# SA: KI Jan13. Ooglies, Unstoppables & a Noah called Goldy



## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Just back after a week on KI - shared with Drew and also Skorgard, KiKid, Kanganoe, Shep (islandboy) and Tom - my NZ friend who was with me 2 years ago when we did well on the snaps see viewtopic.php?f=17&t=45367&hilit=+Toms

Drew and I travelled over on Sunday 13 Jan.








Once again we were based in beautiful Eastern Cove








After settling in and a quick visit to Skorgard who was staying nearby, we were keen to hit the water. Small tommies and trevally about and then, some better bites and runs and we scored a couple of nice snapper at 40 and 50cms -we came in before dusk for dinner with Louise and plans for a longer session tomorrow evening and the promise of a Tuna hunt on the north west coast of the Island. Calls from Kikid and Kanganoe confirmed Tuesday as the best day to try for the Tuna. 
A quick morning fish on Monday delivered my first hit on the reliable nuc chook - and first oogly















Drew then got a good run and bagged a 60cm snapper - bloody show off that he is.
We planned to be back again that evening - and we were. The locals looking at us with the usual comments - "_you're brave - there are sharks about - the local Great White has been seen - we call her Goldy_." Yeah, Yeah, Yeah - heard it all before. 
What followed was for us a most memorable evening fishing. Plenty of fish activity - tommies and trevally and a couple of nice KGW - snook chasing garfish on the surface - and then as sun set, it started. Drew got the first big run - and it did not stop until it hit the reef - ping. Then it was my turn - another long run and time to detach from the anchor and chase it but to no avail - I too was reefed. Drews turn - same result - and then mine - and so it went. I began to think of Murd and the snag from hell on River X. Then with some upped drag I had a smaller fish I was able to gain some line and, after a short fight, I was just about to grab the net when out of nowhere a very large fish breached at the bow of my little hobie Sport and dived for my fish zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz - what the $#@#&. :shock: Hey Drew I yelled - I've been sharked ! 
Drew was concentrating, hooked up to another unstoppable. "Turn on your shark shield on then" he said - oh - ok &#8230;..and it worked immediately - any misgivings about sharks were dispelled by the little green light and I re-rigged and cast out again - to once again hook up and to get a fish just below the boat before Goldy reappeared beneath me with the same drag burning run result and a forced bust off before I was spooled. A braid cut on my finger was a suitable souvenir. 
That was it really - 7 unstoppables between us plus sharked twice. But it was magnificent to see such a large fish in her element. I felt privileged despite the frustration of no fish landed from 9 hooked.

Tuesday was the Tuna hunt off Western River Cove - some 100kms from where we were staying. A long but wonderful day as already reported by Kanganoe viewtopic.php?f=17&t=59244 - Drew and I fished with Shep (islandboy), a local artist who had caught one of the first Southern Bluefin Tuna off a kayak early last year. We headed west while Snow (KiKid) and Russell (Kanganoe) headed east. No tuna for us but some exciting moments in amongst a number of bust ups. Fantastic that Russell got one and great to spend some time with Shep. The pictures tell some of the story.





















I came home with a big Slimy Mack plus a nice flathead that took a bait just as we were re-entering Western River Cove.








Wednesday morning we were out again on Eastern Cove - now with Tom who had arrived while we hunting Tuna. Very quiet but at last a good bite on the whiting rod and this surfaced.















Hmmmm - I thought - time for a troll with my trusty Qantas frenzy. So while the others focussed on whiting I trolled along the edge of the shallow reef and on my second pass was rewarded with a bent rod and that sweet sound. I must admit I was slightly nervous that Goldy would reappear and pinch my fish and worked hard to get it to the net quickly - and once it was there I let out a series of whoops that surprised even me. A capture like that, after a series of failures, sure is sweet.


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

That was it for the snapper - the bite got quieter over the next couple of days although there were still a few whiting about. Last night out with Tom and Skorgard, after Drew had gone home, we got another visit from Goldy. She surfaced between Tom's yellow Revo and me in the little grey Sport, showing her dorsal fin and tail. She turned and swam straight towards Tom's revo to investigate before veering away at the last minute and quietly slipping below the surface. A magnificent sight. But why did she head for Tom's kayak - Yum Yum Yellow perhaps ? We got a few more whiting and Tom lost a good one - it supposedly bit right through his 20lb trace ! Or maybe Goldy has also a taste for King George ?








A great trip to a great place with some very memorable moments !


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## GlenelgKiller (Mar 13, 2012)

Eventful trip Andy! How big exactly do you think Goldy was? And how close did she come to an operational shark shield? Yikes!!


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## Geoffw (Jan 23, 2011)

Sounds like a great adventure with some nice fishing. Love KI if it wasn't so expensive to get there and back. I too am interested though about how close Goldy came to an active shark shield.


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

GlenelgKiller said:


> Eventful trip Andy! How big exactly do you think Goldy was? And how close did she come to an operational shark shield? Yikes!!


We think around 2m Sean - and I'm not really convinced Goldy was GWS despite what we were told - she could have been a bronzie (I'm no shark expert) and after we saw her, others told us that a bronzie had been hanging around too. I only had my SS operating once out of the three times we saw her. And then I had it deployed along the length of the kayak rather than hanging down under the kayak. I think if I had it hanging down, I might have got one of the fish in. She was probably 4m beneath the SS. I did not feel in the least bit threatened by her - just frustrated that she kept taking our fish ! It was clear it was the fish she wanted. But as I said, having the SS really helps how you feel about such an experience.


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## Float (Mar 8, 2009)

Nice report mate looks like you had great weather and an interesting variety of fish. Not sure if the green light would have given me the same confidence. I think Drew would have had a passenger on his yak but I would have been at the top of the mast. :lol:


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## Zilch (Oct 10, 2011)

Great report Andy 

You are a braver than me mate, i would of gone in. I have fished with some shady characters including OldDood but i draw the line at a 2 metre on in a grey suit.



solatree said:


> I think if I had it hanging down, I might have got one of the fish in.


This is something i have thought about recently ;-) , let's say you were chasing kingies and hook a big one and as you got it near the yak it dives under your yak and tangles your line around the shark shield antenna, yikes. Oh well, i will keep dreaming for now :lol:

Steve


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## Rockster (Sep 7, 2007)

Great report Andy. Those photos confirm why more and more people are appreciating the beauty of KI. Coincidence that you guys were lined up to be first off the ferry? I think not! :lol: Good too see you managed to land some fish and keep the locals fed with some fresh KI seafood.
Cheers
Bob


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

Superb excitement - perfectly captured in words.

Alas, no pics of Goldy, so are they Ridgy Didge, or were they hallucinating?

trev


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## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

Cool trip and write up! Good job getting pole position on the ferry and what an interesting bunch of trips; sharks and odd species and all. That's one of the cool things about KI, encountering some species you don't normally see up in St Vincents. That's a good snapper you got on the troll there.


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

That whole trip sounded tops, and in a nice location Andy, enjoyed reading.


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## JRF1973 (Dec 7, 2012)

Great read. Did you find out what that really ugly one was?


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## Ubolt (Dec 8, 2009)

Wow braver than me shark shield or no shark shield. Sounds like a great trip. What do you think the unstoppables were?


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## fisher (Aug 30, 2005)

Well done Andy, a great read. You seem to be doing everything that I said I'd get around to do! Are you calling the unstoppables for big snapper? I guess if they had a shark on their tail they'd pull pretty hard 

When I got my snapper off Island Beach a couple of years ago I had this eerie feeling about sharks coming for the fish whilst I was struggling to get them in the net. A great trip, well done.


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## kanganoe (Apr 30, 2008)

Glad you lads enjoyed yourself.Allways something happening here fishwise.Loved the cavalier attitude to the Gurnard.The pain from those spines can be really something.I allways cut the line rather than get anywhere near them.
All the best russell


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

The "unstoppables" certainly had the feel of big snapper. They felt as if they could easily have gone beyond 80cm. A great experience on the water to have that many big hits from so many big fish.
We just had to make sure we fed enough snapper to "Goldy" so that it didn't need to munch on us. ;-)


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## fisher (Aug 30, 2005)

Drewboy said:


> The "unstoppables" certainly had the feel of big snapper. They felt as if they could easily have gone beyond 80cm. A great experience on the water to have that many big hits from so many big fish.
> We just had to make sure we fed enough snapper to "Goldy" so that it didn't need to munch on us. ;-)


Love it! Well done. Your next challenge is to take your yaks through the mouth to hook up a 50lb mulloway. Now theres a challenge


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Thanks for all the positive comments folks. 


JRF1973 said:


> Did you find out what that really ugly one was?





BigGee said:


> what the hell is that brown thing?


 Confirmed by Paddy, Squidder, Kelvin and Russell as a Gurnard Perch. Marvellous source of info this place !  


kanganoe said:


> Loved the cavalier attitude to the Gurnard.The pain from those spines can be really something


 I was pretty careful, not knowing what it was and not liking the look of the spines. I used the lip grippers to get it out of the water and release it and only touched its underbody, to support it, with a gloved hand for the photo taken by Drew. From whats been said about the nastiness of a spike, its probably the case that the Oogly posed a big risk of a painful injury than perhaps Goldy !


fisher said:


> Are you calling the unstoppables for big snapper?





Ubolt said:


> What do you think the unstoppables were?


Like Drew said, felt like big snaps - the run and the shakes - I'm not sure they were necessarily as big as 80cm+ but you never know cos we never got one in. ;-) I was using a 2500 Stradic with 10lb braid so not heavy gear. But there was certainly a group of them around the same size that smoked both me and Drew. I thought the 61cm fish I got two days later felt like a 70cm fish before I measured it but perhaps that was just the excitment of at last landing a fish that didn't get eaten by Goldy or find the reef.


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

patwah said:


> I dare you to kiss the next one, you have balls of steel when it comes to Goldy and her flaunting ways,....
> 
> But will you kiss a GP?


Probably not my current GP - he has whiskers - but I have seen some cute ones that would tempt me. Especially when wearing rubber gloves.....
For protection of course.


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## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

This is reminding me of that report where Olddood photographed a stingray on his lap


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## OldDood (Nov 6, 2008)

Great report Andy and pretty exciting.
Bronzies are pretty easy to identify as they are bronze strangely enough.
You can identify a white pointer by counting the number of teeth they have. This is quite easy to do by examining the scar where your leg used to be.  
That ooglie is a real ugly mongrel, it is a much more appropriate name than Bighead Gurnard Perch.
When you cut your finger with the braid, did you bleed into the water to distract Goldie so Drew and others would have a better chance of landing a Pinky?
Thats what a real mate would have done.
I will assume that you were doing the right thing and "taking one for the team".
Nice catch guys hopefully see you on the weekend sometime.
Mark.

P.S.


Squidley said:


> This is reminding me of that report where Olddood photographed a stingray on his lap


Bloody hell Chris, do not get Solatree all excited about flaps on my lap again! He has only just got over it.


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## fishstix (Dec 18, 2011)

Looks like you had a great trip.

Heading down that way soon and hoping to encounter some of those "unstoppables", not so much Goldy.

...ooglies I'd happily trade for KG whiting. The gurnard is definitely an ooglie but I find the sargeant baker quite attractive.


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

OldDood said:


> Bronzies are pretty easy to identify as they are bronze strangely enough.
> You can identify a white pointer by counting the number of teeth they have. This is quite easy to do by examining the scar where your leg used to be.


 :shock:

That's going straight to 2013 Forum Quotes of the year.


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

In a Sport? IN A SPORT! That's just nuts.
I suppose it's just what you're used to. I can hang off a wall at 300m. You can fish with a GWS at 2m.

I reckon it's a tough ask of a SS once you've already lost a fish to a feeding shark that then returns for desert.


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## suehobieadventure (Feb 17, 2009)

Gotta love KI glad I didnt read this report before I went out. Shep had a shark shield but I didnt. Never saw a shark but that doesnt mean they werent there.


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