[andybear]

Hi all,
I was on the water at Scarborough, probably about six oclock this morning. A lovely day, overcast, few little waves, but glassy and smooth.
I went a trolling with the sx40 and my favorite manns orange/green/red deep diver, and not a lot happened till about 0715 (just after I met up with Jim) as he was paddling away, I got a pretty big hit, and had fish on for a few seconds, and then.....gone. A bit later on, and this is where my story becomes embarrasing... another big hit... and a tow around.... an the fish totally defeated, out of the water hanging there, and I was thinking (like real slow) should I have used the gaff, or the lip grippers, should I put it back in the water to take the weight for a while .... while I get organizsed? Bad decision, Nah! just lift it in with the line, its well hooked, and not going anywhere..... except just as the brain was starting to kick in, the line snapped. Had I been holding the short wire trace, or done any of those other things the fish would have been in the yak, and not swimming off at high speed with my favorite lure. Other embarrasing thing, is that although I got a really good oportunity to identify the fish, and initially I thought it was a Jewfish, I don't know really what it was. The gob was huge, the tail was forked, and the colour was pretty much silver but I just don't know. I reckon it would have been about 8kg. I know most of the fish around, but I just dont know.
You could probably have heard the wailing from Redcliffe, Just staring into the water... wondering why the hell did I do that. Fish totally defeated, not a thing left in it.... and I drop it in the ocean. Anyhow. I got on with it, and changed to another big lure. (all the time hoping that the whatever it was would shake my lure loose, and I could find it floating around.... Yeah right!
Good news however, did not go home empty handed, caught a Estuary cod at 44cm and just 1kg. I took the time to think this time before landing this one. It almost swallowed my big lure. Put up a pretty good fight too!
but the fish that was lost could have swallowed this one whole!
It was a great morning, there were turtles and dolphins around, all the time looking like it was going to pour rain, but never did.

Cheers all Andybear

 

[Peril]

Andy, what can I say but that I know how much that would hurt. You're a brave man for letting us know - I'm sure the reminder will help us all.

Can't have been a jew if it had a forked tail. Could it have been a teraglin? Was the inside of the mouth yellow or yellowish?

 

[beefs]

andy andy andy :lol:

my fisherman side of me feels for ya mate - nothing worse than getting that big fish next to the yak only to see it prematurely release itself.

The other side of me is wondering what the hell were you thinking!! :wink: :lol: You had four options - lip grippers, gaff, grab it with the rag or suspend an approximately 8kg fish out of the water by just the line... Just thought i'd make that clear for you.

PS i'm going to stop right here with any other tips or enlightening advice on landing large fish from the yak because even though you lost the fish any pointed jabs I can make are very easily counterjabbed and trumped by the fact that you got onto the water on what sounds like a tops morning and i'm sitting in my office :lol:

 

[andybear]

Hi all,

Thanks for the votes of sympathy, and although I still have no idea what it was, but for the colouration, I would say Mangrove Jack! but I dont think they come out on the reef, do they? BTW 6 kg pre test flouro platypus.

I would have taken more interest in the fin form, but for thinking I have this one in the bag.... can check later.... or so I thought

Cheers all Andybear

PS Might put the cod in the comp. Not a world beater, but the first time I have been fishing during comp times. :lol:

 

[beefs]

Andy - what was the basic shape - sleek or more rounded like a jack?? You say the colouration was pretty much silver? How emphasised was the fork in the tail?

What about a type of salmon or a king size tailor? Maybe if it was more the mangrove jack shape it could have been a Blackall/Blubber Lip Bream/Mother-In-Law fish?

 

[Peril]

I don't think Teraglin grow to the 8 kilo mark, but i wouldn't put anything past those Qld waters

Try 20kg - http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/recreat ... h/teraglin

 

[beefs]

blackall?

 

[andybear]

Yep, I reckon Blackall it is. Never even heard of it.
I guess I was drunk/intoxicated, on the what the bloody hell is this big thing doing on my line sydrome. This just doe not happen.

Cheers all Andybear

Im off now to read up on Blackall (in this case ****all) edited by andybear 8)

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[knot-too-fast]

Don't feel too bad I was stupid enough to not tie the anchor on properly yesterday and lost it to the sea gods :roll:

 

[andybear]

Cheers all, Im feeling much better now :lol:

Andybear :lol:

 

[Dodge]

Andy every fisherman would feel for you mate, the consolation is when you rehook the fish it will have fattened up some more :wink:

 

[PoddyMullet]

Thems the line breaks :wink:

 

[andybear]

When what happened, did happen..... what is the most reasonable amount of time to stare, open mouthed with knuckles whitened, before actually screaming and crying weeping and wailing? I suppose till you hold your breath for so long that you actually pass out? Mind you, its hard not to breath when you are screaming! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Im glad now that I have been told that this fish would have tasted really horrible, and the yak would have probably sank from plastic gnawing.

The real post mortem is, the fish would probably not have been more than 4kg, (but the biggest thing I have nearly caught) and the main cause for its loss on reflection is that the lure had a wire trace, and had been affixed rigged for some few months, and probably the wire on mono, would have been chaffing away un-noticed. The failure was in the loop/tie on A wake up call for me, and a reminder to all others... to properly check the teminal tackle, and seek out the weakest link

Jeeez though, it was a grand day just the same, makes you real happy just to wake up and still be sucking air :lol:

Cheers all Andybear

 

[Davey G]

we feel your pain andybear. :x

I think, when losing a big fish, you are entitled to at least one minute of 'D'OH, WHAT THE??, HOW THE???, where, what, why ME??? time.

Any more than a minute and you're just being a big sook. :shock: So, get your line back in the water and try again!

Good luck catching him when he 'grows up' a bit!