Banana's and Mack's

After 5 day shifts a trip was in order.  Jack did most of the prep & we arrived at Nightcliff in the dark.  The day dawned beautiful with no wind.  Shortly after arriving at the Stig's secret spot Jack had his first mackerel.  Such was the frenzy before us that Jack released the fish before a photo was taken (apparently I didn't look like stopping for anybody!). 

Unfortunately this was to be the only mackerel landed for the day.  They were there in abundance but would only follow the fly or nibble the tail.  Eventually I was rewarded with a nice Goldy whilst stripping double handed for the mack's!

In our haste we had departed with limited supplies, which for the first time included 2 banana's.  I ate mine & after some frustration Jack threw his over the side!  Jim may have cursed us by throwing banana skins into our boat on the previous trip to Kakadu!  

The mack's continued to follow the fly & not take it.  The handful of takes we did get resulted in being bitten off above the trace or the hook pulling.  I must confess to doing "A Cathie" aka having a dummy spit, stamping the feet, special words.........I am sure you get the idea!

Whilst the lack of hook ups was frustrating the visual spectacle was amazing.  Watching a garfish tail walk across the water & see the mack in hot pursuit was magic.  The water was clear & we could see fish everywhere.  

Canadian Pete was also out there, his advice "try a small white clouser".  New flies fitted resulted in several queenfish being landed, two of which were released into the esky.

We looked for some tuna on the way back to the ramp but with nothing sighted we headed home.

Diesel's scraps cooked to perfection!

We enjoyed a fresh feed of fish as did our dog Diesel, I even salt & peppered his fish!

Salt & pepper queenfish c/w salad yum!

Recent advice from The Stig is that this is normal mack behaviour,  Change fly size till you get a result or add a stinger off the bend of the larger fly!

This is a great place we live in, to be able to fish like this within 30 minutes drive is fantastic!

Get out & get amongst it!

Jon & Jack