Getting back in the Saddle – By John Boon

Do you ever really lose skills once you have earned them? Have you ever heard the expression ‘it’s just like riding a bike?’ Well if you never learned to ride a bike when you were younger then this opening paragraph is going to be all sorts of confusing. Basically what I’m getting at is once you have leaned a skill then it really is hard to just forget it.

What we do tend to see is maybe a bit of time to get back to the high standard that once was. I know if I’ve been doing different styles of fishing like chasing squid and then go back to chasing barra (in open season of course) then it does take a bit of time to get those reflexes working again. It’s not a forgotten skill, they just need sharpening if they haven’t been used for a while.

Another great example of fern country tactics on the Humminbird Apex. Left shows you fern but very little activity.

I was going through these same emotions not that long ago. Going back ten or so years I was an absolute red Emperor nut job. I was obsessed with them. There’s nothing like an obsession to fast track learning that’s for sure. Whenever there was a break in the weather I was either prepping the boat for a wide trip or organising to jump on board with someone else to go and chase my reef dreams.

Fast forward to the modern day and that red emperor obsession has now been replaced by saltwater barramundi, so when the drive to get back out for a red Emperor reef mission returned, all I could think of “will I still remember how to do this?”

The last offshore mission that I put together was a good 18 months prior so you could say I had a good reason to ask questions.

Even packing the boat for the trip was a mission because I was so out of practice. The long periods between trips were a number of factors. Being time poor is number one. We are at the point in our lives where we are the kids taxi service. It’s not a gripe but a fact of life. I love that our kids play sport but between that, appointments and working away it doesn’t leave much spare time.

It was good to get the monkey off the back early in the trip.

To do a full day reef mission takes about two and a half days. By the time you prepare and pack the boat, do a full day on the water, clean the boat and fillet the catch it’s quite a lengthy process which doesn’t suit a busy lifestyle. I guess I’m grateful for an understanding wife who’s more than willing to pick up the pieces so I’m able to do what I love.

We had a good forecast on one of my favourite moon phases which was the lead up to the full moon. There were westerly winds forecasted until at least midday and anyone who’s had to fish on a westerly knows how tough it can make the fishing.

The best way that I have found to deal with westerly wind is to head as wide as possible and that’s the plan I came up with. Leave the inshore grounds alone and concentrate on the 80-95km area east of the harbour.

I sent a few invites out for deckies and it didn’t take long to get a crew organised. My old man had been battling health issues so he was out for this trip. Peter Watts had dealt himself in as he was on holidays. He works opposite roster to me so we don’t get to catch up or fish that often together. Our third deckie was Troy Newman, a good mate and a bloody good fisho.

Peter Watts with another quality red from a hot bite.

Leading up to the Friday the bloody weather decided to change around a few times. We stuck to the original plan and if it was a bit too choppy, we would make the decision to fish closer grounds.

The trip out was good. It was gusting to that 10-15 knots of westerly chop but we were heading out with it. It was forecast to swing around in the afternoon so hopefully we could travel back home with it.

After what seemed like an eternity, we pulled up on the first mark. It was an old reliable mark I had caught good fish off in the past. This trip we were concentrating on fishing fern country. Fishing fern can be a bit tricky as sometimes it all looks the same and can be difficult to separate productive and non-productive areas.

Our first fern spot looked completely barren. The only reason we started here is because of past experience. Nothing much showing on the Apex but Pete put our first legal red in the esky within ten minutes of pulling up. Generally when you start a trip like that it just keeps getting better so it helped with the anticipation and reinforced we had made the right choice.

One example of what I look for in fern country. You can see the red arches of fish within the fern.

That bloody westerly was very consistent which made standing up and keeping your balance tricky. We persisted on this mark for a few hours while we waited for the sun to wake up. It wasn’t full on madness but we did pull some quality off it. We were putting a bit of mixed reef into the esky when finally I got those bites I had longed for. I fed a bit of line out and when the weight come on I struck hard.

It was doing all the cool things that reds are well known for. My goal for this trip was to get a quality one as it had been a while in between drinks. The first legal red I put in the boat for the trip had ticked that box straight away. I thought to myself “maybe I do remember how to do this”.

I got a couple of happy snaps and went back for round two. Another solid hookup and another solid red on the deck. It’s very rewarding when a plan comes together. The other lads were also getting into the action, but just when we were getting a good roll on the bloody sharks moved in which forced us to relocate.

I had some search marks a few kilometres away so we headed for those to see if we could find some new marks. There were fern patches everywhere but they didn’t quite have the right characteristics I was looking for. After another half hour of searching we ran over a patch of fern on the Humminbird Apex which you could see large fish sitting down in it and also the bait had been pushed up out of the fern by the predators. This would be the number one factor I like to see when fishing fern country.

Troy Newman with a PB red emperor from the trip.

I put a mark down on the area and then set the boat up and deployed the Minn Kota Ulterra to spot lock us in position. How good is electronic anchoring when offshore? No noisy chains rattling around, no pulling anchor to reposition the boat – just hit the button and start stress free fishing. Pair the electric motor to a lithium battery like the BLA lithiums and you’ve got bluetooth to keep an eye on battery levels.

The new spot started off a bit slow. I had to move the boat around a few times to find the sweet spot. Once we got the boat position right it was absolute madness. Baits were getting hammered as soon as they hit the bottom. It was a bit frustrating at times but also good to see how many juvenile red Emperor were coming over the side.

There were double and triple hookups going on. You know the fishing is good when you need the net but there are already two reds in it trying to be dispatched. Another great feeling to pull quality off a brand new spot.

The same issue rose from the previous spot, with all the action the sharks started to ramp up so we went searching again. After another hour or so we found another patch of fern that looked good so we had a drop. The first fish to the boat was a hefty coral trout. We had only been talking about trout not long before this. In all the years I’ve fished the ferns we don’t seem to get many trout but when you do get one they are generally big boys.

We got stuck into the school sized reds once again. It was still only mid morning and we were approaching our bag limit for reds. I’m not one to promote bagging out but everyone’s freezer was empty so this was one of those missions to keep what we could.

We don’t normally get many trout when we chase red emps in the fern but if we do get one it’s generally quality.

I said to the boys I’ve got a spot that we should try to see if we could get a few bigger models to finish off. They didn’t take much convincing. This particular red emperor spot seems to fish best on the out going tide and checking the tide chart if we left right now we would get the last of the out.

We sounded over the mark and it was lit up like Christmas. I pulled the big gear out and upgraded terminal tackle to a set of 9/0 gangs. I found the biggest squid heads and slab baits I could. The action was instant but the big baits did sit for a bit of time while I waited for the pickers to do their thing.

The weight come on and I struck hard. I was folded to the gunwale. ‘Man I love red Emperor fishing!’ After an intense fight we slid the net under another horse. The next few reds that made their way into the boat were released while we waited for the upgrades. Both Pete and Troy added the final quality and it was time for a well earned rest and a beverage.

We had ticked everything off on the trip that we wanted to. Pete asked what the plan was now and I just looked at him and shrugged my shoulders. He asked if we could concentrate on a bit of slow pitch jigging as he had bought a good setup but hadn’t had a good opportunity to use it.

We spent an hour or so jigging with everyone getting stretched on golden trevally. If we weren’t buggered before, we definitely were now. By midday we had called the trip and headed for home. The pesky westerly was still blowing that 10-15 knots so the trip home started off straight into it, making it uncomfortable. It wasn’t until half way home we got a bit of relief from the wind finally. By the time we hit the islands it was well and truly glassed out. I guess we could be thankful we finally got a bit of flat weather but with what had happened during the day, I don’t think anyone really cared.

You will never get sick of catching quality red Emperor.