Name that ONE fish

[darryl_l]

We all have literally hundreds of fishing stories about the one we caught or the one that got away so now is your chance to tell all about that ONE fish story, the one fish that got you hooked.

My story is short and simple I was fishing with my brother in law on the cat walk at 1770 and hooked into a Northern Blue Fin Tuna on a popper. The hole that opened up in the water and the subsequent fight hooked me for life.

Darryl L

[agnes_jack]

Daryl
It would take months to tell of all the stories I have from the "catwalk"
Had a 35lb bluefin go down the throat of "guts" the groper there, also saw him eat a 4' whaler shark. Best score was 5 bluefin in one morning, all around 15-20lb go down his throat, lures and all.

Also had some massive cobes on before daylight in the mornings, absolutely unstoppable!!!

Too many stories!!

Regards, Tony

[Maria]

First fish I ever caught was a stingray (Kev you would be proud ;)) while fishing for whiting at Pt Talburpin. The bastard pulled like a train, at least at my age at the time I thought he did. Bit of an anti climax when I got him in, for both me and the old man but nevertheless I was happy as a pig in the proverbial.

[Lucky_Phill]

A few years ago, I spent a lot of time at the Whitsundays, so this time I was camping on Scrub-Hen Beach on Whitsunday Island itself. The beach has to the north and south a rocky small headland / outcrop, that divides it from other beaches. Usual trip to nth end saw me sit and eat fresh oysters form the rocks and then toss a lure.

Using the oldest Diawa spinner I had and a Mundeen rod I tossed a 40gram Wonderwobbler into the briney. As it hit the water, all manner of splashing and froth and bubble took over. The fish nailed the lure as it hit the water. At first I though Tuna. Long time later, after panicked screams down the beach for gaffs or landing nets, I see a Trevally swim past my feet, and into various crevaces around the headland. Faering cut offs etc, I ran, jumped, hopped and scurried all round the shop trying to keep the line from the oyster encrusted outcrops.

What is believed to be 30 minutes later, a tired Trevally could be lead up to the beach side of the rocks and have the landing net surround it. It was not a big Trevor by any means, but the fight and fright of the ordeal made for great memories. Weighed in at 17lb 3oz, for those of you who remember imperial weights.

And Yes, we ate it. BBQ'd trevor and oysters with a XXXX chaser ! Does it get any better ?

Cheers Phill

[philip_thomson]

back in christmas 1997 when i was a weee lad i went to the whitsundays with a friend for 10 nights. 4 of the guys went chasing the trout in the tinny, i really wanted to catch a trout but the boat was full. :-( so we went down to a jetty. i was chucking some slugs around and hooked up to a barracuda. it didn;t fight and i first thought the reel was broken. after about 5 minutes ive slow winding up came a big barracuda. it didn;t get to the surface but it was about 1m long.

since this event this fish has changed to a spanish mackerel and has grown to about 1.5m long ;D.

cheers phil

[devocean]

My first 80cm + barra caught in the mitchel river near Kowanyama. Fishing with the old man I was about 12 years old, through the lure into some backwater and whack at first I thought it was a snag because it held the boat which was just drifting then as we rowed up a little further it jumped straight out of the water- awesome sight- one of the best moments in my life

[land-lubber]

i'd just gotten my first plastics flick stick (7ft) and new laguna reel and was tossing a 2 1/2 inch paddletail around the wash at the fairy pools in noosa np during a slow period on pillies. i was working it back in the wash and was nailed by something that took off like a train. 15 minutes later and after rockhopping some precarious edges, i landed a 1.5 kg yellowtail kingie on 3kg line, the braid was shredded a meter above the meter trace. that pretty much got me hooked on plastics!

[mattooty]

First jewfish. It wasnt so much the fight or how i caught it but the end of the fight till the next morning.
As you see that bronze sheen come up with the moonlight and torchlight on it and turn around and dive is an awesome sight. Finally getting him on the rocks i was gobsmacked thinking he was about 20-25kg.
Carting him back along the breakwall at 11pm was a mission and a half. It felt like it was 50kg by the time i got to the car.
Put him in the back wrapped up in a towel and drove to get a bag of ice. Found a little kebab shop and got a feed and a bag of ice from the pety store next to it.
Couldnt sleep all night. Spent years trying to catch one and as soon as i change my views and fish for bream SMASH!
Matt

[cuzzamundi]

first jack. scarborough marina a few years back. landbased. 10lb braid and 20lb 80cm nylon trace. live hardihead. he ran like the usaual train, i thumbed the spool just in time. he ran me into three different sections of the snag ridden area, then under a moored boat. finally after what seemed like forever i get him to the surface, he dives, i recover him back up again. i realise i have no gaff or net. i see his purple beauty speckle through the surface, and call it at 50cm. i try to comfort likt(yeah right) to no avail, settle him down, then go for the risky rod lift, then....... bang! as he's half out the water one violent shake snaps the trace about three quarters down! i break down on my knees and almost shed a tear. i was absolutely devastated. gutted. nothing else in the world existed at that moment. had been trying as a land based youngen for years before with no luck! after i regained composure i checked the trace, noticed it was frayed quite a way up, and that ole mate jack had worn it down with his initial blistering runs, only to finish it off when the extra weight was added! been many since, and i never keep these beautiful pagnacious ruffians, but crikey i'll never forget that muggy night on the redcliffe peninsula - a true testament to the 'never say die' attitude of these magnificent creatures!

cuzza

[Duyz72]

For as long as I can remember I have been fishing. I cannot tell you any single event which got me so keen on fishing. If I ever find out I will make sure everyone I know does it. Whatever it was it damn well worked on me!

To have a guess, it would have to be the occasional reward of actually catching a fish. There is such a buzz when you hook up to a fish. "I GOT ONE!" or "GOT HIM!" is such an adrenalin catch cry. It is just so primal to catch fish.

Fishing is boring to many people, catching fish is awesome to them all!

Growing up I have fished everything you can without a boat. I would fish for weeks straight, every day over school holidays, dropped off in the morning, picked up at night. Sat in wind, rain, storms all just to go fishing. I have sat on rocks, sand, mud and any number of jettys and bridges. Caught small fish, big fish, ugly fish and slimy fish, puffy fish, spiky fish and more.

And to top it all off my Mum is allergic to fish!!! So no fish ever got cooked at home, they were nearly all catch and release!

[captaincoops]

there was a time when work was too much ...working seven days a week...if i ever got time to get to the pub was amazed to see all the unemployed were always having time for a beer,going fishing..

so after 4 years of flat out work just gave up work...took four wheel drive and boat and tent and beer and hot ones and got lost for 3-4 months of fishing north coast n.s.w.

after setting up good fishing location and had copius lines out all in rod holders with bells attached sat back down in fishing chair with beer in hand and found this is the best way to get fish to bite .....be occupied..

bells were ringing on live herring and after great battle flathead 4.1kg landed..
get to know why they call these things lizards...
from then always a sweet spot for the flathead...

[DICER]

catching a jewfish, plus ~60 cm flatties and two monster bream all near glenelg. The jew fish tail stuck halfway out my backpack while riding home by bike through the city. When I stopped at the traffic lights peoples eyes would focus on the tail which was above my helmet. It was a funny one - I thought I'd catch nothing.

[yibbiy]

The 1 fish that really got me into fishing was caught at a mates property, an hour out of Goulburn, NSW, fishing creeks that run through his land. Had only previously fished saltwater, and not regularly. After an hour or so of walking the creeks spinning with no success i came across a large hole. Flicked in a red celta and began to retrieve. Feeling a touch i told my mate who said "rubbish, catch it and i'll believe you". Cast again and within seconds it was on. Landed a 1.85kg brown trout. Was very impressed, and lead 2 a love of freshwater fishing.

Cheers,
jimmy.

[Dodgy_Back]

Two Jacks ,one lure, it'll never happen again.

Mick

[NeilD]

1978 and having a break between school and uni at Munna Point. Each day I would walk the undeveloped canals in Weyba Creek flicking lures with my trusty ABU 5000c and light baitcaster mainly chasing Trevs, Tailor and Lizards. One afternoon the lure (Cordell Surf Shiner bibless minnow) got smashed hard and after about 45 mins a 25lb Jewie glided into sight.

No gaff or net and only 8lb line so in I went and gilled him. My hand went right into the gill rakers and got shredded but there was no way I was letting go.

I reckon I had a smile on the dial for a week afterwards. Its still my biggest Jew to date.

Cheers

Neil

[el_carpo]

Awesome stories fellas! Great idea for a thread pelagic_chaser!


I have a fish that always pops into mind when I think of fishing. A carp.

I was terrified of them when I was just a small-fry (five years old). We went to a lake that had a small, muddy channel attached to it and these big carp would slurp up cottonwood seeds at the surface. I don't know why, but seeing them sloshing around in the murky water scared the be-jeezis outta me and my brothers made fun of me and would pretend to throw me in. I felt so ashamed and embarrassed that I didn't even want to go fishing. Well, one day I had had enough. I said that's it, I'm going to try to catch one. I saw them sucking up the seeds and baited up a piece of bread and floated it right where they were feeding. The largest one grabbed it and ran. I was shaking from fear and excitement. I had never fought a fish over 7 inches or so and this fish was probably near 10 pounds. My brother saw me fighting him and ran over to help. He tried to take the rod to land it for me but I wouldn't let him. I fought that fish for about ten minutes until he ran into a fallen tree and busted me off. I didn't land him, but I was proud of myself for trying. When my Dad (who knew how afraid I was of them) heard what I had done, he said he was proud of me and that was that. Ever since then, I've always been in love with fishing.

[BR65]

Was about 6 years old at the time. My parents took us fishing one nite at Deep Water Bend from the old wall.
Had the latest hi-tech gear consisting of 12lb line wound onto a coke bottle and frozen prawns for bait. Caught my first fish, a whiting, that nite and the addictation started.
Done a lot of fishing since then in a lot of great places for a lot of "fish of a lifetime" type fishy's, but will allways remember that first whiting.

[Kayak1]

Many years ago....I was on a dairy farm at the time so prime fishing times, dawn and dusk, were out of the question. I befriended an old man with poor eyesight and virtually crippled legs and used to take him fishing usually once a week, always at night time (after the cows had been milked). This particular night we were fishing in the break in the outer wall of the early Gladstone marina, long before present day developments. Because of his legs the old fella would stay seated in the mini moke, fishing rod in hand...thinking back, sometimes I think I had to cast it for him. We hadn't caught much this particular night..just a couple of small sharks. At around 2.30 am, he had dosed off and I was wondering what I was still doing there when zzzrrrr zzzzrrr zzzrrrr the drag was suddenly giving line to what seemed a never ending long and powerful run. Then slowly the line arced left then right and powerful head shakes were felt throbbing up the line. Somehow I managed to remain relatively calm and in control, realising I had open water in front of me and all the time in the world at my disposal. The sight of the hugh silver bronze monster that emerged from the dark to wallow defeated at my feet sent my knees to jelly. I struggled up the bank and woke up the old fella. "Quick rebait my line" was his response. Sorry time to milk the cows...maybe next time.
To this date my biggest (and only) jewie...35lb...and as I believe, my reward for taking the old fella fishing.
Brings back many happy memories.
Great thread.

Cheers,
Steve.

[goddy100]

My first barra over a metre.
I did a hike with some mates to a remote waterhole in the gulf that just about never gets fished. One of them did not fish, but the other seemed to be able to hook barra out of a bucket. After watching him land another fish my next cast came up tight. He ribbed me about my new jack erskin drag washers being crap, as the fish peeled off line with ease, then wrapped me around some trees near the bank. It eventually came out and I netted a beautiful wild 1m barra.
It was memorable because it was my first barra over a metre, caught in the wild, off the bank after a 15km hike.
All up walked from 5 in the morning to 9.30 at night and was absoulutly stuffed, but loved every minute.
ps - fish was released, no way was any barra being carried that far back!

[jimmybob]

i wasnst hooked into fishing ... i was born into it......my dad was the coolest...letting me have days off school (not to many but days none the less) to go with him to either chase bream in the brissie river or head out to the cape in search of snapper and the like......it took me years to figure out how he would catch more than me but now i have those days more and more.........i cant wait till my 2yr old is out there with me trying to out do his old man and his granddad ;D

[Gorilla_in_Manila]

Been looking at this thread a couple of times, and was wondering how to answer without writing a book. Certainly wasn't one fish that hooked me, coz similar to a lot of responses, it is just something I've been lucky enough to have been doing all my life.

My Grandfather and dad both fished all their life and I was lucky enough to have grown up on the coast at a spot with great fishing, so by default, I started fishing with them and it has been both the earliest and best memories of my life.

For anyone that found the fishing experience later in life, I feel both a bit sad for them and and a little envious of them. Sad, coz they must have missed out on having a fantastic pastime as a kid, a tad envious coz I can just imagine what sort of a life changing experience it must have been to try it out and then get that one clear definitive moment when they "felt the magic" and were subsequently "hooked". Then of course, there is the rest of your life to enjoy it.
A bit like going to Fraser Island, the Big Northern Adventure or some other dreamed of trip for the first time; immediately after the trip (and especially if it was going to be the only one) it is inevitably the trip of a lifetime. If you are lucky enough to be able to go back, all trips are still fantastic, but then the first one starts getting compared to the subsequent trips and the original "magic" can start to fade. One fish doesn't seem to stand out for me, coz guess I'm lucky enough to have them mixed in with so many other good memories.

Haven't really ever caught that one great fish that others would call a trophy. Have had numerous good fish, numerous great sessions, and numerous great trips. If the one great fish comes along sometime in the rest of my fishing experience, then fair enough, and I will be thankful. If it doesn't, then so what, as long as I'm still having great trips, the occassional great session and always fun, I'm happy.

Good to read other's responses. Its all good. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

Cheers
Jeff