Big fish come out to play

_{Genuine spanyard caught on a genuine Rapala CD Magnum 18 trolled off Woody Head, NSW}

Due mainly to recent flooding and bad weather it's been weeks since I've been able to get out kayak fishing on the Clarence coast so with great conditions predicted for this weekend I figured I'd make the most of it. I've only just got off the water a short while ago after spending the better part of the day out wide and plan to head back tomorrow for more of the same. And if I do get more of the same, I'm going to be a happy man. Today was a busy day on the water with great rewards, though I worked pretty hard for my catch. It wasn't until I'd sailed at least 30 km before hauling aboard this fine specimen of a spanish mackerel (AKA king mackerel), up to that point hooking several good fish - one even bigger than this - and losing them all in a symphony of expletive-raising spit-outs and bust offs.

I'm particularly proud of 2 hook ups from today, one of them being this cracker of a barry which I snagged on an 18cm Rapala Magnum, which I'm also proud to add was rigged with a Razerguard trace wire which I'd employed for the express purpose of catching a spanyard (inspired by reports of a few recent catches in the local rag). I had just so happan to glance at the sounder and noticed that I'd sailed over a small patch of baitfish and just as I thought 'hrmm... my lure would be vibrating right through that lot right now' and then looked up at the rod tip and sure enough it buckled over. The fish hit hard and the first run was a beauty, it's second equally impressive. It only took about 5 minutes or so to get it in though, so it it was all over relatively quickly compared to the fight I endured a short while earlier.

What gave me a much tougher fight was a cobia of around 5' that actually took a small gyro jig that I had been casting at surface action. That poor little jig had been cast into boil ups on and off for over an hour as I pedalled hard in the hot sun to keep up with the movement of fish. I must have hooked up 5 or 6 times while doing so but it wasn't until the cobe hit that the fun really started. The Nitro Voodoo rod is a 3-5kg rod and not really meant for fish like I was casting at (I'd spotted longtail tuna, cobia and sharks involved in this bait ball) and the 25lb leader wasn't really issuing confidence so I was very careful reeling it in. From hook up to bust off - occurring right at the side of the yak - 28 long enduring minutes transpired. I was covered in perspiration before I'd even hooked it (working hard to keep pace) and by the time I lost it almost half an hour later I was almost glad. I consider it an accomplishment to get it as close as I did.

Although I probably have enough fish to keep me going for the week - even after giving a fair bit of it away - I'll be heading back out there tomorrow to see if I can do it again. Same bat lure, same bat time, same bat place. Interestingly, that just so happens to be almost exactly where Steve Foster hooked one of similar size about 6 months ago.