Sharky Shark Bay NSW

Author: josh

Category: Trip Reports

Created on Sunday, 10 January 2010 13:36

Written by Josh

With Saturday proving to be a bit of a fizzer (for me at least) I couldn't not take advantage of the fine weather today in an effort to redeem myself. Acquiring the get up and go for today's early session was made much easier than usual, due to being blessed with one of RealEzyTrailer custom Adventure Island trailers (unfinished prototype, so no photos - more to come on that soon) that not only made loading, unloading, packing & unpacking so much easier, it was also a lot faster than I am use to. I was on the water just before 6AM today, this time opting to rig up the AI as an outrigger instead. Although there was a bit of wind around, I reckon it was a pretty good decision.

This morning proved to be one that provided a couple of 'firsts' for me. One of them being landing a good shark on my yak, the other one being caught by surprise and being smashed on the side by a 5' curling breaker wave. It was almost a trio of firsts, because I also hooked a good sized spanish mackerel - of around a metre in length - although it managed to bite it's way through an 80kg leader soon after we both caught sight of each other.

The lost mackerel was the very first hook up, coming only moments after entering into a buzz of air and surface activity, about 1.5km north of the boat ramp. It smashed a large Berkley Frenzy hard-body lure (redhead variety), which thankfully, aren't terribly expensive. With that lure lost to the sea I then tied on a Rapala Magnum CD 14 - the very same one that did all the damage at Fraser Island. And once again it served me well today. Not long after losing the Spaniard I hooked up to what I hoped was another. Very quickly it started to feel more and more like a shark though, albeit not as big or as strong as the ones I'd caught a couple of days ago.

It only took about four or five minutes to get it yakside (whereas the others dragged on for over 30 minutes each) and when it appeared in colour I was glad that it was only about 3.5', not 5' or more like the others I'd been hooking into. This one was a keeper - my first keeper shark from a yak (there have been others I should have kept, but for one reason or another cut them free instead). Admittedly I was a little tentative at first, but not so much because of it's teeth, more so it's strength. My plan was to grab it's tail, start pedalling forward quickly and drowning it as I dragged it backwards. I'd heard this is a good method. I just wasn't sure how hard it would thrash around and how much that might hurt my injured shoulder.

Turns out it hurt quite a bit, but I managed to hold on tight and get it under control. I began to carry out my plan and after a couple of minutes of dragging it backwards I started to wonder if it might almost be dead. It certainly stopped thrashing. So I lifted it into the air and as if being given new life, it started thrashing again. I resumed the drag-to-drown position but immediately started to wonder about the morality of it, and how much it might be suffering. I didn't want to drag this out (pun unintended).

So I pulled part of it up into the kayak, laying it's tail over my lap and hanging it's head over the side. Then I did what another person once told me was the best way to kill a shark, which is to cut it's throat. So I popped out the Spyderco and gave it a Colombian necktie (minus the tongue pulling bit). Then I held it at the side of the yak as it's blood and lifeforce drained. A minute or so later I'd successfully landed my first keeper shark. 3.5mt worth of finger-lickin black-tip flake, right there. Me and my neighbours will be eating well tonight.

Despite the sheer numbers of baitfish out there, not to mention the fishy arches on my sounder, bites were relatively few and far between today, so I started heading in earlier than planned. I did hook up again on the way back - this time to something fairly small. It may have even just been a clump of weed, I'm not sure. Because while I was busy looking to starboard as I reeled it in, a big wave was approaching from port. By the time I'd turned and spotted it, it had built to about 5', was curling right then and I instantly knew that it was about to crash right onto me. Only a couple of metres away when I realised what was happening it was impossible to do anything but brace. I do remember thinking 'oh shit, I'm definitely going over' but there was no time for any other thoughts.

Amazingly, instead of capsizing, the force of the wave pushed me along on a white-knuckle thrill ride for about 50 - 60 metres, the whole time bouncing forward on a sideways profile, with the ama pointed into the air at almost 45 degrees. At first I didn't even bother leaning into the tramp as I pretty much figured I was screwed either way, but after a few seconds of being thrust along I collected my senses, leaned out heavily on the ama and tramp and was able to keep it steady for the entire ride. I've had similar experiences like this in the past with smaller waves, but this one was a formidable 5 footer and it crash of it's curl landed right into my lap. I still can't believe I didn't capsize. Literally - it was the most miraculous thing I have ever seen happen at sea (and those of you who know my history know that's really saying something). Kayaks are not supposed to survive that sort of thing. But mine did. Everyone knows how much faith I have in the AI, so you know it means a lot when I say this lifted my opinion of it even more.

As soon as I regained control and propulsion I started pedalling hard, now keeping a closer eye on the portside. Drenched to the core but unable to believe my luck, I was laughing hard as I made my way back to land but when I stopped to think about whether or not I'd lost anything, I looked at my rear well and realised that my safety box and tackle box had been washed out. Although I have leashes for both I'd neglected to use them on this occasion and now I was probably about to pay for it. Now over 500 metres from where it happened, I wasn't sure if I'd find them floating on the surface - especially in an outer wash zone like this.

Fortunately, both boxes are completely water tight. Of most importance to me was the safety box (containing well over $1000 worth of gear), which I was now glad that I'd chosen in the bright yellow colour. I was able to track it down and it's contents were dry as a bone. I also found the tackle box, although this wasn't far from sinking, due partly to all of the lead in it, as well as the fact that a soft plastic packet was poking through the closure, thus unsealed. All of the contents got wet, but are easily saved. What an adventure that was!