video Port Stephens Trip 2019

[Ojay Samson]

Story Time

Hi Raiders… here’s my report.
 

Applied for leave and it was approved. Decided to take my boat out of Sydney for the first time and tow it up to Port Stephens for a small break, took the partner and my mum up as we all needed a little break from the hustle and bustle of the big smoke.

Shopped around for accommodation for 4 nights and found a place that would accommodate a small trailerboat for a comfortable price….it was about a 12-minute drive to the boat ramp I was planning on launching from, Soldiers Point which was acceptable enough for me to endure for the money saved compared to places closer to the boat ramps.
Arrived at the accommodation place that boasted being in the ‘trees as an escape’ only to find that when the 2IC and I came to the reception desk, turns out they had been trying to contact us all morning to inform us that they wanted to move us somewhere else, as on the Sunday night of the weekend before there was a short but massive storm which took out their tv antennas and pool filter system and blew up a tree with splinters hitting the reception building a good 80 meters away apparently. So, they informed us they want to move us to their other location in soldiers point…
I politely accepted the offer and off we went. Turns out this new accommodation is about a 30 second drive from the boat ramp… was cheering!


NEW ACCOMMODATION

Day 1

Arrived at around 1pm, got settled in and squared away. Wanted to make the most of the first day so launched the boat at 3pm to try for crabs with newly bought crab traps…. Left them to soak from 3pm-530pm. Only caught 1 undersized blue swimmer, so back it went and headed home.

ITS GO TIME

 

Day 2
This ended up being the pick of the days as it turned out, as the next few days after was wind warnings a plenty by the BOM and unpleasant 40 knot gale winds forecast with heavy rain.
Launched the boat and was on the water by 8AM… a later start than I had planned for but whatever.
Motored up to cabbage tree island and did a few drifts to catch some live bait.
Spoke to a local who was doing the same to get any info on how Broughton was fishing, they did not know the current conditions as he had been targeting jewies inside the heads and was just there picking up some livies.
Stayed for about an hour to load up on livies, then motored on to Broughton island to do drive-bys on a few marks previously put into fish finder unit back at Sydney before heading to the final destination of the island. To my surprise there were no more kingfish pens for me to sus out (well none that I saw anyways).
Anchored up in 20 + meters of water and once I was confident we were holding bottom, gave the first slimy a nose piercing with a 7/0 octopus circle hook and let out some line, judging by the colour changes I think I let it out about 30 meters before closing the bail. Checked the drag to make sure it wasn't too loose that it may case an overrun. Was trying to put the safety lanyard on the neck of the reel seat of my new fishing outfit (shimano saragosa SW10000/ shimano terez) when suddenly something was trying to rip the rod out of my hand. Mind you this was the first time I have ever taken this new outfit out for a fish having had it since Christmas last year and was definitely not expecting to see action on it so quickly… it was out according to the footage for only about 2 minutes before it got bent in half. Fish went for a couple of screaming runs initially where in my panic I was tightening the drag as I did not know the country I was fishing in and didn’t want to get bricked on a reef. Luckily the fishing gods were smiling on me and eventually managed to get the fish boat-side, and after a few tense attempts of handing over the rod to the 2IC while I try to jockey for position to Gaff the fish (something ive never needed to do before...the most action my gaff has ever seen is to pull up mooring buoys), I eventually get a beautiful shot on the side gill plate which seemed to hit something pretty important as it started bleeding out pretty quickly. Was definitely taking this baby home for a feed so it was going to meet its maker one way or another. Gave it its last rites and introduced the priest to it to put it out of its misery, cut the gills to introduce some more bleeding, hung it out upside down boat side to aid in the bleed out and then onto ice for the ride home.

THE MONEY SHOT

 

GAFF SHOT IN YELLOW CIRCLE

FOR GIRTHS SAKE...

NO GUESSTIMATES, JUST TRUTH ON THE LIE DETECTOR... 103CM TOTAL LENGTH

Was my first ever longtail/northern bluefin tuna so it’s an automatic PB for me @ 103cm . Tried again for another 20 minutes then called it quits as my crew were starting to feel a bit seasick, pulled up stumps and motored on home, Back at the ramp by 12pm.
With most of my reports, here is an accompanying video for anyone interested.
 

>>>>>> CLICK ME FOR YOUTUBE VIDEO <<<<<<

 

Day 3
This day was a washout where it was near gale winds and heavy rain all through the night till midday, went to the ramp ready to brave the elements at around 930am, but after seeing and speaking to another local who changed his mind on launching at the slipway, we were inclined to agree and follow suit in that it was not a good idea to go out just then, so we turned around and went home. The winds settled down near the arvo, so we tried again and got on the water around 3pm till sunset for zilch.

Day 4
This was much of the same except for the rain, threw the crab traps out in the morning when it was calmer and let them soak. Explored around inside  for zeros rod and reel wise, however this day proved to be pretty good in that the total tally for the crab traps at the end of the day were 9 blue swimmer crab keepers, so day wasn’t a total loss, however I wanted to go outside again to Broughton island and try and catch that elusive big red, with to date my PB snapper being only 1cm  over legal @ 31cm :/… oh well, next time I guess.

They were delicious


Overall a good fishing trip away from Sydney to mix things up a bit.

Thanks for reading.

Ojay

Ps thankyou to berleyguts for sussing out wash down taps at soldiers point the week before when i was doing the homework, which ultimately led me to chose soldiers as my base of operations.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Ojay Samson

[kingie chaser]

Nice detailed report, pics  & great vid to 

 

Christened the new rig in style, well done 👌

[frankS]

Ojay. Fantastic report and great video. You done well to land that fish, new gear christened and looks like you were pretty happy . One tip though, get a deck hose, washing blooded tuna like that can lead to disaster. Remember once I done it and a approx. 3 metre Tiger shark decided it wanted the fish for dinner, almost took me with it.

Frank

[antonywardle]

Great write up and photos. I have to get up there in my boat one day and stalk @Scratchie and @garfield28 around the water for a snapper!

 

[Berleyguts]

Great report, Ojay! 8am start - gentleman’s hours! Maybe I should sleep in and start later! Nice effort on the long tail. I love the comments in the video: “It’s a shark!” Then to your crew, “Stick that (GoPro) in there!” And she did! No concern about a shark! 😂 Re gaff shot... I like to go for the shoulder (easier to imbed the gaff) but it looks like your gaff is sharp (as they should be) and going through the gill plate leaves the meat intact. 😎

[Scratchie]

Agh nice work! Those longtail don’t muck around. Glad you enjoyed your trip up here! It’s been a really good season for them. Everybody’s catching  them! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

[Woodsy1]

Well done on the long tail Ojay and great video, I hope the crutch recovered.

Woodsy

[mrsswordfisherman]

@Ojay Samson what a fantastic report!! I loved that video and your “deckie” 

Fabulous work! 

[Berleyguts]

1 hour ago, Scratchie said:

Agh nice work! Those longtail don’t muck around. Glad you enjoyed your trip up here! It’s been a really good season for them. Everybody’s catching  them! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

Except me! 😂

[rickmarlin62]

Great report  nice tuna  port is certainly firing

[big Neil]

Reading the account was good but the video was great. Great effort by you all to cement a very memorable trip and a successful workout for the new gear. Cheers, bn

[jeffb5.8]

My favorite was you even had a sheep out there on the water, I heard it

[JA1990]

Looking good, sounds like i lucked out with all that beautful weather we had recently

[Ojay Samson]

12 hours ago, frankS said:

Ojay. Fantastic report and great video. You done well to land that fish, new gear christened and looks like you were pretty happy . One tip though, get a deck hose, washing blooded tuna like that can lead to disaster. Remember once I done it and a approx. 3 metre Tiger shark decided it wanted the fish for dinner, almost took me with it.

Frank

Thanks for the kind words, glad you enjoyed it. Its funny you say that, i was on high alert when i was tea bagging the ocean with the tuna. The thought of 'this seems like a bad idea' went through my mind a few times, i got lucky i guess...  using the wash down pump instead never crossed my mind, but now that you mention it... its genius! Will definitely be employing it next time the occasion calls for it.

12 hours ago, Berleyguts said:

Great report, Ojay! 8am start - gentleman’s hours! Maybe I should sleep in and start later! Nice effort on the long tail. I love the comments in the video: “It’s a shark!” Then to your crew, “Stick that (GoPro) in there!” And she did! No concern about a shark! 😂 Re gaff shot... I like to go for the shoulder (easier to imbed the gaff) but it looks like your gaff is sharp (as they should be) and going through the gill plate leaves the meat intact. 😎

Thanks Berleyguts! I actually showed the mrs this post and she was loving your comment haha!
Yeah i was trying to be careful not to gaff the prized eating bits so was trying my hardest to get it in the head area, and thankfully the gaff was sharp enough to get the business done.

10 hours ago, Woodsy1 said:

Well done on the long tail Ojay and great video, I hope the crutch recovered.

Woodsy

HAHAHA! this made me laugh IRL, thank you for your concern. its ok now 🤣
Thank you for the kind words, glad you enjoyed the video.

10 hours ago, mrsswordfisherman said:

@Ojay Samson what a fantastic report!! I loved that video and your “deckie” 

Fabulous work! 

Thanks Donna,  yeah I do have a pretty good deckie... couldnt ask for anyone better  

5 hours ago, big Neil said:

Reading the account was good but the video was great. Great effort by you all to cement a very memorable trip and a successful workout for the new gear. Cheers, bn

Thanks BN, glad you enjoyed my post & thank you... it most certainly wont be forgotten any time soon.



 

[Ojay Samson]

21 hours ago, kingie chaser said:

Nice detailed report, pics  & great vid to 

 

Christened the new rig in style, well done 👌

Thanks for the kind words Chaser, couldn't have asked for a better opening fish
 

[61 crusher]

What a great report and top video, what an awesome way to christen the new outfit on a ball breaker of a fish 😎 how did you go about preparing the tuna & how did it taste, congrats and well worth the trip 

[garfield28]

On 4/16/2019 at 8:22 AM, antonywardle said:

Great write up and photos. I have to get up there in my boat one day and stalk @Scratchie and @garfield28 around the water for a snapper!

 

Scratchie's ya man Antony he knows where the fish are and how to catch them, I just know how to catch live bait 😁 which I was also shown by Scratchie how to do that haha. 

Try not to let you down or have something on when you're up next time and maybe we can tee Scratchie up and we can all head out on my donk 

[Berleyguts]

12 minutes ago, garfield28 said:

Scratchie's ya man Antony he knows where the fish are and how to catch them, I just know how to catch live bait 😁 which I was also shown by Scratchie how to do that haha. 

Try not to let you down or have something on when you're up next time and maybe we can tee Scratchie up and we can all head out on my donk 

Or, if I’m available too, we can take a couple of boats and keep in touch via VHF. I don’t usually do weekends, though.

[Muzz]

Nice setup and fish

Edited April 20, 2019 by Muzz

[kingie chaser]

32 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Guys give me some help please

where are the best spots to target them around the headlands ?

 Or any other spots worth trying tomorrow?

scratchie and tips?

So all taking & no giving??

 

How about you introduce yourself to the forum 1st as a good will gesture & try to be part of the community before you try to get all the secrets & 'good spots' !!

 

Imo pretty rude to be asking members for all the goss with giving nothing in return!

Edited April 20, 2019 by kingie chaser

[Muzz]

well done Ojay great effort 👍

Edited April 20, 2019 by Muzz

[Scratchie]

33 minutes ago, Muzz said:

Well sorry about that...

was on here for years but forgot my user name and password and an old email account 

so I just moved up the coast to port Stephens and got a new boat 

didnt realise I had to do a intro 

Muzz, just message @mrsswordfisherman And she can help you with your old login. 

As for information, I get where kingchaser is coming from. 

We see a lot of new members come straight on and ask for so much information without searching or researching at all. 

Let’s not ruin ojays post! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

[Ojay Samson]

On 4/17/2019 at 4:40 PM, 61 crusher said:

What a great report and top video, what an awesome way to christen the new outfit on a ball breaker of a fish 😎 how did you go about preparing the tuna & how did it taste, congrats and well worth the trip 

Thanks Crusher, 
So while i was  filleting the fish at the cleaning tables i was helping myself with some prime sashimi slices.
got home  and mum prepared a simple beer batter and made 'fish & chips' without the chips and to all of our surprise... the meat was delicious absolutely NOTHING like what we were all imagining in our head.. like typical dry textured tuna from a can.  
All the while mum had the head in the oven cooking as well and after picking out all the meat, which usually gets thrown away from what ive seen in videos with the whole head being discarded she then proceeded to make some sort of tomato paste/sauce thingy with canned tomatoes, garlic, herbs and other stuff which is beyond me and if i were to try compare it to it was like a pasta sauce you would mix in with ones favourite pasta except with tuna for meat... and was eaten the following days for breakfast etc  on toast... was delicious.

Next day it was tempura batter  and that was amazing to.

Never got to try grilled tuna steaks at the time, so hoping next time will get a chance. 

The bulk of the tuna is sitting in the freezer with my mum guarding it with her life, went out fishing the other day and she got nervous we were going to take some of it for bait and told me not to touch it haha (because we used the off cuts of tuna like the bloodline parts and other less desirable sections for bait in our crab traps...which seemed to be amazing bait for them. and to confirm the leftover offcuts were used for bait on good Friday fishing trip to botany and were a massive hit here to).

Cheers, 

Ojay
 

[jeffb5.8]

On 4/19/2019 at 11:59 AM, Berleyguts said:

Or, if I’m available too, we can take a couple of boats and keep in touch via VHF. I don’t usually do weekends, though.

I might tag along on this, since we have a place at Shoalbay and I have never gone through the heads, can make it a Fishraider PS catch up.

[quintrex52]

Great video and great longtail ,scared me to lol gotta love it one the first drop