# QLD - SunnyCoast 24/3 : 15kms - 1 Fish



## madcow (Jun 30, 2008)

Late report from Last Sunday.

Arrived at Noosa main beach at 5:30am. My other compatriots decided to pull the pin and due to the 
Northerly winds being stronger than forecast, so the dilemma will I or wont I ?

Having not paddled for over three months and the lack of fish caught the day before at the closer in locations
and facing a 6km paddle out to sunshine reef to find clear water was becoming less attractive by the minute.

I bit the bullet, and after an uneventul launch and paddle out to Sunshine reef Plan A was to find the birds and chase Tuna.
The only bird activity were terns heading northwards towards the location I had chosen to ignore, so I resigned myself to Plan B
drifting in the hope of a reefie or two.

My first drift was way to fast as the current was absolutely ripping along, so plan C - head in to one of my closer in marks
hoping the drift would be less ferocious.

I don't think I'd put in more than 20 strokes when my yak came to a sudden halt and the trailing rod went screaming 
off into the distance. By the speed of the initial run I instantly thought mackeral Yee-Hah Plan D

The first run took well over 100m line, having just recovered this amount the fish took almost exactly the same amount of line
still at breakneck speed on it's second attept to win freedom. Hoping at his stage my freshly tied knots and leaders would hang in there,
as this was a good fish.

The third run fish took off again at the same speed WTF ! - thankfully it only took half as much line this time.
beacuse I seemed to rapidly heading towads coolum.

By this stage now I'm thinking keep cool it should be over soon. My adversey had other ideas down deep it went and proceeded to slug it out on the bottom.
Time frames are a little blurry by this stage and doubts started creeping into my mind as the fight had now turned into one very telltale of a large shark. Even when I had regained the start of my leader on to the reel I coud not clearly see the fish as the water clarity was so bad.

Finally I saw the silverbarred flanks of a large Spaniard, totally exhausted the fish lay on its side next the yak.
Stalemate both of us completely spent and looking at each other in disbelief.

Dragging this beast onboard and securing it was another challenge in which I narrowly avoiding tipping out several times.

2 hours of very tippy lopsided paddling saw me off the back of the breakers at main beach, filled with tourists and swimmers
this was going to be my next challenge, luckliy there was only small waves which I negotiated and landed upright.

This epic battle lasted appox 45 minutes and ended almost 1km south of where it started.

I knew this was a big fish, I was guessing around the 15-18kg mark, but I was speechless 
when the it hit the scales, a PB that probably will stand for quite a while.

Cheers Brian










24KG and 1.62m Fish taken on a trolled pilchard with a blue and white squidskirt, 30pd braid - 25kg leader to 40kg wire trace.


----------



## scoman (Oct 4, 2010)

Wow, thats 1 Epic Fish


----------



## Sprocket (Nov 19, 2008)

Nice fish Mate, aren't those big ones a sight when they come up.
Hope the weather holds I want to chase a monster like that over the next couple of weeks.
Cheers,
Dave.


----------



## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

I've known about this epic catch since last Sunday and was hoping Brian (Noosa Yakker: whalebait) would post on AKFF. This fish has busted Noosa Yakkers previous record, a 150cm specimen taken last April by eyetag (AKFF: ian) and I think is whalebait's first entry in our Record List. Whalebait's been a Noosa Yakker since early days and thoroughly deserves this superb fish, but he's caught a few doozies in the past and even been towed by a whale, hence the nickname.

Great capture, whalebait. Hope to fish with you soon.

Kev


----------



## carnster (May 27, 2008)

Yeah that's a spanish 4 sure. Fantastic!
Good to see a sunny coast yakka trolling a bait.
I must say the title really understates the catch. Yeah caught 1 fish ho hum; how about "Spanishasaurous"?


----------



## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

That's a doozey, Brian!

Keep up the good work!

Jimbo


----------



## wayneedden (May 19, 2012)

holy moly...thank goodness ya had a plan D mate..
sweet one
wayno


----------



## reedy (Oct 31, 2010)

thats a cracking fish mate! would be happy to get a spanish half that size. looks like u will be feeding most of noosa with that thing. congrats


----------



## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Wow, thats a fish.


----------



## chris58 (Nov 25, 2007)

I remember someone who caught a 30kg model some years ago off Caloundra. he was 2 Ks off shore when he hooked up and when he landed it he was 5 Ks off shore!
well done!


----------



## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Bit of a poor show Brian, for all that paddling.  Anyone half a fisho would have caught at least two fish. :lol: :lol:

Mate, if I had been lucky enough to see that monster as a floater, I would have either had a heart attack, or fallen off the yak in shock!

Massive congratulations.


----------



## Wrassemagnet (Oct 17, 2007)

epic fish there and well deserved. Mad photo too.


----------



## RekFix (Dec 30, 2011)

How often does a "will I won't I" or a " I'll just go for a quick flick" end like this.. 
Then there are the days you sit out there for ages with a plan for zip...

Gotta love fishing..

Well done Brian, awesome fish mate.


----------



## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Don't know what to say, we all dream about one of those!

Story of my year is 15k and 0 fish!


----------



## clarkey (Jan 13, 2009)

Man that is awesome.


----------



## Zonbie (Aug 24, 2009)

Senfreekinsational !

Fantastic Mate. Well done.


----------



## brolans (Aug 9, 2012)

what a monster... could only dream of a fish like that


----------



## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Wow!!

Wotta Ripper!

Well done mate

Cheers andybear   (Would have been great on a video)


----------



## SLB (Jul 8, 2010)

well deserved fish brian. I scrolled to the pic and went yep read that story haha. i want one off the rocks before i go chassing them in the yak, hoping for something like this over the next week


----------



## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

A magnificent capture Brian, congratulations mate.


----------

