# My First Spaniard



## WayneD (Jul 11, 2006)

Had a great day out on the water today. It all started at 3am when the alarm rudely awoke me from a great sleep. A quick shower and I was on my way to Palmy for a 4:30 launch. The waves were small but I am out of practise so I took my time. Almost fell of just getting in the yak :lol: . Had a relatively easy paddle out although the waves seem to be coming at me from all directions, small but sloppy. Out the back and I whacked on a few pillies and started the slow troll out to the reef. THere were probably about 20 boats out there already and a few yaks about. I didn't see much getting caught for the first half hour or so. Paddled up the inside of the reef and then back down to the front of it and headed for the opposite side. Noticed a few guys hooking up so hopes were starting to grow as I needed a feed of fish for a BBQ I was going to this arvo. As I trolled the outside of the reef every boat I was passing seemed to have a hook up. I noticed they were spinning slugs and hooking up. I kept trolling for a bit hoping for a hit. 2 laps up and down saw nothing for me but I had seen at least 10 fish boated, including one boat that had a triple hookup.

It was then that I decided to try spinning a slug. So I pulled out my trusty bass gear consisting of a 2000 size Sol, Mojiko Plastix 1-5kg rod, 8lb fireline which I had rigged with a wire trace. I thought it would be good for small spotties and bonito if nothing else was happening, besides I didn't want to take my trolling rigs off one of the other rods. I was about 50m from the triple hookup boat and cast directly towards them. Let it sink for 5 secs and then start winding like crazy. On about the 10th turn of the handle I felt some weight, not much and no fight so I thought it was some weed or a plastic bag. I kept winding and it kept coming towards me. The fish finally realised he was hooked about 10 metres from the yak and took off like a freight train. First run had me well into the backing and lucky he was heading out into the open ocean and not into the flotilla of boats. I held on while he towed me along then when he got tired I wrestled some line back. Then he took off for the bottom and my backing was seeing sunlight once more. It was then that I realised I had hooked a rather large fish as I had no hope of bringing him up with my little spaghetti stick. Thankfully with a little coercing he decided to head for the top of the water and then took off once a gain, then run stopping with only a few loops of the braid left on the reel.

After about 15-20mins of pump and wind I finally had him beside the yak and had the gaff safely in him. It wasn't until then that I realised I had caught my first spanish and not a bad one at 115cm. My heart was pumping, my arms were jelly and I needed two hands to lift him into the centre hatch. Gave myself a high five and then decided to cut the skirt off one of my other rigs and just float a pilly out as the boaties had been doing OK on that set up.

So I floated around throwing the slug in the hope of another one but no luck on the slug, even if I hooked up I don't think the treble would have lasted another fight, it was pretty mangled after the spanish. The floating pilly got a hit that saw me land an 82cm spotty. And next time around the pilly got taken by a remora of all things. And you'll never guess what happened when I got it to the side of the stealth. It stuck itself to the bottom of the ski. I couldn't pull it off by pulling the rod upwards. I had to shove the rod down into the water to get the little sucker off. One of the funniest things that has ever happened to me while fishing. I thought the line was caught on something to start with but there was nothing there to get in the way.

After all the excitement I decided to call it a day about 7ish and head back in. Can't wait for my next session now.....


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Yahooooooo , mate thats fantastic , gee i envy you , but you put in the work so you deserve the fish , those Stealths arnt too bad are they , well done Wayne , but dont give up the Bass mate


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## mrwalker (Feb 23, 2009)

Well done Wayne, really enjoyed your report. A great fish on skinny tackle, will a bass ever feel the same again? Hope its the first of many, cheers, Dave.


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## swabio (Aug 16, 2010)

Awesome!


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## wardeyak (Apr 30, 2008)

Very impressive, especially on the light gear.


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## FishinRod (Mar 2, 2007)

Great catch Wayne.

Would have been great at the BBQ.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Awesome effort on the silly string Wayne! Next up, cobia on a coke bottle wrapped in spider web. Go.


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## Shoey (Aug 30, 2005)

Excellent effort Wayne! Im regretting letting the Stealth go last week already  .


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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QlpoOTFBWSZTWXlsxt8AAATXgAAQYAEAARCALiWQICAAIammTI0xNChppgAMnS5OAqsEecg6BFGqnrD03VqXxdyRThQkHlsxt8A=


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## Wattie (Apr 30, 2007)

Well done mate 

Great read as well!


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Great catch, Wayne and well-recounted also. 'Tis a great feeling, eh?

Noosa Yakkers scored their first Spaniard of the season yesterday -- at Jew Shoal in pouring rain. Seems the weather at Palmy is/was much better than here. Surely this wind HAS to let up soon?

Kev


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## DougOut (Dec 31, 2006)

nice work on light gear wayne, gotta be Happy with that amigo. 8)


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## couta1 (Sep 10, 2005)

cool...you hooked yet???...i heard a few fish came out


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## mehi (May 25, 2009)

Nicely done Wayne, I've caught a few out of my tinny none of the yak yet geez they go well


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## carnster (May 27, 2008)

congrats wayne. good times mate good times.


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## gibsoni (Jun 22, 2009)

Well done mate! I hope I can follow in your footsteps and get my first yak pelagic in the coming season.


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## ant (Aug 28, 2008)

Outstanding effort you never stopped smiling   

Cheers
Ant


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

well done Wayne, and good to hear from you again... lets hope its the first of many


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## jokinna (Mar 2, 2010)

and a another congrats mate. geeze i bet yur still smilin 

cheers
jok


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Wayne a great result for all the effort you have put in mate.


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## PalmyMick (Nov 22, 2007)

well done mate, it gets addictive !!!! you just want more and more after the first one!!!!!
cheers mick


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## boondock (Nov 9, 2008)

Love it - And on 8lb too


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## hocko (Oct 18, 2010)

nice mack mate well done


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## Pestman (Jan 14, 2009)

Nice mate!!!


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