Chamelion
04-02-2009, 10:48 PM
Hi all,
Was going to head up to Coolum to fish off the rocks, but the weather was a bit unknown so we sacrificed an hours fishing time to prep the boat and drag it down to the ramp.
I got there ahead of my mate Pete and just sat out on the water eating my sausage roll. He phoned about then wanting to clarify the bait he was meant to purchase.. I tell him uncooked, unpeeled bananna prawns from woolies, the silly duffer rocks up with cooked tiger prawns.. I figured oh well, worth a shot, we've still got whitebait and lures.
We started off my trolling my little 1/8 TT switchblade down towards parerra lake. I didn't expect it to produce a result, but we wanted to head down there anyway, so what the hell, right?
About half way down puttering along at a speed that was just in gear and about 500rpm my drag started going spastic, it was only my little Daiwa Exceler 1500 with 10lb mojiko braid and a 20lb daiwa sealine leader... I drop my pie which I was consuming with no care as to where it landed and hastily tap the spool to set the hooks whilst removing it from the rod holder, I'm on! I try to communicate to Pete to stop the boat (I think I said "boat gear off out key turn boat off" haha). After a little confusion he turns the key and I concentrate on my fish. Straight away I said to Pete that I didn't at all recognise the way the fish was fighting, so I knew from then that it was going to be something that I hadn't caught before.
It was putting up a good wrestle and I was having fun. As it neared the boat it launched out of the water and did a barramundi style headshake, I was shocked! I had never experienced that before, but the fish was to do it twice again before I finally got the fish into the boat.
After checking my little yellow book I identified it as a Tarpon... Fantastic! A quick photo and back into the water it goes to fight another day.
After that we headed back around the corner and along the way Pete's breaking about a BILLION commonly accepted fishing techniques. He politely tells me that one day his strange fishing methods will pay off.
We anchored just under a bridge to benefit from the shade as the sun had come out by that point and it was quite hot. Pete baited up with one of the cooked prawns, shell, head and all.
Not too long after whilst we're sitting down chilling out his rod goes from vertical to horizontal, the rod holder failing to hold it upright. His drag was peeling off rather well and I knew he was onto something decent... At this point I should note that Pete has only been fishing for a couple of months and generally only once per week. We have been doing our best to teach him what we know about fishing... Where was I? Oh right... Anyhow, we both jump up and wrestle to get the rod out of the holder. I grab the rod and keep the fish out of the pylons whilst setting the drag so he can catch the fish. He gets composed, I hand him the rod and he's way over excited attempting to skull drag the fish to the boat whilst the drag is still spinning. I got behind him and guideded him verbally with a little help with his timing of the pump and wind and letting the fish run when it wanted to.
After a nice little battle the fish comes up to the surface and we're greeted by a respectable golden trevally! He makes another couple of runs for the deck but Pete keeps control only for the silly fish to have a run at the anchor rope, under it and back over the top getting itself into a tangle. I saw disaster looming so I grab the net and leap over the windscreen and up onto the front of the boat. I placed the net under the fish and a split second later the line goes TWANG and I barely manage to net the fish. To say he was excited (me too for that matter) would be a massive understatement. The fish was returned to the water to fight another day...
Not long after this I get a hit and hook up, then immediately get taken under a rock. I let out a little slack and the bugger comes out but as soon as I put pressure on again BAM under another rock. My line gave way at this point. :( Serves me right for putting the wrong combo in the boat this morning!
The same thing happened to pete too.
Moved to a different spot with only 30 minutes of fishing time left. I saw something bust the surface next to an old tree in the river about 20m away. I threw on a prawn and nailed the cast dead onto the spot where the fish busted. About half a minute later I got a big hit and was greeted with a good fight for a few moments until my line went slack... I had been bitted off (20lb mono leader/trace, 15lb braid) BUGGER.
After all of that only two fish boated but both providing a good fight... We ended the day in really good spirits and feeling very eager to head back there as soon as possible... I might have to get my anchor light installed so I can hit that spot up at night. :D
I was extremely happy to bag my first fish on my switchblade, which was also my first fish whilst trolling... But that pales in comparison to how chuffed I am that Pete caught such a good fish. I got a lot of satisfaction out of his reaction when it sunk in. ;D ... The two chaps in the alu runabout that saw the comotion must have though I was a raving lunatic.. I did let out a few yahoos!
Pictures ahoy.
(the pie I was talking about is on the dash to the right... That mark on the Tarpon's belly is also some of my pie hahah)
Was going to head up to Coolum to fish off the rocks, but the weather was a bit unknown so we sacrificed an hours fishing time to prep the boat and drag it down to the ramp.
I got there ahead of my mate Pete and just sat out on the water eating my sausage roll. He phoned about then wanting to clarify the bait he was meant to purchase.. I tell him uncooked, unpeeled bananna prawns from woolies, the silly duffer rocks up with cooked tiger prawns.. I figured oh well, worth a shot, we've still got whitebait and lures.
We started off my trolling my little 1/8 TT switchblade down towards parerra lake. I didn't expect it to produce a result, but we wanted to head down there anyway, so what the hell, right?
About half way down puttering along at a speed that was just in gear and about 500rpm my drag started going spastic, it was only my little Daiwa Exceler 1500 with 10lb mojiko braid and a 20lb daiwa sealine leader... I drop my pie which I was consuming with no care as to where it landed and hastily tap the spool to set the hooks whilst removing it from the rod holder, I'm on! I try to communicate to Pete to stop the boat (I think I said "boat gear off out key turn boat off" haha). After a little confusion he turns the key and I concentrate on my fish. Straight away I said to Pete that I didn't at all recognise the way the fish was fighting, so I knew from then that it was going to be something that I hadn't caught before.
It was putting up a good wrestle and I was having fun. As it neared the boat it launched out of the water and did a barramundi style headshake, I was shocked! I had never experienced that before, but the fish was to do it twice again before I finally got the fish into the boat.
After checking my little yellow book I identified it as a Tarpon... Fantastic! A quick photo and back into the water it goes to fight another day.
After that we headed back around the corner and along the way Pete's breaking about a BILLION commonly accepted fishing techniques. He politely tells me that one day his strange fishing methods will pay off.
We anchored just under a bridge to benefit from the shade as the sun had come out by that point and it was quite hot. Pete baited up with one of the cooked prawns, shell, head and all.
Not too long after whilst we're sitting down chilling out his rod goes from vertical to horizontal, the rod holder failing to hold it upright. His drag was peeling off rather well and I knew he was onto something decent... At this point I should note that Pete has only been fishing for a couple of months and generally only once per week. We have been doing our best to teach him what we know about fishing... Where was I? Oh right... Anyhow, we both jump up and wrestle to get the rod out of the holder. I grab the rod and keep the fish out of the pylons whilst setting the drag so he can catch the fish. He gets composed, I hand him the rod and he's way over excited attempting to skull drag the fish to the boat whilst the drag is still spinning. I got behind him and guideded him verbally with a little help with his timing of the pump and wind and letting the fish run when it wanted to.
After a nice little battle the fish comes up to the surface and we're greeted by a respectable golden trevally! He makes another couple of runs for the deck but Pete keeps control only for the silly fish to have a run at the anchor rope, under it and back over the top getting itself into a tangle. I saw disaster looming so I grab the net and leap over the windscreen and up onto the front of the boat. I placed the net under the fish and a split second later the line goes TWANG and I barely manage to net the fish. To say he was excited (me too for that matter) would be a massive understatement. The fish was returned to the water to fight another day...
Not long after this I get a hit and hook up, then immediately get taken under a rock. I let out a little slack and the bugger comes out but as soon as I put pressure on again BAM under another rock. My line gave way at this point. :( Serves me right for putting the wrong combo in the boat this morning!
The same thing happened to pete too.
Moved to a different spot with only 30 minutes of fishing time left. I saw something bust the surface next to an old tree in the river about 20m away. I threw on a prawn and nailed the cast dead onto the spot where the fish busted. About half a minute later I got a big hit and was greeted with a good fight for a few moments until my line went slack... I had been bitted off (20lb mono leader/trace, 15lb braid) BUGGER.
After all of that only two fish boated but both providing a good fight... We ended the day in really good spirits and feeling very eager to head back there as soon as possible... I might have to get my anchor light installed so I can hit that spot up at night. :D
I was extremely happy to bag my first fish on my switchblade, which was also my first fish whilst trolling... But that pales in comparison to how chuffed I am that Pete caught such a good fish. I got a lot of satisfaction out of his reaction when it sunk in. ;D ... The two chaps in the alu runabout that saw the comotion must have though I was a raving lunatic.. I did let out a few yahoos!
Pictures ahoy.
(the pie I was talking about is on the dash to the right... That mark on the Tarpon's belly is also some of my pie hahah)