Daintreeboy
13-06-2003, 03:30 PM
The missus and I were fishing the creek opposite the bay at Cullen Point and catching heaps of big Pikey Bream, all released. I had decided to go for a quick troll up the nearest deep bank before doing some luring. On the first pass my reel literally exploded as a Metre plus Barra came to the surface and boiled. A ball bearing must have given way as the reel back lashed horribly leaving around 20 metres of line between the fish and I. I quickly grabbed the 12 lb line at the tip of the rod and started frantically reversing up to the fish. I have no idea how the line never broke but it was surely at it’s limit that first run. Amazingly the fish never found it’s way to a snag either. I hand lined a few feet of line before attempting to drag the fish out into the middle of the creek with the boat. The fish took it’s second run and this time I had to let go of the line as I was sitting on the motor reversing as fast as possible. Nicky had the rod leaning over into the water at full stretch and both of us were just waiting for the snap to be heard. It never came. This time I was able to get more line back and manoeuvre the fish into deep water where a 20 minute handline fight ensued. Not having a net either we finally boated the fish using a wet towel and comfort lifting it in. Sadly it could not be revived so we gave it to some people fishing the same area as it was too big for our esky. It went 105 cm and over 12.5 kilos. The other photo is it’s twin we caught the next day in the exact same spot on the exact same lure this time I wasn’t taking any chances and was using my new Calcutta and Wilson live Fibre with 30 lb Platinum so I was able to fight the fish better and release it to fight another day.