Wack! That was the sound of something very big hitting the lures so hard that it pulled the trace out of its crimp. This happen about 3 hours after leaving Mourilyan Harbour enroute for Mission Bay. We lost the fish of course but the good news is, we did land a good one after a little while longer but more on that in a moment.After a great nights sleep, helped along by afternoon drinks in the cockpit with Greg and Alan, our colleagues from BANJERIN, we weighed anchor at 07:00 and soon found the same westerly as yesterday. Sailing at 6 kts with the grey skies clearing, Banjerin, who had left just ahead of us, called VHF and asked if we were trolling as they had already landed two good Mackerels. Of course the line was out in a flash but little happened for some time, we had obviously missed the school as all was quite. Quite until the big hand reel with wire trace and 100lb line, leaped in the air. On catching the airborne item the line went taut and – wack, gone! On retrieval we found the remnants of the rig and it was clear that a lot of force was required to strip the crimp. What ever it was, it was big! The next strike was smaller but failed to hook up. However, about 30 mins later, we knew we had something but judging from the fight it wasn’t big. Wrong again! As the 70cm mackerel hit the surface, all hell broke loose as it struggled to get free. Flinging it into the cockpit, the frenzy continued until Paul got the knife to its head but by this we had quite a mess on the boat. Still, a small price though for at least 4 good meals.
Just prior to arriving at Fitzroy Island, we had a momentary diversion as the alternator went into ‘overvolt’ but it settles after a non specific look the wiring. I can only hope it was an aberration but I’ll check more thoroughly at Cairns.
As for the Island, a nice enough place though small, as is THE near new (unlicensed?) resort located here. After a brief look around we returned to the boat for some reading. It was during this time, while in the cockpit, that I was disturbed by a very large splash about 50m from the boat. Not a fish, more dolphin sized but not a dolphin. The water left by the splash was a swirl of wash about 2 to 3 m in diameter. Shortly after, while still looking at the swirl settle, I saw what looked like a croc’s back. I can’t be sure but thats the facts! I think tonight will include a little listening for things that go ‘bump in the night’.
As for the Island, a nice enough place though small, as is THE near new (unlicensed?) resort located here. After a brief look around we returned to the boat for some reading. It was during this time, while in the cockpit, that I was disturbed by a very large splash about 50m from the boat. Not a fish, more dolphin sized but not a dolphin. The water left by the splash was a swirl of wash about 2 to 3 m in diameter. Shortly after, while still looking at the swirl settle, I saw what looked like a croc’s back. I can’t be sure but thats the facts! I think tonight will include a little listening for things that go ‘bump in the night’.
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