Today is our charter on Absolute Ocean. We were picked up at 0700 in a bus and went to pick up another 10 persons. Then we made our way to the boat ramp. It was low tide then and it was a long way out. The charter boat was a long way out and they sent a smaller craft to the shore.
Low and behold, the craft 'grew' wheels and was transformed to a land craft! Boarded in 2 batches and made our way to the fishing boat.
We then took 1hr to reach our fishing grounds. Looking around, I saw that the gear supplied were super heavy duty! 200lb braid on Fin-nor reels, 2 size 8 circle hooks and size 20 sinker. It seems that the heavy duty gear is to bring the fish up as quickly as we can, if not, we will get a visit from the 'man in the grey jacket'! Also known as SHARKS! The deckies distributed colored paper clips for each party to identify the fish that was caught. We got blue paper clips. After 1hr30mins we reached our fishing grounds. The skipper gave a quick brief on how to fish.
1. Bait up and toss over.
2. Let the sinker touch bottom and wait.
3. When you feel bites, open bale arm and feed line out.
4. If the line is coming out faster than normal, count to 5 and close bale arm.
5. Slowly raise the rod and the fish should be hooked.
6. Reel fast to the surface to avoid being 'sharked'.
7. Do NOT STRIKE!
Let's fish!
I baited up with squid and dropped the line down. Straight away, I got a hit. Fish ON! I quickly reeled it up and I got a double-header! 2 Grass Emperor (Lethrinus laticaudis) on each hook. Not very big, so the deckie said he will make strip baits out of them. Other anglers were also pulling up some decent-sized Grass Emperor. Baited up and tossed the bait over. Straight away I could feel the fish biting. Don't strike, don't strike. Very hard to overcome that need to strike. The deckies were reminding to feed more line out when we feel the bites, hoping the fish would take the bait and self-hook on the circle hooks. I opened the bale arm and let out some line. Line was peeling fast so I close the bale arm and lifted. True enough, I was hooked up. Had some weight on this guy and reeled it up. Yay, another Grass Emperor about 4kg. Since me and my fishing buddy decided beforehand that we would only take 2 fish home, we said we would keep this one.
Before I could bait up again, lines up call was made and we moved to the next spot. At the next spot, it was Bruce's turn to hook up. This one gave quite a bend on the rod! Reeled it up and it was another Grass Emperor. Another keeper. I dropped my line and felt the nibbles. Striked and ended up with empty hook. Darn it, must remember not to strike. Another angler managed to hook up a Rankin Cod. Beautiful fish. Subsequent drops yielded nothing as we moved to the next spot. It seems that most of the fishes caught were Grass Emperors.
Rankin cod
At the next spot, I baited up with the fresh strip bait. Less than 5mins, I felt a tug so I released some line. The line was peeling out super fast! Quickly closed the bale arm and lifted. Woo hoo, fish ON! With this heavy gear, there was no problem bringing them up. Another Grass Emperor, 3kg. Re-baited and dropped over. As soon as the sinker hit bottom, I felt a tug and the rod bent over. I quickly lifted and the fish was ON! For the first time, I heard the reel drag sound for 3secs. But as I pumped it up, the fish relented. Up came a very familiar color and shape. Orange-Spotted Grouper! Nice 4kg version. Definitely keeping that one! Soon we moved on and had a fabulous spread of food for lunch.
Next spot, some anglers were getting some Golden Trevally so I thought it would be a good time for me to try my own rod and reel with jigs. The deckies were kind enough to clear some deck space on the opposite for me to do jigging. I tied my jig and began jigging. My rod was heavy so after 10mins or so, I began to tire with no fish taking the jig. While jigging, the angler next to my buddy caught a
red-colored fish and as he brought it up, I saw the head only! A shark obviously had a bite out of it!
So back to bottom fishing. Caught another 2 large Grass Emperors and my buddy also had 2. In between, we hooked up many smaller versions which ended up as strip bait. At 1330, the skipper called lines up for the last time and we steamed home. Took us 1hr to reach back to the launch point.
During the trip back, the deckies gutted the fish only and separated the fish according to the colored paper clips. We caught 8 large fish altogether so we told the deckie we would keep 3 for ourselves and the rest were given to other anglers that didn't do too well.
The boat that 'grows' wheels. Awesome!!
Back at the room, we prepared the fish for dinner. 1 Grass Emperor and 1 Grouper. Emperor was filleted while I prepared the Grouper for steaming. The fillets were bbq-ed with butter and lemon. Taste verdict? Emperor had nice, firm texture while the Grouper had a more tender texture and sweetness. Downed the fish with an icy cold beer. Ahhhh.... good way to end a day of fishing!
Gear used:
Rod - Fin Nor
Reel - Fin Nor Offshore
Line - 100lb braid
Bait - strip bait of squid and fish
Rig - running sinker (size 20) with 2x size 8 circle hook
Fish ID - Orange-Spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides)
- Grass Emperor (Lethrinus laticaudis)
- Rankin Cod (Epinephelus multinotatus)
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