Page 72 - Demo

Helaine with a barramundi cod that was quickly photographed and released.
After electrical issues, Helaine ‘H’ Wile- Paul ‘Duckface’ Dawson and his trout. smith got out and nailed a few nice trout.
T1770 Bush ‘n Beach Trophy wrap-up
HIS year’s Sev- last one through the bar the ghost, so the rest of enteen Seventy was H on Amity, after the fleet couldn’t hear competition was having to sort out a few him.
Power Boat Anglers
by MICK CLUTTERBUCK
nearly a non-event – it pesky electrical issues This was probably a
seemed the weather forecast worsened every time someone looked – it was never going to be a good outcome.
if she missed the op- portunity.
Ocean Pearl and SeeYa opted to punch out to Fitzroy Reef and were met with less than ordinary conditions between Fitzroy and Llewellyn reefs.
that had waylaid them in the river.
good thing as Scotty on Salty had bagged a nice 8kg red, and with a broken radio the rest of them didn’t have to listen to all the yahoo- ing for once.
The uncertainty in the weather caused boats to drop out daily, with a strong field of 16 dwindling away to only six.
H promptly packed the boat and headed up, albeit under false pre- tenses, and arrived late Monday afternoon.
Once underway, it was a reasonably jiggly journey out to the reef.
Though the conditions for the week looked doubtful, several boats decided to get out on Monday – just to burn off steam.
Out on the water and feeling quite smug, Salty elected to stay close and fish the Nine Mile Reef.
They elected to fish in the lee of Fitzroy and managed a good bag of redthroat emperor and a nice assortment of other reef fish.
On arrival, boats went their separate ways to make the most of the remainder of the day be- fore returning to Fitzroy in the afternoon and set- tling in for an overnight- er before dark.
With the Friday fore- cast a blow-out, leaving no chance of another overnighter, this was the last hurrah for the week.
Conditions were ex- tremely poor, but Rob Schomberg lied any- way, telling Helaine back in Brisbane that things were great, and she’d be disappointed
They had intended to release the cod, but as it didn’t recover, it ended up in the Esky for the trip home.
Conditions were bet- ter than Wednesday but still not as good as the forecast had predicted.
In the wash-up, while the weather hadn’t been perfect, the boats had been out and managed a good feed.
Rob’s deckhand showed him how it was done by landing a nice snapper, quickly fol- lowing it up with a nice 23kg cod.
Tuesday was a blow- out and most crews spent the day wander- ing between houses, working out super-se- cret plans and pinch- ing marks to use for the week – as well as checking the forecast every hour.
After a bumpy night’s sleep in the lagoon, all crews were up early and out searching for that lucky honey hole.
All boats fished into the afternoon and were safely back across the bar by 5.30pm.
Scotty Williams with his 8kg red emperor.
Page 72 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2021
Salty’s radio gave up
After much discussion, a plan was floated for a late start on Wednesday, as conditions were look- ing to calm down.
A couple of boats elected to stay close to the reef until the weath- er backed out a bit, just to be on the safe side.
Scotty had fished well, showing skipper Rob how it was done, and took out the Sev- enteen Seventy BNB Trophy for 2020.
An overnighter at Fitzroy seemed a popu- lar choice, as it allowed crews to capitalise on the good forecast for Thursday.
Amity got among good coral trout in the shallows, while the seemingly ever-present sharks were keeping Salty amused.
Also, H didn’t seem too worried about the porky pie Rob had told to get her up there, so he lives to travel an- other day.
All boats were on the water by mid-morning on Wednesday – the
As the day progressed, the weather got better, and everyone seemed to be getting fish.
Here’s hoping next year the weather gods will go a bit easier and if not, there’s always the year after that. www.bnbfishing.com.au