# Bust ups and Bonnies - Long Reef 6/10/12



## Marty75 (Oct 23, 2007)

After almost a year since fishing at Long Reef I persuaded my mate Marek to give it a go last Saturday in the hope of snaring a kingie or two.

After fuffing around getting set up we eventually launched into cloudy conditions as Dave (SBD) came back to shore with reports of not much activity about. Bumping into PaulB on the way out confirmed the quiet fishing report.

Armed with an array of light spin, medium spin, jig and bait outfits I started off trolling a an Xrap and unweighted SP stickbait for zip until we reached some curious bird activity before switching to bait and a small 10gm slug on the light outfit. Marek and I followed the sporadic bird activity until the small surface bust ups started just past and north to The Wall.

My first bonito fell to the small halco slug ripped through the boils at around 9am. Around 40cm long and full of bait fish he was kept for the table. We chased the birds and bust ups again and again covering some serious ground before the slug got hit again about half an hour later but this time fought harder and with a bit more weight. After a few minutes of tug and war on the light outfit I managed to land a chunky bonito of 56cm (new PB) which was dispatched for the table as well but not after regurgitating the numerous baitfish he was gorging on over my yak. A third bonnie around 45cm was landed and released on the tiny slug after that.










We proceeded to head back to the wall just before high tide (around 11:00am) and this was where we encountered bigger bust ups, birds and yellow tails splashing through the boils along with more bonitos launching themselves out of the water. I was after a kingie however and tried everything to nail one including small Halco rooster poppers, translucent 6" SP stickbaits, jigging, bait, even a tiny 2" power minnow but they wouldn't take anything. Marek even managed to jag one of the tiny baitfish on one of the trebles of his slug (dunno how) and the treble itself was bigger than the bait. The fish were extremely fussy indeed. Chase after chase and cast after cast resulted in no further results for the morning.

Off the water just after midday. Dolphins and breaching whales (including one which materialized next to Marek about 10m away while heading back to shore in only 11m of water) added to the fishing that morning along with many km's of peddaling and sore arms from hundreds of frustrated casts (not fighting fish).










Marty


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Nice bone!


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## paulthetaffy (Jan 27, 2010)

Nice work Marty! Glad that Longy produced for you after all that time away  And you can't beat bonnies on the plate either!


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## paulb (Nov 12, 2006)

Fat little buggers ( can I use the word 'fat' these days....... ) how long we're the baitfish ? Sounded like they were approx 1cm ?


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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

That's a couple of reports with dawn not performing, but things warming up a couple of hours later.

Nice Bonnie! Totally under rated eating fish, fight well at that size too. Thanks for the report.


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Nice bonnie Marty, glad to see you found some fish, reports have been a bit negative recently.


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## yakattack (Jan 12, 2008)

Hi Marty,

Great bonnie. Havent caught one in ages.
I have caught some good kings at longy over the past few weeks all falling to live squiddies.
Its really funny they havent been taking live yakkas or slimies with preference only for squid.
How warm was the water ?

Cheers Micka


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## Nbh00d (Feb 12, 2012)

Nice report... sounds like a candy fly tied to the back of those metal slugs can do the trick to convert those fussy kingies.


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## Marty75 (Oct 23, 2007)

Paul, the bonnies regurgitated baitfish from 3-5cm in length (looked like baby slimies from the mottled green markings on their backs) however when we encountered the kingies later on they appeared to be feeding on the tiny baitfish (maybe 1-2cm in length). Plenty of surface activity however if you were prepared to chase it and pepper it with your offerings. Very frustrating doing cast after cast in the middle of the boils and coming up empty handed time after time.


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## Marty75 (Oct 23, 2007)

Yep definitely the surface activity increased later in the morning. Don't know if it was the drizzly and overcast conditions or the 11:45 high tide or what.


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