Trip Reports • Qld Scarby 12Sep12 What a put down!

[Beekeeper]

What a put-down…

I thought I was doing OK on Wednesday… had caught and released a 55cm snapper, then on the same 3inch paddle-tail Z-man, landed a lovely 62cm Grunter Bream (Javelin Fish) that I was taking home, and was feeling on top of the world.

Two little undersized snapper were also slid back into the briney.

Then I get a radio-call from K1… “Jimbo, I’m into a big fish! It’s heading off to Moreton… Bloody hell, it’s a bloody great turtle!”

Not unduly worried about that… turtles bob up all the time here… place is lousy with them… so much so, that my electric chicken sneaks off and damn me if I’m not into a turtle!

I thought that was funny… two mates, a kilometre at least apart, and both into turtles at the same time… quite amusing.

I get another call… “Jimbo… it’s not a turtle… I’ve just seen its back and it’s got two fins… and they’re not shark fins!”

I’ve just got rid of my turtle, due to the hook straightening a wee bit, sorted that out, and noticed slight movement on the over-head outfit… another little snapper, or so it felt like… I leaned into it a bit, and Gawd he must have been an angry little shite, ‘cos within a flash, I’ve been almost spooled!

Heading for Moreton Island at a great rate of knots… as I was already lined up and following, I cranked up the drag (I had to… there was just about no line left on the spool) and within a few seconds, the line parted, and I was left there, absolutely stunned at what had just occurred!

One minute, I’m sorting out a turtle, and next thing I’m looking at an empty spool on my Shimano Corvalus 200 overhead reel!

Wow! That was quick! I would have to say that this fish was the fastest that I've ever been attached to, even briefly, in my life!

I wound it all back in, and found that the knot attached to the lure was where the line parted… I’m extremely careful with my knots, and like to think it wasn’t faulty knot tying that did the damage, that possibly the fish got a tooth to the knot… whatever, that’s where it failed, so on with the rest of the day… which is, back to K1 and his fish!

I radioed him and yes, he’s still on and heading South, so I tell him I’m on my way, and take off, (well, after I tied another 3inch paddle-tail Z-man on the overhead outfit).

After some hard paddling/trolling, I finally close in on Trev, and he’s in all sorts of trouble… his mirage drive being stuck, its fins are not retractable, and the fish seems intent on brushing against them, and a taut line rubbing against the fins seem a sure recipe for disaster.

But pretty soon the line is pointing away from the yak, and the anxious time is past… now this fish is just moving in ever decreasing circles, and after even calling it for a big trevally, (GT to be precise), we realised it was a tuna, and a bloody big one at that!

At this point, I must impress upon you readers that Trev is not the best gaff hand that I’ve ever seen… his gaffing attempts were less than impressive, and he finally resorted to gill-gripping it with his hand, and hauled it aboard… that fish was well and truly stuffed! Well! After 40 minutes, he had his prize… and for the next 10 minutes he had me taking photos of this fellow with a big cheesy grin and his monster tuna… he even directed me as to how the photo was to be taken… talk about an old woman!

We then headed in to put our respective fish on ice… his four-foot tuna and my piddley little two-foot grunter!

What a bloody put-down!

Some friend, eh?

Even the 50cm snapper I caught after that, didn’t erase that put-down!

Cheers, Jimbo

PS the two spikes in the photo were from two grunter caught some months apart. If you look closely at the anal fin on the grunter, you can make out just how big those spikes are… I wouldn’t like to be jabbed with one of them… they are quite fearsome. J

[kayakone]

Never caught a grunter at Scarby, but there was plenty of grunt coming from me yesterday. Thanks for coming to help Jim.

trev

[Bretto]

We then headed in to put our respective fish on ice… his four-foot tuna and my piddley little two-foot grunter!

What a bloody put-down!

Some friend, eh?

Even the 50cm snapper I caught after that, didn’t erase that put-down!

Life's tough for some folks Jim.

[youngfisho]

thats a good grunter, there good on the chew to.

[Wrassemagnet]

A memorable session in many ways fellas. I've never seen a grunter bream before and that sure is a fearsome anal spike. I was wondering what time the fast and furious action happened?

[kayakone]

A memorable session in many ways fellas. I've never seen a grunter bream before and that sure is a fearsome anal spike. I was wondering what time the fast and furious action happened?

High tide at 6.30 am. Jim's snapper and grunter either side of 7.00 am. Double hits at 8.00 am - if you count Jim's turtle as a hit ,but he connected to a speedster straight after (till 8.39 am - tuna landed).

BTW Jim, 30 lb on a 500 saltiga .... no wussy 5 lb cotton here.


trev

[Wrassemagnet]

No doubt my mate, packing PE 0.5 braid would be under gunned in your neck of the woods! A bit like taking a knife to a gunfight

[kayakone]

Jimbo claws his way back on the Pine

(Papuan/Brassy/Tea Leaf Trevally)



Better go catch another one to stay ahead of him.


trev