Spaniard for doc dog, 01Mar10

From: "Mark Powell"
Subject: Fishing March 1
Date: Monday, 1 March 2010 4:31 PM

Hi All,

I went out from MG this morning at the very gentlemanly hour of 9.00 am having earlier had a bike ride and attended to a few chores that could not wait. With the rain the car park was sparsely populated and the only Yakker vehicle was Stu who was just doing a wash down after an early foray. He had no luck this morning. After a paddle around Laguna Bay "Stu" said he stuck his nose around the corner but found conditions too uncomfortable early but thought wind and waves were abating a little by the time he left the water. He had seen plenty of bird activity but nothing was interested in his hard bodied lures.

I launched without difficulty at what seemed to be the first of the run out tide. Occasional big sets coming through but long lulls in between making the paddle along the wall a regulation launch.

Just off the rock wall birds could be seen working frantically and once I got out the back to set up I could see a school of long toms flipping around all over the place.

Leaving them to their feeding I proceeded to troll a large LASER PRO (18 CM GOLD) and kept my casting outfit ready with a 50 gm metal slug -- this time with a wire trace.

I paddled down to Little Halls and went from bust up to bust up trying to get a cast in but the fish were very shy and dived whenever I got close enough to flick a lure. Having failed to get any strikes on the casting outfit and no interest in the large Laser pro I changed down a size on the Hardbodied lure to the one Kev and Jaro have had considerable success with and as I made my way back towards MG I hooked up on the trolling outfit.

I thought it was a tuna as there seemed to be an almighty lot of head shaking going on. I was then confused as after one good run the fish came to the boat meekly and showed itself to be a reasonable spaniard (Narrow Barred methinks). Sunshiner the strike came very close to where you got your fish last week.

The fishing gods smiled on me and I was able to get a gaff in and subdue the fish just as the rear trebles fell from their tenuous grip on the underside of his jaw. The front trebles had come adrift from the fish some time earlier in the struggle.

I trolled well back across the bay towards some birds and was surprised by another good strike just as I made ready to cast at some boiling bait schools. The fish took off at a great rate under considerable drag pressure so I thought I had a bigger Spaniard on and then all of a sudden almost no pressure. I thought the fish was coming back towards me so I wound furiously only to see the remnants of a small mackerel (perhaps a schoolie) come waterskiing across the surface still attached to my lure. I suppose I was either sharked or a bigger mackerel liked the look of the agitated little schoolie.

I was having no luck with the wire on the cast outfit so I changed back to the old favourite of a Raider tied straight to the double with no swivel. This change met with immediate success on a very fiesty little Mac Tuna whom I released to fight another day.

I pretty much had the bay to myself (very few boats) and as I was the only Yakker out I logged in to Coastguard for safety sake.

I caught a nice little wave back to the beach but had to wait a while to pick my run in as the swell was picking up through the morning and half a dozen board riders were now enjoying the wave off the rock wall.

All in all a great morning. I was back on the beach at 12.30 pm and it looked as if the fish were going to be feeding all day as there was still lots of birds working and mac tuna schools working everywhere.


Nice and cool paddling in the rain.
Cheers,
Doctor Dog

No comments:

Post a Comment