Toothy bugger, Shark bay

Author: josh

Category: Trip Reports

Created on Sunday, 06 February 2011 15:24

Written by Josh

As I slid my Adventure Island into the choppy but relatively flat Woody Head water pre-dawn this morning, a growing line of power boats was gathering at the ramp behind me. First cab off the rank (thanks to the new Real Ezy trailer, which sped up my set up and deployment time considerably), I didn't hold anyone up at all, deploying swiftly as everyone else waited at least another 10 minutes to allow twilight to emerge. Not that getting out first had a positive effect on final results this time (although it often does) but with water so cold for this time of year I figured snapper might be chewing and I wanted to be kayak fishing where I thought I could find them by sunrise. I was, but I didn't.

With winds charged from the Nth east at around 10 knots before sunrise I got off to an immediate start towards my favourite inner reef, where I planned to troll some lures through for a bit, then head on to middle reef in search of mackerel. That's roughly how it ended up playing out to, though I then followed that up by sailing south past the Woody Point headland, and then back into Shark bay. It was when I got back into the bay that a couple of really interesting things happened. The first of them being a massive hook up with what must have been a shark, and easily the third largest beast I've ever hooked (following a humpback whale and suspected yellowfin tuna, in that order). 

The video footage (look for this in YCKFS episode 3) of the strike and brief fight which followed was as hectic as they come, the shark peeling off line like toilet paper while I struggled with a tangled furling line to stop the AI in its tracks. Whatever had grabbed the large Rapala Magnum CD 21 I had attached managed to chew its way through 80lb wire trace, and it did it within 30 seconds. Whatever it was, it was bigger, tougher and with sharper teeth than most of the sharks I'd encountered here and there was never any chance I'd get it in. Even had I not fumbled the furling line, the same result would have occurred. T'was fun while it lasted though!

A little while something even more amazing occurred. I spotted a small turtle and as I tend to do, I pointed towards it and aimed between bow and pontoon. Unlike all other turtles I have ever approached, this little guy wasn't the least bit phased in my presence. It allowed me to pedal right up to it, stop and even touch it. I could have easily plucked it straight from the water if I'd wanted to. I held position alongside it for a minute or so, waiting to see how long it would take to wake up and bug out but at no point did it demonstrate any kind of fear or caution. Perhaps this is a quality only the larger ones develop, or maybe it has something to do with those razor-sharp looking edges of it's shell. Anyone able to ID the species for me?

Steve and I also did a quick trip out at Sandon the day before, starting out with a difficult launch pushing out through the bar on a thick incoming tide, then working hard against wind and current to move north before illness overcame Steve (prompting him to return to land). I followed suit soon after, thinking that we really should have gone to Woody Head to begin with. According to Ausbass - who bagged out on spotties at Woody Head the day before, it would appear I was right about that.