One_Day
30-12-2006, 04:44 PM
Finally managed to duck out for a fish in between christmas celebrations and rotten weather. Hooked up with a mate who loves to fish but generally never gets the time to go due to work commitments. We don't live to work!
Headed out at 4am to some of the beacons in the northern bay anchored up with not a boat to be seen and started up a burley trail. All going well so far. A short time later had a few boats turn up, then a few more until there was no more camping room. Didn't bother them though they dropped anchor on both sides of us. I kept my mouth shut until one guy dropped anchor no more than six metres beside us. I asked a little less politely if would prefer to fish in my boat to which he declined. It felt like late night shopping on christmas eve. To top it off once there was no more shoulder room a guy has driven up from the opposite direction and dropped anchor right where everyones lines were! Couldn't believe the lack of courtesy. Needless to say we didn't stay for long. If you did manage to hook up it would be all over in an instant with the number of anchor ropes. I normally fish mid week and try to avoid the crowds so perhaps I'm overly sensitive when this happens.
On to the fishing. We pulled anchor and found our own beacon free from the crowds after a bit of travelling (no birds seen). Anchored up and started a burley trail again. Picked up some smaller fish and dropped one on as a live bait. Wound it in after 10 minutes or so to find it sheared in half about 1/2mm behind the stinger hook. My mate then hooked up on his 6kg overhead and as I was clearing the lines saw a big mackeral cruising behind the back of the boat. The fish was giving us trouble and half way through the fight ran under the boat rubbing the line on the hull.
Lines back out and managed to get another live bait (pinned both hooks in the back half of the bait) and fed it out into the burley trail. Checked it a short time later to find it was still ok. Fed it back down and it got smashed straight away. After a short but spirited fight landed a nice schoolie.
Started getting a few light bites on one of the pillies and struck getting a very solid hook up. Reel screamed in protest as something a little larger than expected took off. A couple of seconds later a mack around the metre mark launches out of the water and my line goes slack, bitten off above the gangs. Still an amazing sight.
A few more hits and misses and the braid parting at the top of my rod on another solid hook up revealed a small crack in the top eye which cut straight through the braid when it was put under load. Bugger :-/
Thinking about heading in when another livie goes off getting smashed and then taking off on a solid run. Had to up anchor to go after it with line peeling from the reel. Was hoping it was another nice mackeral but 10 minutes later saw colour about 20 metres from the boat and called it as a shark (hoping I was wrong and that it was a nice cobia). Brought the noah in and thought we would keep it for a feed. Had a fun time with it once we brought it on board and it twisted out of the open eskie! A bit buggered after all that. Overall a good day on the water with a good mate, that's what it's all about.
Headed out at 4am to some of the beacons in the northern bay anchored up with not a boat to be seen and started up a burley trail. All going well so far. A short time later had a few boats turn up, then a few more until there was no more camping room. Didn't bother them though they dropped anchor on both sides of us. I kept my mouth shut until one guy dropped anchor no more than six metres beside us. I asked a little less politely if would prefer to fish in my boat to which he declined. It felt like late night shopping on christmas eve. To top it off once there was no more shoulder room a guy has driven up from the opposite direction and dropped anchor right where everyones lines were! Couldn't believe the lack of courtesy. Needless to say we didn't stay for long. If you did manage to hook up it would be all over in an instant with the number of anchor ropes. I normally fish mid week and try to avoid the crowds so perhaps I'm overly sensitive when this happens.
On to the fishing. We pulled anchor and found our own beacon free from the crowds after a bit of travelling (no birds seen). Anchored up and started a burley trail again. Picked up some smaller fish and dropped one on as a live bait. Wound it in after 10 minutes or so to find it sheared in half about 1/2mm behind the stinger hook. My mate then hooked up on his 6kg overhead and as I was clearing the lines saw a big mackeral cruising behind the back of the boat. The fish was giving us trouble and half way through the fight ran under the boat rubbing the line on the hull.
Lines back out and managed to get another live bait (pinned both hooks in the back half of the bait) and fed it out into the burley trail. Checked it a short time later to find it was still ok. Fed it back down and it got smashed straight away. After a short but spirited fight landed a nice schoolie.
Started getting a few light bites on one of the pillies and struck getting a very solid hook up. Reel screamed in protest as something a little larger than expected took off. A couple of seconds later a mack around the metre mark launches out of the water and my line goes slack, bitten off above the gangs. Still an amazing sight.
A few more hits and misses and the braid parting at the top of my rod on another solid hook up revealed a small crack in the top eye which cut straight through the braid when it was put under load. Bugger :-/
Thinking about heading in when another livie goes off getting smashed and then taking off on a solid run. Had to up anchor to go after it with line peeling from the reel. Was hoping it was another nice mackeral but 10 minutes later saw colour about 20 metres from the boat and called it as a shark (hoping I was wrong and that it was a nice cobia). Brought the noah in and thought we would keep it for a feed. Had a fun time with it once we brought it on board and it twisted out of the open eskie! A bit buggered after all that. Overall a good day on the water with a good mate, that's what it's all about.