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Finally, I Join The Club


ophet

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Well yesterday Saturday 2nd June was it, I went where people who target our Seriola Lalandi friends dream of going, I joined Club Hoodlum.

I went out with fellow Seriola Lalandi hunter Pageboy today to chase down our favourite quarry. The plan was to grab some yakkas, some squid and head out for a crack at the Kings either using the paternoster or jigging, then follow that up with some reef bottom bashing for flatties or snappers.

Well the morning did not start too promising, with the yakkas playing hard to get at our usual haunts. Plenty of burley could not bring these little King lollipops to the boat, our suspicions of predators being around were confounded when OneLastCast hooked onto a little rat. We saw many other rats in our burley trail, so we knew it was a waste of time hanging around this bait ground.

Moving to another bait ground, the yakkas were again hard to find, but they eventually found the burley trail, and we loaded up on a few snack sized specimens. Pageboy did not want to leave, as a school of garfish had turned up, so a few tricks to sabotage his gar chasing saw the school disappear and we were finally on our way for some serious fishing.

We arrive at our first designated reef spot and a were buoyed by some interesting showings on the sounder. We see fish well above the ocean floor, in small clusters and layered on top of each other. We know these aren’t leatheries, and are confident they are Kings or some form of pelagic.

We motor upwind from the sounding and start our drift. There is not much of a current, and little wind, however the sea is a little messy.

First couple of drops, for nothing. Pageboy remarks there is something good on the sounder, I reel my line in to drop it in the zone, a couple of jerks of the rod and a few winds, I am on. The rod does not bend much and this is not a solid fish. I have thoughts of a foul hooked leather jacket, however this fish was fighting and not just a wet paper bag. I feel some fast tail beats, as I continue to skull drag the fish from the depths, I did not want to waste too much time on a little one. We see colour and Pageboy calls it for a snapper !! As it comes closer to the surface, I see the blotches on its body and it is a small Samson fish of around 40cm. This is the only Seriola fish I have not caught before, so I have now caught the three Seriola clan. Pageboy tells me they are a very tasty fish, so I am looking forward to tasting the little fella.

Not a bad start to the jigging, so we return to our mark for a couple more drifts. Two drifts later, after about the fourth drop, I start the usual rod lift and wind.

After reading some of the Jap jigging sites, I start visualizing the jig moving and try to imitate a fleeing fish.

5 winds into the jig I come up solid, the rod bounces downwards from the sudden weight. I bring the rod back up to feel SOLID fish, it feels the weight and takes off. The rod tip nearly touches the water, and heads towards the boat’s engine. I need to move away from this corner. My Saltist rod is bending like never before, and I crouch over as I try to cushion the fish’s strong run, hanging on for dear life.

The fish peels line off the Thunnus, which was set manually to a strength that I was not able to pull line with my hand. The line is coming off the reel way too easily, I know I need to stop the beast before it reefs me, I put my hand over the reel to put more pressure on it, taking care not to overdo it and I slow the run. I put more pressure on it, hoping something does not give.

Finally the beast stops peeling line and I am able to stand up and lift my rod, I try to win back some line, as I knew he was terribly close to the bottom. I start the pumping and get him away from the reef, but he is not finished yet. He pulls again and I let the drag do it’s job, as I knew I had some room to spare, if he takes too much line I am going to have to palm the spool again. Thankfully he stops and again I take the moment to try to inch back some line.

This tug of war continues for a while, with the thought of equipment failure never leaving my mind. I pray that every knot has been tied properly, and that he is hooked properly. If I was to lose this fish, I would have been greatful for experiencing the fight.

I now start to feel my biceps tighten from the strain the fish has put on my hands. There is stale mate, the fish has enough weight on the line that I do not want to force him up and he does not have enough strength to peel off any more line. I know I have the upper hand now, I wait for a moment where I can gain line and wind like mad. He is starting to come up now. I can feel the big strong head shakes that everyone talks about, and I do everything to not let him turn his head. The fish has some more runs in him, but I just let him run and wait for the release of tension and gain more line.

The runs are not as long or strong and he nears the surface. We see colour Pageboy comments ‘it is a good fish’. We are both quiet, tense and know that the fish is very close to being boated.

It comes to the top after an epic battle but doesn’t present itself to a good gaff shot. Pageboy is very careful not to rush the job, and doesn’t want to be responsible for losing my first Hood. Pageboy balks at a gaff, the King turns on it’s side belly facing the boat. Pageboy sinks the gaff in and lifts the King onto the boat.

The tension is released and there is hooting and hollering on the boat (mainly from me). We are both jumping up and down, hand shakes, back slaps and general marvel at the beautiful fish. I have a grin from ear to ear, and an immense satisfaction that I have joined the Hood club. The moment we had it in the boat, we knew it was over the magic metre mark. After some more marvelling and some disbelief that I/we had finally done it. I say ‘we’ because as Kelvin had said before, when jigging, it is like a team effort. Every fish is like a team fish, everyone jigs together and work the school together and everyone enjoys seeing beautiful fish landed on the boat they are on.

Pageboy had been close before, falling short by centimetres, but this is the first Hood boated on his Trailcraft. I am proud to have been the one to help him Hooden his boat. Actually Kelvin, Pageboy says he beat you to the punch and helped me get my first Hood on his boat, I would be happy to let me catch a Hood on your Noble as well.

After the adrenaline had subsided, we measure the beast and he measures in at 110cm ( the fish weighs in at just under 11.5kgs at home). Pageboy does not have an esky large enough to house the fish, so we wrap the fish in a wet towel, and put ice packs on top of it to keep it cool for the day.

We try further jigging for no more fish, and head off to do some bottom bashing, where we pick up little rubbish fish. It didn’t matter to me; all I could think about was the Hoodlum at the back of the boat.

So there is the tail of how I became a member of the Hoodlum club, a moment I will never forget. It has been a long time in the making, countless hours on the water, trial and error. Since I first bought the boat a little over a year ago with Shane (who became a member of the Hoodlum a couple of months ago), we have been chasing the Seriola Lalandi relentlessly. We went on charters, read what we could and watched every DVD on these fish. It has been a steep learning curve. The learning curve would have been much steeper and longer if it hadn’t been for the tuition and mentoring of Pageboy and Kelvin. These two guys have been instrumental in teaching me the ways of downrigging, offshore fishing and chasing the Kings. I am indebted to these guys, and I dedicate the capture of my first Hood to both Pageboy and Kelvin. Thanks guys, and I hope I can return the favour sometime in the future.

Oh, and my wife reminds me that she should get a mention special mention on this report, as she has allowed me the freedom to pursue my passion. She is the best wife in the world, and I could not have picked a better partner to allow me to go fishing every weekend (that should take care of things for a while).

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Now that,s a nice fish :1yikes: I know which 1 i will vote for ,once you put it up on catch of the month.

The next few weeks ,there will be a few big ones on the reefs out wide :thumbup:

I will be heading out with Scotty of terrigal soon :yahoo:

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Great report! :thumbup: I could feel the tension when it was about to reef you - a gutsy effort to palm the spool - they must really have some pulling power at that size! Sounds like jigging is a pretty good technique to nail the hoodlums! Another associate to Kelvin :1worthy: joins the club... hmm... he knows too much :gun_bandana::074: . Well done on the magnificent kingie! :yahoo:

Flattieman.

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:icon_peace::icon_peace::drool::1worthy::1worthy::drool::icon_peace:

Bloody well done !

I t will be a long time for me untill i can get out and afford to jig for kings!

My sons braces will have to be paid for etc etc etc lol luckilly i know the orthodontist ! :P

The harbour will have to do!

I am in awe

cheers

jason!

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When I heard of that capture I think the whole of Sydney heard me shout for joy!!! :1worthy::1worthy::1worthy:

I can't think of anyone more deserving. Now you just have to crack 20kgs. I am trying for my 4th so this will be another milestone for both of us to look forward to.

I think the jigging bug has really caught on with our little band of hoodlum hunters. It seems like the "proper" way a hoodlum should be caught. I'll place a plaque on your place on the Noble. Looking forward to the next few months !! Cheers Kelvin

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Bloody brilliant report and a wonderful Hoody...Congratulations on breaking the hoodoo.

That capture will live with you now forever I'm sure.

The report was like reading a Zane Gray novel!!

Cheers,

Pete.

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dunno about the rest of you guys, but to me that report was a like a well written love novel ..... it had me gripped the whole way through then gave me a little chubby at the end (when i saw the fish!)

what a monster!

GOOD STUFF MATE!

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Great report and even better fish mate! :1clap::icon_peace:

Love hearing stories like yours! If you put in the hours you will be rewarded witch you have done and you have been rewarded with a beautiful fish.

Well done again mate! :1punk:

Dan.

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Well done :yahoo:

I am sad to say my fishing exploits have been few & far between these past weeks. Reading your story was a great way to experience at least some action. Great read!

Felt like I was there urging you on & praying you didn't palm the reel too much. I think I need a beer after that!

:beersmile::beersmile::beersmile:

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