E.T.

I was fishing with my mates one time for carp in a river. They left for a quick maccas run, and after being gone no less than 5 mins, the fish decided to fire up. I ended up having to deal with 3 fish on 3 different rods at the same time. I lost all 3 Not a very crazy story but in hindsight it was pretty funny. Ive never been too devastated about losing fish, dont know why. Another time more recent, I was fishing St Kila Pier at night. Hooked something massive using an aussie salmon as bait. The police cut my line about 30 mins into the fight. I reckon its because there was a decent crowd at one spot of the pier watching me and it was disturbing the penguin colony. I was kinda annoyed but I couldnt wipe the smile off my face because for me the best part is the battle.

This is probably the most intense story I've ever heard. If I was in that situation I would be fixated on the shark and be unable to move haha

Damn. I heard Octopus are really smart animals but this is like next level stuff haha. But on the other hand, I have caught octopus by just dangling a sinker in front of their face and they grab on and refuse to let go. I guess their intelligence varies between individuals.

Woah! Did you spend it or did you keep it as a memorabilia? That's pretty lucky

Oh man. That yellowtail is not a smart one 😂

Woah! What fish is that? Black Spotted Rock Cod? I was actually thinking my mystery giant was a big ray. It's the only thing I can think of that is wide enough to get snagged on all the lines. Either that or its the Hawkesbury River Monster haha!!

There is something about our inner childhood fascination and curiosity of the unknown which makes "old fisherman's tales" so alluring, and I believe that same inner curiosity is at least partially responsible for why we continuously drop a line into the depths, wondering what we will pull up. Being fisher-people, collectively, we spend a considerable amount of time out in the wilderness and incredible remote places, and sometimes experience rare/incredible things during the many hours we spend soaking our lines in the water. I wanted to know what are some of the most crazy fishing stories you have. I'm talking about things that you have to witness in order to believe; being spooled by giants, sea monster sightings, big catches being bitten in half by something larger, even supernatural occurrences… I'll start off with a story of my own. Up in Cowan Creek you can hire dinghy's which is what I did with my dad and little brother. A couple years ago, towards the afternoon, we were anchored somewhere about 25m from the bank along some inaccessible-by-land bush area. I was on the left side of the boat, my dad on the right and my brother was fishing off the front. We were dropping paternoster rigs down under us when all of a sudden, something giant swam under the boat and got snagged by all 3 lines at once. Take note that because my dad and I were facing opposite directions, plus the length of our rods going out from the sides, the creature under the boat would have been at least 3m wide. Well to cut this story short, 3 rods rigged for flatties were no match for whatever swam into our lines which appeared to be travelling at a cruising pace, not panicked at all about the lines that hooked into it. We were very new to fishing at the time (I think I was 13) and had no idea what to do but watch in awe as it emptied out our reels. I am excited to hear what incredible stories you guys have to share, especially from the veterans who have been at this sport for many years.

I fished Middle Harbour on Monday night. Noticeably more short finned pike than usual which was entertaining for a bit. Other than that, there hasn't been much action for me either.

Ah ok. Well, the stingray I fought wasn't running the entire time which is probably the only reason I could hold on haha. He moved a bit, then I had to turn the drag all the way up to try crank in his dead weight, then he moved again and I had to reduce, and so on. I just know that at the end of the fight, the drag was somewhere over 20lbs. It was at the drag I was using to pull in its dead weight. If I had to hold a running fish for the full 30 mins then Id be dead too. I also had the railing of the wharf to lean the rod on when I got tired so yeah, on second thought, I definitely would not be able to do it on rocks. Also, good point. I just thought with more drag, you'd have more stopping power but I ain't no expert. It's just that when I was getting spooled I was standing there thinking, "I just wish I could hold this guy back a little harder". I'm sure you guys know that feeling haha.

I'll have a look into those. Cheers for the suggestion. Oh cool. So the main thing I'm getting at here is that line capacity is the main concern when lbg fishing right? I was actually looking at the Spheros as one of my options when I was looking for a reel. I was choosing between the spheros, saragosa and the penn slammer 3 but I chose the slammer because of its shiny handle haha.

Also for the rod, I'm currently thinking of getting a Penn Ocean Assassin. What do you guys think? I kinda want a 2 piece because I gotta take public transport around and it just makes it easier, I hope I don't lose out too much on rod strength. Just curious, what set ups do you guys use for lbg fishing? Like line, rod and reel.

Ah right. What brand of braid would you suggest? I haven't really tried too many braid varieties before. Do you know what type of braid Penn uses to measure their line capacity? I can't really change reels right now because I already bought a new one recently, but maybe for next time. The reason I chose a fixed spool reel is because I wanted to throw some big lures as well as use bait sometimes.

Hi PaddyT, Yeah I did measure it but with a small scale (Only goes to 20lbs so I just estimated because the needle went a bit past). But I was fishing on a solid wharf. I can see your point because I wouldn't wanna risk it on jagged slippery rocks. So do you reckon 65lbs is also too much?

Hi browncrab, thanks for the reply I'm looking for a 2 piece rod because I aint old enough to get a car yet (2 more months till I can get my license!!!) so I usually take the bus and train. Do you have any specific suggestions I could look into?

Hey RickMarlin62. Thanks for the reply. You are exactly the kinda guy that I was looking for because I wanna get into lbg fishing. I didnt realise that line didnt have to be so heavy for those big fish. I watch morningtide fishing and those guys use 51kg line but they go after GTs and stuff so you are probably right (cant argue with your experience haha) I was using 30lb line before. I only locked up the drag because I saw the size of the ray that took my dead bait. Otherwise I wouldn't risk going that close to breaking strain. I dont have a gimbal and harness because I havent been doing too much big fish catching sadly 😥. But at the end of the year imma head down to Jervis bay with some mates for some lbg fishing. Already excited for that 👍. Although im a smallish dude (171cm) I do have the capability to hang on to large fish I think, because I have a decent background in fitness (I can bench more than double my bodyweight) but I guess we are still yet to see if that carries over to fishing If you have caught yellowfins in 50lb then I reckon id be aight with 65lb braid then. Thanks again for sharing your experience