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Australia Day Sharking 2

werewolf

By werewolf
in Saltwater

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werewolf Newbie

werewolf

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We all pretty much arrived at the same time (except for Mick), somewhere around 4:40 AM or so. I started the usual routine of cast netting with Charles’s assistance and after a good half hour of heaving a net as far as I could I only managed a few small herring, and two or three big mullet. So pretty much the live bait was either too small or too big, but as Charles and I didn’t have any other bait we made do with what we had. Charles even fished a small dead fish whole that he found on the bank. This sorry little fish was engulfed by a feisty sub metre Pike Eel, which was gladly kept for bait. Charles then had a big hook up using a piece of eel that pulled a fair bit of line, but unfortunately lost the unknown denizen on the snags around the point on the way in.

Just as Michael decided to arrive, after forgetting to set the alarm of course, I threw the net out again hoping to get some good size livies and managed my biggest single haul from a cast net yet! With a rather ordinary cast, I had snared 8 or so big “Bony Bream†up to a foot long. Fantastic! I doubted that we would use so many, but I only released a few, intending to later freeze any that didn’t use live. I must say I am pleased with the performance of my new 9 foot cast net!

Mid way through the morning I managed to secure a few more live mullet, including one that was perfect for live bait at around 20 cm or so. I fished this particular mullet straight off the point, and I was watching my rod as it got eaten. The drag on my reel was wound right off to allow a shark to grab and swallow the bait with minimal resistance. I gave the “shark†20 or 30 seconds to enjoy its breakfast and then I tightened up the drag and waited for the next run. Finally I struck and I’m on! There was a fair bit of weight working against the rod and it was took off on a few good runs. I was getting pretty excited that it was going to be my 10th ever shark when I finally got colour on it… Eel! And a big one! I fought it to the bank and started to carefully hoist it up, until the line snapped! Bummer. Chris saved the day and climbed down the bank, grabbed the wire trace and hauled the rather angry eel back up! Nice save. I was disappointed that it wasn’t the shark I was hoping for, but it was by far my biggest Pike Eel to date, easily trouncing the 75 cm Pike I got two years ago! The eel ended up being longer than my brag mat and in the end we called it for 125 cm and it pulled the scales down to 3 kg. We didn’t want to risk getting a more accurate length; between the huge teeth and oodles of slime, it had potential to be a rather unforgettable experience.

At around 8:45 AM one of Chris’s bait runners started growling away. Chris clicked it into gear and starting fighting his catch in. The fish gave a reasonable account of itself and when we finally got colour on it, shark! Mick netted it and hauled up Chris’s 83 cm, 3.7 kg shark, which he promptly showed to all the skiers setting up camp on the opposite side of the park! The shark was caught on an fillet of Pike Eel, and was released (for the skiers benefit).

There were also a few catfish and the odd crab caught and at one stage we even had cast net throwing competitions while the fishing was slow. Despite the rain the day before, and a large amount of annoying skiers, Chris still managed to pull off a shark and on dead bait too, which I thought was impressive considering the variety of live baits that we had out during the morning (ranging from small herring to foot long mullet and Bony Bream). I also found that there was a lot more leaves/sticks etc floating in the water then usual, which I proceeded to dredge out of the river with my net. This would no doubt be due to the previous day’s storms. All in all, it was a good session!

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Terry H Newbie

Terry H

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what happened to the eel? :D

Couple of nice catches there guys. Those bony bream look like great bait:) I'm going to have to throw a cast net in near my place a few times (Haven't since halfway through last year!) I use to get some big bony bream there, however I'd just throw them back because they were too big (not anymore!).

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werewolf Newbie

werewolf

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Terry: The eel is in 7 or so portions, wrapped up in paper and individually frozen away for future shark bait:) (also along with the 20 cm mullet, which I pulled whole, and now very much dead out of its stomach when I axed the eel, plus the one huge mullet left over that was too heavy to cast!) The old girl was not impressed when she saw the massive bag full of bait in the freezer...

Troy: Cheers for the ID mate, I had no idea. I have heard the name \"Silver Biddy\" used before but could never label a fish with it. My PB shark from a couple weeks back was caught on a Silver Biddy, only slightly bigger than the little guy in the photo. They make good hardy baits and stay very active.

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werewolf Newbie

werewolf

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Aaron

The bonies are good looking baits, but they don't live as long as the big mullet. That said two trips ago I had a big bony and a big mullet both monstered half an hour apart without a hookup:( I have learnt my lesson and am experimenting with two hook rigs for the bigger baits.

cheersB)

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