Tim_N
20-07-2009, 10:47 AM
Got a call from a couple of old fishing mates on Saturday, "take us out again like we used to in the olden days". Righto, the weather is going to be great tomorrow, so how about an afternoon trip out to the old stomping grounds we used to fish 15+ years ago. I liked the look of the bigger flooding late afternoon tide, so the plan was hatched......and it was going to be a SP trip also.
Met the lads at the ramp at high noon and headed out to the old secret spot which isn't so secret anymore, there were about 9 boats in the area, but none where we wanted to fish, so we fished a little wider trying for our target species, Snapper, but only 1 x 25 cm model came onboard for 3 guys casting.
By mid afternoon, all the boats had headed back into Bribie, Caloundra or Mooloolabah so we went over to the mark of choice. By this stage the tide was running nicely, perhaps a little too quick to fish SP's successfully, so we anchored up to work a small patch.
The 2 mates had not done offshore SP'ing before and wondered how it would work and what technique to use. The good old dead sticking works fine, and just as I was trying to explain that it wasn't uncommon for a Cobia to grab a 7" Nuclear Chicken fished floater style, Cookies rod gets smashed and line starts roaring off. Cookie was using my Egrell Bear S6 with the Daiwa Heartland 3000, 15 lb braid and 20 lb leader, and this thing is going and going. Hendo cleared the decks, and I set about getting the anchor up (which I had just put down) because this thing was heading south rapidly. Using only a 20 lb leader, you always run the risk of getting rubbed off by the raspy mouth of a Cobia, so up anchor and let's get some line back.
About 500 m away from our mark, I get a gaff shot at the Cobia, so I hit him and hit him hard and dragged the beast over the side. Holy smokes, that was 1 good fish, especially on that gear, well done Cookie. I go to weigh it on my 15 kg Bogar Grips and it bottoms out easily, we call it for 17 to 18 kg. I put my hand, wrist and part of my forearm down its gob to retrieve the SP and unbeliveably, there isn't a mark on the 20 lb leader. Go figure. The Gulp is still in prime condition too, gotta get lucky now and then.
After high 5's, bleeding the fish and rearranging the boat, we decide to head back to the mark, drop the pick and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.
We get back to the mark and first drop a nice sized Yakka comes over the side. So quickly I rig my new split grip Egrell Bear S10H/Certate 3500 outfit with a live bait snood rig and feed it out the back, while the boys get about continuing with their SP's.
The livie hadn't hit the bottom when things tighten up and oh no, here we go again.
The S10H is a stick with loads of grunt, and although the 30 lb braid was doing it fair share of singing, we didn't have to up anchor, I could fight it from the anchored boat. In less than 10 minutes a horse of a Cobia is boatside and Cookie sinks the gaff in and hauls or second fish of the afternoon. This one is larger than the first by some distance as the pics will show, so we call it for 20 kg or so. Not 100% sure, but it was a big bugger. The Bear S10H was designed with big fish in mind and it was amazing how much hurt I could apply to the fish if I needed to.
In the box it went and the call was to get out of there asap, a Snapper would have been good, but the idea of getting another monster wasn't so good.
Left them there and were back at the boat ramp just on dark.
Now that's a good afternoon out with a couple of old mates.
Here's a couple of pics, sorry about the quality, should have used the flash to fill in, anyway, you get the idea.
Tim
Met the lads at the ramp at high noon and headed out to the old secret spot which isn't so secret anymore, there were about 9 boats in the area, but none where we wanted to fish, so we fished a little wider trying for our target species, Snapper, but only 1 x 25 cm model came onboard for 3 guys casting.
By mid afternoon, all the boats had headed back into Bribie, Caloundra or Mooloolabah so we went over to the mark of choice. By this stage the tide was running nicely, perhaps a little too quick to fish SP's successfully, so we anchored up to work a small patch.
The 2 mates had not done offshore SP'ing before and wondered how it would work and what technique to use. The good old dead sticking works fine, and just as I was trying to explain that it wasn't uncommon for a Cobia to grab a 7" Nuclear Chicken fished floater style, Cookies rod gets smashed and line starts roaring off. Cookie was using my Egrell Bear S6 with the Daiwa Heartland 3000, 15 lb braid and 20 lb leader, and this thing is going and going. Hendo cleared the decks, and I set about getting the anchor up (which I had just put down) because this thing was heading south rapidly. Using only a 20 lb leader, you always run the risk of getting rubbed off by the raspy mouth of a Cobia, so up anchor and let's get some line back.
About 500 m away from our mark, I get a gaff shot at the Cobia, so I hit him and hit him hard and dragged the beast over the side. Holy smokes, that was 1 good fish, especially on that gear, well done Cookie. I go to weigh it on my 15 kg Bogar Grips and it bottoms out easily, we call it for 17 to 18 kg. I put my hand, wrist and part of my forearm down its gob to retrieve the SP and unbeliveably, there isn't a mark on the 20 lb leader. Go figure. The Gulp is still in prime condition too, gotta get lucky now and then.
After high 5's, bleeding the fish and rearranging the boat, we decide to head back to the mark, drop the pick and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.
We get back to the mark and first drop a nice sized Yakka comes over the side. So quickly I rig my new split grip Egrell Bear S10H/Certate 3500 outfit with a live bait snood rig and feed it out the back, while the boys get about continuing with their SP's.
The livie hadn't hit the bottom when things tighten up and oh no, here we go again.
The S10H is a stick with loads of grunt, and although the 30 lb braid was doing it fair share of singing, we didn't have to up anchor, I could fight it from the anchored boat. In less than 10 minutes a horse of a Cobia is boatside and Cookie sinks the gaff in and hauls or second fish of the afternoon. This one is larger than the first by some distance as the pics will show, so we call it for 20 kg or so. Not 100% sure, but it was a big bugger. The Bear S10H was designed with big fish in mind and it was amazing how much hurt I could apply to the fish if I needed to.
In the box it went and the call was to get out of there asap, a Snapper would have been good, but the idea of getting another monster wasn't so good.
Left them there and were back at the boat ramp just on dark.
Now that's a good afternoon out with a couple of old mates.
Here's a couple of pics, sorry about the quality, should have used the flash to fill in, anyway, you get the idea.
Tim