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My Big Trip, THE REPORT!

Jordan

By Jordan
in Saltwater

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Jordan Newbie

Jordan

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Hey guys

well here it is. this will take some time so print it out and read it on your lunch breaks...

woke bright and early at 2 am, nervous and excited to begin the four hour drive to urangan in hervey bay for my 3 day fishing weekend! i had heard alot of scary things about the locals there, so i was very nervous going up by myself...

after the four hours of amazing scenery and tragic roads, i finally arrived at the pier. the lights just seemed to go on and on. i finally managed to get to the end of the jetty. by this time it was nearing 6.30, and was already packed!!! i tried to nestle into a few spots but was quickly put in my place and pushed to the bottom of the jetty...:blush:

what a sight. there would have been no less than 15 tiagra 50w's, and the real deals as well! genuine tiagras all with floats out awaiting that big one that was surley not going to get away. with 2 metres at the max between fishing rods, it was very snug, and it was difficult to get along with people as they were all trying for a better spot on the pier as well... not long after the sun came up, the schools of tuna started to move through and punish the hoards of baitfish that hugged the jetty. yells of excitement came from everywhere as as many as a dozen anglers would hook up but many would just as quickly have their prize lost to the razor sharp oysters on the pylons or even sabotaged by other hungry anglers...

after having enough of the jetty bullying i retreated the 850 metres back to the other end of the jetty (last 50 metres is the only real part worth fishing)to my car and relieved to see my kayak had not been stolen. wind was picking up so went to a spot called gallagers reef or something and trolled and trolled for my firs pelagic. after getting a few grinners no bigger than the lure, i finally felt something pull some drag. 'YES!' i thought, this could be a good fish!! i pulled it in to be a small mackeral looking thing. small, but not a grinner. i was happy! threw the lure out and began paddling as fast as i could, as i found this was when i was getting my best fish. was paddling alarmingly far from the shore, with some strong wind when zzzzzzzzzzzzz !!!! off went my line. This isnt a grinner!!!!!! the fish was towing my boat fast as i looked back to the fading glimpse of shore, i was contemplating cutting the line, i was getting nervous as the fish wasnt slowing down. i dont think i want this near my kayak when all of a sudden the fish made my mind up for me and broke the line. i decided to make the long paddle back to land and change spots to kayaking back at the pier. after paddling for ages with no luck i decided to head in again. had some good waves behind me and was still making some good speed when BANG off goes my line!! drag peels off, and thankfully this time towards land! i had all this ocean and the fish was staying on the surface, so there was no wear it could break me off! i just played it light and let it tow me towards the shore. i took out my camera to take a video, as i was taking it easy with this one but i left it in the car!! never mind,im still going to land this one. it started circling the kayak. Tuna!! i was sure thats what they did. finally an exhausted tuna comes boat side and is successfully boated WOOOOHHOOOOOOOO did i give a loud victory yell or what! totaly exhausted, i called it a day and went to bed at 3 pm.

was meeting with one of mums friends for a boat trip the next morning at 8 so decided to sneak a quick session in off the jetty beforehand. managed to squeeze into a decent spot and by 5am had my livies in the water. the sun broke on the horizon, and the baitfish started balling up when ZZZZZZZZZZZZ off goes my little exceller. i ran with it up and down the jetty, trying not to upset anyone too much when finnaly, thanks to some guys with a gaff i landed another tuna!! not a bad start to the morning!! i then went out on the boat where he told me he was going to be chasing whiting!!! i was so dirty that i left the tuna biting to catch lame whiting. i was in a dirty mood and we were in a bay-ish kind of area so i put on an enormous rooster popper for the hell of it. launched it into the middle of nowhere and started furiously popping it back to within 2 metres of my feet when all of a sudden the shoulders of a huge beastly fish emerged and completley inhaled my popper at my feet:woohoo: . i tried to scream in my excitment but i couldnt hear myself as my reel was screaming louder!!!!! this fish was gone!! my lite tuna stick was buckled right over and my exceller making a noise it had never made before when all of a sudden this fish starts leaping and bounding around the bay. i then heard the comforting words of the skipper, "just play it gentley mate, theres nothing it can bust you off on out here" after a long fight and some good footage, my first queenie was landed, and at 10kgs it was a beuty!!! we later found there was a school of about 30 the same size!! but despite our best efforts we couldnt entice any. the skipper decided he would take this as a feed and with the esky full i was happy to go home as i was a shakking blubbering mess after that!!

my last day got upat 4 again to do my best to secure a good spot on the pier. after some sucking up and negotiating i had myself a good spot and was confident about the day ahead. just on daybreak, i was on with the first fish of the pier. reel screaming, and panting heavily, i did my best to keep it out of the pylons and not get stabbed by the local jetty trash as i weaved in and out of their lines. finally a nice mack tuna was landed!! i really stood out as a tourist as no one had seen somone so excited to catch what they call 'shark bait' managed to get another one for the morning and a few small macks when all of a sudden it went fairly quiet. i managed a few more hook ups but couldnt negotiate the fish around the pylons well enough with the lite gear i was using. finaly it was nearing home time, and i was dissapointed that the tuna i was going to take home to my family had to be surrended to some dero because it looked like he was about to bash me thanks to my tuna making an artistic mess out of 3 of his tiagras. finally i saw my line darting across the water. no tension yet. the slack line was fading fast.. dont strike yet... when finally BANG!!! my rod bends, my reel screams, i start shaking all over with adrenalin. this one was fighting different, staying low and darting for snags. i knew i was going to loose this like i had the 4 before it. my wrists were shaking uncontrolably, my breathing was deep and fast when after 15 mins of exhausting reeling, the fish began to come to the surface. there was now a crowd of tourists watching as one of them yelled 'i see colour'. and what a beautiful colour it was. a beutiful gold colour. my first golden trvally!!! and a beuty at 8.5 kgs. it was a shame to kill it but apparently there was heaps around there so i bled it immideatley and left on a high streight for home.

that trip will certainly not be forggeten any time soon. thanks for reading if you got this far!!:woohoo:

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pinkey Newbie

pinkey

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Your a legend! i love the queenie story how you were chasing whiting and wanted something so much better so pulled out ya biggest popper and started retreiving agressivly in vein and it bloody worked lol, ripper queeny and Golden mate and finnaly some tuna congrats

sweet trip

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Jordan Newbie

Jordan

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i was using an exceller 4000 size reel with 20lb braid and 20lb leader. you just jig up these herring or sardines from under the jetty, easy as because there is billions of them and throw them out unweighted. i came really underprepared so i used other peoples stuff haha simple things like a rope to lower your bucket and get water and yea they had these 4 pronged gafs with a rope attatched that they would lower. the kids there were more than happy to gaff the fish for you!

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Rocket75 Newbie

Rocket75

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So glad to see that all your planning and expectations were fulfilled with some excellent rod bending action. A great report and pics too. Thanks for sharing, we are almost as excited as you are by the sound of the comments:woohoo:

Now get back to work and sell something:P

Rocket

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