Monster yak fishing hookup at South West Rocks

Author: josh

Category: Trip Reports

Created on Sunday, 28 February 2010 16:32

Written by Josh

With only a small window of opportunity I made the pilgrimage to South West Rocks this weekend to join a few dozen or so other kayak fishing aficionados as part of a now annual gathering at the area. Wreaking of serious collective mojo, the old gaol campsite was populated by off shore & estuary yak anglers alike, and still is at the time of writing. After the events of this past weekend I may very well make the journey back for the next. While the fishing was relatively slow (bonito & anything smaller not counted), in my first trip I managed to pull the hook up of a lifetime and the following fight made it all worthwhile.

Although I did infact fail to raise the fish yakside let alone boat it, before the line broke under the sheer weight and strength of this beast, we duelled for just over an hour and a half and I was towed for at least 2 and a half km. And let me assure you, had the line held true, the fight would have continued for another couple of hours at least. Aside from the humpback whale I inadvertently hooked last year, this was easily the largest and strongest fish I have ever hooked. It's initial runs first made me think that I was onto a large tuna, but when it started heading for the bottom, holding position at 25 - 30 metres and almost constantly towing me forward, I started to think that perhaps I was onto a giant kingy, possibly a monster cobia. Somewhere an hour or so into the fight Holger suggested that I may very well be onto a large yellow fin tuna and I soon started to think he was right. Only because the fish made no attempt at surfacing we simply assumed it wasn't a marlin, but it definitely felt to me as if it was big enough.

Not accustomed to catching fish in excess of 50kg, and by no means being an expert on any of the above mentioned species, I really couldn't say what it was that gave me such an incredible fight or accurately guess its weight and size, but the more I think of it, the more I think I was most likely fighting a marlin there, if not a yellowfin of gargantuan proportions. The closest I was able to get it to the yak was a mere 10 metres, holding at that proximity for some time. It had an answer to everything - as I pulled hard it would just pull harder, showing absolutely no signs of fatigue and completely devoid of quit. The breakage came during a moment where I was desperately trying to retrieve some line from it, lifting and winding by levering backwards with my whole body, drag near locked. When the line snapped I was putting so much weight into it that I fell backwards out of my seat. If not for the tramp to break my fall, me and my rod would have otherwise been going swimming.

Click here to see the monster hook-up video action

Holger (it was good to have in there) and I caught a good deal of the fight on video and it should make for some good viewing, but considering how much effort I put into that struggle, and the aching pains now cutting into my legs and biceps, I'm very disappointed that I couldn't at least get it to surface. It won this battle... but I shall win the war!

A marlin was also hooked some time today, this one was brought in yakside and photographed. Louie was towed out an approximated 10km in a fight that lasted over 2 hours - one that was very hard work no doubt, which may have part to do with why he had be towed back in (behind an Adventure Island that accompanied him throughout the fight). So although the bites are few and far between right now, the ones that go hard are clearly good size fish. Yep... I think there's a good chance I'll go back next weekend as well.