# VIC - 2 metre Seven Gill Shark - landed.



## topgunpete (Jul 19, 2009)

Hi Guys, thought I could share on here as well, posted it just about everywhere else I could think of :lol: :lol:

Quick summary, Tipsta, Poddy and I hit Merricks at about 7.00 a.m. on a very low tide. The normal 50 metre walk was 50m over firm sand and about 200m over sand and reef - the tide had gone out a long way. I had a GPS mark for a mark in about 7m of water and after an unsuccessful troll for squid we anchored up at about 8.30 a.m. There was a decent 2m swell rolling through all day. One minute I could see Poddy and Tipsta, next I couldn't.

My mate turned up in his stinka at about 9.30 and anchored nearby. Within minutes he had a cracking whiting and then about half an hour later a 110 cm gummy. Apart from a couple of flathead and a couple of Port Jackson, including a new PB, it was pretty quiet for me. The one frozen burly log I had I managed to drop over the side without tying it on .

Poddy pulled the pin about lunch time and I had just about had enough. 2.00 p.m. I give Tipsta a yell about heading in, he said he was just about to have his lunch, so we decided to give it a bit longer. I am sure I could smell a BBQ while he was having his lunch.

I decided to hook on a fresh salmon that I caught last weekend at Safety Beach. Doing something different I cut off the head, trimmed down the tail and sliced the body. Put the 6/0 circle through the tail end and dropped it over the side. The tide had almost stopped so I decided to chop up all my bait and drip feed it over the side.

About 10 minutes of this went on this before the overhead started to bounce and pull a little line. Being a circle hook I let it run a bit more, just a slow swim and then put the reel into gear. Weight came on and it was game on. Managed to pull in my other 3 rods, including one that had hooked another P.J. Fair dinkum rods were going everywhere. Played it for a while and then unhooked the anchor (which still had the float on it) and played for the fish for about 30 minutes. Got it to the surface quite a few times, even had it by the tail, every time I did that it just fired up and went straight back to the bottom.

Ended up subduing it enough that I dragged it over to my mates stinka and he pulled it on board. I did try to pull it on to the yak tail first a few times, once it almost tipped the yak.

Pulled the pin shortly after that and headed in and drove to Hasting to meet my mate with the boat and my shark.

I was using a Penn 330 GT with a 6/0 circle hook, a 40cm wire trace, about 5m of 80lb fluoro and the mainline was 30lb mono.

I set a goal to catch a good toothie a few weeks ago, catching my own bait and making sure I froze the bait in a milk carton full of salt water was the first step. Did it make a difference? Who knows but I have a new PB now.

Big thanks to Tipsta for making me persevere, bummer we couldn't get one each.

Video will be tomorrow when my mate brings his video around. Thanks for reading.


















and a quick video trailer.


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## FatYak83 (Aug 19, 2011)

Top gun, 
A truly epic catch well done. You have bigger balls than I do ... Anytime I have hooked up to man in the grey suit I tend to cut the line and donate the hook. The rest of the report was a top read as well. Tp session with a couple a PB's - can't complain at that.


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## Ado (Mar 31, 2008)

That's why I DON'T burley! 

Awesome stuff TGP. Sounds like you've got it wired. It's great well a plan comes up trumpts to perfection. I hear they are nice on the plate too. Great report. Thanks for sharing.


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## eagle4031 (Jan 29, 2010)

excellent catch --- good video
well done


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## jaytee102 (Apr 12, 2012)

You have nuts to burley. Nice catch.


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## TheFishinMusician (Feb 5, 2007)

Bravo Pete! Great fish!


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## nroberts (Apr 2, 2010)

Wonderful! Love the video of you trying to get it in the kayak - had to check what a 7 gill shark is on Wikipedia: "When caught, this species is notably aggressive and will attempt to bite." Glad you got back safely with all your fingers.


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## yak69 (Jul 7, 2012)

Nice noah.
Have you considered using a tail rope?
Never tried it myself in a yak, but would allow a lot more control.
Food for thought.


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## Squidley (May 8, 2010)

You had me cringeing every time you reached for the leader. What a catch!


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