The Big Red

Author: dunebuggy

Category: Trip Reports

Created on Sunday, 27 June 2010 13:00

Written by Stuart Whitehouse

After a rather unceremonious dumping on the launch, due to bad management on my part, I set off from Moffat Beach at daybreak with Brian (aka; Paddleparra) and Damien (aka; stitcho) and yakass member Paulo with his better half (and definately better looking) Lynette. I hope I spelt that correctly. Brian had lauched 1st and myself 2nd but the sand monster delayed my start so stitcho launched next. I proceeded to make sure everything was still in one piece and ensure that all my tackle in the centre hatch was still within reach. How I got away without breaking a rod I don't know.

Anyway, with all my gear encrusted with saltwater and sand but in one piece, I set off again but this time with a little less drama. Paulo and Lynette launched a bit later. A plan had been mentioned regarding heading to the northeast but Brian and stitcho went the usual path toward Brays Rock and the blinker so, I followed. During my earlier dumping the sand had penetrated every conceivable orrifice so while I trolled lures toward the others I did my best to remove it and make myself a bit more comfortable.

The rod with my curado 300DSV suffered the most. It's not nice when you wind a reel and it goes Grrrrrrrch crunch! I decided it best to put that outfit aside and not use it and then trolled one lure instead of my usual two. I caught nothing on lures this day. At one point I was so cold that I ignored my usual trolling speed and pedaled hard to try and raise my body temperature a bit. When the sand monster got me the water, and sand, went up my sleeves under my rain jacket and up my torso as well. I didn't get properly warm again until just before lunch when the breeze dropped and the sun came out.

It warmed up to the point where I was able to remove the rain coat (a good breeze stopper) and from that point, I was dry in no time at all. Anyway, I digress. Eventually I caught up to the boys at the blinker where they were with two other unknown yakkers who I guess had launched from Kings. I had, for the last half kilometre or so, been watching the sounder and dropping a soft plastic at anything that looked promising. When I was about 50 to 100 metres shy of the blinker I spotted something again and dropped a plastic and got a touch.

As I pulled up on the rod, which was at this point at 90 degress to my yak, I got slammed by something which nearly tipped me over. My guess is that I had perhaps hooked something small and something bigger had slammed it. It failed to hook up. By this time Brian and stitcho were heading south(ish) and I headed to the blinker for a quick look. I managed to catch the blinker and after a short fight it managed to snap me off. I didn't stay there long as there seemed to be plenty of baitfish but no predators. Kinda weird I thought.

I headed for Brian and Stitcho and fished everything i could find on the sounder on the way. Some time around this point I had spotted Paulo and Lynette approaching the blinker and I don't know where they had been until now but I wasn't to see them again until my return to the beach. Brian had caught a yellowtail and had given it to stitcho who was doing a slow troll with it and heading for home but stopped and chatted with me before he continued.

By this stage I had 2 or 3 sweetlip in the bag and the boys had nothing worth keeping. It's pretty rare that I out fish anyone so I was pretty happy. :o)  On a side note, as I write this i am looking at the live beach cam at Kings beach and wishing I had gone out again this morning but, wife to keep happy, reels to dismantle, headache to nurse etc. Because my GPS was out of action and I was using Brian and Stitcho as a reference point, and the pair had now split up I had lost my spot.

I met up with Brian and we proceeded to go a little wider and fished where all the stinkboats often anchor up. It's a popular sweetlip patch for the stink boaters. Within minutes I had hooked and lost a good fish and minutes later landed another 40+ cm sweetlip. I guess we fished here for about 20 or 30 minutes or so then Brian charged off toward the blinker so, I followed. When I caught up with him he had stopped and dropped a plastic and had hooked something rather serious but got bitten off.

A couple of minutes after that I had found a nice bommie with a heap of bait around it and something that I had only ever seen in a book before now. Remember when you got your first ever fishfinder and you read the book and it shows those arches? I like to call them boomerangs but anyway, I could hardly believe my eyes when next to this bommie loaded with fish what do I see? not one but several of these text book arches. I couldn't get my plastic to the bottom quick enough.

I was using my 10lb outfit which I had snapped off on the blinker earlier. I had put a 40lb FC leader on it simply because I had grabbed it before the 20 lb and had it half tied on before I realised so I just left the 40lb on it. I have mentioned in past writings that this is the outfit I get most of my sweetlip and snapper with. As soon as I hit bottom I wound it up a little and started giving the rod tip a bit of a flick to give my last 7" jerkshad some action and WHAM!

I got slammed with something good. This was only a couple of minutes after Brian had hooked something big and lost it so I am guessing that his fish would have made a nice arch on the sounder too. Long story short, I had just hooked my biggest snapper ever and had a quick glance at my watch to check the time, (11.02am) thinking it would be a long battle, with memories of my 1st longtail still fresh in my mind however, less than 10 minutes later I had the beast subdued and much to my extreme joy and pleasure, it was a big Red.

Not a big red by national standards but pretty darn good for Caloundra I reckon. I had told my wife I wouldn't be out all day, much as I would have liked to, and my aging sounder battery had given up for the day so I would have been fishing blind if I had stayed out anyway and I hate doing that so, I left Brian after giving him 2 of my 5 sweetlip and headed back to Moffat beach.

When I left Brian he had caught nothing worth keeping, hence the gift of two sweetlip but he ended up with a snapper and 3 more sweetlip to his bag by the time he hit the beach later.

On my return to Moffat Beach I was pleasantly surprised to see  Paulo  coming down the beach with his Hobie Trax 2 yak cart. Not wanting an arguement with the sand monster again I  jumped ship grabbed the yak and did my best to position it for Paulo to grab the bow. The help was greatly appreciated. Thanks Paulo.

I wanted to do some photos on the beach but I was keen to get the load back to the carpark while I had help and forgot all about it but Lynette was kind enough to snap a couple with my camera once I had my self sorted a bit. After giving everything a thorough hose I loaded the car and headed for the fish cleaning table at the Kings Beach boat ramp which, by now, was nicely shaded.

This table gets quite hot normally. By the time I was done and got home it was well after 3pm and I was somewhat knackered. I put the fish in a larger esky and made sure they were well iced and proceeded to wash everything a little better than I had at the beach. I should mention also that Brian claims the fish is half his and in all fairness, it should be. The braid I was using ..... given to me by Brian. The soft plastic on which I caught the Big Red .... given to me by Brian.

I think Brian must have unwittingly given me some of his mojo with these items as it is very unusual for me to out fish him. Thanks Brian. It is now Sunday and the fish is still on ice. I will be cooked whole tonight and consumed by 8 people. Why 8? Simply because we have an 8 seat setting.