Early this morning, went to my local, Chipping Norton lake to test out my new setup;
- 200 E7 Curado Bait Caster,
- 2 to 4 kg rod,
- 8lb fire line and 8lb leader
- with a 5 gram jig head and
- 100mm squidgy.
Arriving at 6am, i started flicking for a possible bass on light gear, or even the common fleathead.
20 minutes later a small nibble took the plastic and after its first run, it was definitely NOT a flathead.
A total of x3 runs later got me thinking, this is definitely a big fish.
Not allowing me to pull him from the bottom, both the fish and i managed to get out breath back.
After a short while, again he started peeling line of my reel, BUT this time he was heading towards the pylons (my heart stopped). Somehow i managed to put a bit more strain and got him to turn his head around.
Not knowing what the beast was, he tried going down again.
I once again retaliated, this time i saw the silver colour, BIG eyes, and spotted back.
Immediately my heart started thumping faster & harder, thinking to myself, i must land this fish.
OH YEAH, i had no net, by myself, equipped with tinny lip grips.
After a good 15 minutes fight, which seemed a lifetime, he started floating on the surface, he beached himself on a bed of rocks.
Walking on the slippery rocks, worrying i will slip, fall, break my back (AGAIN), along with the HIGH chance of my leader snapping by a slight rub against the rock, i somehow managed to put my hand in its gills, and raise him out of the water.
Finally after 3 years of searching for my first jewfish, not only was i pleased with the gear, BUT it was a cracker of a fish to get the monkey off my back.
Measured 92cm, 6 kg flat.