# Glenelg River and my first mulloway.



## mcbigg (Jul 14, 2007)

I was fishing for bream from my kayak at the base of a cliff, a fair way up the Glenelg River. (Too far up for mulloway I thought, so I didn't bother putting a line out for one of those.)

I'd caught 3 nice bream (around 35cms each) and was after just one more before I packed up and headed home. I was using fairly light gear; a tiny reel on a light rod with pretty light line on it. I'd caught a couple of big (40cm) bream before and they bend the rod right over and take a little line off the reel with the drag set fairly tight. I'd had a couple of nibbles on the current prawn (never thought mulloway would take prawn!), so I bounced it a couple of times on the bottom and then something took it. I thought it was a medium size bream to start with, then the rod bent right over and the line started to peel off the reel a little. A big bream, I thought. Then it really took off.

Normally bream will head towards the side of the river to find any cover they can when they get hooked. This one started towards the side and then turned around and headed towards the centre of the river. It was at this stage I knew it probably wasn't a bream, or if it was, it was certainly going to be the biggest I'd ever caught. As fast as I was winding the line in, the fish was taking it off again. I tightened the drag a little and it still took line. Because I was on light gear and I didn't want it to snap the line or the rod, I didn't tighten it any more. I thought my only hope was to tire it out, and then get some line back. Eventually I got enough line back that I actually saw the fish and confirmed it was a mully. It had one more decent run (during which I was able to turn round and grab the gaff from the crate behind me) and then I was able to get it back up to the side of the kayak. I could see the hook (small), only just in its mouth. I nervously lowered the gaff and hooked it under its gills and then pulled it on board. I let out a whoop of joy, I had done it! I had caught my first mulloway. The fact that I had done it on light bream gear was even more special. It took about 10-15mins all up.

I was aware that the kayak was moving as I was trying to wind him in (I've had the kayak move a metre or two when pulling in big bream before), but I looked to see how far I'd been towed, and saw that I'd moved about 100 metres from where I started. Not bad!

I paddled back to where I had launched from (only about 500m away, thankfully. I was knackered) and showed him off to the people who were camping there and fishing, but not catching a thing. They took the photo of me holding the mully. They were amazed that I'd caught it in the yak without falling out. (I'd often wondered how I'd go if I ever hooked one, but now I know it's quite fun and it never really felt like tipping me in). I let them have the bream I'd caught, as I've got a stack in the freezer and I had about 4 meals worth of mulloway now. I had a bit last night. Delicious.

I'm now a member of the exclusive mulloway club!

Yay me!

Oh, the mully measured 74cm. If I'd caught it in SA I would have had to let it go (size limit is 75cm in SA, except in the Coorong - 50cm) but because I was in Victoria, the size limit is 50cm. Lucky me! (If I was in SA I reckon I would had yanked on its tail a little to stretch him that extra cm anyway!) It's the biggest fish I've ever caught on a rod and reel. (On the lightest rod and reel combo that I've ever owned - go figure!) I didn't weigh it because I don't have scales, but the guys in the tackle shop reckon he would have been 9 or 10 pounds.


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## colzinho (Aug 6, 2007)

mate that grin on your face is priceless!


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## Y-Knot (Sep 26, 2006)

Top fish and report ... what a fantastic effort considering the breaming tackle you were using.

Congrats on ya 1st Mulloway mcbigg 8)


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Congratulations. Well done on such light gear


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## Kevin (Aug 29, 2005)

Way to go Mcbigg - fantastic effort on the light gear.


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

8) Very cool mate, that would have been heaps of fun.  congratulations and well done landing him on such light gear. a great effort. 8)


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## Breambo (Apr 19, 2006)

Very, very cool. 8) 8) 8)


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## kingfisher111 (Jun 13, 2006)

Well done Mcbigg, I hope to join you in that exclusive club some day. Mulloway out of a kayak, priceless


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

Great work McBigg, that's one of my summer ambitions (any summer would do).


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## Astro (Nov 27, 2006)

well done mate....the glenelg river is a top stop....just too cold for me though.....


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## wolfy (Apr 27, 2007)

Well done and congratulations - top effort!


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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.

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## DGax65 (Jun 7, 2006)

Well done. Congratulations


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## varp (Sep 12, 2005)

Fantastic result. That grin on your dial says it all! Its a fabulous thing when you nail a long time dream fish.

Congrats!


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## Wattie (Apr 30, 2007)

My God....what a great fish,

Well done


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Nice jew on the light tackle mate


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

excellent fish, that must have been a real buzz, calm water and during the day it doesn't get much better than that.


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