Received a text from zOOm yesterday asking if I wanted to take advantage of the forecast good weather and head out this afternoon? My trips with Michael been very enjoyable in the past, plus we have got some good fish so I was keen. After the last couple of trips on his boat, I thought we should take mine but the Sea Fox had just been serviced and needed a run. Took the better half out to lunch at Hillarys (a good plan) and headed off after that about 1.30pm.
The “plan” was to see if we could find some Sambos for sport and give the pinkies a go on dusk. Headed NNW out the back of the 3 Mile to continue the burley experiment. We spent a bit of time looking for the schools on the sounder but to no avail. Anchored up on one spot but it was quiet so moved to a bit of known ground. Within a few minutes Michael’s rod went off and the fish was going hard. I was calling it for a Sambo until this thing leapt from the water – haven’t seen a Sambo jump yet so reevaluation was required. The fish, of course, headed to the anchor rope and Michael’s work to get his rod around it was quite entertaining. At the same time, my floater went off but didn’t hook up. After a good fight, the fish was in the net no thanks to my multiple failed attempts to get it there. A solid Salmon of a few kilos that was photographed and successfully released.
The “plan” was to see if we could find some Sambos for sport and give the pinkies a go on dusk. Headed NNW out the back of the 3 Mile to continue the burley experiment. We spent a bit of time looking for the schools on the sounder but to no avail. Anchored up on one spot but it was quiet so moved to a bit of known ground. Within a few minutes Michael’s rod went off and the fish was going hard. I was calling it for a Sambo until this thing leapt from the water – haven’t seen a Sambo jump yet so reevaluation was required. The fish, of course, headed to the anchor rope and Michael’s work to get his rod around it was quite entertaining. At the same time, my floater went off but didn’t hook up. After a good fight, the fish was in the net no thanks to my multiple failed attempts to get it there. A solid Salmon of a few kilos that was photographed and successfully released.
The bite was generally pretty quiet however and the only other fish of note was a 350mm pinkie that took my floater (also returned successfully). After a while, and when the burley ran out, it was time to go somewhere else.
We decided to head South off Scarborough to a spot that had produced before. We managed to get a few fish (a just undersized Dhu that immediately smashed a live Wrasse, a large Skippy, undersized pinkies, sized but released Tarwine, and a variety of undesirables) but nothing of note. Then, my floater was smashed. I initially called it for a Sambo but it headed straight for cover. I could feel the leader rubbing on the rocks and then I was bricked. I put a lot of “heat” on the fish and eventually got it free and it was starting to come up. Tragedy, as the line went slack and the fish swam away. I had straightened my bottom 4’0 and to make matters worse, the hooks contained some very large scales. My call was a big Dhu, and one that got away (sob).
The bite slowed considerably so we decided to move again and set up for the “pinking hour”. The wind had come up and to tell you the truth, it wasn’t that comfortable. There was not much action at the new spot but just as the sun went down I got a fairly meagre bite on the bottom rig but that all changed when I set the hook. This one was a “screamer” that was just stripping line from the 4000 Stradic and putting the little Gomoku to the test. The nice smooth drag of the Stradic slowly started to pull it up and after a good fight the “happiness” of seeing the large pink colour coming up was achieved. The circle hook had set in the jaw and we got the fish to the net. A nice fish “out of the blue”.
We decided to head South off Scarborough to a spot that had produced before. We managed to get a few fish (a just undersized Dhu that immediately smashed a live Wrasse, a large Skippy, undersized pinkies, sized but released Tarwine, and a variety of undesirables) but nothing of note. Then, my floater was smashed. I initially called it for a Sambo but it headed straight for cover. I could feel the leader rubbing on the rocks and then I was bricked. I put a lot of “heat” on the fish and eventually got it free and it was starting to come up. Tragedy, as the line went slack and the fish swam away. I had straightened my bottom 4’0 and to make matters worse, the hooks contained some very large scales. My call was a big Dhu, and one that got away (sob).
The bite slowed considerably so we decided to move again and set up for the “pinking hour”. The wind had come up and to tell you the truth, it wasn’t that comfortable. There was not much action at the new spot but just as the sun went down I got a fairly meagre bite on the bottom rig but that all changed when I set the hook. This one was a “screamer” that was just stripping line from the 4000 Stradic and putting the little Gomoku to the test. The nice smooth drag of the Stradic slowly started to pull it up and after a good fight the “happiness” of seeing the large pink colour coming up was achieved. The circle hook had set in the jaw and we got the fish to the net. A nice fish “out of the blue”.
We landed a few more undersized pinkies until it got really dark and cold and it was time to come in. Another really enjoyable trip with zOOm where we had a good day and landed some nice fish, and others that were not so nice. The pinkie measured 770mm and weighed 4.75kg and was certainly the highlight. It is always very satisfying to catch the target species during a “quality” day on the water.