- 1st Threadie 04 05 12.jpg (34.14 KiB) Viewed 870 times
- 1st Threadie 2 04 05 12.jpg (39.39 KiB) Viewed 870 times
- 1st Threadie 3 04 05 12.jpg (16.1 KiB) Viewed 870 times
Qld North Pine 04 May 12 Sebile does it again…
BOM predictions for Moreton Bay this morning… 10/15knot E/NE winds, tending S/SE 15/20knots later, with seas to 1 Mtr… scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms.
Normally the light winds would have me fishing out the front at Scarby, but I checked the Radar while I was making my mind up as to where I’d go. Scarborough looked like it was in the middle of a heavy downpour, and more to come… I’ve been out there at times like that before, and it got quite scarey, so I opted for up the creek today.
It was fine… sunny/cloudy where I fished today, and the winds stayed OK for most of the time I was there. I later saw a monster storm which could have been at Scarby, or thereabouts, so I was happy with my decision.
Launching at Bald Hills Creek boat ramp, I trolled the Sebile Koolie down the South Pine to the North Pine, past the two bridges, down to Deep Water Bend then on past Dohles Rocks to the Houghton Highway.
Not a lot of fish interest on the way down until I reached the last house East of Dohles Rocks… I picked up the trolling rod to check if the Koolie was clear of weed before I trolled through a favoured area, gave a couple of jerks and began winding, and that was enough to entice a tailor to hit it. Initially the fight wasn’t all that exciting… it just gave a few jumps while far out, but near the kayak? That’s when it did start fighting, and really hooked in. It was in good nick, going 52cm and zipped away when I released it… lovely fish.
I then trolled right down between the highways to my old flathead haunts on the Clontarf side… a long cast could have landed on the break-wall, I was that close. I picked up a small flattie close-by, but it dropped off beside the kayak. A recent thread about flathead fighting abilities comes to mind…this one came in like a piece of weed… I hardly knew I had a fish on… even when I went to lift it onto the kayak, it just slipped off, slid back into the water and drifted away… complete non-event!
From there I did a run across the shallow flats on the West of the bridges… for zip, then drifted soft plastics in the main-stream for one run which took me close to the highways, turned around and headed back upstream, hoping for a jewie as I trolled between the bridge and the closest land, but that didn’t work… dream on, ol’ feller!
I’d been keeping an eye on a storm that had been brewing in the North East. Lightning and thunder had been emanating from this menacing looking cloud form for some time… it was huge! and I wasn’t real sure that it couldn’t come my way, so I chickened out and headed off for home. I just can’t cope with the thought of big hail, kayaks and me!
I didn’t troll from the half-way mark between Dohles Rocks and Deep Water Bend, as I hugged the shallows so I could make easier headway upstream against the current and a little wind. Trolling in the heaviest current line has got whiskers on it! I trolled from DWB with the wind behind me… much better!
The next action had me thinking big flattie… well it was big and flat, but a sting-ray, no less… one of Trevor’s mates. Its tail had been docked to a little stump from some previous angling encounter, making it relatively easy to release.
Back to trolling, and within minutes, the line zipped off the reel, and I thought it could be another ray, as it fought pretty hard, but then I saw the scales, and immediately thought it could be a jew. That thought changed quickly when I spied the whiskers, and I wrongly called it for a large cat-fish… wrong again! They don’t have scales, dopey!
I was looking at my first thread-fin salmon! You little ripper!!!
It didn’t like the kayak, giving me a pretty torrid time and when I finally subdued it, I remembered to take a few photos… Mark at Sandgate Tackle World wanted me to take pictures of fish with the Sebile Koolie hanging out of the mouth… (good advert for the lure, eh?) so I took a few with the mobile. They didn’t turn out all that hot, but that’s what you got!
I used the lip-grips to bring it aboard, measured it and then realised that I didn’t know the legal size, so instead of getting fined for taking undersized fish, I slipped it back into the briney… not knowing it was legal by 8cms… Bummer! 68cms… legal size? 60cm.
I had a good day, and when I finally hit shore, I was very happily tired to the bones… but for 30 minutes, I’d been paddling against current for nearly seven hours! Would you believe 6 ½ hours?
Another two firsts for the Sebile Koolie! Threadie and Ray! That’s nine species now and counting………
And the storm? It had all but disappeared in the time it took me to paddle home… but somebody would have copped a beauty!
Tight lines… Jimbo
