Epic Trip to Swain Reefs – 2024 – By Kim Pascoe

They say that a fishing trip to Swain Reefs, is a trip of a lifetime. If that is the case, then I have been fortunate to have experienced 23 lifetimes, watching listening and learning more and more each trip.

Virtually the same group of mates have been going for a great number of those years and it is an absolute privilege to be a part of this group – Lots of fishing knowhow, laughter, cold beverages, and the occasional banter – not one person to upset the trip.

This year we had one new starter who is my Son, Ryan, so it was a great experience to have a Father and Son bonding week. We also had two other Father and Sons on the trip – Les and Douglas, Brian and Zac as well as Bruce, Mal, Russ, Don, Peter, Lionel, Struan, Peter Y, Denis, Patrick and Justin.

For the last 8 years or so, we have chartered out of Gladstone. Arranging a charter with great owners, great skippers, very helpful and hard working deckies, and wonderful chefs, always makes for a fantastic trip.

Fish are immediately bled, then placed in a freezing cold brine tub before filleting and snap frozen, making for fresh, blood-free fillets.

This year was no different. The weather gods were smiling on us for a rain and almost wind free week.

Of the seventeen of us, twelve prefer to fish from the dories and five prefer to bottom bash and troll on the mother ship. The dories are Polycraft 4.8 metre centre consoles fitted with sounders and radios, and 30HP motors.

We arrived at the dock around 2 PM and started unloading all our gear, rigging rods, setting up our cabins and enjoying a few beverages and catch-up chats. Everyone was excited, and could not wait for the following morning, for when we arrived at the reef to start fishing. We departed Gladstone around  4PM, enjoying sumptuous food, as we travelled down the harbour  A very smooth sail throughout the night meant that we arrived at Sandshoe Reef the next morning around 8 AM.

By around 9AM, all the stored gear had been brought up from the hold and rigging of our gear commenced. At bit of organised mayhem, but all were excited to start fishing.

Rigs used for the dories are normally small pea sized sinkers on top of 6/0 to 8/0 hooks, fed down through a stream of burley comprised of a mixture of pellets, tuna oil and cut up pilchards. Baits consist of squid, pilchards and fresh bait caught and filleted. Fishing locations include the reef edges, bommies, pressure points and outlets from the reef shallows.

Rigs used on the mother ship included paternoster rigs of two 6/0 to 8/0 hooks and a simple rig of an 8 or 10 ball straight onto the hook. Baits also consist of squid, pilchards and fresh bait caught and filleted as well as some shark mackerel and mac tuna frequently caught whilst trolling.

My personal rig for bottom bashing consists of a Shimano Trinadad TN30 overhead reel spooled with 30lb braid to a 6 ft mono leader. My rods of choice include a customized 8 – 15kg Schneider blank which I built myself, and an 8 – 15kg Wilson Live Fibre. I’ve trialled various leaders over the years including fluorocarbon and other brands of mono but have now settled on a simple and affordable Jarvis Walker 50lb mono, which seems to give superior abrasion resistance and stretch.

The sharks are a constant problem at Swains and I have done some research into using Neodymium magnets (15mm diameter x 3mm with a hole in the middle), which emit a magnetic pulse, just above an 8 or 10 ball sinker rigged to a 7/0 Mustad Penetrator hook. I don’t know if these magnets really work, but seem to get sharked a lot less than those who are not using them. They can be bought on-line and are affordable.

For trolling, my rig of choice is a Shimano TLD25, spooled with 50lb braid tied to 50lb mono. My lure of choice is a Halco Laser Pro LD190 in a pilchard colour tied straight to the mono with a loop – no wire. My 25 year old Penn Ultimate 3050SU 15 – 24kg rod has never let me down and is still in brand new condition with meticulous cleaning after each session. I like to set my lure out past the boat wash, which is around 80M – 100M behind the boat.

The first morning resulted in mainly good sized coral trout, red throat Emperor, Venus tuskfish from both the mother ship and the dories. My highlight for the day was an 810mm longtail tuna, so Sashimi was on the cards for pre-dinner snacks. This tuna ended up as the “Fish of the Day” prize which is awarded each day to the best fish voted by the crew and fellow fishermen. It can only be won once during the week and comes with it a prize cap and the coveted blue jacket donated by Les and Doug.

Another highlight was watching my Son, Ryan, catch his first ever coral trout keeper – A proud Dad moment. Total catch for the day was 106 keeper fish mainly large coral trout and red throat Emperor.

Day two saw us at Taiwan Reef and the weather had turned breezy and a bit cold, however only a slight swell. Again quite a few 500mm to 600mm coral trout and red throat Emperor were caught. Trolling resulted in a couple of shark mackerel which provided some fresh bait. My preference is not to use large pieces of fresh bait as this tends to bring in the sharks.

During lunch we moved to Hook Reef for the afternoon which proved to be not as successful as previous reefs. A total of 90 fish were kept for the day.

Day three was spent at Reef 123 which was a good move, as we caught numerous large sized hussar, a couple of nice sized cobia, Maori cod as well as the usual coral trout and red throat Emperor. Trolling only saw more shark mackerel and mac tuna come on board.

“Fish of the Day” went to Zac with a nice 540mm Venus tushfish. Tally for the day was 90 keepers.

On day 4 we were again on the move to Dogbone Reef, then on to Reef 139, with the wind backing off, making for a very pleasant day.

Again, the large hussar were on as well as some nice coral trout. Late in the morning I got hit by something quite large, and imagine my surprise delight when a red Emperor broke the surface. Unfortunately it was just undersized, so was quickly released successfully.

Trolling resulted in a couple of 950mm shark mackerel, but the day ended up a bit quieter compared to the previous few days, but you can expect that with fishing, as we all know.

This was party night, with a Hippie theme and was thoroughly hilarious trying to figure out who was who with the various costumes.

“Fish of the Day” went to Mal with a beautiful 620mm Venus tuskfish. The tally for the day as 77.

Early on day 5 we moved to Twin Reefs and ended up being the best fishing day of the trip. Many red throat Emperor, coral trout and hussar were brought on board from both the mother ship and the dories. My trolling resulted in landing a 1060mm Spanish mackerel, which was voted “Fish of the Day” but I was disqualified as I had won this prize earlier in the trip. This thing hit like a freight train and peeled around 100M of line before I could get it under control. 15minutes later it was gaffed successfully by the deckies. I’ve caught bigger Spanish in the past, but this one would be the hardest fighting one that I have ever caught. My back and biceps were burning – Nothing that a trip to the Chiro when I got back couldn’t fix.  Tally for the day was 125 – An exceptional day.

Day 6 was our last fishing day, still on Twin Reefs which is close to the bottom of Swains so a quicker trip home to Gladstone was expected. Fishing up to around 12.30PM was again exceptional, with coral trout, red throat Emperor, large hussar and a couple of green jobfish being the mainstay of the catch. My personal highlight was a 580mm coronation trout which was again disqualified as “Fish of the Day”. Total tally for just the morning was 100 keepers.

Awards for the week were announced with Justin winning the “Best Fisherman of the Week” for the dories, myself for “Best Fisherman of the Week” for the mothership and “Fish of the Week” went to Mal, for his 620mm Venus tuskfish.

By 2PM everything was stowed away, as we proceeded the 15 hour trip home to Gladstone. The afternoon was spent with recollections of the trip over a few tasty beverages, and a bit of a down feeling, now that the trip as over. Thankfully the seas were very smooth, making for a pleasant trip home. Even a humpback whale waved its tail at us as we went by.

After a six hour drive back to Brisbane the fillets are divided equally, resulting in enough fish to last the next year.

Again, thanks to the crew and my fellow fishing mates who made this possibly the best trip we have ever had.

Finally, if you get the opportunity to go to Swains, do it. You will not be disappointed.