From start to finish this trip was a Cracka with quality of each Species being present and experiences that will forever be remembered. The Musselbrook Men jump out of their element of cold weather and fresh water fishing to arrive at Gladstone marina ready for a warm change and new approach to fishing , some never fished salt water before and some experienced in chasing toothy pelagics on the north east coast of NSW. With bucketlist to tick off it was time to set sail and make some noise . Setting up all the lines and terminal tackle with a side of large tiger prawns freshly caught , it was a start of a 5 star experience.
After a bumpy trip out we anchored in some sheltered waters to regroup , stabilize some stomachs and tuck in to an all Aussie big breakfast. Half way through the 3rd sausage the quality started , first 3 fish were 2 nice lipper and a power house Green jobfish around the 4-5kg mark. From there the guys filled the tub with tuskfish ,trout , cod and many other mixed reefys. Whilst the boys were eating brekki we lifted up anchor and away we went drift fishing. First day we singled out trout as the main species , with plenty coming on board was a good sign. Fish from 40-55cm were the main esky fillers followed by a few lunching well into the 60cm mark.
Night anchorage for the first day was coming and whilst the boys enjoyed some nice cold beverages , the roast was cooking , nothing better than roast lamb and freshly seasoned vegetables for dinner whilst the sun is setting on a surrounding reef colony. The boys kicked back that night watching the footy keen as mustard for what lies through the trip.
Whilst the majority of the boys were bait fishing on the drift , Jack took up the opportunity to trial and test the 80g microjigs and how they perform, it wasn’t long before his first trout was on and from there it was on fire. Mixed species from trout to shark mackerel were nailing the jigs even when the last re was 10+m off the bottom. An awesome bit of fun on the lighter gear for a change. The fish started to come on the chew and the bait fishos started bringing in mixed emperor species like red emperor , pink ear, long nose and red throat.
Moving spot to spot we set the lures out in hope of buckling rods with screaming drags , a rise from 30m upto 10-12m shoal was the prime country for something scary to happen, 4 rods go one by one with Spanish mackerel flying through the top water column, all fish were landed and were prepped for a fish through the week. On our journey with the mackerel the rod goes again , not like the others going harder and a lot more torque , a long fight goes on and a monster Bluespotted Coral trout comes up monstering the size of the lure in it gob. Fish was safely released back in to its local home.
It was plagued with pelagics with almost every species covered . Dogtooth , yellowfin and bluefin were only a handlful of what we encountered on the troll. Getting blown away on two lures and straightening hooks on big dogtooth made us up the caliber of terminal tackle we were running. We pull up on the eastern side shoals targeting redthroat and it was clear they were on with over 50 good lipper boated with a mix of coronation trout coming up in the kill bin.
The Musselbrook fellas were coming to the end of the week and the fun they had cannot he explained , whether it was a 100kg whaler shark nailing a surface popper , or a Black Turrum flying in full speed to fuck up an 8kg shark Mack , these boys will have stories to tell that will last forever and i can not wait to catch yous back at home guys.
The Mikat crew.