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Fishing ABU on "Ambassadeur" Arvor!

Had a nice 6hr trip on 25th June, to explore the islands south of Rosslyn Bay. We went as far as Girt Island off Keppel Sands and worked out way back via Entrance Rocks, Round, Mother McGregor and Reidamata rocks.

Maps here to show North and South of Rosslyn Bay Harbour

Very dirty water but that does not effect the King, Blue Salmon or Steelback biting if around. We learned a lot about the very shallow rocky structures underwater..to be treated very carefully in a big fibre-glass boat..a forward facing sonar would be good in dirty water conditions. The fish were few and far between today with only 3 fish sighted, one of which was lured and netted and became my dinner as a delightful smoked Steelback. It jumped 3 times about 20m from the boat at Entrance rocks and I cast int he direction it was heading. To my great pleasure it attacked my Vibe and the trusty ABU Soron ST 40 did the rest, though taking a full 5 minutes to boat, due tot he light tackle. The fish was 455 mm long and about 1.2 kg

Good weather saw us decide to head just north of the harbour. Eight boats on or around the submerged Findlay reef 15km from Rosslyn Bay.

6 Big prawn trawlers were sitting on top of where we normally anchor so we were not quite in the right spot.

We got only one reef shark just over a metre released and the highlight was this 91 cm Golden Trevally (they don't light up their true golden colours with contrasting spots until dead, unlike other species which lose their colours)

Last return trip to Hannah's saw us with just 5knt wind but from the wrong direction.

Bait balls were aplenty, on the bottom and on the surface and near enough to catch some with the castnet!

Birds were working but it was a rare predator that was taking advantage of the circumstances. We could see mackeral below in the 30 foot of clear water above our mark.

We scored a few but the pleasant circumstances made up for the poor tally.

A 10kg Bluefin was caught and released, a few times we were rocked and mainly caught undersized and released cod and mixed reefies. One reasonable cod came home for dinner. Just before we left, I hooked and landed a barely legal Spannish Mackeral of 83cm.

I was asked to trial a prototype Pure Fishing Veritas rod.

A fine beast with great sensitivity at the tip and matched with Ambassadeur 5500 C4 had no trouble matching the above quarry. I prefer to use a double- handed rod with the advantage of the foregrip EVA foam. 8 rings and a tip matched the baitcaster perfectly. I will modify this Veritas and bring an update here from a future fishing trip. I sure it will be much more serviceable for my style of grip.

A recent trip out to Hannah's Reef saw lots of fish working but all Spottie and Spannish mackeral were released unsized.

Several Grasssweetlip were boated and kept but cod were also undersized.

All big fish baits were ignored except one which was smashed and left hanging from 5 big 8/0 hooks.

On the return home to Rosslyn Bay harbour we trolled several big minnows with one good 12.5kg Golden Trevally being taken on my 7000 C

Hannah's Reef, east of Great Keppel Island, produced a nice Spannish Mackeral of 137cm and 20kg . Fished with a Ribbonfish under a float . Run in tide at 4.15 am.

Today at 4 am, the last day of the 2014 year, we ventured 40 minutes (north) up the coast to Fish a favourite spot called Findlay's Reef.

We were 1 amongst 8 boats hoping for some nice ones. Plenty of bait and bird action with an occasional huge splash.

Bites were few and far between, however we snagged 2 Spannos (one 16kg, 1220mm long and another 730 which had to be released) , a very spirited Spottie Mackeral of 890 mm and about 5 kg. A cod of just 350 mm was also released

Wind was almost non-existant and swell barely noticeable. Agreeable conditions except for the sun which was blistering!

Earlier a pleasant trip locally on 30th September, to 40 Acre Paddock just 20 minutes offshore and west of Great Keppel Island, saw us have an enjoyable outing catching School and Spotted Mackeral as well as several big Golden Trevally.

Ambassadeur's Trip North

We headed north on the moon, to Findlays (1hr) and Pinnacles ( 1 3/4 hr)

Maxed out on Grunter, got my first big Fingermark, Red Jew, Cod, Trevally and some Spotties in the morning on sunrise.

Art and Jason and I shared equally in catching these nice fish.

After a successful over-nighter, the clean up , both boat and filleting must be done!
This night will be remembered for a while.

Previous trips

Back to Findlay's reef just an hour north of Yeppoon and a few kms offshore with just a few birds working and not much bait sighted.

Art had the good fortune to hook up to a nice 10.9kg Northern Bluefin Tuna on 10kg mono. It took almost 30 minutes to boat and some fine Sashimi was on our minds.

We headed out to Findlays Reef on Anzac Day 25th April, to encounter white horses and 2m swell. First drop produced a small Grunter and soon after my personal best of 4.2kg