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13/12/08
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13/07/08
Hello. Went for a little trip down to Pedra today on the flagship of Tristar Marine an 8.5m centre cab operated by Tristar owner Peter Fisher.
We met down at the Southport ramp at 7am and quickly launched and headed out the bar.We were greeted by light winds, a small swell and lovely overcast conditions.
The run down was fast and we soon had a spread set east of pedra. Well, we almost had a spread set but the blues had other ideas; we were on. A nice fish of about 30kg was boated after a spirited fight and thankfully, the seals left us alone.
It looked like it was going to be a cracker of a day but the sun came out and the wind dropped off further. We managed a few hookups only to have hooks pull or drop out on three successive fish?????? After trolling around for a few hours we figured we had better make the most of the great conditions and have a bit of a bottom bash. It didn't take long to get a small stripey on board and then a decent morwong a nice addition to the catch.
But it was Bluefin we were after and regular bust ups and masses of diving birds had us in the hunt again. Some how we managed to drop two more fish before a double strike had us dancing around the deck. This time it was a couple of schoolies of around 18 to 20kg - pretty fun all the same.
We managed to boat a fourth late in the day so everybody on board landed one and we could go home happy. All fish, in fact all hits were on diving minnows. The standout a redbait coloured Rapala XRap. We also got one on a King Brown Laser Pro and one on a pilchard coloured XRap.
Stinger.
Now some pics......
Round four of the St Helens bait & tackle picture comp is well underway so be sure to sign up tp the forum and post your picture.
08/07/08
OK, Report might be a little rough as have had a few scotch's with Bigfeet tonight.
Got a call Sunday night to say Bluefin have returned to Pedra again in numbers and that there are a large number of big fellas amongst them.
Left from Hobart Docks around 6am in a mates new Powercat 26 footer(awsome boat).
Travelled by GPS in the dark until daylight chatting about the previous seasons fishing and how many fish were caught on Saturday.
Long trip to Pedra approx 110km from Hobart by boat.
Hit Pedra and there were a few birds diving and quite a lot of slop.
Had the rods out for 10min or so and the port outrigger goes off. Push the lever on the big Penn 70 up to strike which on 37kg slows the fish dramatically. Clear the ther rods and within 10 min or so we had a 35kg+ bluey aboard.
Fish hits the deck and the skipper is yelling to get the gear back in as birds are diving everywhere.
We repeat this process over the next 2 hours and hit 1 under our bag limit for the day; most fish a little smaller than the first but all between 20kg and 35g.
We had on good information that two big fellas had been caught on Sat so we cut back to three rods and got the biggest lures we had out and headed to the Flying Scud. 30 mins later the starboard outrigger goes off and I push the drag up to strike. I notice it did not make a difference and had to look twice as line was peeling off.
I forced the Skipper to take the rod as I knew it was a good fish (he is still giving me shit that I ran away from it). Clearing the rods I looked back to see him and nearly the bottom of the spool. I grabbed the helm and took chase as he pushed the lever towards sunset.
20min followed of hard pumping and winding & I could see the double. Never seen a bloke his size knock a fish this size over so quick. Grabbed the trace and saw how big the fish was and started heaving as the seals were all over him. One gaff, then a second but a bull seal was trying to grab him from us. Played tug of war for a minute or so and the skipper stuck in another gaff which just gave us enough leverage to get the fish onboard. 100kg SB on board. Crashed to the ground to hear the skipper say lets get another one. After a little sorting and rest had the spread out again in much rougher water now. The port outrigger goes off again within minutes only this time it is my turn but as I put the pressure on I realise it is not as big and get it to the boat pretty fast, but a prick from the gaff and on 37kg past strike it has me running around the boat for another 10min. Released boatside shortly after that and we call it a day as the weather is worsening. Long trip home in big seas but well worth it.
A memorable day to christen the newboat.
Looking foward to the next trip.
Cheers
Dizz
