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Hervey Bay Fly Fishing Comp 2010

The Matthew Quinn Memorial Fly Classic.

History:

Each year for the past 4 years members of this online forum have run a Meet and Greet event at Hervey Bay in

memorial of our good friend Matthew (Quinny) Quinn. Matt was tragically killed in a car accident in December

2005. last year we decided to turn this Meet and Greet into a formal competition. It was well attended with 36

competitors attending. As a result we raised over $1100 for the McGrath Foundation. The format this year is the

same. Competitors will flyfish for any species, in a large area bounded by Inskip Point in the south through to

Bundaberg in the north. The "Matthew Quinn Memorial Trophy" will be awarded to the most memorable capture

of the event. This will be decided by a vote of the competitors present at the presentation. A selection of

Sponsors prizes will be awarded by way of a lucky draw. This will be a non profit event with the proceeds being

donated to a charity chosen by the Quinn Family.

On the friday before the comp Michael Kan and myself decided to go to Hervey Bay to Check it and see what

was on the prowl on the flats and out at wathumba.

We were greated with light winds and a little overcast all looked good but the fish seemed to be very skitish and

this is why we decided to fish in Bundaberg on the saturday and then to fish the last day in hervey bay.

This proved to be well worth the effort as we expected the fishing in the bay proved to be quite difficult as it was

very hard to get close to the schools that were working and only a few fish were landed offshore.

On the saturday we decided to head out early to get to the Barjon wreck at around the 10 mile mark offshore

these grounds in the last few months have been the most prolific in their catches and up to 10+ species during

the day can be found on a regular visit.

WRECK NAME: Barjon

SHIP TYPE: Trawler SANK IN:1986

LOCATION: Bargara CONSTRUCTION: Steel

TRAVEL TIME: 35 Minutes MAX DEPTH: 23 Metres

AVG DEPTH: 21 Metres AVERAGE VIZ: 8 Metres

WRECK DESCRIPTION

The 'Barjon' was a 15 metre trawler which sank in 1986 following a fire which caused extensive damage. It would

appear that further damage has been caused to the wreck and rumour has it that this may have been caused by

divers salvaging lead from the keel. Descending on the wreck in clear water is a great experience as the sandy

depression highlights the wreck in the centre of it and enhances the whole experience. The marine life that

surrounds this site is incredible!

The bottom consists of a flat sandy bottom with occasional patches of scattered sea grass in the general vicinity

which then drops into a circular depression about 1 metre deep in which the wreck lies.

This site is home to a wide variety of reef species such as butterfly fish, angel fish, banner fish, and large lion

fish also trout red empour & many other common reef species . Trevally and sweetlip continually circle the site

along with kingfish, mackerel and barracuda. Visits by bull rays, manta rays and various species of shark can be

expected this site also congregates large schools of bait fish and you can expect to see large amount of pelagics

from mac tuna, longtail tuna, yellow fin tuna & large Gt's.

After finding the wreck Michael Kan and I settled in a rigged up the fly rods michael decided to try a rather large

clouser in yellow and white these were some special ties that michael had tied the week before, fishing with fly in

around 70ft of water takes some special equipment and fly's, firstly rods nothing less than a 10wt fly rod full

intermediate fly line and at minium of 30ft af T14 sink tip , this tipped line is a coated fly line which is coated with

tungsten at about 14 grains per foot this makes for a fly that sinks at 9inches per second great to get your fly's

into the strike zone quick.

Once on the bottom the best type of stipping for the wrecks is a long slow stip by grabbing the line closest to the

first ferral and pulling slowly back until the arm is streched as far as you can go, but dont forget if that strip does

not work the first time mix it up fishing is always about learning the area you are fishing and what the fish feel like

striking at, so have a go if if you dont hook up in the first 4 or so strips let your line back out until your on the

bottom again and try again remember to point the tip of the rod down when stripping the line back, as this will

help keep the slack line in check, once you do feel the weight on the fly line make sure you give it a good hard

pull to set the hook.

The main thing with fishing with fly is to always keep the rod loaded this means keep the rod bent so the fish is

unable to throw the hook, next you will nearly always have some fly line on the deck which you will need to get

off the floor and back onto the reel to start the fight, let the line slip through you fingers but remember to make

sure you dont just let go off all the line as this will take the pressure of the fish and allow the fish to throw the

hook, once you are on the reel the fight begins.

The rod being aroung the 9ft + mark makes these rods pull alot harder on the fish this also allows you greater

flexability to turn the head of the fish or keep pressure on the fish depending on the species you are targeting for

instance trevally tend not to like you pulling the rod in a figure 8 pattern to disorinentate them. Tuna on the other

hand are a very different fish to fight long runs and something I call the tuna dance when you get them closer to

the boat they tend to go around under around and around with a few smaller bursts, with tuna you cannot afford

to just sit back, keep them working dont stop because as soon at you give them a rest they get more oxygen in

the blood and then off they go again so if you want to get them into the boat dont let them rest!

I decided to go for a new fly of michaels which I had asked him to tie for me a slightly larger clouser in white and

yellow with pink eyes and a few bits of flash , pink or red are the first colours to dispurse in deeper water this

make the eyes look more translucent and thus more like a bait fish.

On the first cast I let out the full fly line as there was still a little bit of run and thus would take more time to get to

the bottom. Once down I gave a few very slow long retieves and then a pause, and on the pause I felt a slight

bump in the line and decided to just give the line 1 quick sharp jab to set the hook if that's was what I had felt,

with the fly rod butt just resting on my hip.

I felt some weight on the line and then an all mighty pull the rod butt had gotten caught in my belt that I was

wearing and line strated to peel through my hands I did manage to slow the run a little by fingering the line and

then decided to give the fish a little turn of the wrist to turn the head well what a bad idea that was.

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I now had and angry fish on the line and the backing braid was now

peeling through my hand "OUCH " it sliced very quickly through the

hand and then the rod bent stright over the side of the boat and the

butt that was caught in belt then gave way snapping free from the

rod, the reel then decide to part way with the rod and spin off around

the deck of the boat while michael attempted to grab the reel from

the floor, line was peeling off all over the place with me still trying to

keep the line speed down michael then magaed to grab the reel at

the seat and then tried to wind back the line that was all over the

boat deck once he had the line back on the reel we both worked

together to get me some fly line to grad hold off instead of braid

which was now well sliced into my hand like a really bad paper cut.

Finally success I had some fly line and I proceeded to pull the fish in by hand after 20 minutes or so a rather

large Diamond Trevally was on the floor of the boat and a scream of pain and excitment came from my mouth at

92cm and approx weight of 14 - 16kgs the first fish in the boat was done and then released so no doughnut for

the comp and what a way to start the day off.

Michael was the next fish of the rank was a tidy painted sweetlip

or mother in law but still another species, although this fish had

a tag along for part of its journey on its way up form the bottom,

by the looks of the fish the large cod that lives in the wreck had

decided just to have a little taste. (see Photo on right).

The wreck is well know for the trevally and Large Cobia / Black

kings that move about, but due to the recent rains up here the

Cobia had moved away from the wreck.

A few of the razor gang / Spanish Mackeral had eaten a few of

Michaels fly's and even with a 80lb leader on all he felt was a

slight pull and they were gone so after about $300 dollars of flys

were donated as a free meal to them we decided to shift to another spot a lot further out.

Saturday was the day to go out wide as we were greated with 5 Knts and glass conditions so off we went to the

Althea Wreck to try our luck but on the way out we saw no birds working the gutters and ridge lines chasing bait

this meant that the Althea wreck may not have been the best decision but we had at least 4 species on board

and we were well done for the day anyway . Just a few more trevally and the odd mac tuna were pulled aboard,

by 3pm we decided to head for the home leeds.

We launched from Urangan at around 5.30am and headed straight for the Longtails at wathumba these fish

seemed to be alot more spooky than on the friday and trying to position the boat some 300 mts away and wait

for the school to come to you still proved fruitless as they turned just before getting to the boats , Most of the

longtails were feeding on large bait schools of long toms and they didnt seem to want the fly at all so we decided

to pull the pin early and a good choice that was as on the way back to the ramp a rather large rain storm hit the

bay and boy did we get soaked but at least the boat got a good hose down.

Once everybody had returned to the ramp the usual followed with prizes and trophys given to the winners I did

Manage to take out the Hervey Bay memorial trophy for the Most Memorable Catch.

The guys who fish the hervey Bay comp each year are a great bunch of people who are very willing to give their

time and money to good causes as this year they donated all the money made from the comp to Prostate cancer

research. So dont forget next year if you can spare a weekend and want to have a fly fish with us please look up

the website for more details at www.saltwaterflyfishing.com.au

This Poem is dedicated to Quinny

Named The DASH

It’s a beautiful reminder about what’s really important in life. Be blessed while you read it.

I read of a man who stood to speak, at the funeral of a friend.

He referred to the dates on this tombstone from beginning...to the end.

He noted that first came his date of birth and spoke the following with tears. But he said what mattered most of

all, was the dash in between those years.

For the dash represents, all the time he spent alive on earth.

And how only those who loved him know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own; the cars, the house, the cash, what matters most is how we live and love

and how we spend our dash… So think about this long and hard. Are there things you’d like to change?

For you never know how much time is left, that can still be rearranged. If we could just slow down enough, to

consider what is true and real.

And always try to understand, the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger, and show appreciation more,

and love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect, and more often wear a smile…

Remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy is being read, with your life’s actions to rehash would you be proud of the things they say

and how your spent your dash?

(By Linda Ellis)

Hope your days are all glass and the fish jump into your boat

Tight lines and braid cuts

Maddog Morgan