# Ah well, a man's gotta do...



## Billybob (Aug 29, 2005)

G'day all.

Haven't been fishing much lately... lots of other work commitments, weather etc.

Couldn't resist going out yesterday though. New moon coming up, high tide around 6am (good Spaniard feeding time), winds south east 10 to 15 knots.

Pretty much the same conditions I got a good sized Spaniard in this time last year.

Checked my gear, selected two good troll baits (mack tuna and a yellowtail pike) and hit the water around 5.10am.

I was out on the shoal 30 minutes later and, with the small tuna troll bait still half frozen, rigged up the pike and set out.

The wind, of course, was 15 to 20 knots (bloody forecast) and conditions sloppy to bloody awful but it smelt very 'fishy' so I persevered.

Half and hour later I hooked and landed a 9kg Spaniard.. thank you lord, thank you ball boys, thank you sea gods, or whatever.

Normally I would head for home at that point but the small mack tuna (by small I mean it still needed 4x6/0's to pin it) was crying out to be used so I rigged it on one of my larger Spaniard Special troll rigs and set out again.

By the way, I freeze up as many bonito and small tuna that I can get at the beginning of the season as they normally attract the bigger fish, as did this one 15 minutes later.

It was almost scripted actually as I'd already safely stowed the other mackerel inside the front hatch so when I dragged the 19kg fella on board after a five minute tussle, it went straight into the 'fish cradle'.

Funny really, fish are like humans, they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The last 20kg Spaniard I boated was almost as tall as me. This one was short and fat. Still, no complaints apart from the fact that it took me over half an hour to paddle back to the shelter of the headland with 28kg of fish loading the front of the yak down. Shipped a lot of water over the bow as I punched into the 1m slop but hardly a drop was inside when I cleaned up later on.

Strangely enough, both fish were hooked in the top of the head, pulled really hard and fast (just one run), and ran deep for about five minutes before giving up the fight. Not typical Spaniard tactics but, there you go.

Anyway, it was a good result, especially since it played out as the best case scenario I'd gone to bed thinking of the night before.

By the way, I have a song I sing when I'm trolling for Spaniards. Called, interestingly enough, 'The Mackerel Song' . I also have one called the 'Thank You' song that I sing at the top of my lungs (after I get a good result) or more discretely when there are other craft on the water. Not sure if they help but I'm not game to change things now. I could teach it to you guys but afterwards I'd have to track you all down and terminate you's so 'nough said.

There is, however, one other song I sing to pass the time. It doesn't have the potency of the 'Mackerel Song' so I think it's safe to pass this one on.

It's to the tune of the old bushwalking song... 'I love to go a wandering'. You know, the 'knapsack on my back' one.

It goes like this:

"I love to go
A kayaking
Wherever I may be
And when I do
I take my rod
And catch fresh fish for tea.

...Fish for tea
Hopefully
I catch fresh fish for tea."

So, there you go. Whenever your friends or relatives infer that solo yak fishing leads to mental instability you can point to 'Billybob' and say.... Well, on second thoughts... can that.

Anyway, I slept in this morning so thought I'd dust off the keyboard and catch up on a bit of desk work.

See you on the water...


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## DGax65 (Jun 7, 2006)

That Spaniard is worthy of a song. You got to add the songs to your videos  Nice fish.


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Go Billybob - GO!

How about a swap! I'll teach you the "Longtail song" if you teach me the "Mackeral song".


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## Ironsides (Jul 10, 2006)

A kayak fishermans anthem and its working well.
Good job as usual Billbob.
Great photo.

Ian


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Sensational Bill.

Gotta be some cash in a Billybob's 15 best kayak tunes CD


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Good to see you back on deck with two nice Spaniards.The song worked a treat.
The big fellow a beauty


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## saysme (Apr 29, 2007)

NIIICE!!- I wouldn't know what to do if I hooked a fish that big.


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## AdrianK (May 30, 2006)

My songs often turn out to be Grinner, Pike, or Black Trevally/Happy Moment songs?


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Bill that song should be No 1 on the Top 40 list with results like that :wink:


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## aleg75 (Dec 20, 2005)

brilliant result! great report! well done!


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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.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWdplWt8AADlfgAASUKcAEDCkFAA//9+wMAE7TawaqfkJtCYk2KGRoAeoGgU8KI0aANA0ABKnoSDJQ8RPaoaaB5TIQGErnCw5skdc8ZnzvvZmzv+7r2pf0TPuUifavDrMgyqIU8rdzMsOWTrhdI9UVXtoMb/udcdVOxWxhmJy2tZScKYZrGHpHOEhQvNn07I1MCDn+d9q8UZ/Cz3d2ZY+I0cej608nDppdPGJzjTkzZAIRy1zlCAQLAt3wwYVbGHopMkQrzqGfmtVCi3IV6PrSIbk0JwS6WhWZpZFP3CK6Cx1A12IQBu6C8Ug6smnGkXZ8vovjRzNXCVinPKeAJRyzGYudmIGxYcZoFxgj4pgiTXTcqZVTBioAgV6qpcq2qftS7+rllCyZlJIaGF/i7kinChIbTKtb4A=


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## yaker (Aug 29, 2005)

.


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## fishbrain (Oct 19, 2005)

Great stuff Bill, How much longer will the Spaniards be around on the Sunny Coast ?
Cheers ,
Brad


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## Billybob (Aug 29, 2005)

Tony: My wife bought them for me. I think she must have emailed Nick for the shop address. Anyway, needless to say, I'm bonding with them.

Brad: Hard to say mate. I think the warmer water this year has held them further south longer than normal. I'm hoping this is the start of a late season in which case they could be here for another six to eight weeks.


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## Garfish (Jun 2, 2006)

There's something about those measurement boards which top off a good catch nicely. I may have to make my own chalk board for 30cm flathead.
:lol:


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## Kevin (Aug 29, 2005)

Christ - more words put down in one post by Billybob than I think would be in his combined previous 268 posts.

I had become accustomed to his witty one liners - always remember him advising what the best use of a milk crate was - "to store milk in".

Anyway not complaining - always love to hear a detailed first hand description of a great morning on the water.


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## Biggera Yakker (Jan 25, 2007)

Billybob does it again!!!
Great job mate!!


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## Y-Knot (Sep 26, 2006)

bloody beautiful BillyBob ... the kinda fish a great many of us dream of catching 8) Outstanding effort.


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## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

Great Fish Bill - would be happy with the 9Kg one myself!

Like me, it seems you generally only post up after a significant catch - do you often head out without getting anything or is it that you always get something when you do go?


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Great Fish BillyBob and thanks for sharing your songs with us.

You say that you put no. 1 fish in your front hatch I believe? I have a swing too - do you open the hatch while sitting in the boat - or jump in the water and do it that way?

Regards

Wopfish


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## Blaen (Jul 4, 2006)

Great fish Billybob and great report too.

The song was great too :lol:


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## Billybob (Aug 29, 2005)

scotty: I post when I (hopefully) have something of interest to the forum or when someone has a question I think I can answer.

When the pelagic season's in full swing it's not too hard to get a result each time out. This year has been a bit patchy though.

Wopfish: I put my feet in the water, straddle the yak and shuffle forward until I can comfortably reach the hatch lid. I keep a large (orange) bin liner in the front hatch to minimise blood seepage.


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## noosatocoffs (Apr 5, 2007)

hey bill, were you the only one out there yesterday ?..still seemed to have a bit of swell running when i went for a look

brett


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## Billybob (Aug 29, 2005)

G'day Brett.

Yeah mate, had the place to myself. Not surprising considering the conditions on the shoal that morning.


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## couta1 (Sep 10, 2005)

great spanish.I cant figure it out,you are probably fishing 300km from us on the gold coast and we havent caught a spanish for months let alone any mackerel.seems the sunny coast has a much longer period of mackerel.time to book into the caravan park for the weekend.we will have to teach you the NSW "hoodlum" and "longtail tuna" song..the more the ratchet screams the louder you sing


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

great effort bill,

thats a ripper spaniard from a boat let alone the yak,
keep them reports coming mate


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## JD (Jul 2, 2006)

Another success. Don't those fish make the Swing look good?


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## Billybob (Aug 29, 2005)

couta: It's been a pretty lean season up here as well.

Haven't seen the school or spotty mackerel in any numbers and the Spaniards have also been pretty scarce.

I'm thinking that if we have much of a mackerel season at all it will be a late one.

The next two to four weeks will tell.


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## noosatocoffs (Apr 5, 2007)

ah the conditions have certainly calmed down now bill..might go for a look see out there in the morning..mind you the local paper says that are a few spanish out on the shoal but one can never quite believe what they write


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## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

noosatocoffs said:


> ..mind you the local paper says that are a few spanish out on the shoal but one can never quite believe what they write


those few spanish on the shoal they are referring to are probably the two in the photo at the start of this thread :lol:


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## noosatocoffs (Apr 5, 2007)

indeed..it wouldnt surprise me if bill is generating his own publicity


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

well done bill.

your posts may be few and far between these days, but we always know that when you do post the fish are going to be great ones!

well done...


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Damn they must be good to catch from a yak. Puts my 25cm flounder and squidders 15cm laetherjacket in the HOF to shame :lol:

Top fish Billybob

Cheers Dave


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## brayden (Mar 24, 2007)

that an unreal catch.. a few years back i seen your pick on fishing noosa website and ever since then ive wanted to get into it.. now ive been kayak fishing for over a year now.. keep up the good work...


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## PoddyMullet (Aug 29, 2005)

Thanks BB, keep posting em as they come ashore


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## Biggera Yakker (Jan 25, 2007)

I don't think there has been much of a mackerel season at all.
Mattayogi and I have been looking off Narrowneck with some success but nothing like we'd hoped for!
We might get something in the next few weeks (like Billybob said). Either that or next year it'll be a ripper season!!!


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

Wow  Cracker fish there mate!!!


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## Redro (Sep 5, 2005)

Great shorts there Bill, showing true style! Mrs Billy B. has impeccable taste! Not bad fish either - well done!


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## HiRAEdd (Nov 12, 2005)

Awesome effort, simply awesome!


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## evarn (Jul 10, 2006)

Nice catch... I would absolutely luv to get into some big fish like that on my yak.. not much hope in PPB though

I don't sing when I fish, but seeing as my paddle is not used for propulsion, i take it out sometimes and beat it on the water to attract sharks, like on those old documetaries... so far i;ve had no success

cheers

Ivan


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