Liberty Strikes it BIG

[Frank OO]

We went for a run to Shallow Tempest last Friday and met Liberty just after another of my favourite Pakula Skirts had been smashed by another toothy monster. It wasn’t till later in the day that we ran into Liberty again but this time we stayed beside each other drifting along in a rather stiff breeze.





It was at that time when I noticed that one of the boys had hooked a very BIG fish on a Nuclear Chicken. Nige l(Liberty) casually pulled in his Para Anchor and cruised after the fish which by this time had peeled off about 150 meters of 10kg Flurocarbon off the Shimano Sustain.





The fight seemed to take forever but finally I could see the boys drag something BIG and Black over the side of the boat.





We estimated the fish to be well over 30kg





Well done boys, here are some of the photos





Frank OO

[ooglie74]

Good going boys pity I was at work.lol

Cheers Troy

[skipalong]

excellent fish

[backlash08]

thanks Frank - that is good going on 10kg!

[Liberty]

Wow. What an afternoon! Haven't laughed so much for a long time.

Went out with Graham Lowry, a keen beach fisher, who had lots of time chasing tailor and an all-fish PB of about 5kg.

We left Spinnaker at 7:00am and first tried outside the Cape. Lots of show but nothing biting. Was on the way down to Shallow Tempest and went past Franko heading north.

After a quick "mutual admiration" offshore photo session, Franko advised nothing happening down there either so we went out to Deep Tempest where it was a full featured 15-20knots, big currents and swells. Too rough for the chute and we couldn't stay on the bottom so we steamed back to Hutchies.

Again not much action close to the reef so we went out to 38m, taking a position on the outer line shortly after Smithy on Triton 4 vacated. Thanks Smithy! Good shows and close to where I picked up a 48cm snapper the day before.

I was on the Egrell S10, so Gray was on the "B" rod - 8kg Moreton Bay Spin Stick with 15kg braid on the Shimano Sustain and a 10kg fluorocarbon leader. He was trying yet another jigging quick retrieve on the 7" Nucular Chook when he yelled out "I've got something".

I took a quick look and said "nah mate - that's the bottom". Gray was convinced that there we big head shakes. I thought "nah you've got the drag set, the line is tightening up to the limit of the drag and then releasing". Just looks like a fish. I nearly got him to lock up the rod and snap off the line.

::)

A few minutes later he was convinced he had something big so I pulled in my line, pulled up the chute and chased the fish.

I have had to chase billfish with the boat before but this was the first for a reefy!!!

30 minutes later, we saw a world of white and got the GT alongside. I futilely tried lifting it out of the water, and it (like Gray) was clearly stuffed, so we left it in to recover for 5 minutes.

Franko very kindly pulled lines and came alongside with his camera for those shots while we revived the fish. Thanks mate!

We got it into the net and together pulled it onto the deck. I still couldn't lift it by myself - the Bogagrip bottomed out at 20kg and the fish wasn't moving - but we eventually got it up together into Gray's arms ready for a shot. He couldn't see over the top of the fish and I couldn't stop laughing.

Photo's taken, fish released and it swam away.

:D

I'm calling it 30kg, but who knows...

Nigel

[Liberty]

You can see from the photo where the fish took us. I don't think it even knew for the first 15 minutes that it was hooked, but just kept swimming along the reef!

Funny seeing the shot of me climbing outside the boat, even leaning back outside the motors, I still couldn't get all the fish in the camera.

[revs57]

Congratulations Nigel! A trophy fish in anyones language. Well done to you too Franko, always good to get some support when on a monster!

Excellent work fellas!

Cheers

Rhys

[Fishbait]

Thats one hell of an awesome boat! Nice GT!

[Liberty]

Thats one hell of an awesome boat! Nice GT!

Thanks.

Liberty's mine for a few more weeks, then she's up for sale.

Moving up to a bigger Southport ...

:D

[Benno1]

jeebus on roller skates that a big GT...top effort mate :D

[Horse]

That is a very impressive fish on a SP outfit. Well done
I really like the look of the Southport. A bigger one would be a real beast

Neil

[ffejsmada]

Bloody fantastic fish and a bloody fantastic looking boat!!!!

Good on ya' mate, top job!8-)

Jeff.

[Pistol_P]

Seem to be some HUGE GT's being caught down here this year..!!

Great to see..!!

Thats a fantastic fish on a soft plastic....Great effort!

Pete

[Liberty]

Franko, Skipalong, Clee, Revs57, Benno, Horse, Ffejsmada

Thanks for your comments!

Ooglie,

Next time get your priorities straight!

:-)

Nigel

[outsiderskip]

nice fishng
well done
be you havent done any lifting like that for a while

pete

[Liberty]

nice fishng
well done
be you havent done any lifting like that for a while

pete

Nor likely too again!

;D

[ooglie74]

Bit hard mate with work.lol
Had saturday off though.

Cheers Troy

[TimiBoy]

Strewth! I can't wait to catch something over ten kilo's, and you buggers are pulling 30's?

Sulking!;D;D;D

Tim