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Offshore Straddie 7/11/12

Shane69

By Shane69
in Saltwater

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Shane69 Newbie

Shane69

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With the good weather forecast i made the call the go offshore with my mate. It was a real early start. Crossed the bar on first light. It looked pretty ordinary, we took it slow and got out to the other end. Forgot how bad a easterly swell can make the bar even with a small swell. My past trips offshore have being with no bar.

Jigged up some livies and headed out for a early morning popping sess. Tried for 3 hours until tide change. Got a shark up but no GT lol. Caught a few lousy mac tuna on big stick baits.

We decided to go for troll and go try my new jewie spot. Had 1 hit on troll but i got to exicited and pulled the hooks. I think i cranked up the drag too much. Got to the jewie mark to find nothing on the sounder. Dropped few plastics down and bait but no takers.

We than went too boat rock and started drifting. Fishing was pretty slow all morning we couldnt loose a bait and we were drifting way too fast to be able to get our baits down. The wind caused alot of chop which made it uncomfortable expically in a smaller boat.

As the wind slowed down through the day, we decided to hit a few reef marks i had. Found some fish on the sounder and dropped livies on them. We got a few just under potato cod and greasy cod. We lost a few good fish because of leaving rod in holder. We were getting bricked on 100lb leader with lock drags. Got bitten off a few time too as the livies were going down but we thought it was sharks.

Around mid 11pm we got sick of how slow fishing was so decided last drift and back to pop for GT. My mate was feeling crook so decided to go lay down. I dont know what i was thinking but i threw his $49 jarvis walk combo out and left it in the holder. I couldnt be bothered retieing the setup i let him use as he Kept snagging to bottom. His one was already set up so i put bait on and threw it out.

Just as we were about to finish drift i seen a bend on his rod. He was still asleep so i grabbed it thinking it was stuck to the bottom. As i put pressure on it this thing took off.

It ripped nearly most of the line off in the reel on its first run. i put a bit of pressure on him and turned. I woke up my mate and asked him how much braid and leader hes using and if his knots are good. All he said to me was " yeah bro i caught a flathead on it last week the knot didnt break". I asked him if he wanted to reel it in and he said no. So the fight began. There wasnt much drag on the reel and i could feel it getting shakey every run the fish took.

After an intense 15 min the fish finally was tiring, I knew it wasnt a kingie as it would have reefed me straight up. My bet was for a big spangled emperor as i have caught quite a few big ones at that same spot. Finally saw this thing surfacing up and it was a good snapper. He went 87cm, few cm under my pb but this thing went hard. 20lb braid, 20 lb leader. Probaly the most intense fight i have had in long time.Few photos and hes in the esky. We decided to stay around for bit longer and see if we can get another one.

I was dropping down live slimies and yakkas. Nearly every second one i dropped i got bitten off. We didnt have any wire either to see what if we could stop them biting us off. I float line a fresh slimie. It wouldnt have gone 10 meters under the boat and i had line ripping . It was a mission trying to get bail arm back on. First run i thought it was a bonito so i cranked my drag up to get it up. As it came under the boat i saw it. It was a meter plus wahoo. I loosened the drag and this thing went for a run ripping atleast 150 meters of line. We decided to chase it. I was so suprised why it had not bitten me off. After a couple of minutes it came around the boat and my mate went for gaff shot and he just got him on the side. My first wahoo. It went 118cm. I hooked him on the side of the jaw. It was just our luck it didnt bite us off.

After that we decided to go troll around the same area to see if we came get another one up but no luck. I think they liked the slimies better. Next time im taking wire for sure.

As wind and tide slowed down we went for another drift and got 1 good parrot and few legal squire up. Around 1.30 we decided to call it quits and had back in.

All up good day out on the water. Love having weekdays off with good weather. I have the place to myself. All up fishing was slow but the last 1 hour and bit made up for the day. We presisted all day and got a good feed.

Cant wait to get out there again. Hopefully weather plays nice.

As for GT side of things i have probaly spent 12-14 hrs on the water popping for them. No luck yet but still trying but hopefully soon i can tempt one up to take my lure.

Shane

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regulated Newbie

regulated

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Awesome work man. They are inquisitive buggers. I get he was sitting within 5m of your boat watching you. I have had a lot do that. I spot them then throw everything at them. They spot everything you drop in the water and go have a look so I hope next time it happens I have a livey ready.

Its crazy what you can pick up sometimes. I got that marlin on 20Lb. Sometimes you are just lucky with a good hookup.

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Shane69 Newbie

Shane69

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Cheers for the comments boys.

Im still stroked about landing the wahoo. After my last seasons efforts of losing so many spanish mackerel i learnt to take it easy on them. It was just luck he didnt bite us off.

I cant wait to have a crack at the bigger ones now.

Mark i too hope i catch one soon lol. Its killing me. I got more motovation after seeing photos of the fish head boys get that 30lg wahoo on a popper. Hopefully blood out the saltiga combo next trip.

James yeah it was a cracker snapper. He went hard for his size.

Mate once you do offshore fishing you never go back.

Its an addiction.

I used to alot of canal fishing before but now i find it boring. Now i just wait for good days and head out offshore.

Toonie haha no charter bro its just presistance. Take a wenesday off and you can come with me. Hard to get spot weekend lol. I got too many mates who all want to go.

Bri cheers mate you have to come down our way il show you few spots i got down here. I hope weather good next weekend i really want to come GC. My mates got another 2 marlin on wenesday. Apparently they thick that way.

Cant wait for palmy to heat up again.

Sofish. Haha you wish it was yours. Richard alreasy asked me if it had his hook in it.

Hopefully weather stays good for next week im keen for another popping sess.

Jim jim cheers mate it was a first hopefully more to come. They taste beautiful and really fun fish to catch. Im putting wire back in boat. Spewing we didnt have wire.

BJ yeah mate i was stroked what 20lb can handle. Man i want to catch marlin so bad lol. Man another week or so the dollies should come in think water temp is getting up there.

Serian: mate your boats big enough to get out there. You seen size of mine and we get there on good day. A bit of confidence and experience will get you there. You can follow me out whenever you want mate.

Tim cheers mate.

Mate hes lucky he got him or else he was going to be swimming home. He missed it first hit and it went for another run lol. We nearly lost snapper coz of his dodgy netting skills too lol he put net over fish and got hook stuck to net it was handing on the tip until i grabbed its tail and fixed it up.

Mark thanks mate. Hopefully the slimies are thick mext time. Itl make fishing so much better. The bigger fish love livies there. By looks of things it should be a cracker session.

Lets hope weather stays nice next week.

Shane

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livaio Newbie

livaio

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Great Job shane... I overheard from Mark that you got a 90cm+ snapper already.. Haha. While I was busy staying sea sick on Mark's boat throughout the trip.. The other Richard(Brave one) got lucky and had a few hits on his new rod. I didnt have the chance to get one on board. But will be looking forward on the upcoming trip on wednesday.

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