# QLD: I stink of fish!



## Fid (Aug 19, 2013)

Seeing as the international day of the fisherman corresponded with a Saturday this year, I knew there was a good chance of ramp rage so tried to launch in the dark before the usual weekend warrior crew had finished off their wives lovingly prepared latte and croissants.

Even though I was there early I still had to make small talk for a little while until I had clear access to the water which I got onto before the sun had started to show its face. This place was alive with bait being chased so the hopes were high. I chose a shallow diving lure to troll on the way out to the general area I thought I should fish. On another rod I had a popper ready to cast at any activity I came close to.

It turned out the activity was everywhere I cast a lure, so much so that when plopping out my lure to start trolling, it was struck by a fish immediately on hitting the water. I quickly flicked the bail arm over but the trebles hadn't hooked it anyway.

It quickly became apparent that 2 rods were just too many and I resorted to just casting the popper randomly and watching the fish fight over it on the retrieve. Not every cat caught a fish but almost all of them had follows with lots of short strikes. The fish were trevally and queen fish with the trevally being the better fighters.

There was one brown pants moment when a trevally which I'd just caught, came with sight of the kayak quickly darted off across the bow.....just as the 2m shark that was flowing darted off the the right. I felt the beat through the water as they both suddenly changed direction. I shit crapped myself and thought of all the previous fish I'd been releasing (and bleeding!!) using my hands beside the kayak! In about a second my drag screamed and line took off at hyper speed in the direction the fish swam (obviously!). I couldn't work out if the fish was bigger than I thought and put on the power or whether I now had a shark. As soon as my line went limp I realised it was something to do with the shark and wound my line in to find a neatly cut leader.

The very next fish was a queen fish and, with the vision of the shark chasing the last fish firmly in my mind, there was no way I was having that fish anywhere near the side of the yak. I dragged it behind me, spooking myself with the shadow of the kayak which followed it along as I moved, and headed for the closest bank so I could safely land it.

I was dying to get a trip report photo on my newly acquired AKFF / Sunstate Hobie brag mat but the damn thing had slid into a position deep in the bowels of the kayak where I couldn't reach it from front or back. After much tipping and rolling this way and that, and some cursing for good measure, I did finally get a photo to post here. In the meantime the fish went past the point of no return so it went into the bag along with a few of the trevally I decided it'd keep for the plate.

I came home with a dirty bloody kayak and full of fish slime myself and wouldn't have it any other way. I'll check the times on the photos that I took, I didn't photo every fish but pretty sure they'll show I was catching a fish every few minutes.

Take it easy on me, only my second trip report and there are many more where this one came from!

(Photos coming)


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## Fid (Aug 19, 2013)

.


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## Salty Dog (Sep 18, 2005)

Nice one Fid, some good fish there mate.


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## Thegaff (Apr 19, 2011)

I have a feeling this wasnt in the pine river.
Your popper is bigger then the last fish i caught.


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## Guest (Aug 24, 2013)

Plenty of action there mate , nice report

Cheers


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## kayakone (Dec 7, 2010)

nezevic said:


> Very nice. Great report. Slightly jealous as i sit here doing uni work. Where are you?


I have a feeling this is not SE Qld, Jon. Maybe Broome WA to Central Qld?

Message to Moderators: Suggestion -  Why is it _not_ a requirement that new members show at least their State or locality? It would make it easier to provide advice, pinpoint trip reports, species caught etc, etc.


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## mangajack (Jul 23, 2007)

But it's not red??!!!

good catch tho.


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## clarkey (Jan 13, 2009)

kayakone said:


> I have a feeling this is not SE Qld, Jon. Maybe Broome WA to Central Qld?
> 
> Message to Moderators: Suggestion -  Why is it _not_ a requirement that new members show at least their State or locality? It would make it easier to provide advice, pinpoint trip reports, species caught etc, etc.


It says it at the top of his post QLD,a long way from WA.

Well done Fid,that is one fine looking brag mat.


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## Fid (Aug 19, 2013)

The distribution of queenfish is known to go down as far as Batemans Bay believe it or not, so SE QLD, while not as common a catch, might be closer to the truth than you imagine hence the secret squirrel.


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## Thegaff (Apr 19, 2011)

Fid said:


> The distribution of queenfish is known to go down as far as Batemans Bay believe it or not, so SE QLD, while not as common a catch, might be closer to the truth than you imagine hence the secret squirrel.


Right thats it, im buying a popper like that and finding your secret spot.


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## Fid (Aug 19, 2013)

Maybe I should have kept a few of the queenfish

http://www.sportsfish.com.au/pages/fish ... nfish.html

....and I just realised I must have left my gaff on the bank while trying to fish the brag mat from the hull of the kayak.


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## Thegaff (Apr 19, 2011)

Ive hooked two in my life time and both times had the hooks spat when they were jumping around pretending to be marlin.


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