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Fredericks Reef 2001 - Coral Sea Impressions By: Bruce Robson

It always seems unfair, in some childish way, when the trip finishes and you have to return to the cruel world. The air is colder at the dock than it has been for the previous 6 days and 7 nights, car keys have to be found, shoes need to be put on again and it is memories of screaming drags and isolated reefs that will have to sustain me till the next trip. It would be far more pleasant just to be able to turn around and go back out on Kanimbla for the next weeks trip.

After last Aprils journey I wrote a story [on the home page] that advised of tales of woe in relation to sharp toothed wahoo and numerous lost lures, some being quite expensive. I was determined to have my revenge on these hard fighting and succulent species. I must state that, living on the mid north coast of NSW the chance to target wahoo is almost non existent, hence my experience with Hoo is very limited and the ability to practise and refine techniques is relatively rare. Consequently I am somewhat of a novice and the ideas, so far refined, will undoubtedly be developed further.

The adventures of this trip to Frederick Reef is well covered in the main article by Geoff and I will only briefly add to the main highlights before expounding on a few ideas about catching wahoo.

The first day at Saumarez Reef was relatively slow fishing and it was with anticipation that the weather report indicated that the for at least the next three days there should be calm conditions. The much awaited journey to Frederick Reef was about to become a reality. I have previously fished at Swains and Saumarez a number of times and enjoyed various levels of success. Marine charts show that Swains is the outer part of the Barrier Reef and it goes out to about 200 kilometres off the coast with Saumarez being an independent reef a further 100 kilometres out. Between Swains and Saumarez the water depth goes to about 1000 metres. Beyond Saumarez it becomes deeper again with a maximum of about 3000 metres. Beyond Saumarez there are four main reef systems, each being very approximately a further 100 kilometres from it. To the south east there is Cato Reef, to the east is Wreck Reef, to the east north east is Kenn Reef and to the north east Frederick Reef. I have been fortunate to spend a week at Wreck Reef in Kanimbla and, questionably fortunate to spend 5 days at Cato in another boat. I say 'questionably' as, not only was this other boat uncomfortable in a number of ways but, I believe it was very unsafe that far offshore and, would never go on such a trip in it again. I would go so far as to say that it is 'an accident waiting to happen' on those type of trips. On the other hand Kanimbla is an excellent craft, being very comfortable and safe. I have wanted to get out to these more remote reefs again and, have had to wait for the right weather during the week of our trip.

Frederick Reef has a lighthouse on the northern reef which runs north south. The southern reef is a few miles distant and is a large lagoon which is open to the north and would appear to provide a good anchorage in a southerly swell.

On arrival at Frederick we saw one boat departing in the distance and it was heading east - perhaps it was leaving anyhow but, the coincidence appeared a little suspect. It was a glass out and we launched the Webster Twinfishers onto a silvery smooth ocean with schools of yellowfin breaking the surface on the eastern side of the lighthouse. After catching some small and moderate size yellowfin we discovered that the Hoo were circling the schools and eating them. Strikes were frequent and a number of triple hook ups occurred on the three lines being trolled. I doubt that those fish often see a boat or lure. The back deck of Kanimbla was covered with our catch which the deckies cleaned and filleted. We showered, ate and hit the sack. Sleep comes easy after such exercise especially with the gentle rise and fall of a low swell.

From Tuesday onwards a 10 to 15 knot north easterly provided a bit of chop around the front of the island which meant a wet ride in the Websters while trying to keep up a good speed. Basically we got a number of Hoo and tended to go for them in the Websters and bottom bash from Kanimbla. Lots of gear was broken and many lures and jigs were lost by the group. A number of screaming runs ended up in disaster. Jigging also provided some excitement and one large Hoo ended up almost emptying my new 9500 spinfisher of 50 lb line before a bust off and, this was on that first big run. There was a long fight for one of the guys in my Webster as was a foul hooked Hoo of over 50 lbs. This was not a trip to take your snapper and bream gear on! A trip to the northern reefs lagoon was interesting with the boats that went at low tide doing better than those that went at high tide. Fishing in the southern lagoon produced mainly Japanese Sea Bream but unfortunately we did not get time to fish on its weather side. The drop off can go from twenty metres to a hundred metres within a boat length - interesting places those drop offs. Overall the fishing was even better than Geoff alluded to in the main article as it became catch and release wahoo and yellowfin by Wednesday/Thursday.

The trip back to the Swains on Thursday night was very comfortable and catching the twenty kg. spanish mackeral, just as we were entering the reef complex, was a bonus. Fishing at Swains is so different to further out however we bagged some good plate sized fish and lost a few. Then it was packing up of a lot of salty gear for the return to the cruel world - yet again!

A few interesting lessons about gear included the propensity of some of the modern thin walled rods to snap under pressure. I suspect that they perhaps had previously received a bump, possibly against the side of a boat etc. before their demise. The older and more solid rods appear to be more reliable in this regard. Certain brands gave way with concerning frequency. Geoff mentioned the fate of some lures that ended up as a two lures. One of my Mack Baits broke, but the two stainless wires from the take off point kept it together. This is a solid resin lure and it is most unlikely to give way except in the most extreme circumstances. It now resides on my 'honour board' of lures mortally wounded in action. We noticed that the ability of lures to keep swimming correctly decreased often being monstered by Hoo. It appears that once their surface is sufficiently roughened then, their hydrodynamics go awry. A number of my lures have subsequently been sand papered and repainted. Braided lines do not appear to be as well suited as mono for trolling as two problems occur. The first problem is that the braid tends to 'fluff up' on eyelets and obviously is weakened at that point and, the second point is that due to the lack of stretch in braid, lures tend to not be able to stay as stable at speed. One way around this problem is to have a few hundred metres [or less] of mono attached to an appropriate amount of underlying braid.

As indicated above, this trip was to try to obtain revenge on some of those lurenapping Hoo and, it was reasonably successful from this perspective. The successful new tactics included:

1] go fast,

2] use dark lures [Hoo see lures as silhouettes from below],

3] use single strand coffee coloured stainless steel wire, attach the leader to the single strand wire by bending the wire into a tight 'U' shape and tie it with an albright knot and then coat the knot with a drop of superglue before cutting off the excess line and wire [ nothing very visible for the mates of the hooked Hoo to bite at]. I have previously used multi strand wire and blackened rings with a high attrition rate.,

4] have all hooks pointing downwards - not upward,

5] lures from 150 mm to 200 mm are about the right size,

6] use lures that will be trolled near their maximum speed [don't use high speed lures at low speed as their action drops off],

7] use line that doesn't 'catch light' and have a 'bright spot' when viewed from below in the sun [try this and see what I mean]. Tortue seems better than the other lines I have tried,

8] hooks must be very very sharp [get a magnifying glass to check out your hooks before the trip].

Each trip provides unforgettable memories and valuable new learning experiences however, at the end of the day it is the pleasure of being out on the Coral Sea in a comfortable and effectively run boat with a group of congenial and keen fishing companions together with a courteous and helpful crew that makes such experiences so worthwhile.

Yes, it was a great trip.