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Bully and Catties at Kookaburra Park.

ryanyoung

By ryanyoung
in Saltwater

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ryanyoung Newbie

ryanyoung

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G'day all,

After a call from Blair earlier in the week, we organised to go up to Kookaburra Park to try and cash in on the bullies that have been caught up that way.

Along for a fish was my eldest daughter Miranda, who is five years old, and loves to fish!

The day started for me at around 0600, when I went down to Colmslie to get some live bait, the end result being 8-9 poddy mullet. Blair came around after lunch and from there, the three of us headed off with grand thoughts of bull-shark after bull-shark.

Upon arriving, we immediately set up, and then moved a bit to the fishing platform, as it became vacant. The first hit didn't take too long, and Blair reeled in a cattie. This was to become quite a trend, as we pulled in quite a few over the period of the afternoon. Miranda managed to catch one too!

This photo is with Miranda's cattie.

Kookaburra_Park_001_AFO.jpg

The catties were predominantly caught on some old steak that Blair had bought along.

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ryanyoung Newbie

ryanyoung

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The afternoon wore on and we were hit by a brief but intense storm, which got us a bit wet and confined us to the shelter behind the platform.

Kookaburra_Park_010_AFO.jpg

The tide was still coming in after the storm passed, when I got a hit on one of my rods with the livie on it. I thought straight away that it was good, but after a very quick fight, another cattie came to the surface, fat and full from munging on my live mullet.

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ryanyoung Newbie

ryanyoung

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Miranda wrestled control of the camera pretty quick and started taking the photos!

Here is the cattie that took the mullet.

Kookaburra_Park_005_AFO.jpg

As the live bait was getting scarse, it was time to try different things. One of the things I tried was putting a dead mullet below a float to try and coax a hit off a bully. I didn't factor in the current and tide though, and the next half an hour was spent casting and re-casting said mullet.

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ryanyoung Newbie

ryanyoung

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Here is my souped up mullet, didn't get a touch :( !

Kookaburra_Park_011_AFO.jpg

It was at this time that Miranda's rod (which we had all pretty much forgotten about, apart from the odd check of the livie) took a big jolt and line started running out nicely. This was coupled with a big surface splash out in the river :woohoo: ! The rod had been resting in a tree fork, and Miranda and I got there just in time to save it from going into the river! Miranda took charge of the fight, with loose drag to help out her arms! A long fight ensued, with Miranda alternating between giggles and grunts as her arms started to get tired :P ! Finally, the fish was close enough to get an ID, and it was a BULLY!!!!! Miranda was so excited, and Blair and I weren't too far behind her either! As I was holding Miranda to stop her falling in on the runs, Blair grabbed the landing-net. He was within a foot or so of bagging the noah when it snapped the line and took off :ohmy: :angry: :S :( !

Miranda didn't care though, she was so stoked that she had caught a shark, it didn't matter about a photo! When looking at the line, I saw that it had been worn through, as if with sandpaper, this was due to the old braid coupled with the sharks skin.

The rest of the day was spent with us waiting eagerly next to our lines, with no result. Although Blair did get a couple of big hits, including one that took the tail off his livie!

It was a fantastic afternoon, and Miranda (after falling asleep in the car), is still very excited!

Miranda would like to say "I caught a shark today, and it was fun, and I really like the shark, and um, and um, and um, and um, when I caught the shark I really really liked it and it was fun!"

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wesfish Newbie

wesfish

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great report ryan B) its so good to see fellow fishers getting the kids in on the action :woohoo: a good rig is to have about .8-1.2mtrs of at least 60lb mono leader from the wire, its harder to cast but stops tail whips and rubbing from the shark skin!!

absolute awesome :cheer: and congrats to miranda on the first bully ;)

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ryanyoung Newbie

ryanyoung

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wesfish wrote:

great report ryan B) its so good to see fellow fishers getting the kids in on the action :woohoo: a good rig is to have about .8-1.2mtrs of at least 60lb mono leader from the wire, its harder to cast but stops tail whips and rubbing from the shark skin!!

absolute awesome :cheer: and congrats to miranda on the first bully ;)

Thanks Mate,

It was actually your post that got Blair and Myself out there, especially the fact that you took your nephew out, it gave me the idea. It is actually possible for little kids to pull in bigger fish! The tip about the line is a good one, and I will sort that out soonest. It was also the length of the fight that put a lot of strain and wear on the braid.

Cheers,

Ryan.

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Feral Newbie

Feral

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ryanyoung wrote:

I forgot about that...... If anyone plans to fish from the platform at kooka, anchor your rods, we nearly lost a couple today!

I'm surprised the locals have not added a swag of rod holders to the platform by now, maybe the council removes them? Easy enough to wack some 50mm pipe in with either some elcheapo radiator clamps or good zip ties.

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ryanyoung Newbie

ryanyoung

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Bommie wrote:

well done Miranda on your first shark, done better then dad hey :)

Miranda said to type "You mess with the bull, you get the horns of the shark!" and then she ran off giggling!

Thanks Bommie, she is still so excited, and as I read out every reply to her post, she gets even more hypo!

Cheers,

Ryan.

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Davo_Dinkum Newbie

Davo_Dinkum

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nice 1 boys ,sounds like a good day .

Miranda congrats on your first shark .

wtg that's tops :)

ryan u will get used to your kids out fishing u half the time ,as they get older it happens more :)

oh other blokes have said it before and i think i have too before.

nothing better than when your kids get on to a fish .

it makes u smile and proud ,it feels even better than when u get a good fish.

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