Seventeen Seventy delivers

G’day everyone, Seventeen Seventy would have to be my favourite destination to go fishing.

The variety of fish there is insane, including the iconic red emperor, coral trout, redthroat emperor and many more.

Roughly, it’s a seven-hour drive from the Gold Coast, which includes refuelling and toilet breaks.

On arriving, you can almost sense how busy the boat ramp will be – the pub is usually packed with boats, or the petrol station is backed up with people waiting to fuel up big rigs and get out.

If early enough, you can choose to make the two-hour run out to the Bunker Group straight away or take your time and have a sleep at either the boat ramp or in the lagoon, ready to head out early in the morning.

On my most recent trip to Seventeen Seventy, we had two boats and, as we were only able to leave the Gold Coast after lunch, it meant we got into Seventeen Seventy at about 10.30pm.

Once fuelled up, we decided to run out at midnight to give us the most fishing time possible.

We drove straight to Sykes Reef and had about three hours sleep before we were up and fishing the shallows for redthroat and coral trout.

The morning bite was crazy.

We were fishing in 9-20m and had a good bag of fish before we knew it.

 

Float lining the shallows is the most productive way to catch coral trout and redthroat.

Let your nicely presented pillie or mullet strip drift slowly down with the current and wait for that blistering run.

Using a snell rig consisting of two 6/0 big guns or two 7766 ganged up works just as well paired with a Shimano Talica 10 on a 7-12kg rod, 40lb braid and a 40lb leader.

It’s light enough to use all day without getting sore arms and you can still pull some big fish to the boat.

From there we made our way up to Broomfield Reef in search of reds and goldband snapper in deep water.

Fishing depths of 50-85m requires heavier gear.

A Shimano Talica 12 paired on a 10-20kg custom Neritica rod makes short work of all fish, including sharks.

Running 65lb J-braid with an 80lb leader gives you great resistance on the reef.

Out wide, I also use a snell rig with two 8/0 big guns.

It’s important to make sure the hooks have a big enough gap between them to cater for the size of the bait you’re using.

 

For example, if I’m using a whole mullet fillet, I create a longer length between my hooks as opposed to if I were using a small squid.

You can pretty much use whatever bait you desire up north because the fish will crash tackle whatever you throw in.

My favourite bait are mullet fillet and fresh squid.

Nothing compares to the bite of a red or goldband snapper.

Red emperor will slowly pull your rod down while you’re drifting, so let them eat for a few seconds before you strike.

Then hold on and fight the fish.

The first thing a big red will do is run straight to the bottom, so you’re trying to pull it away from the bottom and at the same time race the sharks to get it to the boat.

Once you get sharked, it’s time to move on!

While a red emperor will slowly pull your rod down, a goldband will almost rip the rod out of your hands and have you bent over the side as you’ve never been before.

Their massive tail pumps and huge head shakes make most anglers grunt.

 

These brutes of the reef are pure power, making a kingfish look silly.

After a good day of fishing – catching about 17 fish – we headed behind Broomfield Reef and anchored for the night.

We knew the next day was going to be a grind trying to get our limit of 40 fish.

In the morning, we were greeted with a stunning sunrise when fishing the shallows again for coral trout and redthroat.

After about two hours, we’d bagged out, giving us the option to run back out and tackle a few bigger fish.

Fortunately for us, this paid off.

We boated another three reds to fill our bag of 40 fish for the trip, our best outing to date.

By the end, we’d bagged six reds, 14 trout, 16 redthroat and a few maori cod.

It’ll be hard to beat.

I can’t wait to head up to Seventeen Seventy for the next session.

Tight lines everyone and I hope to see you on the water!