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ASJ

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  1. Thankyou all for the great replies I would like to answer some of the questions raised and perhaps add some more information about the way I like to fish beaches. I will put these under the headings of locations, gear and rigs, bait and presentation. Locations In my opinion every beach has potentional to produce quality fish. I have caught many fish in a variety of beaches all up and down the east coast within 2 hours drive. Before I choose a beach to fish from I consider "what beach will best suit the conditions in my given time frame". Obviously If I did not have a lot of time I would go to a beach close by, i.e. within an hour's drive. By conditions, I mean which beaches would benefit most from the current factors of wind direction, swell direction, swell height and tide. And if most of these factors cannot be satisfied I would just as soon not fish at a beach at all. Wind Direction : Obviously you don't want to be casting against the wind. Sometimes the spot you want to cast to, can be a very small area to hit. To benefit most from the wind's direction you must choose a beach with a stretch that faces opposite the direction it is comming from. For instance, if the wind is a south westerly you want to choose a beach with a section that faces the north east. Swell Direction : This concept is similar to wind direction in that you must choose a section of beach that is facing the direction the swell is comming from. The best chance of finding a gutter is where the beach faces into the swell. The gutters that are likely to be formed are ones that run parrellel to the shore and these are the best. This does not mean that parrellel gutters are the only ones that hold fish. These are the best ones because you don't have to cast accurately or too far. Often these parrellel gutters form close to the shore and fish best towards high tide. Swell Height : This factor is a tough one in that you need to know of and have experience in a lot of beaches for it to be usefull. If the swell is small then you need to be at a beach that gets deeper closer to the shore. If the swell is big then it doesn't matter what beach you fish. Although, having knowledge of beaches that hold a lot of seaweed is useful since you can avoid these during big swells. You don't want to be pulling seaweed through your whole fishing trip. Seaweed is in the class of leather jackets in that they can really destroy your line. A note on super tiny swells. Don't bother fishing in them. If the water at a beach is flat and looks like you're in an estuary just forget it. Fish need the waves to dig out food and nutrients into the water and also need them to push themselves over sand bars in ambush. Also without waves it is hard for gutters to form. Tides : Generally I like to fish beaches from the low tide and up. Fish like to come in when a gutter is fresh. I like to think of a gutter as a stocktake sale. The fish want to get in early and grab the stock they can, not when there isn't any stock left to take. The fish will want to get into the gutters as soon as the water level is high enough for them to fit through. Since we don't know what fish can fit through what water level, it is best to maximise your chances by fishing from the low tide. If you want to make the most of a run out tide, find a beach that has an exit of a lagoon in it and try to fish a gutter out in front. It is likely that a predatory fish would wait in ambush there for anything that flows out. How To Find Gutters : The heading of this section is going to be misleading in that I cannot directly say how to find one. In my experience every gutter is unique in shape or form so I cannot describe how one looks like. The usual texts you may find are a start, but when I first started out beach fishing with knowledge from the texts I was utterly confused and I had no clue whether I was fishing a gutter at all. I found, in hindsight that the texts aren't wrong at all. It was just that I was trying to find something that exactly matched the texts. Remember every gutter is unique so don't try to match anything exactly to those descriptions. The best way is to start out beach fishing during the day and once you're confident in identifying gutters, move on by trying to find them at night. I must tell you though, a gutter at night looks much different from a gutter during the day. One thing to look for as a small hint is variations in line movement. You'll understand what that means with experience. Gear and Rigs Rods The best beach rod is one that suits you for maximum casting distance. You can never be sure how close or far a gutter can be formed so you must be prepared to reach for it. Preferably the rod would also be able to cast a decent weight including the bait. I would say a rod that can cast about 80 - 120 grams or more is sufficient. A good length in the rod would also help in casting and I wouldn't use anything under 12 feet. The rod I use is a 13 feet Okuma X-Factor which I have had customised for maximum casting performance. The butt of the rod has been extended so that the distance from the reel seat and the end of the rod is about 70 cms, thus making the rod just under 14 feet. This distance of 70 cms is optimal for maximum power during casting suited to my height. The guides on the rod have also been changed to silicon fuji guides so that line friction is reduced to a minimul during the cast and also when fighting the fish. The X-Factor is built using high modulus graphite which although brittle is a superb rod for casting. Graphite tends to have a lot less bounce after a cast compared to other marterials which means that there is less friction on the line as it hits the guides while passing through. Reel A good reel to use is one that can spool about 300 meters of 20 pound mono line or 50 pound braid. Anything heavier tends to loose castability. The reel must also have a decent drag to help tire a fish. I like to use simple spinning reels on the beach since the saltwater can really degrade them. Rigs I like to use either 80 or 100 pound mono leaders. The length of leader I use is just about the same length as my height which is 185 cms. I believe that a leader that is as long as you is the optimal length for presentation, hookups, and also castability. The best leader is one that is as long as you can make it. If I didn't have to cast on a beach which is mostly impossible I would be using a leader at least 2.5 meters in length. This is because it gives more time for a fish to not feel weight on the line for a better hook up and also helps in the presentation of the bait. The longer the leader the more freedom the bait has to flow and look natural in the water. However I find that I am limited to my height in length of leader since we have to cast on a beach. The fastest way to roughly estimate the right length of leader is to hold one end in each hand and then spread your arms wide. I find that my arm span is roughly equal to my height. Once measured I would then add an extra 15 cms or so which gets used up when tieing knots. I like to use a running star sinker rig with a 30 cm trace to the lead. I find that a trace to the sinker is usefull for keeping the leader and bait from being buried in the sand and for keeping the bait flowing a bit off the bottom. I also find that using a line for the sinker trace that is much thinner than the leader is useful for avoiding tangles. Don't make the trace any longer than 30 cms though, or you'll will get nasty tangles. Having a trace to the sinker also helps in casting. With just a pure running sinker rig I find that the sinker and the bait fly in different directions after the cast , particularly with larger baits. Having a trace to the sinker puts a bend in the main line which occurs during flight after the cast, right at the swivel, which stops the bait and the sinker travelling in different directions. I use a two hook rig on the leader which are both 8/0s. The first hook which is the holder for the bait is tied on with a sliding snell knot. The trailing hook is tied with a fixed snell. Bait and Presentation The Bait I believe that the best bait is a fresh bait. But of all the available baits, dead or alive, my favourite bait is the fresh strip of squid. I'll tell you why. Gutters on a beach are all over the place. Some are close, some are far, some narrow and some are wide. The strip of squid is the only bait that can make it to all of these types of gutters. Whats the point in a salmon slab or live tailor if you can't make it reach the gutter that's only 50 meters away? Squid is tough too, so any pickers out there are gonna have a hard time getting it off, while their irradic movements are only going to attract some bigger fish. What's more? When a strip of squid is rigged correctly, it is a deadly bait which flows in the water and actually looks like a fish. There have been times where I have hooked on to a fish on the retrieve while checking my bait due to the strip looking like an injured fish. A strip of squid is more potent on a beach where the waves are continually flushing and moving the strip like an injured fish! Presentation There are two points in the presentation of a strip of squid, making the strip and hooking it. Firstly the strip is cut with a width of about 1 - 2 cms. One end of the strip should be cut to a point, that is, it must look like a tail of a fish from a top down view. The top end of the strip should have a slight wedge in it. This is important to keep the strip from spinning in the water. Secondly the holding hook which is preferably tied with a sliding snell knot should be just placed at the top of the wedge with as little amount of flesh sticking within the J of the hook. This is to ensure that there is the smallest amount of loose flap which could make the strip spin. The trailing hook should be placed about 2/3 of the way down the strip to ensure that there is enough free movement of the tail in the strip. To rig the trailing hook in the squid, you must have as much point showing as possible or you will miss a hookup. The best way to rig this trailing hook is to pass the point only halfway through the strip and then back out again. The strip should then have a barb from each hook on opposite sides of the squid. We don't want any free leader line hanging in between to muck up a bite. So tighten the free line by pulling on the snelled keeper hook, and take care to keep the strip as straight as possible. So that's pretty much it for everything that I know and use for beach fishing. I'm sure most of this stuff people may find familiar, thanks for reading anyway, cheers.
  2. Welcome to the final saga of the 3 part trilogy So here I was again, on the 18th of July barely 3 weeks since my last jewie. But this time my arms weren't twitching. They were flapping. This day would be different. This time one of my good mates had a break from a busy schedule and offered to drive me. My mate had not been able to fish for months and he too was itching for some fishing. We decided on a close location to maximise fishing time. Once again I was on a beach again standing at the top of a sand dune and looking out over the swells. It was a southerly swell at 1-2 meters, and so I decided to maximise this by choosing a south facing location. I spotted a large section of water that was very promising and we promptly went down and set up our gear. It was three hours before low tide when we started fishing. I was unsatisfied with the positioning of my first cast so I decided to reel in and cast again. Being satisfied with my second cast, I turned and headed for my chair. I was almost at my chair when it happened. I heard my name being called and I whisked around to see the rod bouncing up and down. I sprinted to the rod, set the hook and drag and proceeded to fight the fish. This one was strange. The fish was shaking its head, but was not running out. It decided to stay in the surf zone and swam left and right. The fish ran over my mate's line and I carefully raised my rod over his and resumed the fight. The lines were clear, and my mate offered to reel his line in. I told him it wasn't neccessary and that he should keep the line in just incase a school was passing by. The fight was short, for the fish's size. It was landed without hazard and my mate gaped at the size of the jewie. I Immediately rebaited and casted out. Within the next half hour, my mate had hooked onto his personal best jewfish. For sure there was a school of them hanging about in this gutter. We then shared four hits but no hookups. After which the bite died down, as we were close to low tide. I pondered the misses and then decided on using a different style of bait presentation which exposed the hooks much more than the previous presentation. The lull in action was definatly making us bored and feeling cold. My mate suggested moving along the beach to find and try a different gutter, but I was reluctant. I was quite certain that when the tide would move back in, the fish would come back. My mate agreed and so we pushed on into the night with our spot. Sure enough the fish did come back again and I was onto another decent jewie. The fish was smaller than my first but gave up a much better fight. Another hour passed and I managed a shovel nose ray, and a 20 cm flathead which somehow managed to get perfectly hooked in the lip by my 8/0 hook. It was nearing an hour before we had to leave and my mate had just hooked into another jewfish. This one was also putting up a strange fight. It had irradic stop starts in its run and then times where it was dead weight. We called it for a ray, when my rod started twitching. I was on too! Feeling the fight of my fish I also called it for a ray. The fight was getting hectic when the two fish decided to cross over. A tangle was forming and we were laughing our heads off in amusement of the situation. My mate had a good idea. He passed me his rod and he waded into the water to see how the lines were wrapped. There I was holding two rods with two fish pulling on them as my mate directed me to switch rods over or under each other to untangle the lines. We were eventually untangled and we resumed the fight. My friend landed his and called out "Jewie!". He had a new personal best(two in one night, awesome) and the reason for the strange fight of his was due to the line being wrapped around its tail. I eventually landed my fish and it was a big ray. My mate caught another in the last hour of the time we had left that was similar in size to his 1st personal best of the night. We decided that we had enough fish and he released it gently back into the water. The worst part of the trip and come upon us. The trip home. We dreaded the double trip to the car : once for the gear and once for the fish. We were out of energy due to a very eventfull night but we some how made it home and got ourselves a great feed! The End My Stats: 12 kg 114 cm ------------- 8 kg 100 cm Mate's Stats: 10 kg 112 cm --------------- 5.6 kg 84 cm Us holding our prizes:
  3. Here contiues the second part of A Month Of Mulloway Madness So came the 23rd of June, a week and a half after I caught my biggest Jewfish. The taste of the last bit of jewfish steak was fresh on my tongue and I was hungry for more. My arms were twitching again, and so I decided to go for another fish. It was a Tuesday and work committments did not allow for long overnight fishing trips. None the less I decided I would head out for a fish at a close beach for a few hours. My chosen location this time would be a bit of stretch located on the vast beach that is cronulla-wanda-elluora. There was a north easterly swell peaking at about 1.5 meters. Although I have never had luck on a northerly swell, I was still eager to give it a shot. After all, water comming from the north is a lot warmer than the south, and we were heading towards the middle of winter. On this particular day the moon was in its "new phase", and the high tide was at 7.30pm. I arrived just on 7.00 to find the beach crowded!??? "WtF? Why are there people fishing at night on a weekday? Don't people go to work tommorow?" Upon thinking this I had a good laugh at myself, seeing that I should be asking the same question about me. However all was good since I was among people who probably had the same aspirations as me. Further more if there are a lot of people fishing It is a good indicator that there may be fish biting. Seeing as that there was not much of a choice for spots I parked my gear in a little bit of stretch along the beach, that "sort of" looked like a gutter. I cast out sat back and relaxed. The night was dark and the hours ticked by without a single bite. As the tide fell I realised that I was not fishing a gutter at all. In the absence of a bright moon it was impossible to identify a good gutter. I had run out of time. Without a single bite in four hours fishing, I packed up and went home. Usually one would get the craps with a dud fishing trip like this however, I had hope. I was looking forward to the next night where I would come out and fish again. Because I was certain there was fish there. During this dud fishing trip I had heard a whoohoo of success from a few people further up the beach. To me this meant that the fish were there for sure and all I needed was a gutter. So came Wednesday, 24th June. Again I drove out to the same beach at the same time, to find the place totally empty. This was a good sign. I had freedom to roam the beach. The moon was still in its "new phase" and so the night was very dark. I realised that I had better not rely on my sight to identify a gutter. I had to rely on feel. I decided on a new tactic. I would comb the beach. This would be a tactic of perseverence. I decided to comb down the right side of the beach from where I started. I cast out and felt the line. Any movement of the line by the waves would indicate that I was not in a gutter. And the spot I had just cast into was definiately not one. I moved a few meters further down the beach and cast again. Another dud spot. This process I repeated until I was approximately 300 metres from where I started and there was not one single gutter. I decided to comb back up the beach since I could have missed a spot on my way down. I looked at my watch. A grueling 3 hours had passed when I arrived a few meters to the left of the spot from where I had originally started. And guess what I had hit a gutter. It was out of a 50-50 chance that I started out in the wrong direction and I was cursing the laws of probability for it. I was sweating and out of breath on a cold winter night as I sat and stared at my rod. All it took was 2 minutes. There was a couple of taps on the line so I decided to reel in and check my bait. It did not feel like my bait. There was a bit of weight to it. I finished reeling my line in to find a new PB jewie! It was a monster 30 cm! I quickly threw it back in and threw out a new bait. Again the line sat deadly still and I sat down for another five minutes. For some reason there was an eerie feeling of suspense building up. I could almost sense that something was about to happen. And then it did. There was the slightest of a double tap on the end of the rod then a second's pause before the rod suddenly buckled in half and the reel called me to attention. I grabbed my rod and gave the fish a two handed salute in the manner most fishermen do when setting the hook. The drag was tightened but the fish would not slow down. Again there was the familiar high pitched scream of my reel only recognised when fighting a jewfish. This one fought differently to any I have encountered before. It ran in a dead straight line to New Zealand, and three quarters of my spool was taken before it slowed down. Its head shakes were powerful enough to rattle my arms and for the first time in quite a while, I felt the fear of a bust off. But I was determined not to loose this fish. It was a fifteen minute battle before I could see the shadow of the fish in the water in front of me. But the battle was far from over yet. I still had to get the fish out of the water, and there was a steep sand bank. I still had no idea of how big it was as the fish was swept in and out with the waves. I could see the fish was so close yet so far from being landed. Another 2 minutes saw a big wave sweep the fish in and as the wash receded away from it I gaped at my new personal best jewfish. The brute gaped back at me as it bellowed from deep inside its belly. I had done it. I had achieved the goal that I had set out to do the night before. Quickly I packed up and drove home in time to measure and weigh the new prize and to get a good nights sleep for work the next day. All was good. I was happy but too stoked to sleep that night. Stay tuned for Part 3 The stats 18 kg 124 cm
  4. It all started on the 13th of June. An unlucky number for some, but for me, a date worth remembering. My arms were twitching from the cravings of an addiction that could only be satisfied with the feeling of a rod in one hand and a reel in the other. It was the begining of winter now, and so I headed out after putting on my winter fishing gear (6 tops and 4 pairs of pants), in anticipation of the cold. My chosen fishing location for that day was The Entrance beach. The swell was a good 1.5 to 2.5 meters and comming from the south east. The wind too, was a good 5 to 10 knots from the north west. Perfect conditions in my opinion for a beach that faces the south east. I arrived just after sunset to find that a few people were already fishing. I spotted a decent area to fish in and settled down to the left of a person fishing with a float. It was the first time I had seen a person fishing a float on a beach and I shrugged the point off without a second thought. But little did I know at the time, that that float would be perhaps the most significant part of the trip. Thirty minutes had passed with litttle to no action around the beach. All the while I was sitting watching the hypnotic bob of the light stick on the float of the guy to the left, as it slowly drifted to the right and out towards the ocean after each cast. By now it was 7pm and the guy subsequently retrieved his line, packed and left. I looked around the beach and didn't see anyone else left. Now I was on my own. Another thirty minutes passed, it was 7.30, and I pondered whether this was going to be another of those dud nights that inevitably comes with jewie fishing. Either the fish were going to be there or not. I got up and had a look at my line. It had moved off towards the left. It was at that moment that something clicked in my head. I remembered that the dude that was to my left had a float that drifted to the right, and my line was drifting towards the left... It only just struck me then, that right between us had been a point where the gutters flushed out. A rip perhaps. This had to be a place were a jewfish would likey wait in ambush to feed on anything that flowed out with the water. I roughly estimated where this rip would be and cast straight out. I set my rod in the holder and stood there watching the line. It was deadly still. Satisfied with where I had placed my bait, I sat down. Only a couple of minutes passed, and in a flash of lighting that was the glow stick on the end of my rod aiming for the ground, I was on. I sprinted to the rod and set the hook. I adjusted the drag and watched as the reel screamed and spun at high speed. For sure this was a jewie I thought. The high speed at which this fish was going on its first run coupled with the huge jerks of its head was a tell tale sign. A continuous pump and wind tactic ensured that the fish had to work harder in its runs due to the changing momentum generated by the increase and decrease of drag pressure from the rising and dipping of the rod. Ten minutes of the fight passed and from the angle in the line, I could see that the fish was close. I dared not force it in. I patiently followed its movement as it went up the beach. The best chance at landing a fish on a beach is to wait for a wave to push it up and beach it. Finally the moment came and I was able to gill and drag one of the few species of fish that are worth their weight in gold. Or should I say silver? Because that was what it was. There lay before me a beautiful specimen of the elusive mulloway with its shiny coat of silver armour, and a new personal best. I now faced a dilemma. Within the first one and a half hours of fishing I had caught what I came out for. I had to supress the urge of racing home with my prize to measure and weigh, and fish on through the night in the cold to potentially catch something better, worse, or nothing. Of course staying on through the night made clear sense in the end. After all, I had driven 2 hours for an overnight fish and to end the trip so soon would be a waste of a long drive. The rest of the night saw lots of action. For the next few hours to high tide salmon were on the bite. Three salmon were caught and thrown back. I decided to move to a different spot on the beach for the run out tide. Having found another gutter, two more jewfish were caught and released. These I estimated to be about 2 to 3 kilos. Towards day break a stingray was caught and thrown back. With the sun above the horizon, I decided to packup and head home. On the way home I was excited to have caught an awesome fish but also disappointed that the climax of the trip was near the start and not the end. Much like this part of the story. HAHA. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 The stats: 12.6 kg 112 cm
  5. It had been raining all week. The forecast said that the weather would clear up by Sunday. All my research and experiences told me that this Saturday night was going to be it. With the weather forecasted to clear up, I expected a spike in the barometer, a change in the wind direction and hopefully a run of hungry jewfish. So Saturday came, I readied my gear, got my bait and had a final check of the weather forcast. The forecast was not looking very promising for this night. The wind was blowing S/E at 20 - 30 knots. There was a chance of a few showers. The swells were at 2 - 3 metres. Everything was looking bad. With great swells come great clumps of seaweed, and if you're a beach fishermen cleaning the beach of seaweed is definatly NOT what you come out for. But I went out anyway, because like all people addicted to anything, they will always do something if there is even the slightest possibility of reward in it. So I left my home at 5 pm, and did the 2 hour drive up to The Entrance beach. A 2 hour drive just for a fish did sound crazy to me a few months ago but like I said before, if you're addicted to anything you will do it. Even if there is the slightest possibility of reward in it. So I arrived, at my usual spot at The Entrance beach at 7pm with all my gear, only to find it over run with the big 2 - 3 meter swell. For a moment there I almost lost hope, but having come so far I did not want to give up so easily. I found myself a high vantage point and gazed out along the beach. The tide was falling and I didn't have much hope of finding a deep gutter that would be within casting range at low tide. But I was very wrong in underestimating the offerings of a beach. I could see a very deep gutter that was forming within casting distance and that would exist through low tide. I repacked my gear into the car and drove to a parking spot that would be closer to the gutter. Once at the gutter, I set up my gear and threw a line out. I sat down and was about to pop a drink when my rod bent and line was being taken. There was a time when my blood would have pumped with adrenalin but not this time. In fact I was pissed off. Because the bend in the rod and periodic pull of the line with the waves told me I was caught in seaweed. So just as I expected the big swells brought big seaweed. I pulled the line in and went through the tedious process of untangling line from the weed. This process was repeated over and over again for 3 hours with masses of seaweed sometimes weighing at about 5 kilos and putting up great fights that would put any decent sized sting ray to shame. So came low tide, and I found my self moving down the beach over the 3 hour period as the gutter changed shape. The seaweed was really putting me off and I found myself standing on the beach alone as other fishermen gave up and went home one by one. The rain was also comming and going all this time and I pondered leaving as well. Then all of a sudden I was on! The rod bent and bounced and the drag was singing. As I was fighting the fish I felt big, wide, slow head shakes until it began to tire. I got the fish to the edge of the shore line where there was a big sand bar and found myself in a stale mate with the fish. I could not get it up and above the sand bar to beach it. I started to grow impatient and so I tighted the drag to full and attempted to skull drag the fish above the shore line. BIG mistake. As I was pulling back a wash out from a big wave pulled the fish out and snapped the line. TWANG. I was kicking myself and vowed never to make that mistake again. I had hope again and decided to fish on. Another 3 hours passed. All the while I was bringing in record catches of seaweed and also praying to the fish gods for another chance.... I made a cast that somehow landed in a spot where for once my line stayed straight and unmoved for more than 2 minutes. Perhaps my stubborness had finally won and I cleaned up all the seaweed, but at least I was in for a chance, and I was. The rod bent slightly bounced up then bent back down in half. I grabbed the rod, line was peeling, drag was singing and the fish's head was shaking! I let the fish run all the while watching my spool empty to about half before the fish stopped its first run. I pumped and wound, and the fish took back any line taken in with each wave that flushed out. Eventually the fish was tiring to a point where it could not turn its body to utilise the wave surges effectively and I gradually got my line back. Now was the big test, with the big 2 - 3 meter swells I was in danger of loosing the fish at the sand bar again. I made sure never to over tighten the drag and kept playing with the fish until I realised that no line was being taken, and each turn of the reel did not gain any line. I searched the shore line in the light of my head lamp, and found a big gapeing mouth stare back at me. I had finally beached the fish! I ran to the fish, quickly gilled it and dragged it up the sand. I let out a sigh of relief and let a big grin spread across my face. I stared down looking at the shiny silver spots, and the movement of the white belly as my personal best Jewfish croaked at me. I snapped out of the aweing moment as I realised there could be a school of them passing by. I rebaited and recast, only to be attacked by seaweed again. I decided then that I should call it a night. Geez the scales on this thing are the size of 20 cent coins. Any way the stats are: 105 cms 10kg Jewfish
  6. Thankyou Jewgaffer, I took your advice and went out to fish overnight on the beach at the entrance on the Saturday and it produced 2 jewies at 55cm and 70cm just before high tide.
  7. LoL! Thanks for the warm welcome Jewgaffer, you always offer great advice to fishraiders and I have spent many nights reading and applying your knowledge with success Thankyou all for your wonderful comments !
  8. Hello all, Grabbed two of my beach rods, and some leftover squid (refrozen from a few days ago) last night, and left home at around 10:00 pm and got to the North end of Narrabean Beach at around 11:00 pm. I could see a lot of green lights on the end of fishing rods near the entrance to the lagoon, and so I decided to fish down south a bit as I didnt want to accidently tangle other peoples lines and cause a scuffle. The tide was already falling and having started late I pretty much had to give up my hopes for a jewie. Well having set up by around 11:30 pm I sat down lit up a cig and had a drink . Slowly time was ticking by with nothing happening and so I decided to lie down and have a sleep. Suddenly, at around 2:00am I awoke to the sweet sound of my reel peeling line. Immediately I got up, dashed to my rod, set the drag and then set the hook. Whatever this thing was it had a bit of fight to it and felt heavy. A few things popped up in my head, "Is it a jewie?, nah, it hasn't got strong head shakes, Is it a massive sting ray?, nah, I can feel a few wobbles and its not a constant pull...". While I was thinking this I realised that I was beginning to loose too much line. I began to thumb the spool to my reel, as my 30 pound reels don't have that strong a drag, but I wasn't worried about busting off since I have 80 pound braid on them. After about 10 minutes of pumping I began to see color. I saw the pinkish/purplish reflection from the fish's eyes in shine of my head lamp and the sleek grey body of a 1 meter................. bloody school shark . After a quick release, rebait and cast, I sat down and continued the enduring vigil of a fisherman. Another hour passed and I decided to check my rods. As I was reeling in one of them there was a bit of weight to it, more heavy than the usual star sinker and small strip of squid I had on there. After draging this thing through the sand and waves I was amused to see a worn out bream of about 36 cm on there. Having had a good feed of bream the week before I decided to let this one go. This bream was so worn out after being hooked for who knows how long, I had to hold it upright in the water for about 20 minutes before it recovered and swam off. Again another hour passed and it was around 4:00 am. Time for another check of the rods. The same rod that dragged in the bream dragged in a 30 cm toad fish this time . The silly thing blew up like a soccer ball and I thought just as well cause I was able to roll it back into the water without the risk of getting my hand spiked lol. It was about 4.45am and it was still dark. Sleep was beckoning and so I decided to end the session and pack up. I got up and headed toward the rod that hooked the bream and toadfish. Just as my hand reached out to touch it, the rod suddenly buckled and bent in half. For a seconded or two I stooded there and hesitated . I was caught of guard. Perhaps it was the long night without any sleep, but gee am I thankful reels have ratchets, cause the scream of the spool spinning against it put my arms back into gear. Quickly I picked the rod up set the drag and set the hook. This fish was freaking solid. Again I pressed my thumb to the spool and slowed my spool down. But even the added pressure of my thumb didn't slow this bugger of a fish. It headed south down the beach and with me slowly being dragged with it. After about five minutes I didnt feel any weight. I yelled out a profanity thinking the fish managed to bust off my 80 pound braid . Feeling disappointed I quickly reeled some of the line back in. Then all of a sudden my rod was bent again and my reel was singing. Alleluia! The silly fish must have been heading back at me. With renewed enthusiasm I fought the fish for another 5, maybe 8 mintues. Then I saw It... holy crap. The fish lay on its side and with a final wave it beached with its torpedo like body shining with all its glory in the light of my head lamp. It was a MASSIVE Kingie! I grabbed its tail and dragged it back to my chair and other rod. Gee was this baby heavy. Then I realised my other rod was buckling too, and gee guess what, after a 5 minute fight another shool shark was landed this one also near the meter mark. I packed up and had to play leap frog with my gear and the Kingie back to the car. Halfway there some nice blokes helped me haul my gear back. If it wasn't for them I would have had a heart attack. The kingie was so damn heavy and with all my arm muscles aching and sweat pouring from my head I probably would have collapsed. The good blokes wanted to have a few pics with the kingie and I happily obliged. All packed and driving home I was singing the victory tune from the movie top gun feeling totally stoked . All the way home I was thinking of the unusaul circumstances of the catch: It was pitch black when I caught the kingie but dawn broke not so soon after. I was also using not quite so fresh strips of squid and quite small ones too. Infact they would have only been 5-6 cm strips of squid. And last of all it was caught at a beach? . What a FLUKE Huh? Anyway heres the stats : 118cm 18.4 kg KINGIE
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