Hi All
I've had a few requests for me to post my first report for my recent trip to Linene which was from 9 -17 April so here goes;
By all accounts our trip yielded both the best and worst Linene had to offer. The first two days were really quiet both offshore and on the beach with a few bonnies caught on spoon offshore and that was it. Unfortunately some unseasonal weather moved in a the form of a front accompanied by strong winds and barring the bonnies (I am not religious but thank the lord for bonnies!), it appeared that the fish had all gone off the bite.
Early on the second day the wind changed from strong N/E to a howling S/E which dampened our spirits somewhat but Adrian suggested we give the Spit a go anyway as he pointed out that sometimes the first day of the S/E can yield the odd fish. We arrived at the spit with the sea a mess and the wind pumping which didnt bode well. Little did we know!! Gash, one of the guys made a cast with a chiselnose and within two winds went vas landing a 18kg GT. That fish was being released when one of the other guys went on off and then my popper got smashed and I landed a 17kg GT. We soon realised that whilst the plugs excited them, they werent committing and it was my popper that was doing the trick as the other poppers never even had a follow. So everyone had a go with my rod (I figured we all had to get fish) and it was absolute mayhem. In just over 2 hours we landed 12 GT's between 6 of us , the largest of 26kg, 1 x 22kg, 1 x 20kg, 1 x 18kg, 1 x 17 kg, 4 x 16kg's, 2 x 15kg's and one of 14kgs and we lost 2.
A dream session!!! Each time we thought they had gone, we'd get another! We got 10 of them on a 12ft Exage Spinning rod paired with a Stella 10000 loaded with 80lb braid (Great setup!) and with a Sardine Strike Pro popper ( the blue one with the spots on it) and the other two were caught on 3oz chiselnose plugs.
Unfortunately the wind brought colder water inshore along with lots of jellyfish and the only fish that seemed to be feeding were the bonnies. We saw some nice gt's smashing baitfish near backline the next day but we couldnt reach them as we were casting into the teeth of the wind.
Offshore nothing worked and even dropshot only yielded a couple of rockcods on the shallower reefs. We found a floating log on the one day and excitedly made some casts in the hope of a nice dorado or two only to realise we were in the nursery when we landed two of about 1kg. The one plus offshore was two of our guys managed to get 1 Amberjack each of 12 and 14kgs on pink coloured 400g jigs with yours truly losing a bus to a bad knot ( dont trust your local tackle shop!) on a yellow/green 400g Kingfisher jig and another when the hooks pulled! (I'll leave out the swearing!)Rods used were the Kingfisher heavy jigging rods with Shimano Stella 10000's and Daiwa Opus Bulls.
As far as the bonnies go, we landed about 30 between us and they provided some great excitement on light tackle ( Thank goodness!) Light tackle used on the boats were a variety of Berkley Airs, Shimano Vengeance and Nexaves paired with Daiwa Exceller 4000 +'s , Shimano Spheros 6000's & I used a 9ft Aerocast paired with a Sustain 5000. All the reels were loaded with Fireline in 14 & 30lb. Lures used were the small blue Onde Onde's and small blue Maria spoons which accounted for most of the Bonnies as well as a few other no-name spoons in blue. We got a few on the 45g Iron Candies in Orange as well but it was the Onde's and Maria's that did most of the damage and all round blue seemed to be the colour.
As far as the light tackle in the surf went, we got a few fish but nothing exceptional. I got a greenspot of 5kgs on d/shot using a pearl watermelon shad on a 1 oz Jighead and on the small Blue Onde's and Maria's we got 2 Blacktip Kingies of 3 & 4 kg's, 4 x Wolf Herrings of 1 - 2kgs, 3 x Pompano 1 - 3 kg's, 3 X GT'S 1- 3kgs, 1 x Queenfish of 1,5 kgs and a bonefish of 1kg. Tackle wise we used the same as on the boat. In the estuary one of the ladies managed two cock grunter of 4kg's on crab as bait. All in all we managed 24 species in 8 days as opposed to 32 species in 6 days on my last trip.
Overall I suppose we were lucky with the GT session and unlucky as far as the weather went. This was my third trip to Linene and although it yielded less fish, they were bigger than those of my other trips so I cant really complain. As far as the lodge goes, the food, lodging and hospitality were fantastic as usual and in Adrian you couldnt hope for a better guide. There were other guys fishing at other lodges in the area and we heard via radio that they got hardly a thing and couldnt believe what we managed, so under the circumstances, Adrian certainly delivered. Go there, you won't be disappointed and I'll certainly be back.
Photos will follow.
Cheers
I've had a few requests for me to post my first report for my recent trip to Linene which was from 9 -17 April so here goes;
By all accounts our trip yielded both the best and worst Linene had to offer. The first two days were really quiet both offshore and on the beach with a few bonnies caught on spoon offshore and that was it. Unfortunately some unseasonal weather moved in a the form of a front accompanied by strong winds and barring the bonnies (I am not religious but thank the lord for bonnies!), it appeared that the fish had all gone off the bite.
Early on the second day the wind changed from strong N/E to a howling S/E which dampened our spirits somewhat but Adrian suggested we give the Spit a go anyway as he pointed out that sometimes the first day of the S/E can yield the odd fish. We arrived at the spit with the sea a mess and the wind pumping which didnt bode well. Little did we know!! Gash, one of the guys made a cast with a chiselnose and within two winds went vas landing a 18kg GT. That fish was being released when one of the other guys went on off and then my popper got smashed and I landed a 17kg GT. We soon realised that whilst the plugs excited them, they werent committing and it was my popper that was doing the trick as the other poppers never even had a follow. So everyone had a go with my rod (I figured we all had to get fish) and it was absolute mayhem. In just over 2 hours we landed 12 GT's between 6 of us , the largest of 26kg, 1 x 22kg, 1 x 20kg, 1 x 18kg, 1 x 17 kg, 4 x 16kg's, 2 x 15kg's and one of 14kgs and we lost 2.
A dream session!!! Each time we thought they had gone, we'd get another! We got 10 of them on a 12ft Exage Spinning rod paired with a Stella 10000 loaded with 80lb braid (Great setup!) and with a Sardine Strike Pro popper ( the blue one with the spots on it) and the other two were caught on 3oz chiselnose plugs.
Unfortunately the wind brought colder water inshore along with lots of jellyfish and the only fish that seemed to be feeding were the bonnies. We saw some nice gt's smashing baitfish near backline the next day but we couldnt reach them as we were casting into the teeth of the wind.
Offshore nothing worked and even dropshot only yielded a couple of rockcods on the shallower reefs. We found a floating log on the one day and excitedly made some casts in the hope of a nice dorado or two only to realise we were in the nursery when we landed two of about 1kg. The one plus offshore was two of our guys managed to get 1 Amberjack each of 12 and 14kgs on pink coloured 400g jigs with yours truly losing a bus to a bad knot ( dont trust your local tackle shop!) on a yellow/green 400g Kingfisher jig and another when the hooks pulled! (I'll leave out the swearing!)Rods used were the Kingfisher heavy jigging rods with Shimano Stella 10000's and Daiwa Opus Bulls.
As far as the bonnies go, we landed about 30 between us and they provided some great excitement on light tackle ( Thank goodness!) Light tackle used on the boats were a variety of Berkley Airs, Shimano Vengeance and Nexaves paired with Daiwa Exceller 4000 +'s , Shimano Spheros 6000's & I used a 9ft Aerocast paired with a Sustain 5000. All the reels were loaded with Fireline in 14 & 30lb. Lures used were the small blue Onde Onde's and small blue Maria spoons which accounted for most of the Bonnies as well as a few other no-name spoons in blue. We got a few on the 45g Iron Candies in Orange as well but it was the Onde's and Maria's that did most of the damage and all round blue seemed to be the colour.
As far as the light tackle in the surf went, we got a few fish but nothing exceptional. I got a greenspot of 5kgs on d/shot using a pearl watermelon shad on a 1 oz Jighead and on the small Blue Onde's and Maria's we got 2 Blacktip Kingies of 3 & 4 kg's, 4 x Wolf Herrings of 1 - 2kgs, 3 x Pompano 1 - 3 kg's, 3 X GT'S 1- 3kgs, 1 x Queenfish of 1,5 kgs and a bonefish of 1kg. Tackle wise we used the same as on the boat. In the estuary one of the ladies managed two cock grunter of 4kg's on crab as bait. All in all we managed 24 species in 8 days as opposed to 32 species in 6 days on my last trip.
Overall I suppose we were lucky with the GT session and unlucky as far as the weather went. This was my third trip to Linene and although it yielded less fish, they were bigger than those of my other trips so I cant really complain. As far as the lodge goes, the food, lodging and hospitality were fantastic as usual and in Adrian you couldnt hope for a better guide. There were other guys fishing at other lodges in the area and we heard via radio that they got hardly a thing and couldnt believe what we managed, so under the circumstances, Adrian certainly delivered. Go there, you won't be disappointed and I'll certainly be back.
Photos will follow.
Cheers
Great report and even greater fish caught, well done to you all