After getting a reasonable Jack last week, I decided to hit the Tweed again last night in the hope of more. With high tide right on nightfall and a small run out tide I was reasonably hopeful.
Moved around for the first couple of hours with little success, before getting distracted and throwing poppers at surface bust-ups. Managed to land a number of Big Eye Trevally, but most were smaller than usual - around 25cm. The best run I had came from a Big Eye that went 40cm - the fact I hooked him in the tail meant he had heaps of power, and with light line the drag was singing with long runs.
After a bit of fun with the Trevors I got back to chasing Jacks and was quickly rewarded. Casting to a shallow rock wall and slowly retrieving, my lure was smashed and with a locked up drag I drag the fish out and moved the boat into open water. After an ugly net shot (I was fishing solo) and a few dives under the boat I managed to talk the fish into the net and onto the deck. The Jack went 47cm on the ruler and my smile was just about as wide. While removing the lure I noticed a 2 foot length of line coming from the gills - I can only guess this fish had smoked a bait fisho earlier. With little chance of opening it's mouth I cut the line off close to the gill plate, took a quick photo and let the fish swim free.
Continued casting this area for a while for no success, so decided to troll a nearby rock wall. With a shallow lure on the inside and deeper one on the other side I worked the length of the wall. As I got near the end, the shallow lure gets hit and up comes a 35cm Jack - my first while trolling. Another happy snap and this fish is returned to the river to terrorise more bait fish.
With midnight behind me and an early start for work ahead I decide to call it a night. I think to myself the hours I have put in over the last two months are finally starting to pay off - or it could just be right place, right time! Either way I packed up happy
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