After the first day watching the boys catch some stonkers and calling it early when Brucie turned up (Brucie is a bronzie, also referred to as “Oh that’s just Yolande’s pet shark” because he, or more likely she, likes to hang out under my kayak as I drift around – the largest and most stunning shark I have ever seen ). I made the questionable call to head out again the next morning. I hadn’t had a feed of fresh fish in a while
So, up I got at stupid o’clock and downed the traditional yakkers breakfast (painkillers and coffee) and headed off to beat first light to the shore. It wasn’t a great day conditions wise, but luckily for me, it wasn’t too bad either. I headed off with Corey and Razel and set myself up for some lazy drifts while they continued up the bay a bit. Dawn came and went without so much as a nibble – boy it was quiet out there and after several hours (at a guess, I am not one to watch the clock on the water), I figured that I could well go two for two with nothing landed. There I sat in my yak, slow jigging while a second Kaveman Tackle kabura bobbed near the bottom from the rod in the holder. I tried lemon, black and the trusty orange and nothing.
For no particular reason, I felt my drift line was right, so I stuck with it, paddling back towards shore then drifting up again and again. I decided to try another colour – this time pink, which I usually don’t fish and it was no time at all before I hooked up. I wasn’t too excited, it ran like a shark, towed me around a fair bit but no head nods or tail beats detected. That being the case, I was more than a little surprised when it hit mid water and a good snapper ‘floated’ to the surface with the assistance of my line. It didn’t look huge to me but then I was concentrating more on ensuring it was quickly dispatched and securely in the rear rather than trying to figure out the size.
I did another long lazy drift, then had another look. That was when I decided “actually that’s more than enough snapper for me”. Then I headed to the rocks to try for a blue cod. I paused for a sip on my electrolytes with two lines in the water and bugger me if they didn’t both go off at once in opposite directions. The stronger of the two was managing to pull me towards the reserve and both were clearly snapper so rather than trying to fish both lines, I decided to let one run while I tried to ensure that the other didn’t end up making me look like I was fishing in the reserve – that’s really not a good look. My second snap, while smaller would have been around 70cm so it was time to bring the lines up and go catch up with Corey and Razel.
Corey was pretty sure that my snapper was likely 80cm or so – and he was right. Even though the tail had dried out, it still managed to come in at 80.5cm – a pin fish!
