My 10th oz report

**Snatcher** · 12-01-2009, 23:01

I turned up at the marina at 07.15,found the boat and hopped on board.There were another 5 anglers on board,two aussies - the lady was called Lisa and 3 Canadians. First up it was off with the trainers/sandals and they were boxed up - a new one on me barefoot angling! I was then informed it was to be handline fishing,another first.The skipper said that when using conventional rod and reel the larger fish will just make an unstoppable dive into the coral and that with a handline it is far easier to stop this.Also that you can bring up the fish much more quickly which is fairly important with all the sharks present.I felt a bit apprehensive about using a handline but had to go with the flow.I had brought my little spinning rod with me and the deckie said that I would get the chance to use it.I felt happier at that.

It had to be the fastest boat I had ever been on and in no time at all we were out on the reef.I told the skipper I was doing catch and release to which he replied we would just be keeping legal size coral trout,everything else was to go back - nice one.The deckie had set us all up with handlines and showed us how to hook on the sardine bait.We were fishing in 22m of water and we were instructed to hold our baits just off the bottom.

One of the Canadian lads was first in with a trevally - note the handlines on the deck

Within a few minutes the deckie handed me my rod off the top of the cabin and said -"there you go John,Queenfish on the top,just freeline a sardine to them,and lighten off the drag cos they go mental" referee - if I must! after a few tentative refusals a queenie took the bait and it went beserk as the deckie had predicted.After quite a while the deckie handed the fish in,a quick cuddle for the camera and back she went

Loads of fish went unrecorded due to the fact that the deckie was constantly hosing down the boat and as and the camera was not waterproof,it stayed inside the cabin,just took a shot when the oppertunity arose.It was mayhem with good fish on all the time basically.The skipper and deckie were releasing fish in the water,just a quick stop to pierce their swim bladder with a needle - nice one lads.

Cast another bait on the top and I got into this painted sweetlips - another good scrap on my light spinning gear

The skipper got upset at this stage to find that when he was defrosting the sardines they were all very "mushy" so basically we had no bait,just at this point a GT took my bait off the surface.The skipper said,this one is for bait,he had to wait about 20 mins for it though as it circled the boat a few times.It was gaffed and cut up for bait.

The surface fish vanished and I went back onto the handline fishing the bottom again.And here was my first coral trout.Like I said all the legal size coral trout were kept

One way traffic or what?

Another coral trout

Here is trout that Lisa caught

Here is a shot of Chris,our hungover Canadian friend - notice the rubber fingerstool on his finger,its what stops the line cutting you when handlining

I cannot honestly report on everyones catch throughout the day but to say that basically at all times there were fish on. The skipper did move about 6/7 times during the trip.coral trout were at the top of his shopping list!

The skipper was ok with me fishing on the surface and gotin another turrum trevally after about a 30 min fight

Like I say the camera was in the cabin because of all the water being sprayed around but a few random shots were taken by different folks

**Snatcher** · 12-01-2009, 23:05

Well we had moved position and I had just put my handline down when a couple of GT's appeared under the surface.I dropped the handline .picked up the rod and out went a strip of GT for a GT!.Anyway,what a scap,guess at about 30 mins,the anglers on board were absorbed but the skipper was not,he was itching for a move.Someone took this shot of it,have not a clue about the weight,some of our ozzie bretheren may hazard a guess.

I actually gave it a Rexie kiss before it went back - sorry no photo of it.I can honestly say on 15lb mono it is one of the best fights I have had off a fish.

In this next photo you can see the basic handline rig that the deckie set up for us. The weight,about 4/5 oz was directly on the hook.

Now the skipper was an angler and when he got the chance was fishing,he caught and released this chinaman,the only one that day and very poisonous so he said

And a rock cod

A spangled emperor

A yellow and blueback fusilier

I did revert to the handline a few times,all the coral trout were on the bottom

I tell you out on the reef it was scadding hot so a few beers did not go amiss

Here is a shot of our laid back skipper

Eventually it was rods in but what a fab day we all had out on the reef.Catch and release is the way to go but I took one one coral trout back to the apartment to cook.It tasted very similar to our rainbor trout.

Here are the last two shots of us back in Port Douglas Marina. Tell you what "I'll be back" god willing"