Giant Trevally on Boxing day

With the long holiday weekend I thought we would get a lot of fishing in. Xmas was out of the question but Boxing day and Sunday were definite possibilities.

Boxing day morning we head out fully outfitted for a days popping. John, Rosie, my mother and myself.

As we leave the protected river mouth and head up the coast to some new grounds I am exploring I notice the ground swell and slight wind from the Southeast. Even with that we can cruise at 24 knots and we are at the grounds in 20 minutes.

John gets out the first catch and hooks up right away. Unfortunately his 30lb outfit is no match for his finned adversary. He gets reefed and all is lost. It takes a while before we see more fish but it was worth the wait. As I cast out and start to retrieve my popper a school of small fish start fighting over my popper. I just leave it in the water and let them fight over it. To bad none of them were big enough to bite the hooks. Good fun watching though.

John is driving the boat so I can fish a bit.

As we approach a point I can tell it is fishy. I cast my popper out and am rewarded with a massive explosion and a solid hook up. After a good clean fight I boat the first fish for the day.

From boxing day

If you look closely at the water in the photo you will notice it is starting to get rough out. The wind starts to blow up to 30 knots and rain squalls can be seen coming out way.

By this time Rosie has had enough of this rough kind of fishing and beds down for a nap.

From boxing day

The weather is winning and we decide to head back but I must have one more cast. I let it fly to a point in the reef and as I watch, two massive shapes appear from the depths and one of them explodes on to my popper. The splash is so big that even Rosie wakes from her slumber. As my line pulls tight the fish is swimming towards me and I am unable to set the hooks. My popper floats to the surface and I call it quits.

From boxing day

On our way back the weather just keeps getting worse so we duck inside the reef and slowly pound our way home.

Weather aside we still got a fish but not quite what I was hoping for.

It is now Sunday and the weather is atrocious, blowing 25-30 with no end in sight.

Tight lines and windy days.