Participants: Redwood
Launch Site: MG
Destination: Little Halls
Conditions: Cloudy, light breeze, flat sea, mild current to the North
I arrived at MG car park just before 5am and after the email's from the previous evening it looked like I was on my own. The forecast looked pretty decent and the conditions didn't disappoint--they were almost perfect and the low swell allowed for a dry-bum launch. I pulled up 300 m past the surf zone to setup my trolling rig and flicked out a small River 2 Sea mullet minow and started paddling with the bail arm open letting the line out. Soon after I noticed that the line was no longer coming off the reel and I was no longer sure how much line was out so I started reeling in to start over when something took the end. Without too much resistance I got the fish to the boat and lifted it out the water to try and grab it but it thrashed about so fiercely that it wiggled itself free. I wasn't sure what the fish was but subsequent research (and help from Sunshiner) revealed it to be a school mackerel and with a 50cm minimum it's likely this one would have been border line. I put the line back in the water and started for Little Halls. Two minutes later the reel went off and I got another school mackerel to the boat and again as I lifted it out the water it thrashed itself free. At this point I was thinking I should have bought that net I was looking at. I postponed my plans for LH to troll up and down the beach hoping for another schoolie. This time I opened my hatch with the plan of dragging the fish into the hatch where it couldn't get away. Not long after I was on again with another schoolie and most unfortunately it ended the same way. I'm not sure what the issue was? Perhaps the hooks weren't set very well or perhaps the hyper thrashing was just an effective way of getting free, but the conclusion was that I either needed a net or some tips on landing these types of thrashers without one. I'm fairly sure all three of the school mackerel would have been South of 50cm in any case.
I was still keen to go to LH so I stopped doing laps off main beach and headed North. Not much action on the way except an odd 'thud' and when I got to LH I found my River 2 Sea was gone. Joining me at LH was a jet ski fisherman but he didn't stay very long, zooting off to JS to SR after 10 min with no action. Indeed there was very little bottom action. I landed a small reef fish, but that was really all besides a few nibbles.
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| View from Little Halls back to main beach |
There was however a lot of surface action going on all around the reef with a lot of 10-20 cm fish jumping with what looked like long tail tuna in pursuit. I packed in the bottom bashing and rigged up a slug and a Halco LP and started trolling the area. I trolled for 15 min without any action before I had to head back. I decided to troll a new lure that Davo sold to me and also troll the slug. I found the going really tough going back and GPS confirmed I was going 1-2 kmph slower than usual, which I attributed to the large bib on the new lure so I pulled it in just trolled the slug.
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| Downsider Minow with bib that slowed paddling down by 1-2 kmph |
Not long after the slug was hit and I stared reeling in what I suspected was a shark. As it came closer to the boat I could indeed see a shark, but then I also saw another three all fighting over something. The something turned out to be a very nice size bonito but by the time I got it to the boat only 1/3 was left. In the video below, I'm not moving the line, the bonito is still very much alive despite it's condition.
In my efforts to try and save the bonito from the sharks I had gotten my line wrapped around the tip of my Balistix Pro and in trying to undo the line broke yet another graphite rod. This reminded me why I started using Ugly Sticks in the first place. So I was down a rod and given that motion sickness was lurking I decided not to put the slug on the good rod and just troll the Halco LP back to MG. I flicked it in and not long after was it was hit, ironically by one of the sharks that eroded my bonito. I was keen to seek revenge, uh I mean, keep the shark as I'd not eaten shark before (knowingly) and also keen to use it as an opportunity to practice landing a biggish fish. I got the 1 meter shark to the side of the boat and tried to get it with my gaff but I found it very difficult to get through the shark's skin and I'm not sure if this is due to my gaff or the toughness of shark skin or both. Eventually I decide to do the usual and grab it behind the head and put it in the hatch and head for home. The surf return was a breeze.
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| Crime scene reconstruction |
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| If anyone can ID this shark in the comments that would be appreciated |
All-in-all probably my most eventful outing to date. Next time I'm hoping not so many get away.
Redwood.
Exciting fishing Redwood. Those bonito make great sashimi (also good bait). If there are bonito, Spanish may not be far away. The net is certainly a good idea.
ReplyDeleteThe shark is, I think, a whaler. I find them good eating too - no bones about it!