Coral Sea Chaos was the logo on our trip shirts but a more apt title would have been Wahoo chaos. You don’t believe it till it happens to you. Sounds like a line that the editors push in the Penthouse Forums.

Brothers Mick and Ian were on there first trip and were kind enough to pick me up from Campbelltown to go to Pete’s in Gymea Bay for proximity to the airport for the early morning get away. So to make a sure thing of not being late Mick and Ian came a day early and we all had to settle our excitement with a beer, then another and another and so on. Staying at Pete’s the night before it seemed like an eternity before he came down stairs and fired up a cold Diet Coke to get the heart started and officially cut the ribbon announcing game on!

We met up with the rest of the crew. Ballzy, Pez and Ian were spread eagle on the floor of check in waiting for the ticket boxes to open while also catching up on a bit of shut eye. Micko was putting the car in long stay parking and the others Chappo, Jason, P.K, Ged, Chris and Glenn arrived shortly after.

Everyone checked in and through security (Ballzy happily submitting to a pat down search for knives and explosives from a big mutha of a female security officer) we were on our way to Gladstone.

After touching down in Gladstone the first thing that puts a smile on your dial is the weather. Leaving Sydney blowing a gale with squalling rain and about 12 degrees we arrived to a slightly humid 27 degrees of sunshine. At this time I always ask myself why I don’t live further north.

After catching up again with the wonderful owners of the Capricorn Star Rob and Anita bags were packed away, shoes stowed for the week and reels, rods and lure wraps brought to the top deck we got the news that we had been hoping for.

Tony our skipper said the weather was tops and we would be making our way to Wreck Reef, a reef about 440kms directly east of Gladstone.

Knot lessons were being conducted, my lure is bigger than yours claims were being made and amazing amounts of gear was slowly gathering on the back deck. All washed down with a few refreshing ales. About an hour before dark Tony sent the message down to put a lure or 2 out as he had seen Sailfish in the area the day before on his way back from the previous trip. Alas there was to be no hookups but no one really minded with so much socialising to be done and the prospect of lures out all day Sunday we were content to sit back and BS the night away.

Awaking the next morning with a boat load of hangovers was nothing. Action junkies like this crew were beyond hangovers(I didn’t say this report would not have a fishermans tale or 2 in it). Most of the Berocca stocks were depleted on this morning. the first bit of action was encountered when Tarlo’s fathers day present(a purple over black 10 inch chugger) was smashed by one hell of a fish.

Line peeled off the TLD50 at an astonishing rate and Ian had made claims that a Marlin had been sited going through the spread of lures and engulfed Tarlos. Ians claims were 100% right, after approximately 950 metres of line disappearing of Tarlo’s reel and that look of what the f-ck am I going to do and how am I going to stop this freight train a estimated 500 to 600 pound Black Marlin was sited jumping somewhere beyond the back of the boat.

The best summation of where it all went wrong was that the fish jumped and came down on Tarlo’s double and cut the line(I don’t believe it, I told him to replace his old line before we left only to be told”she’ll be right”). Tarlo got most of his line back but the lure had only lasted about 30 minutes, but what a way to go!

Tony came down the back to tell us that we were about 2 to 3 hours from anchor at the southern end of Wreck Reef and to expect a little more action as the sea floor rises to meet the reef. Ratchets sang as line was peeled off the big Penn and Shimano reels and onboard came Chris’s 27kg Yellowfin Tuna followed by a 24kg Wahoo also reeled in by Chris. Tarlo Jigged up a 17kg Wahoo and I brought in my first Wahoo at 22kg. As it happens 4 of the 7 Wahoo boated that afternoon were on Ged’s outfit, they had a liking for his green skirt. Fish were striking at retrieved lures and landing on the Marlin board only to wriggle off to swim off a bit dazzled.

I haven’t mentioned the deckies as yet and that’s probably because they were absent. Both deckies came down crook on the way out with a middle ear infection and collectively were only seen for a total of about 2 days between them.

Most of the boys packed the dories for an early morning trolling session while I decided to stay back and have a bit of a fish of the back of the mothership. I came up empty, Chappo, Pete and Tarlo returned to insist upon me joining them for a fish. They unloaded a nice Wahoo that had smashed Chappo’s Halco Giant Trembler and wasn’t I glad I hopped aboard. About 20 minutes later I fought my first ever Yellowfin Tuna that tilted the scales at 22kg. It ended up being the second biggest Fin for the trip. Micko and Ian had trolled by to see the action and no sooner had they finished putting sh+t on me for not being able to lift the fish up to show off my catch after the arm stretching fight it was Micko’s turn. He hooked into the eventual fish of the trip winner, a 34.5kg Wahoo. We went on to boat another Wahoo by Pete that took a good 3 runs before submitting. We Returned to swap stories with all boats bringing back at least a pair of Wahoo and Ballzy had a nice 19kg Yellowfin.

The next 4 days went in a blur but some notable sessions and captures were an early morning 9kg Sampson Fish by Pete, Chris brought in a 10.5kg Green Jobfish complemented by another thumper of about 7kg by Tarlo. I would have had a more substantial Jobby than 3.5kg to my account but Tarlo’s new method of throwing the gaff at the fish instead of holding onto it whilst gaffing proved unsuccessful. Chappo got renamed Jappo for the amount of Japanese Sea Bream he caught.

The Thursday was to be our last fishing day. On this day Pete, Tarlo, Chappo and myself got stuck into the Wahoo and Yellowfin big time. I thought I’d bagged the fish of the trip so my 32kg Wahoo was boated only to fall 2.5kg short of the mark. We had an incident on our way back to the mothership getting the lures in to try and catch up to the Cap Star. As Pete pulled in the final lure a Wahoo of about 5 foot launched itself at the lure and cleared the back of the dory and missed Pete’s arm by inches only to renter the water on the opposite side of the dory about 15 feet up just missing Chappo’s face also by inches as he filled a bucket to wet down a kept fish. All the while the fish soared over the boat it had it’s flip top jaws wide open looking for a feed. What a spin out!

Upon catching up with the Capricorn Star where the skipper Tony was hooked into a nice Wahoo himself we anchored for the afternoon to relax and prepare for the trip home.

There was one more goal that hadn’t been kicked. A big shark. This was about to change. A sizable Hammerhead Shark was sighted checking out the discarded Wahoo frames. Chappo was on, a 20 minute fight followed and the shark behaved well for a few pics before release. Then Ballzy spotted it. It swam across the back of the boat and was estimated at around 5 metres. A big, big Tiger Shark.

The first sign of action was a slow rattle of a ratchet as the shark picked up the frame and lazily started to cart it off into the sunset, the line started peeling off at a rate and didn’t seem like stopping.

A knife was at the ready to cut the line before Ballzy got yanked into the ocean but Ballzy grit and very vocal determination turned it’s head with about 10 winds of line left on the reel. Ballzy, Pez and P.K fought the shark for 1 hour and 8 minutes when the leader wore through and the shark was lost. The disappointment was obvious, especially on the faces of Ballzy and Pez but never the less a great battle from an anchored boat.

After a rough trip home the relief to hit the calm waters of Gladstone Harbour was enough to inspire the stir crazy members of the crew to plan a hit on the night clubs and bars. While a few of us got some silent sleep after enjoying a few late night beers on the back deck with Tony.

We disembarked the next morning at around 7am and packed our fish away. Arrival back in Sydney is always great after missing wives and kids with Stories to be told. it only takes about 2 or so weeks before you are planning the next assault on the Barrier Reef waters and beyond. Can’t wait for October 2005.

Bring it on!!!