# QLD: Perfect weather -- magnificent Spaniard; Noosa 17Jan10



## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

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With perfect offshore conditions today, several of us went out at 0500 to try to get some action from the local mackerel population. After a couple of hours of little or no action and about 10km of travel to possible hot spots behind us, we arrived back at the river mouth area where we'd encountered fish recently.

We hung around here for around 30 minutes, just casting occasionally and chatting, waiting for the spotties or schoolies to hopefully arrive to attack the baitfish visible nearby. At the end of this time I offered to show Graham, one of our yakkers out for the first time today, the eastern side of the bay so we set off in that general direction, trolling as we went. A few minutes after we set off, at about 0730, with Graham travelling alongside me a few metres away, my trolling outfit with a HB lure on it howled. I picked up the rod and noted that the spool of my Penn 320Gti was spinning furiously against the drag and water was spraying off the spinning spool due to centrifugal force. This was some strike! I was fishing 11.3kg Trilene monofilament without leader, the main line tied directly to a tiny swivel on the front end of a home made (mono) wire trace about 25cm long. This trace was wired directly to the tow point of the lure and as I'd done the wiring myself, I knew it was good. So, I had plenty in my favour.

The run stopped and the fish seemed to simply hold position and for a fleeting moment I thought perhaps I'd foul hooked a big ray. Then it took off again and the fight had me calling it for a shark, many of which had recently been caught on hard body lures. After about five minutes I had regained enough self control that I put out a radio message to my fellow yakkers that I was hooked up to something big. For about ten more minutes I was towed around, quite quickly at times, the water gurgling along under the keel as the fish tried its best to get away. Stu, one of our regular yakkers, was paddling along behind me in his Prowler Elite with his phone camera in action. At last I started to get line back onto the spool, even after I'd backed off the drag a little to ease stress on the single monofilament knot which was connecting me with the fish and which had been under pressure for the duration of the fight. I was impressed with the force with which this fish had been pullling me around but clearly, after about 15 minutes, I was starting to win.

Stu was about ten metres away when I first saw the fish, about 5 metres down. Not a shark but a huge Spaniard! But it was now exhausted. I could see that the lure was entirely inside its scissor-like jaws so I knew it was well hooked. And I knew that the wire trace was sound. I applied pressure and the Spaniard planed up to the surface beside the yak. Bloody hell! It was enormous!









_Stu captures the moment when the Spaniard planed up to the surface. Note that the yak is still being towed. Thanks for the photo, Stu_.

For a fraction of a second I toyed with the idea of using the lip gripper to boat him but then quickly decided to gaff him. The fish was on the wrong side of the yak for a right handed gaffer, as I am, so a left handed shot was necessary. The first gaff shot hit him solidly in the left shoulder, just behind the head. The Spaniard barely responded -- it was knackered. I started to haul him aboard.









_Stu does it again with his phone cam. Half of the fish is still under water._

I dragged him across my lap, taking care to keep those fiercesome jaws clear of the family jewels, still valuable to me even if they are a little tarnished with age. I then swivelled the fish around so its head would go into the footwell, the safest (only?) place for such a fish in the Espri.









_Got him aboard at last. Thanks for the priceless photos, Stu._

For several minutes I held him securely by the tail with the head jammed into the footwell until I was quite sure that he wasn't going to suddenly leap out like a coiled spring. Then it was on with the tail rope which I always carry on the yak.

Clearly this was the end of my fishing for the day. Hell, I barely had space to paddle and was very glad that I was less than 1km from our launch point. I'd told all kayakers who were on radio that I'd nailed a decent Spaniard and several came over for a look. I then announced that I was going in to the beach. Part way there, after achieving a relatively comfortable paddling style with the Spaniard's aft section tucked under my right arm, I encountered Jaro who offered to take some more, on water, pics with his camera.









_We rafted up the two yaks, starboard sides facing each other and Jaro took several pics. Thanks, mate. Note that the lure is visible inside the jaws of the fish._

I'm very glad that there was hardly any swell today as it allowed me to take a small chance and proceed straight in to the beach without my usual disciplined stowing and tidying up procedure. Besides, I would have had to drop the Spaniard over the side (on the tail rope and risk attack by sharks) or manipulate it onto the back deck in order to access the hatch in which I normally stow my gear.

One of my mates offered to take a pic of the Spaniard on the beach...









_0826hrs. Seated on the rear deck of my Espri._

Jaro then came in and, as the Spaniard was too long for the measure mat, he loaned me his ruler to complement the measure mat and we agreed that the fish was 1.49m long.










Then a bikini-clad young lady came over to see what all the fuss was about. When asked, she agreed with alacrity to be photographed holding the fish.









_Top day in Noosa... Check out the shadow_

Our scales weren't big enough :shock: so I took the fish to Davo's where it went a neat 17kg.

I was hoping January wouldn't go past without an eligible entry from me for the Summer Bluewater comp ;-) .

Thanks for reading AKFFers -- tight lines


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## tahch3 (Oct 27, 2009)

wow!! Thats an awsome fish   
Great work!!!


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## clarkey (Jan 13, 2009)

Nice,very nice i must say,well done.Oh and that is an awesome fish :lol:


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Mate I think you need a bigger boat :shock: . Nice fish again, good on ya.


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## bungy (Jan 1, 2008)

I doff my hat Sir Sunshiner.
A champion effort on landing the spaniard and for getting a hottie to pose with it.


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## hoit (Aug 29, 2005)

Fantastic effort and great shadow.


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## dunebuggy (Dec 21, 2008)

Awesome fish Kev. I reckon someone down the pub whispered "mackeral" down my way. I think half the population of Caloundra was out in anything that would float. As for today's bikini girl, I think the bottom half of that pic could be used as the new AKFF logo. ie; her legs and the shadow. lol.
All I got this morning was a snapper at 47cms. Congratulations on your mac. or should I say "bumper bar" lol.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

WOW - Holy Moley what a cracker !! The fish aint too bad either !!


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## austin1985 (Jun 3, 2009)

great fish. was up at noosa today for a swim, seemed like lots of action out on the bay, birds smashing bait fish everywhere. 
might join you blokes next time, its a great time of the year to be out.


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## smaas (Oct 5, 2009)

Perfect weather -- magnificent Spaniard -- Nice legs!!


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## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

> "Clearly this was the end of my fishing for the day&#8230;"


Mate, you may as well retire from yak fishing altogether. Does it get better than that?


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## YakN00b (Jun 9, 2008)

Awesome fish well done.


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Nice one Kev.. what a cracker... fish aint bad too!! ;-) 8)


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## proangler (Nov 27, 2008)

Thats a massive mackeral! Well done!
I just came back from camping on North shore but wasn't able to raise a scale but when I got back I rang my dad and he had caught an 18kg Spanish mac of coolum! I'll get him to write a report soon.


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## Drewboy (Mar 18, 2008)

Beautifully executed Kev...
Here..... have a silhouette.








Congratulations.
Drew


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## ant (Aug 28, 2008)

What a great fish I'm lost for words although the fish looks familiar not sure if the Goldie can top that.  

Regards
Ant


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

Now THAT is my dream fish!!! One day I would love to catch one of those from my kayak!!! Well done, what a buzz it must have been. I'm even excited for you and I wasn't there :lol: 


Drewboy said:


> Beautifully executed Kev...
> Here..... have a silhouette.


The real thing looks much better!


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## Windshear (Aug 22, 2009)

Fantastic report as always Sunshiner! Your day today must be every yak fishermans dream... perfect conditions, awesome fish on board and the regular beauty to show off your catch. Congrats on keeping our dream alive...YES!
Regards
Andy


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## azzaroo (Aug 17, 2007)

great spanard there ss,love your work,well done :lol:


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## breamfish (May 19, 2009)

:shock: :shock: 
Sunshiner you've done it again :lol: 
Great Fish


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## Chris001 (Apr 18, 2009)

Congrats on your trophy fish Sunshiner! You guys are really living the dream up there!


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## Swinger (Mar 29, 2009)

well done Kev what a horse. and your reports are top notich as always if for some reason you can't fish any moore you would make an exelant writer. good work mate

Ryan


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## haywire (Jan 9, 2010)

awsome fish
well done


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## garyp (May 30, 2008)

Fantastic. congrats. That silhouette would make the best profile picture ever - wish I had one!


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## JTC (Oct 19, 2007)

Sensational!

Top notch fish, report and pics!

Well deserved Kev, that's gonna take some beating in the Blue water comp...

Cheers,

Jason


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## Safa (Aug 4, 2006)

Thats a SLAB mate blod*&%[email protected]# y fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well Done ,you must have fought it well as they not easy to land and patients is needed.
Looks like we have a challenge on our Hands down on the Goldie'  
Safa


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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.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWSWunJYAACdXgAAQQBUCCBAAP2WfoCAAUKAAAMmQRT9U2pjUaeoehoQyBXp3a2r+RklDQ0rg7TzyvgBTAIOuOTdOHxCWBLIYEJs0aqpbuiNZn0kzffPXW0CjDRqPxdyRThQkCWunJYA=


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## yaker (Aug 29, 2005)

.


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## Gundy (Jan 5, 2010)

Bloody brilliant! 8) 8) 8)


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## yaktopia (Nov 30, 2008)

Not much to say except:

*Your smile will wear off after a couple of years 

*That shadow could become the new Nike swish ;-)


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## Redro (Sep 5, 2005)

Magnificent effort Kev....good to see you still having a ball on your Espri. My Espri is covered in snow at the moment - the fire is roaring - and its bloody freezing outside (in the Beaujolais, an hour north of Lyon). We are spending 2 weeks at the Atlantic (la Rochelle) in August - so hopefully the Espri will get a decent outing at last. And yes Tony - one day I will come back to Noosa and claim that Spanniard with my name on it!


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## FishFeeder (Jul 22, 2008)

Nice work, what a top effort to land a fish of that quality from a kayak that does't weight much more than the fish! Buy as many of those lures that got that bloke as you can, he certainly wasn't shy about scoffing that one down. I always look forward to reading your trip reports and this one was a beauthy!

Thanks for sharing the moment.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Good fish Kev, top report and great photos. About time you nailed a good fish in the conditions you guys have had up there, wel done.

Kev


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## solatree (May 30, 2008)

Inspirational Kev - just magnificant. The fish is pretty nice too ! :lol:

Stuff dreams are made of - well deserved. Still smiling


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## gcfisho (Oct 31, 2009)

You guys are insperational .


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Full credit it to you Kev, a magnificent fish on any size boat.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Amazing fish Kev, hearty congratulations, that silhouette is one of the greatest things I've ever seen!


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## maddog (Jan 14, 2008)

well done mate. very impressive from the yak!

we got a similar fish recently out of a 12ft inflatable boat and it was towing us round easily. You must have been really moving on the yak!

the one we got behaved very similarly. took off like crazy on the strike, fought hard for about 15 minutes but by the time we had it in the boat it was totally exhausted and barely moved.


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## DougOut (Dec 31, 2006)

excellent catch Kev ...... congrats on a fantastic reward for effort yet again.
Mate I reckon that shadow should be a hall of fame record breaker, it alone would weigh a couple of kilos easy. ;-)


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## HardPlastic (Jul 2, 2007)

Naaayyyyyyhhhhheeeeeeeee snort snort. Thats a horse!! I'm a bit dissapointed you didn't put a saddle on it and go for a ride. Yee ha!

Good on you Kev. Would love to know how you go about filleting the beast. You could feed the 5000 I reckon.

I lost a $32 XRAP yesterday morning in one bite. Should've had wire trace like you. Doh! Did manage a nice schoolie in the end but its almost not worth mentioning. I feel somewhat inadequate now.

Cheers

Greg


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

Awesome result Kev!

Years ago we used to oooh and aaaah at the exploits of BillyBob at Noosa and I was wondering if there was anyone else out there capable of pulling in regular awesome catches of Spanish Mackeral and Tuna like he used to. You've well and truly stepped up to the plate! Congrats legend.

Nice work on the Bikini Babe too - obviously the better the fish, the better the bikini body!


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

Too good Kev. Make sure you post a culinary wrap up please.


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## Baitman (Aug 1, 2009)

Maaagnificent! You oldies (!) really inspire me!


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## Southerly (Apr 20, 2007)

Very nice spaniard there well done.


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## Biggles (Jan 6, 2008)

Great fish Kev you guys are on fire this year, can you please allow a couple through the net so they make it as far South as Caloundra, PLEASE. If not you may see me up there poaching in the early hours of the morning.

Regards

Al


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## whoohoo (Feb 3, 2006)

Well done Kevin, you certainly know how to get my attention! (both the mack and the blondie  )


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## mustrumr (Feb 27, 2009)

Where's the video? C'mon, I want to see the video!!!!

Magnificent fish, and great report!

Cheers,


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## Sunhobie (Jun 22, 2006)

Well done Kev. That will be hard to beat!!


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## pwr62 (Feb 10, 2008)

Sensational fish and bikini girl Kev, I covered alot of miles trolling on the weekend without a touch.
Paul


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## polylureosis (Jul 24, 2006)

I think we need to start a new comp to rename what we previously called a "Billy Bob Special".

Kev's Crackers
SSS - Sunshiner Spanish Special
....


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## Fishpod (Oct 11, 2006)

Congratulations Kev, that's a top fish, and a great report as usual. Your description of the fight took me back to when I got my Spanish a while back now. Isn't it interesting that they put almost everything into that first howling run and then are pretty much spent by the time they come in - a good thing given their dental equipment   . Were you paddling when you got the strike?

Enjoy the (multiple) feeds

A


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

fantastic Kev, that is a great fish !!!


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## mcbigg (Jul 14, 2007)

That is one awesome fish.

Very nice work, Kev.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Hey Kev you stil haven't given away what type of lure did the damage? Did you end up forking out and buying one of those lures that Jaro and others have been using or did you stick with your favourites?

Kev


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## viking1 (May 28, 2008)

Great mack sunshiner!
I also am interested in what lure was swallowed by the beast?
Cheers,
Ken.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Lure: Halco Laser Pro, L120










It was brand new but is now very battle scarred


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Kev... You should have been a talent scout. ;-)


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## dunebuggy (Dec 21, 2008)

I trolled a couple of those off Caloundra on Sunday but in different colours. Not a touch!


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## mrwalker (Feb 23, 2009)

Up to five pages of replies, that says something about your effort SS, I went out this morning and bought a bigger gaff, the thought of maybe crossing paths with a fish of those proportions got me thinking how inadequate my old one was! Well done, cheers, Dave.


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

sunshiner said:


> Lure: Halco Laser Pro, L120
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That lure looks very familar ;-) but it is looking a tad tardy!!! Time to mount it under the photo before something bigger takes away your keepsake.

Kev


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## kas (May 5, 2009)

oohhh my :shock: 
That is an absolute cracker mate, well done


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## fourbee4 (May 6, 2008)

Congrats Kev,

As soon as I told you on Saturday that I wasn't able to join you again on Sunday I had a feeling you would do well!! I did tell you that you would catch a good fish! But I didn't mention anything about a great fish!! Well done I'm very jealous!!

Cheers
Andy


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## Grantos (Jan 28, 2008)

That's a fantastic catch, on both counts!


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Thanks everyone for your positive comments -- they demonstrate that AKFF is a wonderful community. That Spaniard was the biggest fish I've yet caught from the yak and certainly one of the highlights of a long fishing life.

It's another perfect day up here and many of my mates are out chasing the macks again but I'm flying out to Melbourne in a couple of hours to join my old Army mate and bro-in-law, Pete, sailing his 40 foot sloop from PPB to Wilson's Prom and south through the island chain to Flinders Island and back (hopefully). I can't take my beloved Espri but I am taking some snorkelling and fishing/squidding gear and there's been some talk of a cray pot  . The cameras are in.

Thanks again, gals and guys. Hopefully you'll hear from me in three weeks or so after I get back in the saddle. Maybe even sooner if I can get reliable internet comms.

Now get out there and catch fish from your yaks.

Tight Lines

Kev


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## dunebuggy (Dec 21, 2008)

Have a safe trip Kev, and have fun.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

There you go again...with the ladies. Duly impressed.

Here it would be "Ewwww, slime!"


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## JD (Jul 2, 2006)

Very nice!


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## seawind (Mar 29, 2007)

Just adding my two bob's worth to the chorus of congratulations, well done Kev.


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