# QLD Fraser family holiday 18/9-2/10 Part 2



## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Before we arrived at the island I made a bit of time to study the weather forecast for the area and had decided that this first Sunday was going to be my best opportunity weather wise to launch the kayak to fish Marloo bay and the wreck of the Marloo. This wreck is in around 6-8m of water and as the swells and tides push past large eddies and bubbling forms which apparently can be visible from the headland in certain conditions. My plan was to fish plastics around the wreck for snapper and any other local reef fish that may like a plastic. I had also borrowed a mates shark-shield to assist in reducing the likelihood of meeting one of the local tiger sharks the area is renowned for. Now the time came to make the launch through the shore break and paddle the kilometre or so to the wreck from the gutter where I chose to launch. The transit through the surf zone was a roaring success and I was safely out the back rigging rods and setting up in no time. I set out a laser pro to troll my way up to the wreck and arrived to within 150m without a touch so I decided to see which way I was going to drift and set up for plastic fishing. Fortunately my drift was taking me straight toward my mark so I cast out my first placcy, a five inch gulp stickbait in curry chicken on a 1/8 jighead with a 2/0 hook. Before I could rig the second rod my little 2500 symetre was singing as line peeled under drag, after a good fight with a few solid runs a healthy snapper appeared below the yak and proceeded wrap the line in the SS antenna hanging below the yak, luckily I managed to get him free and eventually gaffed a healthy 75cm snapper. What an amazing start! 








After a few more drifts which yielded numerous rat kingfish around 50cm and small GT's of 30cm and less I had another solid hit on the same outfit that I had landed my snapper on. This was of course the lighter of the two outfits I had out with me on this day which consisted of 3-5kg rod with a 2500 size reel and 10pd braid with a 12pd leader. Once again as I struck the fish it took a solid first run heading straight back toward the wreck, I tightened the drag but the fish continued running before seemingly stopping for no good reason and changing direction. Once again it ran hard taking line at will, allowing me at times to get considerable amounts of line back before taking off again on long powerful runs. This went on for over 20 minutes with the fish leaving the wreck and then heading back toward it again each time with me in tow. I soon came to the realisation that I had no control over this fish whatsoever and was now questioning just what I had hooked. At one point I had even convinced myself that I had hooked and somehow stayed connected to a shark as it just did not seem to tire. But then when I had just about given up hope on being able to positively identify my unknown opponent I began to consistently gain line without losing it again 5 seconds later and in the gin clear waters of Marloo bay I got my first glimpse of a trevally shaped fish circling in the depths below the yak. At this point the heart skipped a few beats and the hands began to shake and then the shape developed a distinct golden hue just to freak me out even more. Suddenly I remembered my fight with the snapper and the tangle with the SS. In a split second the SS was turned off and the antennae drawn back up the scupper and out of harms way. A few more minutes later and an exhausted fish of a proportion that I had never even dreamed of catching was laying spent beside me in my kayak just 400m off the beach over a shallow wreck in subtropical waters. A gaff shot near its head sealed it's fate and I dragged aboard the single heaviest object that I have ever handled on the kayak. I let out a half scream, half squeal of excitement and relief and quietly packed up my stuff and paddled back to tackle the shore break once again content with the fish I had on board.

Karen and the boys had been down at Waddy riding boogie boards down the sand-dunes and had just decided to travel back down to see how I was going when they saw me paddling back not much more than an hour after they had sent me off. I readied the yak for the surf zone transit which had seemed to increase in size with the dropping tide, this also included moving my catch from the front to the rear well to avoid the nose digging in with the extra weight and made a successful trip in with a sideways ride that Sunshiner would be proud of through the last of the wash after a broken wave caught up and tried to overtake me. Ethan came running down to greet me and ask if I had caught anything and then saw the tail of the golden sticking out of the hessian bag behind my seat and promptly announced to Mum that dad had caught something and it was HUGE!!! 
Once on the beach I measured, weighed and photographed my catch whilst Ethan took every opportunity to show off the fish to any passing traffic. The Golden Trevally measured in at 97cm and tipped the small electronic scales I had at 9.86kg, a new AKFF HOF 1st place!


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Magnificent captures Kev - and a great story - congratulations !


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## clarkey (Jan 13, 2009)

Congrats on the HOF BK,it must of nearly pulled your arms off.
Clarkey


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## paulsod (Dec 28, 2008)

You couldn't ask for a better result. Well Done!

Paul


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## gcfisho (Oct 31, 2009)

What a great way to start a fishing trip . Not being experienced in that type of fishing i would never of thought of fishing that light .


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

now thats some fishing to be jealous of, Awesome stuff Kev


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## perk (Jul 29, 2010)

Great report mate, you deserve that fish good rewards for putting in the effort.


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## madkeenfisher (Jul 24, 2008)

Kev

Now I am pissed at myself for not fishing the Marloo back in August. Yes I should have listened too you big fella I know. I am already talking to Wifey about a weeks holiday up there next year, probably around the same time as you and Karen are up there. Will talk to you about it soon. We will have to commit early to make sure we get a house.

Cheers


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## mrwalker (Feb 23, 2009)

That is a fantastic effort, those goldens just go and go, and so good to eat! cheers, Dave.


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## andrewyakfisherman (Oct 5, 2010)

There good fish mate keep it up, cheers Andrewyakfisherman


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Fantastic, mate. I was with you there, battling and eventually subduing that Golden T. And then carefully prepping your boat for the successful trip back through the surf. And then the kids running up to you to find out how you went. Those are things you'll remember as long as you live. Those experiences are the essence of kayak fishing offshore. Beautifully related. Thanks for telling us about it.


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## actionsurf (Jul 8, 2010)

Great fishing mate. I think I'll give the Marloo a go myself next weekend if I can score the right conditions. Cheers Hally


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