About a km out I had chucked out my big lure on the heaviest rig and as I approached the wave break at South Point, I reckoned it was time to reel in the lighter line & lure to avoid the problems created by having a double hookup of rampaging pelagics. As I turned to grab the rod, the reel started its glorious buzzing sound, woohoo! I was thinking that if I was quick I could get the heavier line wound in so turned to grab that rod and the same thing happened! I could see things getting messy here but the two fish took off in opposite directions as I grabbed the bigger rig.
I never get sick of this...
The next 15 mins was crazy, at one stage I was being towed towards the waves breaking over some shallow rocks so had to put the rod back in its holder & paddle away. Then the two fish passed each other but somehow kept lines clear of each other. The rig I left in the rear holder was still losing line and had become entangled with my light rod in the basket holder. Somehow, in between trying to win some line back on the heavy rig (8 - 10 kg rod, Capricorn 4500 reel with 20 lb line) I managed to sort out the other two rods and get the kayak facing in a direction that left both hooked up lines to be clear.
The fish I was fighting seemed to have sat itself into some weed as I had to reel myself towards it, losing line off the lighter rig as I did so. Settled into some lift and wind for a while before the fish started moving and I could see it was a good sized salmon. I got it to the side of the kayak & slipped the little gaff through the gills and lifted onto my lap, as I remembered I hadn't crushed the barbs on this lure yet
. I got it wrapped in a towel & the hooks out OK and was able to turn my attention to the other rod, which was still hooked up.This salmon took even longer to get yakside and was also a good size. Once salmon come to the surface after a good fight they're pretty much spent, so I grabbed the leader to steady the fish so I could slip the gaff in & that's when the leader snapped. The fish, once hooked, had been left to itself for a good while in water that was only about 4 metres deep so the line/leader could have been dragged over rocks , weed, etc.
I trolled around those rocks for another half hour with no result, even though I could see quite a few birds working the baitfish at that end of the bay. I decided to paddle 500 - 600 metres further out to troll around the "Drunken Sailor" bombie to see what I could find. Just as I reached the bombie I felt the rod load up and after a short fight lifted a thrashing 87cm snook (a new PB) onto my lap. My fish towel came in handy again to keep the snook subdued while I killed & unhooked it. Tried to take a pic of me holding the fish but my camera doesn't have a wide enough angle lens for a fish that long.
As I paddled back to South Point, I heard a splash behind me and then felt the rod jiggle in its holder. I grabbed the rod and turned to see a large seabird had tried diving on my lure and was now hooked on a wing. I've had this happen quite a few times in the past but never with a bird this big (a PB
), its wingspan would have gone close to two metres. I think it was a type of albatross. I got it yakside and kept the paddle blade over it to keep it's beak busy as I quickly flicked to treble hook out of its wing, then was pleased to see it take to the air straight away.
I reckoned I'd had enough excitement for the day so headed for the beach. The winter weed build-up on this beach started about a week ago & means having to drag the kayak up onto the weed pile to clear the beach. As I was taking some pics of the kayak with my fish, a juvenile magpie decided to get in on the act and check out my catch. Once I'd trollied the kayak back to my car, I fed the whole local magpie family on some grapes while I enjoyed their company as I knocked back a ginger beer.
Another great day on the water & in the bush.
