Pics by Michael Bonnici
7.30pm Thursday night, I’m in the car with the wife, heading out for dinner, when my phone rings, it’s the Fish Yoda Mike Bonnici. I turn to Alison and quickly say before picking up the phone… “babe, don’t think I’ll be around this weekend” :-). There is one rule when you’re a pirate or any fisherman for that matter, when The Fish Yoda ask’s whether you'd like to go fishing, you go fishing. Sure enough Mike is heading up to Coffs and there’s room for one more….I’m in! Also coming for the ride is Jason “the bass king” and Vince Andreacchio. This was going to be an awesome weekend!!
After a 6-hour drive and a quick sleep, we were up at 4.20am and in the car heading to the Coffs Harbour boat ramp. It was not long before we were on the water heading out through the harbour. Reports had been floating round of good Wahoo being taken straight off Coffs, so we already had a plan in place. After an hour or so of motoring, we slowed to a trolling speed and chucked 3 Halco Laser Pro’s overboard. It wasn’t long before Jason’s White/Redhead Laser Pro got hit. A quick minute fight ended when the 60 pound wire trace snapped. No more than a minute passed and I got hit and 30 seconds later we had a small yellow fin tuna flapping around the deck. Back to trolling and Jason’s lure got smashed again, and after some blistering runs, “the bass king” had himself a nice 12kg Wahoo onboard. Back on the troll, and suddenly pandemonium broke out!...we had ourselves a triple hook up! Unfortunately hooks pulled on both Vince and Jason’s fish, so I was left to fight what felt like a Wahoo, which I could tell by its incredible speed. This time I would win the battle, and all was secured when Mike gaffed the 15kg Wahoo and pulled it over the gunwale. A few more bust offs and the Wahoo went off the chew, so it was time to move on.
A short run and we were at a little bait ground. The sounder lit up and we were pulling in full strings of Slimies, along with the occasional pesky tailor and less desirable yellow tail. With the bait tank full, we were off to chase the super tasty, Spanish Mackerel. Rigs already attached, we started a slow troll and not long into it, we got hit and Mike pulled in a nice Spotted Mackerel. The session continued like this, and we ended up with a couple of spotties, all around the 3-5kg mark.
With the Bait tank empty and a strong southerly getting closer and closer, we decided to head back in, still without the elusive Spanish Mackeral. The urge to stop at a little bait ground on the way, in search of the beast, got the better of us. We dropped anchor along with the bait jigs and straight away slimies started to come aboard thick and fast. Mike being “The Freak” he is, decided to rig up a slimie, attach it to a balloon, and throw it out the back. Sure enough 10 minutes later there was an explosion on the surface "BOOM!!"this time it was the Mackerel we’d been looking for, the almighty Spanish! Once it was landed, it was only a matter of minutes before all bait jigs were pulled up and 3 balloons set floating livies out the back. The 25 knot southerly had hit, and it started to prove too much to manage with all 3 sets, so one was retrieved leaving 2 out there to pick up any wandering pelagic. We managed to pick up another Spanish, along with 2 whalers. Spanish both ranged from 8-10kg.
Total fish count for the day was 2 Wahoo, 9 Spotties, 2 Spanish and 1 yellow fin tuna. With fish in the esky already on ice, we headed back to the boat ramp. The day ended with a feed and some cold beers at Woolgoolga pub.
Unfortunately the following day the southerly was up, preventing another Coffs harbour pirate mission. So we jumped into the car for the 6-hour drive back to Sydney.
Thanks Mike, Jason and Vince for a bloody awesome weekend, I can’t wait to do it again….arrrrrgh!!!!
See pics below...
7.30pm Thursday night, I’m in the car with the wife, heading out for dinner, when my phone rings, it’s the Fish Yoda Mike Bonnici. I turn to Alison and quickly say before picking up the phone… “babe, don’t think I’ll be around this weekend” :-). There is one rule when you’re a pirate or any fisherman for that matter, when The Fish Yoda ask’s whether you'd like to go fishing, you go fishing. Sure enough Mike is heading up to Coffs and there’s room for one more….I’m in! Also coming for the ride is Jason “the bass king” and Vince Andreacchio. This was going to be an awesome weekend!!
After a 6-hour drive and a quick sleep, we were up at 4.20am and in the car heading to the Coffs Harbour boat ramp. It was not long before we were on the water heading out through the harbour. Reports had been floating round of good Wahoo being taken straight off Coffs, so we already had a plan in place. After an hour or so of motoring, we slowed to a trolling speed and chucked 3 Halco Laser Pro’s overboard. It wasn’t long before Jason’s White/Redhead Laser Pro got hit. A quick minute fight ended when the 60 pound wire trace snapped. No more than a minute passed and I got hit and 30 seconds later we had a small yellow fin tuna flapping around the deck. Back to trolling and Jason’s lure got smashed again, and after some blistering runs, “the bass king” had himself a nice 12kg Wahoo onboard. Back on the troll, and suddenly pandemonium broke out!...we had ourselves a triple hook up! Unfortunately hooks pulled on both Vince and Jason’s fish, so I was left to fight what felt like a Wahoo, which I could tell by its incredible speed. This time I would win the battle, and all was secured when Mike gaffed the 15kg Wahoo and pulled it over the gunwale. A few more bust offs and the Wahoo went off the chew, so it was time to move on.
A short run and we were at a little bait ground. The sounder lit up and we were pulling in full strings of Slimies, along with the occasional pesky tailor and less desirable yellow tail. With the bait tank full, we were off to chase the super tasty, Spanish Mackerel. Rigs already attached, we started a slow troll and not long into it, we got hit and Mike pulled in a nice Spotted Mackerel. The session continued like this, and we ended up with a couple of spotties, all around the 3-5kg mark.
With the Bait tank empty and a strong southerly getting closer and closer, we decided to head back in, still without the elusive Spanish Mackeral. The urge to stop at a little bait ground on the way, in search of the beast, got the better of us. We dropped anchor along with the bait jigs and straight away slimies started to come aboard thick and fast. Mike being “The Freak” he is, decided to rig up a slimie, attach it to a balloon, and throw it out the back. Sure enough 10 minutes later there was an explosion on the surface "BOOM!!"this time it was the Mackerel we’d been looking for, the almighty Spanish! Once it was landed, it was only a matter of minutes before all bait jigs were pulled up and 3 balloons set floating livies out the back. The 25 knot southerly had hit, and it started to prove too much to manage with all 3 sets, so one was retrieved leaving 2 out there to pick up any wandering pelagic. We managed to pick up another Spanish, along with 2 whalers. Spanish both ranged from 8-10kg.
Total fish count for the day was 2 Wahoo, 9 Spotties, 2 Spanish and 1 yellow fin tuna. With fish in the esky already on ice, we headed back to the boat ramp. The day ended with a feed and some cold beers at Woolgoolga pub.
Unfortunately the following day the southerly was up, preventing another Coffs harbour pirate mission. So we jumped into the car for the 6-hour drive back to Sydney.
Thanks Mike, Jason and Vince for a bloody awesome weekend, I can’t wait to do it again….arrrrrgh!!!!
See pics below...
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| Awwwww!!...Such a cute wittle wellowfin |
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| Can't believe you shaved that beard off...arrrgh!! Jason with a nice Wahoo |
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| Do you speak Spanish Vince?? |
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| I got ya!!!! Jay with a nice Wahoo. |
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