At Last! And I don't think I'll better this!

[kingtin]

At the last minute I reached an agreement with the deckie that this holiday would be all about the kids and not my fishing. This is the first time we've been alone with 'em and not had other peoples kids in tow, so we agreed to spoil 'em and only take 'em in the tinny if they specifically requested it. As it turned out, they preferred to explore the coast and got to see byron and other places and the tinny never entered the water

That said, we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the new big tarp and waeco freezer made life a lot more comfortable.

All the fishing was done land based and we slaughtered the bream. Josh got his PB which is better than mine and it went 37cm. Pillies were fished weightless on a 2/0 gamakatsu octopus to 15lb leader and 8lb main. The area was rocky and many good fish were lost to rub offs but an increase in leader strength led to loss of bites.





He also "sight fished a couple of eels that he saw poking their noses out of the rocks. He simply dangled his pilly in front of 'em to entice 'em out. To teach him a lesson, I made him take 'em off the hook himself




He also managed this stingy on his bream gear and did well to get it in.




The deckie managed this when she decided to emulate my long distance casting techique




Amongst the bream we also caught a couple of nice chopper tailor and were bitten off by a few more. We also caught a couple of these which we returned, and without looking 'em up. I'm guessing that they're some kind of morwong





Saving the best till last This fell to a full pilly, fished weightless on 2 gang 4/0 gamakatsu gangsters to 30lb leader and 14lb braid and came in at 52cms





kev

[ashh]

nice fish!!!
great example of a birdsnest there too

[the gecko]

I was thinking there must be a jack photo here, with a caption like that.....Well done Kev, thats a ripper. I know youve been chasing him for a while. Its a great feeling to get your first one, nothing like it.

Thats a big jack for so late in the season too. Land based, wow, you dont hear about many jacks on pillies.

Getting your kid to dehook an eel, yuk, remind me not to come out with you, lol.

cheers
Andrew

[tin arse tony]

WELL DONE good to see a plan come together. Keep up tha good work

[kingtin]

Thats a big jack for so late in the season too. Land based, wow, you dont hear about many jacks on pillies.

cheers
Andrew

Cheers Andrew. Mate, that's not a one off at that location either. Earlier in the week, another guy got one at 51cm only 50 metres from where I got mine. His tactics? A beach rod, gang 6/0's baited with a lump of steak ............I'm thinking to myself that here I am, doing everything possible to target 'em, varying tactics etc, and this guy lobs out a lump of steak and takes the only fish that's likely to be in the area.

All I can say, is that I must be as lucky as he was, 'cause as you say, it's the back end of the season and to find 2 like that, in the same area? I reckon that at that size they must've been heading for offshore.

kev

[Mullet Musketeer]

That is a beautiful fish - see what happens when you stop trying too hard and let the kids set the agenda. That might be a strategy for the future - well done sounds like everyone enjoyed it too.

[the gecko]

I know of a guy who caught one by throwing a bit of sausage straight off the barby, and onto a kids rod, in the back yard, he lived on a canal.

Theyre actually not that hard to catch if you are in the right area at the right time. I dont mean to sound glib. Its getting into position, and timing, thats the hard bit. And thats very hard. It gets easier after the first one tho.

cheers
Andrew

[Poodroo]

Impressive Kev. Looks as if you had a great holiday. Awesome fish. One reason I don't use overheads. Those birds nests have been known to raise my blood pressure. Lol.Well done.

Poodroo

[greenie.77]

birds nest suck but that jack doesnt great work

[bastard]

Ive been trying to catch a jack for so long,the only one i got was in my crab pot and a muddie had chewed half its head off,do they fight like they say,are there really any in the coomera river.

[kingtin]

Ive been trying to catch a jack for so long,the only one i got was in my crab pot and a muddie had chewed half its head off,do they fight like they say,are there really any in the coomera river.

There are quite a few jacks reported from the coomera by ausfish members.

As for the fighting qualities...............I lost quite a few big trevally at the same location. It was very frustrating seeing them dashing backwards and forwards along the rock wall, whilst knowing all the time that it was only a matter of time before they rubbed your line on the oysters. I had one at my feet that must've gone an easy 3 kilo and my line just rubbed and it was gone

The jack took straight off towards the centre of the river and even when it was at my feet it was pulling away instead of heading for cover. A great fight and hard pulling, but not exactly a brainy one.........it could've bricked me easy but didn't even try, and once out of the water it didn't even kick...........almost like it accepted the inevitable. I didn't feel any respect for it, but more like pity. Such a beautiful fish that didn't really live up to my expectations of it.........perhaps it was having a crook day

It didn't live up to it's reputation as a table fish either (IMHO), and any future catches will be returned to the water.

kev

[bastard]

Thanks for the info,i'll stop trying to catch one now i have admitted defeat.

[Aquarius]

Top Jack you landed Kev.
Mate you never know you just might get a bigger one in the future.
Sounds like your family really enjoyed the holiday.
Cheers Brent

[aussiefool]

Mate I live just up the road from where you stayed and have seen many a Jack pulled out of that area,most of the size you nailed. Well done, very well done indeed.

[sharkbaithoohaha]

That's a top Jack the Kingtin.Well done to the better half mate.A mate of mine dropped by to show his jack he got yesterday off Fraser that went 8 1/2 kg.The biggest I've seen in real life.Well done again.