Hello - Hammerheads and Awoonga magic

Author: spooled1

Category: Trip Reports

Created on Monday, 07 December 2009 16:28

Written by Dan

First up, I'd like to compliment Josh on this new site. It's certainly big on great features and I'm sure it'll be a huge success. I'd also like to thank him for inviting me to contribute via this blog page. I'll try to post regularly but things are pretty hectic between now and Xmas so the gaps between posts might be a bigger than in the new year. I've never blogged before so this is all new to me.

Anyway! Here's my 1st blog at Yakass. Hope you like it.

Yesterday arvo the wind backed off so I went for a short afternoon paddle. The yakka's were thick on the sounder and didn't look like anything was harrassing them. Straight off the bat I picked up a pair on a sabiki jig and sent them both out on surface bridle rigs. Normally I have one deep and one shallow but this time I wanted to try something different.

Rather than send the surface baits a long distance off the yak, I decided to keep both baits in close. Yakka#1 was 2 metres behind the yak while yakka#2 was maybe 6 metres off the rod tip. This summer, I'm hoping to try a whole bunch of different techniques to spice things up a little. My latest theory matches bait depths to the placement of the target fishes eyes in relation to the water column. It's totally nuts but the theory was proven for the first time yesterday when I hooked two hammerheads and landed one at around 2m in length. Interestingly, I got these hookups at a structure-less mark with only a smattering of bait on it. This mark is dominated by sharks that constantly repeat the same old classic hits.

(I took this pic while dipping my hand in the water - didn't want to get too close)

So here's the theory: If a fish like a hammerhead has beady eyes that are near the top of their heads. They will be spending more time looking toward the surface or cruising the surface layers in search of food. They will also probably attack from that plane or strike upwards. In contrast, fish like snapper with centered eyes are more likely to target prey at wider angles from deeper in the water column. 

Anyway, that was the motivation behind yesterdays fishing session and I was thrilled to get a couple of runs to test it out. On the hammerhead that made it to the yak, it turned out to be a really good fun fight that felt more like a cobia than a shark run. It also went for three or four runs and it's always nice to hear line stripping from the drag.

Okuma supplied me with their latest Salina II 5000 to test out for an extended period. This reel has now landed some great barra at Awoonga, some tailor and a trev off the rocks and now this hammerhead. So far it has proven itself as a capable spin reel running 30lb braid but it's still early days. I'm very confident that it will be a tough yak reel and for $300 it's got a huge 20kg drag and a good midrange price point.

As mentioned I just got back from a few amazing days at Awoonga, it was an incredible kayak experience. If you'd like to read a full report about the trip, you'll find it on the Fishing World website:

Catcha next time.

Dan