Headed out to Scarby this morning. Got there just as the morning was beginning to glow. Said a quick g'day to Trevor (Kayakone) as he was heading out. We had a quick joke about catching Jim's (Beekeeper) 80+cm snap from Thursday.
The water looked too good not to catch fish so after setting up the SS Minnow I managed to get on the water around 6.00am. I headed straight for a little bump I found on the sounder a few months back and was delighted to find a few good shows of fish and bait hanging off it. Over goes a 4" Gulp Jigging Grub in Pumpinseed on one rod and the scarby favourite, a Z-man 3" Paddle Tail in Elec Chicken on the other rod. Breeze was blowing from the SW and all was looking good for a nice steady drift to the ENE. Hadn't drifted too far when the elec chick gets a good hit. I grabbed the rod from the holder and after a short tussle a good sized grassie is flapping around the bottom of the yak. Hmmm, a good start to the day I thought. After about 20 seconds deliberation I decided to toss him back and continue on with the drift. Probably got about a hundred metres further out and bang, zzzzzzzzzz, the jigging grub gets well and truly whacked. This fish was pretty serious and was taking line at will. The sounder was beeping every couple of seconds and a quick look at the screen showed fish and bait from 1.6m down to around 4m. Got the fish near the surface and saw the flash of pink, not huge so when I got him to the yak I just hoisted him over the side. A quick guestimate on the size and I erred on the side of caution, back he goes.
Had drifted off the spot where all the bait and fish were showing so I doubled back too see I I could find them again. Started to find a good showing again so the rods went back in. Wasn't too long before the jigging grub started to get some attention again so I lifted the rod from the holder and I'm on again. This fish was head shaking from the moment the hook bit in. Got that pink flash again as it neared the yak. This one was bigger than the last and I knew it was a keeper for sure. Lifted him in with the leader and held him against the 35cm texta mark I have on the side of the yak. Cleared that measure by a couple of cm's so I grabbed the keeper net, dropped him in and secured it on one of the ram mounts.
Did another couple of drifts for zip so I decided to move further to the north. I pulled in one of the lighter rigs and put out a big Z-man in elec chick on a 1/8th oz 4/0 jig head and peddled north east for a while then headed north. In the distance I could see Trevor and another yakker so I thought I would head over and see how they we getting on. Trevor had just caught a decent sized tailor by the time I got within talking distance. He introduced me to Brad (Indiedog) and we spoke briefly about how our morning had been. I kept moving slowly to the north and came across a huge school of bait with good showings of fish so I cast the jigging grub out and began bouncing it back to the yak. First cast nothing, second cast a few bumps, third cast bump, bump, bump, bang, zzzzzz, zzzzzzzz, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Now that's a good fish I was thinking as the rod tip kept getting dragged under the water. I could hear Trevor behind me saying "that looks like a good fish John." All I could do was smile and continue on with the battle. The fish put a good fight on the 10lb braid and 8lb leader. As I got him nearer to the yak I reached behind and grabbed the landing net, I knew this one wasn't being dragged over the side by the leader. In the net and into the yak, good fish and my PB. Got the hook out and lip grips in and lifted him up to show Trevor and Brad. Trevor said "he had room in his hatch if I didn't want to keep it." Sorry Trev this one was going home with me.
Tried around the area for another twenty minutes or so for no result so slowly headed back in toward the end of peninsula land mass dragging some plastics along the bottom. Nothing but snags. A quick check of the watch, 9.30, better start heading back to the beach. Put a Rapala minnow on one rod as the were still fish showing in mid water. Kept plastics on the other 2 and started heading south along the outside of Flag Reef. Nothing much happended until I got the the southern end of the reef. The rod in the starboard holder goes off big time, couldn't get the rod out of the holder quick enough and ended up getting bricked. Wound in a very frayed 20lb leader. Wound in the centre rod with the Rapala as it was not likely to be hit. So I was left with one rod still in the water as I continued to peddle south. This rod had a nuclear chicken 4" jigging grub attached that got smashed just as I started to re-rig the the rod with the frayed leader. Okay put that one down, quickly, and get the other rod out before I get bricked again. This time another good sized snap, I grabbed the net and slid it under the fish. You beauty!
I noticed Trevor was on his way back in, we had a quick chat before Trevor asked "did you see that guy stand up in his kayak?" "No" was my response and then he was off to check out what type of kayak it was.
I drifted and cast around the area for another 20 minutes or so before deciding to give it away. Got back to the beach just after Trevor, he grabbed the front of my yak and dragged it up the beach a little as I was getting out. "Thanks Trev." We put the biggest of the fish I caught against the rule on the side of Trevor's yak, just over 51cm. When I got home the fish measured 51cm, 46cm and 39cm. All in all, a great morning at Scarby.
John
