Morning raiders! Welcome to my first post!
Having started fishing on the old mans 20 year old kmart reel without a clue (or bite) in the world, I've since spent many a night in a trance like state lurking on fishraider and educating myself on the plethora of fishing information out there. Have really gotten into it in the past 2-3 months (probably as a means of exam procrastination) and managed to scrap up some cheap gear on my meagre uni student budget. Armed with squid and fresh pillies, I drove like a mad man to Maroubra beach to catch the last hour of sunset on the incoming tide, when (theoretically) the jews are feeding. Sent a whole squid in on ganged hooks and a 10ft surf rod, and worked the shallows with a 6ft smaller rod with a running sinker rig. No bites for the first hour and only pickers on my 6ft rod, with the sun setting, I made an executive decision to throw on a whole pillie on the surf rod and half pillies on the 6ft. 15minutes later at around 6PM, my reel erupted under the weight of something massive, made some awesome leaps and very powerful runs. All the fishing techniques, pump and wind tactics flowed into my brain as my heart raced, with sore shoulders and tired hands, I managed to land him in the end. Wasn't a jew but came out to be a 64cm Aussie Salmon, not what i was looking for but it was really something else considering all I'd been used to prior were 20cm bream and tiny leatherjackets,this was definitely the biggest thing I've ever caught. I guess the kiwi's don't call them kahawai, strong in the water for nothing! The bite went quiet after that, but I did manage a 40cm flathead at around 7pm to bring home to the missus for a nice feed if the salmon proved a dud (which it did).
All in all, not a bad day given my limited experience and the beginning of hopefully what is to become a fruitful and long fishing career,
Also when I spiked the flathead slightly above it's eyes it kept moving, kept trying different places to no avail, poor bugger had to suffer more than it should've. Any pointers from more experienced fishos would be greatly appreciated thanks.
The addiction continues! Dan