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Now I have known Justin Gibbins for a
long time, he was one of my best guides during my days at Fishing the
Tropics, and he still has a good working relationship with that
company.
Justin was in the enviable
position (with some help from his father Bob, also a mad keen fisherman and one
on Cairn's leading orthodontist) to be able to branch out into his own
charter business earlier this year - and hence the birth of Cairns Coastal Charters.
The vessel is a modern 23 ft Haines
Hunter sport fisher powered by a 225hp Evinrude outboard and can take him to his
secret spots in quick time. I know Justin is a great skipper and guide and I
have seen plenty photos of his exploits over the years. It was not until this
Wednesday 5th Dec. however, that I had actually had the opportunity to
experience his new tour first hand.
We met at the Yorkeys Knob boat ramp
at 7.30 am and headed out to his marks just off the coast. The sea was calm
with a few waves caused by the 10-15 knot East/ Nor Easter, the water
temperature a warm 82F and we were on the first location in about 20
minutes. The hand held GPS guided us to within 10 ft of the structure and with
the aid of two sounders, had the bait schools pinned down in no time. Over went
the marker buoy, over went the anchor and down went the live bait jigs. In about
ten seconds flat we both had live yakkas onboard which were quickly pinned to
6/0 wide gapped hooks and dispatched to the bottom some 50 + feet below.
The rods were placed in the holders
(we were using Shimano TLD 25's, one with 40lb mono, the other with 80 lb braid
and short stroker rods - perfect!) Over went the bait jigs again and before we
had even reached the bottom Justin's ratchet growled menacingly and his rod
buckled over. He had one hell of a fight on his hands but the experienced
skipper soon had a large greasy cod on the deck of about 20 lb.'s. I was next -
and it took me some time to get the fish off the bottom. It stubbornly refused
to be drawn from the depths but with persistent straining, groaning, bruising
from the rod but and a lot of back breaking pumping and winding we saw colour.
Phew!.........sorry, I got on my soap
box a bit there didn't I.
Anyway, we did it all over again, the
marker, the anchor, the bait jigs, the livies and you guessed it.............the
hook up, the groaning, the agony, the brilliant fish coming through the clean
blue seas. Another magnificent 'red' / nannygai hit the deck and this one was
even bigger than the first.
The third location was a little
further out and was a substantial lump, the sounder showed masses of bait fish
from the bottom to just below the boat. Its amazing to see it on the colour
Furuno, just clouds of bait hanging on the lump with larger blobs showing up,
our targets.
No sooner had I turned the handle
three times and the metal slice was hit like a freight train from the depths.
That stick had a beautiful feel, the Mitchell handled the fish with assured
authority and we soon had a nice 5kg bludger trevally on the surface. It
was quickly released and the jig went back down. I cracked harder this time
and said - looks like I got it past them this t...! I didn't even get a chance
to finish the sentence when I was slammed again. This was a bigger fish but that
outfit was a pleasure to use, just matched so perfectly to the task and I soon
had another bludger on the surface.
I had a few more casts,
nothing.............on about the tenth retrieve, and some three quarters of the
way back to the boat, there was a sudden surge, not a solid hit like the
previous two hook ups but more of a grab and lunge forward. The high speed
retrieve soon had the line tight and I came up on a beautifully marked cobia
(black king fish). These critters fight to the end and it was a fantastic
struggle of silky smooth proportions, the fish not giving an inch, lunging for
the depths and taking back line as fast as I could gain it again. There
were two of his mates following the hooked fish, the fight lasted about
eight minutes and Justin lifted the highly prised eating fish over the side.
I cast again, the slice sunk to the
bottom, I cranked hard again...........It came up tight about half way back and
I was into another one. This was the twin of the first cobia and it did the same
trick. Great fighters on this tackle and I could not help wondering if I was in
angler heaven. Even though I live in the black marlin capital of the world
and certainly no disrespect intended, there is something special about the
enjoyment of tangling with quality sport fish on light / medium tackle that
really satisfies the hunter / sportsman in us. I was absolutely
stoked!!!!
We tried a few more spots, had similar
results, landed a few livies, landed a few more smaller reds and another
beautifully marked estuary cod - then called it a day.
There were two very happy fisherman
that headed back to port at around three o'clock that afternoon. We had had a
ball, experienced some truly magic fishing, in one of natures tropical
playgrounds - all within easy sight of the stunning mountainous backdrop that
shelters the modern city of Cairns, hell we could even see the high rise
buildings on the esplanade.
Footnote - I couldn't wait to get home
and show the wife and kids what I had caught, I gave Justin one of the cobia's
and I only took home its twin and the two big reds. To see the look on
their faces, Daddy did you really catch that - it made the day even more
special.
Cairns Coastal Charters is one of the exciting new charter options available from Fishing Cairns.
Check out the web site for full details and prices.
Catch you on the
water
Regards, Les.
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