choice of motherships or liveaboard
Dec 7 – Dec 12 Cairns to Mackay heavy tackle via Myrmidon reef with choice of motherships or liveaboard
Dec 14 – Dec 23 Mackay to Gold Coast – head to Swains for a night, then out to Suamarez Reef for a night or two, then out to Wreck Reef and Cato Reefs if the weather is good, 10 day trip, fishing for big blues and blacks, jigging and poppers for GT’s, Wahoo, Coral Trout etc.limited to 4 places, arrive Gold Coast night of Dec 23 at GCCM. Awesome exploration trip
Tim
