Hot Reels Pro Charters – By Dom Fry

Bob Jeynes is no ordinary angler, quite the opposite in fact. Born and bred in Queensland, Bob has an angling history of extraordinary depth and understanding going back four decades.

This quietly spoken, humorous and personable chap began fishing the Noosa National Park rocks with his Dad at the tender age of four. Amazingly they still fish together today – for the most part in the pristine and incredibly varied waters around Hervey Bay and the world renowned Fraser Island.

Bob began his professional fishing career about five minutes after he completed his schooling in the Noosa district. This involved working as a decky on a charter boat out of Rainbow Beach, trawling and long lining out of Mooloolaba, fishing the incredible Swains Reef region, skippering live trout boats and the rather impressive resume goes on and on.

Needing a bit of a breather from his life at sea once the kids started to arrive, Bob went into retail for a few years managing a prominent tackle store in Noosa. Whilst he enjoyed this and was adulated by both customers and staff alike due to his unbelievable depth of knowledge and friendly and helpful nature, the call of the sea was too strong.

So, back to the professional scene he goes, line fishing the whole time and for the most part around Fraser Island. This led to a stint working on passenger/medevac boats at the Curtis Island development adjacent to Gladstone.

Bob has at last decided to share his wealth of knowledge and amazing understanding of the piscatorial world most mere mortals find somewhat perplexing by way of running charters out of Hervey Bay. And thus, Hot Reels Pro Fishing Charters was born. The vessel of choice was a very late model 6.7 metre Hooker pushed along by an also recent Yamaha 250. This is a safe, comfortable and rapid boat in survey for skipper plus four passengers and equipped with quality gear necessary for the punishing fish on offer. This presents the opportunity to fish on your own or with a select group of friends or family members.

The boat is very well appointed with outriggers, under floor and under seat eskies, Garmin electronics and Raymarine auto pilot. Clients also have protection from the sun with a hard top roof overhead. The big Hooker carries 300 litres of fuel, 100 litres of water and has a loo for those in need.

The charters on offer will be many and varied and somewhat flexible for those keen to design their own day on the water. As well as sportsfishing trips fishing inside Fraser Island targeting trevally, snapper, queenfish, tuna, mackerel, marlin, cobia and an assortment of reef fish Bob will be offering trips further afield chasing scarlet sea perch, red emperor, nannygai, mackerel, cobia, monster trevally and again a variety of reef fish.

Pure adventure days will be another option for those keen to explore Fraser Island, Hervey Bay, the Great Sandy Straits and enjoy sightseeing, whales and dolphins, swimming and of course wetting a line should the clients so desire.

I have fished (and worked) with this gentleman and I know him well. His depth of knowledge of the Fraser region is difficult to fathom. Should you need assistance getting your game up to speed or be an experienced angler and feel the need to get amongst some truly serious fish do yourself a favour and spend a day or two with Bob Jeynes. Check out hotreelsprofishingcharters.com.au to get a little more info on this fantastic operation.