# Sooties South of Sarina 08/11/14



## mackayaker (Aug 14, 2010)

Headed out to chase some Sooties or Saratoga with my good mate Pedro (Quikdraw).The fishing was not too bad with the first part of the session looking very promising, every cast seemed to attract a bump or a swirl behind my Halco Night walker. Unfortunately as the sun rose higher in the sky the fish retreated back into the heavy timber and the interest seemed to wane. With no fish boated in the first hour I changed tactics and tied on a Z-man Soft plastic Pop Frog in white and paddled deep into the snags, using short casts and a slow roll retrieve paid dividends instantly. This fish struck with tremendous force and in hindsight I probably should have tightened the drag a bit more as I did not get to set the hook effectively and the fish spat the lure from its mouth. I do not know what species it was and it doesn't really matter but fishing is all about learning and that mistake will not be made again. After losing a lure to the many overhanging branches :twisted: I decided to target the bridge pylons and my first cast was met with a bump of the Pop Frog so I put my second cast in exactly the same spot and fish on! Not a large specimen but a very welcome one and after a quick pic' a 25cm "Sootie" was released to fight another day. Qwikdraw meanwhile had also boated a Sooty.

The wind started to pick up at this stage which pushed me downstream a little quicker than I would have liked but as I drifted past a large fallen tree I threw a Reidys 50mm Bonito next to it and a few twitches resulted in a screaming strike which took me by surprise. It was a great fight with the fish firstly having to be extracted from his lair then once in open water he dived under the yak a couple of times before this 32cm prizefighter finally succumbed. 
The 'Toga didn't play the game today but we saw a couple under the snags and the Sooties saved the donut! Love this spot! 

Cheers Scotty


----------

