July 2nd - Reef Magic Report

[bennoz]

after a few weeks of organising groups and getting mucked about by weather, we finally left Rose bay at 9am in picture perfect conditions, with Mike up top and Damo preping some rigs.

We powered to 12 mile reef for a jigging session, but after 2 quick jigs and nothing on the sounder Mike called it and we headed off. There were some early reports of a marlin caught near browns, so Damo put out a spread of 1/2 marlin 1/2 tuna lures and we headed out wide.

Wasnt long before the outrigger got hit and we reeled in a large stripey. Things were looking good, the lures went back out and we waited... and waited. Got to the Boatpark that is Browns and kept going. Spotted a pod of dolphins, dodged a few massive trees, saw some long liners sets and Shane fell asleep. Damo starts giving us some advice for later and telling a few stories along the way saying "you only get one gaff shot on a big fish". The radio was fairly quiet with not much being caught - amazingly a large dollie was reported.

We were heading to Heatons, looking for a change in water temp but it was a constant 21.5-22 deg. It wasnt untill about 3pm when the outrigger got hit again that we decided to start cubing. We were around the 1000 fathoms mark and Mike was feeling good. Livies went out, cube trail was down and wasnt long before one of the boys had the worlds largest striped tuna.

Soon after the sounder starts picking up something. The guys are jigging out the back and im feeding a cube down the trail when i feel the slightest bit of weight on the line - just enough to make it go tight. I give it a tug - nothing. So i decide to start reeling in and the line is going off the reel. Im thinking "hang on a sec" when the ratchect startes screaming and were on! Never having game fished before, i was amazed at the weight on the line - this was a BIG fish. A 20min fight ensures and we get our first look, its a 80kg Blue shark. Damo grabs the gaff and tries to snap the line with it, but the shark thrashes and gaffs itself. Then Shark shakes its head and the leader pops, the gaff snaps clean in two and the shark is on his way.

We swap strike (im buggered lol), the jigging and cubing continues and a bit after 4pm Kieran (kmatch) is reeling in his cube when he feels a pull. He lifts the rod out of the holder and slowly sets the drag to strike and the next thing we know hes nearly in the water! The 24kg rod is fully bent over & Kieran along with it. Gimbal and harness go on and Kieran starts the fight of his life!. After that 1st run the fish is about 40 fathoms down, directly under the boat...and not giving an inch. They go head to head for 45min and Kieran got it up to about 30 when he decided to have a break.

Shane jumps on the rod and the fish has taken a 2nd run down to about 60 but its getting tired. His head comes up and we start getting line back. A good half hour later we see color and its a big Yellow fin. Were all excited but the fish isnt on the boat yet. Damo grabs the leader and brings the fish to the boat. Just as he sinks the gaff the leader snaps and i cant help but think of his words from earlier "you only get one shot on a big fish". We get the fish on board and its high fives all round. This is the 1st time most of us have seen a yellowfin, let along one thats 1.6m long and over 60Kg

Big thankyou to the guys from reef magic for an awesome day. They really know their stuff and are probabily the best charter ive been on.

A Few pics from me - im sure some of the others have some too

Kieran on strike

Shane having a go

The fish

[phillbilly]

the boys at REEF MAGIC have done it again.

nice work

[sanger]

Great fish guys. A moment you will not soon forget!!!