# Qld: Double Island Point mackerel



## proangler (Nov 27, 2008)

Hello everyone,

Went camping with the family recently at Double Island Point, and with the weather looking favourable my stepbrother Jay and myself decided to bring the kayaks up in the hope of finding some pelagics. We arrived last Wednesday arvo and set up camp, and also sorted out the kayaks for a morning fish for the following day.

The weather the next day was perfect, with barely a breath of wind and a small swell, which was a relief as the surf launch is always challenging! The launch was uneventful and after rigging up we made our way south to where we've had luck in the past. On the way the sounder was picking up a fair amount of bait on the bottom which gave us some hope that there would be some larger predators hanging around. We reached the spot and Jay had a fair hit on his floating pilly but was not a solid hookup. I also had a strike on my floater, but again whatever it was spat the hooks.

We decided to have a bit of a bottom bash but to no avail with soft plastics, then while using bait only managing a small bream, in 13m of water? We decided to move further out and slowly head back north towards camp in the hope of picking up something in the deeper water. I was about halfway back when my overhead with the floater screamed! I knew this was a decent fish as by the time I set the hooks the fish was still speeding off!

After a few more solid runs I managed to lift him and got a look of what it was, a big mackerel  I brought him up next to me and got two gaffs in him with the help of Jay and into the hatch he went! We then decided to call it a day and back to camp we went. The surf had picked up and Jay was dumped coming in but i managed to pick a gap and stay upright.

The mack ended up weighing a good 17kg. Very happy as this was the first pelagic for me of the season  









Woke up on Friday and the surf had picked right up, so we decided it was best to give it a miss for the morning launch. As the day went on the surf dropped off and about 700m off the coast there was a large mass of birds working, so we quickly launched and gave chase. Jay sped over and reached them first and by the time i arrived he had already hooked a few fish but his knot had slipped :? He started rigging and I made my way over to them and had a solid hookup using a slug on the 3rd cast. After a small tussle I had a nice little yellow fin tuna that went 4kg in the hatch, a first for me and a species that I've wanted to catch for a while! 









By now Jay had given chase to the birds, but then he all of a sudden turned back towards me and was speeding back to me. When he got within shouting distance he yelled "SHARK!". I yelled back and told him to get his ass over here because I had the sharksheild. He explained that a Tiger Shark longer than his paddle had swum at him and nudged his kayak, right where he was sitting :shock: There was a mutual agreement to head in after this.

The next few days we're pretty uneventful, with just lots of small sharks caught, which became quite a hassle. On Sunday there was a fair amount of bird action though, and there was definitely tuna around, but they weren't interested in anything we had to offer. We also had another encounter with a shark, as we were paddling there was a big brown shape in front of us and as it came into the shark sheild radius it did a big tail flick and was gone. Thank god for the shark shield :shock:

Overall it was a good trip and a great start to the season!
Thanks for reading,

Cheers James


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## noddy (Jun 5, 2008)

Fantastic spaniard and yellowfin! If everyone was already psyched for the arrival of the spanish, you've just put us into overdrive.

The tiger bumping Jay's yak would definitely be an interesting experience! Good to see the shark shield working as designed though.


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## clarkey (Jan 13, 2009)

Well dones James a couple of very nice fish,
good to hear the shark shield done it's thing.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Great fishing and top report James!


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

What? This kid again? Too many more fantastic reports by him and he'll need to be relegated to a season of carping, at some large inland lake.

Too easy, man! Keep up the reports, James! YFT are #1 on my list of kayak target fish. The pinnacle. Congratulations.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

James

WOW!


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Thats a top fish James, well done.


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## garyp (May 30, 2008)

Great report mate and a couple of fish I would probably give up at least my left nut for! Well done

I really wish you had posted a photo of your brothers face after the Noah bumped his yak - he must have looked pretty terrified, I know I would have.


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## madkeenfisher (Jul 24, 2008)

ripper fish young fella! Nice to see the spanish are finally turning up


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Well fished and well presented, James. You've given us hope here in Noosa that the Spaniards will wander down this way a few km. Laguna Bay is packed with baitfish right now and as of Sunday nothing was harrassing them. Thanks for letting us know.

Kev


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## Bretto (May 23, 2010)

Nice fish. Hopefully that sort of action sticks around until the end of Feb at least.


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## proangler (Nov 27, 2008)

DaveAndo said:


> James cracker fish mate. I reckon thats the best Pedro this season on both coasts. Were you using the Tru Turn rig?


Thanks Dave, yeah sure did, hooked it perfectly, with the last hook right in its mouth and the second just in.



indiedog said:


> How did you fit all of that in the esky??


Hahahaa with a fair amount of difficulty :lol:

Cheers James


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Very nice James, any further info for those heading up in Feb as to your location along the beach? Up near the headland or do you have a little patch of reef that you are going to keep secret from everybody?

Kev


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## gibsoni (Jun 22, 2009)

Great report mate. Awesome fish complete with great photo!

Great inspiration for those of us who are yet to hit some big pelagics.

Any more reports of shark shields working well for you?

Iain


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## HardPlastic (Jul 2, 2007)

You're a bit of a pro on the pedros James. What does that make it now - about half a dozen? Love your reports. Awesome stuff mate.

Cheers

Greg


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## Safa (Aug 4, 2006)

James,
Great fish man and that maybe the Pedro' of the season me thinks..............well its enough to feed the "Army" we will bring some donuts for dessert mate we have heaps in the freezer,YFT still on my to do list so well done young man!
Clive


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## Slide (Oct 25, 2007)

I remember seeing the post from the same trip last year and thought it was great, but I think this one is even better. Well done, brilliant fish. Looks like you have grown 2 feet since last year, what are they feeding you, must be the fresh mackerel fillets? 

How does the floating pillie rig work? Do you do anything to prevent spinning?


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## proangler (Nov 27, 2008)

HardPlastic said:


> You're a bit of a pro on the pedros James. What does that make it now - about half a dozen? Love your reports. Awesome stuff mate.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Greg


Hahaha I wish, still have a lot of catching up to do with the old man!



Slide said:


> How does the floating pillie rig work? Do you do anything to prevent spinning?


Well basically we attach a gang rig joined with swivels that we tie to a length of leader, we do try and rig the pilly as straight as possible but it can spin which causes line twist which is a pain, but the hookup rate isn't really affected.

Cheers James


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## youthenasia (Sep 24, 2010)

Brilliance mate. Just sheer brilliance. My hat is off to you. Any advice on fishing DIP? Float lines and trolling for big pelagics? Pack a rod/reel specicifically for flicking slugs quickly? Love your work and look forward to many more outstanding catches and trip reports from you.

Cheers,
Youth


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## proangler (Nov 27, 2008)

youthenasia said:


> Brilliance mate. Just sheer brilliance. My hat is off to you. Any advice on fishing DIP? Float lines and trolling for big pelagics? Pack a rod/reel specicifically for flicking slugs quickly? Love your work and look forward to many more outstanding catches and trip reports from you.
> 
> Cheers,
> Youth


Hey Youth,

My setup on the yak for up there Is three rods, one big rod with a floating pilly rig, and another big rod with a lure on it. I also have a lighter spin rod for slugs.Theres no real reef out there so basically i will just troll with these and try different depths. If there are birds working and not traveling too fast its defiantly worth a few casts with a small slug.

Cheers James


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## Rapala01 (Jul 17, 2011)

Awsome fish James. I can't wait to hook into some mackerel from my yak again, but I might need to invest in a shark shield before then.


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## richmond (Dec 20, 2010)

Very nice work James, well done. That's a good photo of the spanno.

Have you got a 3rd rod holder on the stealth or do you lay your spin stick on the deck?

Jeff.


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## proangler (Nov 27, 2008)

Hey Jeff, have been meaning to put a ram holder in but I haven't got around to it so I've just been laying it on the deck which has been working fine.

Cheers James


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