Book 2
Wednesday morning Nagg and MW dropped in on their way to Awoonga. They very kindly gave us one each of their gun softies and some great pointers. We were on the water a bit late ducked into the back of bird for a look found a few dead fish and that was about it. Up to B to check Steve's spot from the night before. Looked the goods but not alot happening so we though we'd check out a few of the other guru's points....Good Call. Got over there about 4'ish, tied up and hung on!! We had the two gun lures on and about 5pm it started....it was like a dream. Roo was the first to hook up and I managed to grab some of it on video. It was off like a steam train, I could've had a cuppa while I waited!! After some nice leaps and head shakes from the fish and a few "God bless Nagg, We love Nagg" comments from us, I netted his new PB. We knew it was a bigg'n but not until we tried to lift it in the boat did we realise just how big. The brag mat was ready on the floor and a rough guess while it was still in the net was 110cm. De hooked and slid the net out OMG it's 117cm. Checked it a few times (he did claim a 110 with his metery until he realised the mat had a fold in it.) Nope it was a 117cm. Back over the side (OMG it was heavy) and high fives all round!! Holy $hit.... we have a XOS to our name.
While Roo fixed up his mangled leader, I dropped a smaller fish at the boat it would have been a 80ish really golden in colour. Oh well...another leader for Roo to fix. I kept casting......another hookup. Woo Hoo!! Now this is barra fishing!!! This was a bigger fish, had her on for a few leaps, had her to the boat, one last run under the boat...pressure goooone. Shit what happened??? Not until I was checking my leader did I notice the TT Head Hunter xstrong hook bent to buggery. Bugger....another job for Roo. I was swapping between the revo with the black and gold 130 slick rig and the zillion with the depth charger(storm 6in). Roo could hardly keep up with the knot tying. Then we heard a great commotion across the bay and a yell "roo...kim is that you?" we thought we had seen Foxie's boat just before dark. It was now pitch black, no moon yet. It sounded like he had a great white in the boat!! (Wouldn't get that noise in a poly ) He asked us to take a pic for him as he couldn't get the camera to work. By the time we got there he had released it as it had been out of the water for a bit. Back to our spot few more cast and I'm on!! The rest is a blur, it was dark I remember that!! Roo might have a better recollection? All I remember is tell Roo to keep talking me through it, keep coaching me. He's a champ. I knew it was a big girl and didn't want to blow it. He netted her like a pro. Again it took both of us to lift her in the boat. On the mat she went 115. Wholly $hite...I just landed a 115cm barra. OMG!!! I was still pinching myself the next morning. Another leader knot for Roo to tie... went a bit quiet after that, Roo had two more breif hookups, the last one destroyed the gun lure 'depth charger' and that was it. Home by about 9pm.
Thursday, off to Bundy to grab some more 'depth chargers'. Home for a soft plastics workshop to modify tail angles and add stinger hooks, Chew just loooves slickrigs. On the water by 3pm, straight to THE POINT., tie up and hang on again. I was having a shocker couldn't cast to save myself. After a hissy fit, a cuppa and a bit of rocky road, noticed bait flicking. Two casts later...I had enough time to say I'm On and Roo turned to see a missile launch up out of the water. It's tail had to have cleared the water by more than a metre!! Awesome to watch. In comes my fish for the day a feisty 91. Roo then landed a 96 that had himself round the anchor rope cause someone got the net ready first . I lost 3 more that night, one spat it mid air, it was worth it to see that happen, one got through the 60lb leader and the last was was a big fish!! It came to the surface and just rolled after a big run and spat the hook, no jump. I don't think it could have got itself out of the water!! Roo again had a great night tying knots. At one point I offered to wait till we had two rods ready to go, so we had an equal chance. The response was "get your lure in the water, were not here to F#$K spiders".
Dropping fish was also a first for us, before the trip we had landed every fish we had hooked (6 between us). All dropped fish were after our PB and they really didn't bother us too much. I was surprised after the two PB's we were much more relaxed and not so worried about getting them to the boat. Miss hits were another new experience for us....you're sure not left with any doubt when a barra short takes your plastic....wow what a hit! You really can tell the difference between a barra and a cattie by the sheer power and speed of the strike.
Chew got his PB fish on a slickrig on Thursday night also....we were so proud!!(Chewy heard mumbling....bloody plastics....)
Roo and I have an agreement which he is starting to reconsider...I provide the food he ties the knots, I think he will reassess for the next trip. All but Roo's first fish were caught with snaps too.
We had a great time and caught up with some great people!! A huge heartfelt thanks to all of you who freely gave us advise, hints and tips. I've come home a much more confident barra fisho and with a PB each, 3 fish each and 8 dropped between us. Not the number that some of you lucky buggers get into but it will do me!! I'm still grinning.
Hope it was worth the wait
Cheers Kim.