THE TANK TRAVELS THE WORLD-PHOTOS AND REPORTS TO COME

[Rothmar2]

Snuck out for a spur of the moment trip today, but the Tank proved to be a "reel Jonah" and didn't tick a ratchet in anger all day. We did end up with a few albacore and small SBT's on "other" reels.
Seeing as this thread is about the Tank, I'm not sure it's really worth posting a report?!

[Rothmar2]

Tank is now on its way to Queensland for Mike to try and work over. I think he might have some GT plans for it. A big one would be a worthy opponent for the Tank. Good luck with it Mike, I hope you get some big'uns on it.

[Shark Hunter]

The Tank with a Big GT would be Epic.

[mhc]

The Tank has arrived in Rockhampton, Central Queensland, Australia - along with a strong wind warning for Capricorn Coast Waters over the coming weekend.

Daron, I'm more hopeful than confident of finding a big GT.

Mike

[Dominick]

Hook up a kite and put the Tank through its paces.    Dominick

[mhc]

The Tank has had a practice run to Rock Cod Shoals 35 km out of Gladstone. It was the last location on our list of options, they are the closest reef area to Gladstone and are fairly heavily fished. The reefs we hope to get a GT on are about 70 km out but the forecast of 10 - 15 knot northerly increasing to 15 - 20 in the afternoon stopped us from heading further out. My friend's boat is 16 ft - anything much above 10 knots and 1m seas makes the trip slow, wet and uncomfortable.

We started trolling on the shoals around 5 am and gave it away around 5:45 without getting a touch.

The Tank waiting for action




It wasn't looking good for pelagics, we only saw a couple of lone birds that came over to us to see if we had found any fish.
I put the Tank away while we bottom bounced for a few table fish in 40 - 60 ft.

Danni with the first of 4 Coral Trout
   

Luke with a Red Throat Sweetlip


My accurate 99 with another sweetlip


Not much in the way of scenery - if you look closely you can make out some of the hills around Gladstone


No action for the Tank but we had a good morning fishing. We ended up with 24 sweeetlip and 4 trout between three of us - nothing of any size but a good feed for the location.

I'm hoping to take the Tank further out into the Capricorn Bunker Group before I send it back to Chis in a few weeks.

[Rothmar2]

Nice little write up Mike. Nice size trout too. When I lived in Airlie many many moons ago, got a dose of Cigutera from a big trout, prob around 20lb. After that we'd only eat them up to the size of the one pictured. Nothing wrong with a feed of "Trickies" like those you got.
Had a look on the Navionics charts, lots of Marine Park Zones out there these days. Can see why the shoals you fished get a hammering.
Hope you get a chance to get further out for some mega GT's.

[broadway]

Man, those sweet lips are pretty fish. 
Happy to see the tank making its' way around the world.  Hope you get a GT on the tank to really get her turned on.
Thanks for the update,
Dom

[Alto Mare]

Always nice to see the Tank on the water ready for action. Thanks for the great shots and for doing this for us, Mike...good luck out there.

Sal

[jonnou]

Speedos in Tassie? No chance! Brass monkey weather down here for the most part. Yes Mike, will send the Tank to you by the end of the week along with some other bits and pieces for you. There has been a massive run of small SBT come through here in the last week, a boat tagged 50 in under 4 hours today, but 8-15kg tunny are not Tank-worthy.

Strewth too damn cold for Budgie Smugglers

[Rivverrat]

Great thread !  Enjoyed the pics & stories here.

[David Hall]

Awesome thread great stories.
That reel is collecting some mojo......jo jo!

[mhc]

The Tank is on it's way back to Tasmania, fully refreshed after a relaxing break in Central Queensland. I'm disappointed I didn't get another chance to try for a tank-worthy fish.

I have taken a few photos at Rosslyn Bay Harbour to at least show the tank has been here;



At the 1st boat ramp


The 2nd ramp


The marina


and one of the wharfs


It's unlikely the tank will return to here, so I guess I'll have to make a replica to catch a tank GT.

I'm also disappointed no one mentioned my pink ABU shirt in the earlier photos.  

Mike

PS - We weren't the only ones that didn't like the weather - the trailer boat parking areas were empty a lot of the time.

[Alto Mare]

Mike, that's why they call it fishing...you never know.
Don't feel too bad, you did a great job with the Tank, I've personally enjoyed your nice pics.
Thanks for your involvement with the "Tank journey", certainly something to remember.

Sal

[Rothmar2]

The Tank has landed back in Tas. I've only been home a couple of days, but am hearing that the fishing has gone up a notch, just need a break in the weather. There has been a few smoked electrics before the weather turned sour, pretty sure that means the swords are turning up.
5-6m swell here over the last couple of days, been surfing instead!