After looking out to sea over a beautiful sunrise it did not take long for me to slowly rethink my plans for the day.
- Sunrise Mooloolaba
- Sunrise Mooloolaba 26th April.jpg (54.12 KiB) Viewed 905 times
Went home, put everything vaguely pelagic in and on the car and shot off for Moffats for a late start.
Had been talking a bit to Paulo and his partner Lynette about chasing tuna between Moffats and Brays and beyond so gave him a quick call to see if they were venturing out today as well ( Lynette has had an amazing run on the longtail ( 3 trips for 3 good fish – which has been generously shared around amongst all and sundry)
No one home so I rigged up and did not even notice the two of them sneak past down the ramp and on to the beach..
Had a bit if a yarn and headed out – it was after 8am by this time but the tuna seemed not to be about till well after sun up.
Paul had warned me against trolling 2 lines from the Yak – I totally ignored the advice and got the biggest tangle you could imagine.
By the time I got reorganized ( and this time only one trolled line out) I was about two thirds the way to Brays andout wide where the SW breeze had taken me.
I could see Paulo and Lynette well inshore and there were signs of tuna everywhere – birds and small bust ups all over, so I headed back into more likely looking ground, occasionally checking the sounder out of interest as I had a soft plastic on the ready in case I came across some promising bottom structure.
There were heaps of big bait balls showing and even though I told myself to concentrate on the tuna fishing – I could not help myself.
Was pedaling the Kayak slowly into the breeze and decided to flick the plastic well ahead and time it so that by the time it got near the bottom I would be vertically over it and then give it a jig and retrieve.
First cast – just off the bottom and the rod buckled and all hell broke loose ( tired phrasing but very descriptive). The drag screamed with the fish hurtling off seawards in a non-stop high speed run which seemed unstoppable on my light snapper gear.
Did not want to get towed out to sea like the last time this happened to me so I carefully adjusted the drag – Fish just kept going – put a little more drag on ( as much as I dared) and very slowly the fish slowed down.
After about 20mins of toing and froing and circling under the kayak I saw colour – YESSS a nice longtail and a little while later I managed to put a gaff ( small one handed thing) through the fish.
To my utter distress, as I lifted the tuna out of the water I could see that the gaff was only just connected through the gills and it flipped and dropped back into the sea.
Faaark!! Hang on there is still a hook in it. So I grabbed the rod and tried to turn the handle. OH NO!! I had somehow managed to get a couple of twists around a runner while gaffing the tuna.
I was in luck however as the tuna was in a bit of trouble with damaged gills and was sulking under the yak so I grapped the leader- hand over hand and put the gaff neatly through the tuna’s jaw.
PHEW!! Finally after that great comedy of errors I had my first longtail out of a kayak.
- Tuna on board
- Tuna on board.jpg (121.46 KiB) Viewed 905 times
Absolute relief mixed with euphoria and I still can’t get the smile off my face.
Sashimi here we come!!
Many thanks to Paulo for your encouragement and advice.
- Moffat Beach tuna
- Tuna Moffats 26th April.jpg (123.88 KiB) Viewed 905 times
Cheers
Mark
