I got up there in Chrissie '11, but I was blown out. HB is a great fishery, but it does endure prolonged periods of breeze that can shut down the fishing. That was my Christmas in HB.
So Matt and I were waiting for the wind to drop and the tuna to get hot, the plan being I'd jump a plane from Sydney. Come April, Matt made the call and I flew North.
We spent both the Saturday and most of the Sunday on the water. And it's fair to say the tuna played ball. Mac Tuna on the Saturday, Longtails on the Sunday. Interesting to see the different schools in action. The bustups of Macs are very tight and frothy. Longtails are bigger splashes more spread out. And Longys come out of the water, looping crazily out chasing baitfish. Macs don't.
Both pull bloody hard, but the Longtails are more highly sought. Not only at LTs slightly larger, but Macs can be anything from annoyingly fussy to boringly unfussed in terms of what flies they eat. Longies are more consistent, and thus more satisfying to hook. Present a surf candy well and they'll eat it. The fact Longies also make great sushi (Macs are horrid on the plate) probably boost their popularity further still.
That's proably why Macs have a mixed reputation in SE Qld. That said, Macs are an awesome fish (Qlders are spoilt). As I've said previously they kinda make salmon, kings and bonito (the staples of the Sydney pelagic scene) look rather plain.
A solid Mac:
One of the Longies:
It wasn't easy fishing by any means. The fish were spread over several kms in the corridor, just south of Roonies. They were also boat shy. You had to position yourself around 300m upwind of the school and hope they stayed up.
We nailed around 6 Macs on the Saturday and 4 Longies on the Sunday. As I said, not easy (hardy a fish a cast), but excellent fishing and very satisfying to boat the fish.
One of Matt's Longies:
I must admit I don't quite know why the corridor south of Roonies fires so frequently, Much life the rest of the bay, the bottom is featureless, but it's rather handy as you get some protection from the prevailing SE winds and you know where you are most likely to find the tuna when you launch (and HB is big water). Very occasionally you might run into tuna further down the bay, but it's very much the exception to the rule.
We also turned to the dark arts, and tried jigging some metals and soft plastics over some of the few bits of structure HB actually has. Did alright as well
Solid Trevally (Goldspot? Edit - it's a Brassy):
Now admittedly the bonefish was unexpected. Had it come on fly it would have been remarkable. Though it must be said there have now been enough bones caught around the traps, to make a capture slightly less of a rarity, but it still turns heads.
A genuine HB bone:
T'was a great weekend. Fun times with a great mate and top fishing to boot.
