Well the favourite rod/reel combo has struck again!
The combo in question comprises a Shimano Jewel 6-10kg spin rod that i like to use for SP fishing offshore. It is fitted with a Shimano Saragossa 4000 reel, spooled with 20lb Powerpro braid.
I caught a PB snapper on this combo last October, weighing in at 11.0kg. I thought that was a pretty good effort, until last Thursday.....
The trip was the annual Power Boat Anglers Club trip to Rainbow Beach.
We always stay at Rainbow Waters holiday park at Carlo Pt, just a hundred meters from the boatramp.
So Thursday morning i rock up at my mate Bob's place nice and early and we load the boat and hit the road by about 7am. A quick stop at the Shell servo at Nudgee for a check of the wheel bearings etc and a bacon and egg roll and a coffee, and we head north.
Great trip little traffic, and we get to Gympie where we top the car and boat, Bob's 625 Cruisecraft, up with fuel. Then take the turn off to Rainbow.
Arrive at Carlo and by 11.30 the camp is set up so we decide to hit the water for a quick arvo fish.
Out thru a near flat bar even though the tide was still running out, we head about 10k to one of Bob's spots. Fish for a while on a good show, but nothin happenin.
So we head along a bit to spot 2, and soon pull up a couple of XOS sized yakkas, that go staight back on livie rigs. We get a few nice grasssy sweetlip, and i put one of Dayoos jigheads out on the favourite SP rod mentioned earlier, spiced up with some squid.
Get a few bites and after a while start to wind it in, but halfway back the line goes slack and, on inspection, find the end of the 30lb leader shredded by something with sharp teeth. Mmmm might be some mackerel about......
Anyway, we are fishing for reef fish, so on goes a TT 3/4 oz jighead and a Berkley 7" Sweet n sour chicken SP.
I toss it out and stick the rod in a rod holder, bail arm open, while it wafts down. Then shut the bail arm and let it sit a bit while i fish the other rod with bait on it. Reach over and let some more line out, and shut the bail arm.
Rebait the other heavy rod and about to drop the bait over the side, when suddenly the light SP rod bucks over and a fish takes off on a solid run, takes about 50m of line.
Nice solid run like a big snapper. I grab the rod, and when the run stops, start the pump and wind.
The fish comes my way, and I say to Bob that this has some weight, might be a big snapper or even a really big pearly. But then it stops coming in my direction and just powers solidly away, taking back the 50m of line I had gained. Bugger!
This happens 5 or 6, no maybe 7 or 8 more times over the next 25 minutes.
By now, Bob and I realise this is something very big. He clears the other rods, and eventually decides to bring the para anchor on board too so I have now got 100% clear water behind the boat to work with.
By now we are speculating about a big pelagic like a cobe or YTK, but the fsh has us puzzled because every now and the it pauses and we feel these massive head shakes. Got us stumped.
At the 30 min mark i am starting to win more often and the runs are shorter.
Then we see colour - silver! Bob says its a big jew, then no, its a big Kingy, then finally we see clearly that its a big, really big, spanish mackerel!
I back the drag off a half turn, then another. Dont want to lose this fish at the boat.
After a couple of laps from one side of the boat to the other we get a decent gaff shot and Bob nails him nicely. Then the 2 of us drag the fish over the side and onto the deck.
The 40 mins fight has stuffed the fish, and the angler, and there is very little need for the priest, but Bob dongs the fish a couple of times just to make sure. Good skipper
The jig head the just falls out of the fish's mouth. Hooked right in the end, just mm away from razor sharp teeth. Lucky!
A couple of photos for the record and high fives, and the angler has a bex and a lie down for 5 minutes to recover!
After being bled, we get out the neoprene fish bag that Bob got from the Downrigger shop and managed to just get the fish inside - it was almost too wide to fit in. We poured some ice in and zipped it up. And headed back to the ramp as it was, by then, after 4pm.
On the Club's lie detectors, the fish went 22kg.
A new PB for yours truly and another great catch on the Jewel/Saragossa combo. What a great setup it is!
That really is my favourite rod and reel now!
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