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    Re: Big Angry Fish Archived Message

    Posted by Jase on 12/6/2012, 10:17 pm, in reply to "Big Angry Fish"

    I decided to try find a new spot that had all the makings of some decent fishing close to home. It had to be somewhere with relatively easy access so that my step daughter Caitlin could come with me. I did a few small sessions at a spot I found during different times of tide and day to determine what I thought was most likely to produce the goods.

    One afternoon I decided to go out for a quick fish. The tide was almost high and at high tide this spot means you're getting wet to get in our spot. I put my tramping boots on, loaded the gear and Caitlin's gear (she told me I wasn't allowed to go without her) and off we went. After piggy backing her over the area we would get wet we headed over the rocks to our spot. There was no swell, the water was clean and the baits were deployed. I had just cast and looked at the area at my feet and a kingi was just cruising past right against the rock edge. I watched it for a bit and then it disappeared.

    The next weekend we went out again for a snapper fish. The berley had been out for about half an hour when a kingi smashed through the berley, destroying the bag and making a hell mess. Caitlin said words at that time that her mum would not have approved of, but I couldn't stop laughing. It summed up that moment perfectly. At that moment I decided to have a go at actually landing my first kingi - finally.

    The first Saturday of April dawned beautiful and clear. The gear was in the truck and off we went on our first kingfish hunting mission. There was a bit of swell, but the water was clear and the berley was dispersing really well. Caitlin's job was catch us a livey. She got a small mackeral that really would have died quickly on a live bait hook, so I told her we needed something bigger. Within minutes she had a 1/2kg kahawai. Out it went on my T-curve 10-15kg rock rod and Baitrunner 6500 with 15kg line.

    We had an onshore wind that got up to about 15 knots and the livey sat there after some alterations to the balloon size to keep the wind from forcing it back into the rocks. For 2 hours I tended that live bait and was getting bored. The berley was still pumping. We had heaps of baitfish in the trail.

    20 minutes later I rigged up my softbait set (a Backbone Elite 5-8kg rod and an Okuma Epix reel loaded with 8kg braid). Half a pilly on and out it went. I caught several barely legal, and many undersized snapper, so went up to 2 x 5/0 recurve hooks on a 40lb fluorocarbon leader as a strayline bait. There was a spot I had been trying to reach, but the wind was too strong so I put on half a large pilly and cast. It landed on the edge of a rock face and started to sink. Suddenly the line went tight and took off. I thought damn, this is either a big kahawai or a bloody good trev. 20 seconds later I had 10 turns left on my spool, and a burning hand from clamping down the reel. I knew I had an underwater steam train on, and I knew it was make or break.

    I turned its head and got most of my line back before it tore past me in the opposite direction. I was screaming at Caitlin to move as I jumped over the rocks and got up as high as I could. This thing was heading straight for another rock and I had to stop it. I put the strain on and turned it again. Once again I had almost no line left. "Damn these things are strong!" I yelled at Caitlin. One of my workmates Dyon was there and he had my gaff. I got some colour before it tore off again the same direction of its first run, and this time it went straight for the reef. My hand was burning again as I clamped the reel and this time it turned easy. As I pulled it into the rock it flopped onto its side, and as Dyon sank the gaff into its lip and slid it onto the rock I had realised my dream. There was some yelling and a few high fives, more expletives from Caitlin and me standing there in disbelief. I hoisted it on my scales and there it was. 12.73kg on 8kg off the rocks. Lucky? Definitely!

    I will never forget that day.


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