Part 2 – Two weeks of wicked offshore fishing Fraser Island Sept 2010

This article we continue on through our great Fraser Island trip and experience some more mind blowing action. I finished off the last article with a newly found spot that produced some quality fish including some nice reds to 13kg. We headed back to Waddy Point after that session but felt this spot had some great potential and if given the chance with good weather we would be heading back there in a heartbeat. A couple days later we got the weather forecast we had been waiting for and headed north of Waddy Point in flat seas and by far the best conditions we had seen for the trip.

As we headed for the spot we stopped off at another mark we had pulled some quality fish off a couple days before hand and the sounder revealed a fantastic show of fish and bait. Baits were deployed and Foxy quickly pulls a 13kg Blue Maori Cod.

On the next drift we soon had a triple hook up occur with baits being hit on the way down. Macca was first to raise his fish, which was a cobia and I quickly gaffed it and handed it to him as I continued to fight my fish. In a quick couple of seconds as macca pulled his frantic cobia over the side I felt an almighty pain in my leg and I turned around to see one of the three 10/0 big gun hooks deep in my calf muscle and starting to tear the skin as the cobia which was still attached thrashed around on the deck. I have never pinned a fish so hard and fast in my life and the pain was certainly up there on the high scale. Luckily Macca was running swivels between the hooks so the boys cut the other hooks off and removed the cobia. All that was sticking out of my calf muscle was a little bit of the hook shank and eye. It was obvious we wouldn’t pull it out backwards so Macca quickly grabbed a set of pliers and positioned his fingers either side of where the hook point appeared to be inside my leg and pulled like buggery to try get the hook point to exit back out through my calf. He managed to get the point to exit the skin but the large barb would not pull through. After many attempts by macca I decided to have a go myself but it was like something was stopping it coming through my leg as we both pulled extremely hard. The pain was definitely 10 out of 10 while doing this but like they say no pain no gain and at that stage we gave up and realised that even if we got it out that the tear would need stitches anyway so Macca made the call to head back.

I wasn’t so keen to head back yet as we had just driven a couple hours to the area and the weather was by far the best we had seen. Macca felt bad about what had happened but this was no fault of his and a complete accident. Telling him this didn’t seem to help and it took a lot of persuading for macca to head on to the next spot 8km away and with only 3km to go he stopped the boat and said we need to head back and get that hook out. I told him I was confident the next spot would have some good reds on it and seeing that it was only 3km away we could fish it quickly and head back. He agreed and we arrived to see a great show off fish hanging off an 8m rock and lines were quickly dispatched. Foxy hooked up straightaway and gee it was a good fish with powerful runs and headshakes keeping it on the bottom for what seemed like an eternity. I was also fighting a solid fish and pulled a big spangled emperor and minutes later we could see Foxy’s fish coming up through the deep blue water. It was beautiful Red and later pulled the scales to 17.02kg, which is a cracking fish in anyone’s books.

Next drop Foxy gets smashed again before anyone could get a line down. This fish fought just as hard as the last one and we all thought it could be another trophy red emperor but to our disappointment a big Chinaman fish hit the surface and after a few photos was returned back to the water. Another couple drifts resulted in some more quality reds to 12.5kg but our hot fishing session was pulled short as we headed back towards Waddy point in hope of getting the hook removed from my leg.

To cut a long story short the doctor at orchid beach was away so the ambos at happy valley took a look and said it was the worst they had seen and did not want to remove it. I had to leave the island and after 7 hours of having the hook in my leg I finally had a doctor at Rainbow Beach trying to remove it or should I say I had doctor Patel butchering me. I won’t carry on to much but he was barbaric and trying to pull a hook of that size out backwards through my calf muscle several times resulted in unbelievable pain and many choice words being thrown at him. 10 minutes later I was relieved when it was finally removed and after being stitched up managed to make it back on the barge before closing time and headed back up Fraser Island to the house at orchid beach.

Two days later we had another great weather forecasted predicted and this would be our last day for the trip so we had high hopes of finishing well. We headed straight for the same spot that the 17kg red came off a few days prior and the first couple of drifts resulted in a nice 11kg red but otherwise the fishing was slow and the opposite to what we had experienced a few days prior. Not exactly what we wanted but this gave us a good chance to look around the area and see what we could find.

We didn’t have to search long before another nice 9mtr rock popped up on the sounder. It wasn’t long before I hooked up and had some line peeling off the reel with powerful runs. I had troubles picking what type of fish I had on and to my delight a nice green job fish hit the surface and safety into the net. I was stoked as I had now caught a big mangrove jack, long nose emperor and green job fish which was all 3 species that I had set out to catch this trip. I had caught all these species in various areas before but catching them all on the same trip off Fraser was very satisfying.

Some more drifts over this area produced a legal red and some moses perch but once again things were slow so we continued on in search of more new ground. Over the next few hours we had found many nice bombies and pulled some great coronation trout, red throat sweetlip, spangled emperor, moses perch, hussar and parrot.

One bombie had loads of bait hanging off it and both Macca and myself got hit on the way down and our rods buckled over with nice fish. I was happy to see a nice snapper hit the surface moments later and thought Macca may have a better one as it was giving him a lot of grief. Unfortunately it was a good-sized amberjack that hit the surface and several drifts later only produced small cobia before things went quiet.

We persisted in the area and soon Macca hooked a solid fish that had him working hard. The conditions were now fantastic and we eagerly looked over the side waiting to see what he was pulling up. It turned out to be nice Red and I know I have said it before but there is nothing better then watching a big red rising up from the depths.

Like all the other rocks we had found you would pick up a hand full of fish before it went dead. By now we had marked in around 10 good bombies and had a plan of hitting the best looking ones just on dark during the peak bite period. Night time fishing in this type of area will see the better trophy fish come out to play so we were excited to see what fish we could find when the sun disappeared. In dead flat glass conditions the sun descended over the horizon and the action started to heat up. A couple big Spangled emperor were pulled first up and then I hooked a solid fish that was doing it’s best to take me into the reef. As I fought this fish I had an idea what it was but kept telling the boys I wasn’t sure as I didn’t want to jinx myself. When it hit the surface I quietly leant over the side and grabbed the fish in the gills and pulled another big reef jack into the boat.

Gee the esky had some variety in it now and wasn’t long before both Macca and myself were fighting some more solid fish on the next drift. My fish took me back into the reef and got caught up so I backed the drag off and waited for Macca to get his fish up so we could drive back up in front of the reef. This was easier then it sounded as macca’s fish was given him plenty of curry and with the current pulling us away from the reef I was loosing plenty of line. He pulled to the surface another good Red and we motored back up to the reef to see if we could get my fish out of the reef. Lucky enough it worked and I pulled a big Blue Maori cod to surface and into the esky.

Foxy was up next and had a monster fish on the other end giving him plenty of stick. Surprisingly he pulled it to the surface and it turned out to be a massive black spot estuary cod that had bite marks out of it’s stomach from a shark. We returned the damaged fish back to water and it wouldn’t have taken long for the sharks to snap it up.

With time getting on and the esky’s full we decided to have one last drop before heading in and foxy was on again with another solid fish. A nice solid 8kg snapper hit the deck and put an end to an awesome fishing trip that we will never forget.

The quality of fishing was up there with the best you could experience and this was reflected in the 500 plus fishing photos we took during our stay. We fished 9 out of 14 days we were there but 4 of them were basically half days in close due to terrible conditions. The logistics for 8 blokes staying in a house for two weeks was massive effort and everyone did a great job in working out the food, bait, ice and fuel to precision. Special thanks must go to Macca, Billy and Ed for the extra effort in making this trip happen.

To read Part 1 of this article click here https://wickedfishing.com.au/2011/10/24/part-1-two-weeks-of-wicked-offshore-fishing-fraser-island-sept-2010/

Want to learn how to catch fish like this? Our DVD is now available for only $25.00. Rated as the most informative reef fishing DVD on the market by thousands who have watched it. www.wickedfishing.com.au

Greg Lamprecht

Maheno Wreck