Lucky Thirteen

Caught off the beach.

Garie Beach Snapper Measured 85cm 5.9 kg's.

G'day Guys, Funny twist to this story, Set out in my tinny under Gosford Rail Bridge on Saturday for a long and patient fish with my best mate. Day was grand, little wind, no swell in the bay and the fish were cracking. Set up opposite side of bridge to the bay fishing the last 2 hours of the run in and sitting in the deepest part of the hole about 20 m from bridge and casting whole squid in lure of a mulloway sitting around the piers. Anchored up underneath the bridge I hear a YOU BEAUTY!! we look up and the bloke under the bridge is just about to net this massive Lizard when suddenly it lets go and the bloke starts cursing and yelling in frustration with his head in his hands. I know that feeling and instant empathy sets in. With a squid on one line and other rods set up for catching live bait for the yakkas which starting appearing behind our burley trail, My squid suddenly takes way and a nice tailor hooked up perfectly in the lower jaw. Decided to rig up the tailor on the squid set up and throw him in for a swim in the deep hole. The guys under the bridge moved on as the slack of the high started turning and roaring back out to the bay. Checked on the tailor and he was still good after 1 hour and decided to throw him where the guys lost their flatty. Bang!!! the rod starts dancing and the reel starts screaming. Switch the bait runner to gear and I yell out FISH ON! LOL like that guy from Chasing Monster Cyril Chaquet. little chuckle to my self as my mate starts laughing. Slowly bring my catch in and heart stops as I see it get wrapped around the anchor doing circles. Quickly my mate lifts the anchor as we orchestrate not to loose this thing which we have not seen yet. As the anchor ascends towards us, we see a Solid flatty on the end. We net her and untangle the mess she created. You Beauty!!!! as I remembered the poor bloke yell out couple of hours ago. The head on this thing looked like it was breed with a pit bull. I think I just caught old mates Flatty. How funny is that!!! Later that night as I,m cleaning the Flatty, I find a 2/0 hook stuck in its gut with 20 pound leader cut 6 inches from the hook. The one that got away and got caught again!!!! Its amazing how aggressive this thing was to strike a 38 cm tailor, and get hooked on a 8/0. More tailor caught on dead low slack about 7pm. Thrown out on bay side of bridge fishing the outgoing and slack when we see this big eddy current form in front of us realising the live tailor we had rigged up was being chased and this eddy was being created by the fish, rod keeled over ,reel screaming the heart pumping, my mate takes the rod and ....... nothing!!!!!. Retrieve the line and see half of the 40 cm tailor missing from the tail up.' Where's the second hook' I ask my mate? 'I only put one through his shoulder' he answers. Maaaaaaate!!!!. Oh well good lesson learned, use two hooks!!!! Always another day I say, learn from mistakes and catch that big ONE!!! Cheers guys!!!

Gday Sam Bros, Thanks mate! The more I look at it the more it looks like a Whaler. The snout looks more sharper on the Whaler compared to a broader thicker head on the bull shark. Whole Hawkesbury squid was used approx 20cm long accompanied with plenty of burly. Was using butterflied mullet approx 30cm long at first with no success and then squid with a better result.

Hey guys, For many years I have been looking up the raider for reports and endless amounts of information helping me with my fishing. About time I start sharing my fishing experiences with all my fellow fisherman. It brings me joy and peace to be able to walk up to any fisherman up here on the coast and have a yarn about the pass time we call fishing. This brings me to one of many good luck runs I have had on the beaches of Stockton and Black Smiths and Brisbane Waters. Decided to go for a mid week session at Black smiths last Wednesday. Bought my annual permit at the Star mart in Swansea and headed for the night. Arrived at 6pm with just enough time to scout out the best gutters, rips, sand bars and also where there was least amount of blue bottles and sea weed. Pretty windy heading from north east with cloud rolling in. . The pressure was stable at 1023 through out the day as I was monitoring the weather system on my computer at work. Marked a couple of waypoints on my GPS heading north from Awabakal Ave, as I.m driving on the beach I come across a deep dark rip going out to see with sand bars either side of it. The gutters leading up to the rip looked deep and this was on low tide so later that system would fill up and create deeper systems hopefully holding some big fish. Set up camp, fixed the rod holders baited up and now the waiting game. I used three rods either side of the rip and one bang in the centre. Mid night came and I was feeling defeated as knowing I was going to work the next day with little sleep I kept at it knowing something will hit as the conditions were perfect and the moon just starting to crest over the horizon When suddenly the rod keeled over and shaking, it stopped and started taking line. Rod showed all characteristics of a Mulloway going for a run, so I let it run knowing I've got plenty of line. Fish slowed down and I started reeling it in with sporadic runs I decided to not do up the drag. Been busted of in the past so I learnt from that mistake. Fish kept taking line and was heading south so I walked it down the gutter waiting for it to tire. Did up the drag a little and started timing the waves to bring it closer. Finally the last wave pushed it up on the shore as I pulled it in. You Beauty! A Mulloway of decent size measuring 90 cm, looked healthy and fat probably from the summer spoils of bait. Decided to keep it and try for another. With a little luck I landed a Bull Shark measuring 125 cm at 2.30am and a 45cm tailor to finish the night off. In my swag for some shut eye ready for another day. Cheers guys.