Freight Train Experience

[keenist]

So there we were, the boat in position, the rods set. Live yellowtail on two heavier outfits, whole fresh squid on another and a light rod set up with a squid strip mid-water. We spun with SP's while waiting for the baits to be eaten. After a few salmon on the livies and a massive Trevor on a 4" bass minnow, something happened that we are still scratching our heads in disbelief about.

So the squid strip gets taken. The hooks are set. The fish begins its surging run, "zzzzz-zzzz-zzzzz" the reel was screaming. We are all thinking, excellent - nice Kingy, but this fish doesn't stop, nor show signs of slowing down. My mate on the rod is starting to panic "I am half way through the spool, maybe we should pull the pick and chase this thing! Yes! Definitely Chase! Go Now! Chase it, Go!" The reel was a 3500 baitrunner filled with over 220 metres of 15lb mono, the drag was set fairly tight. Despite the pressure, the fish pushed on with the momentum of a freight train. This thing heads due east on the surface and the reel is still howling in protest, albeit at somewhat of a faster pace, "zz-zzz-zzzz-zzzZZZ-ZZZZZZZ!!!"

On the light rod, that damn Murphy!

By the time I had the anchor half way to the boat, and maybe 1 1/2 minutes since setting the hook we run out of line. He palms the spool in a last ditch effort and "Ping!" she's gone. It all happened so fast, then... Silence. We lose.

After gathering our thoughts (and carrying on with the token cursing ritual) we couldn't help but ask what the hell was that thing. Bets are that is was a King of well over 8kg. Someone suggested that it might have been a lost Albocore, as some have recently been spun up from the rocks of Sydneys north. Others think it may have been a large Cobe, or maybe a shark. I guess we will never know.

Being prepared is the key to successful fishing, but it is experiences such as these that will keep me coming back for more. Its what makes this sport so special, and one that at times feels so consuming. Fishing is a lifelong journey of learning, strategy, accomplishment and special memories.

And so we have now devised a system where a small buoy is tied to the very end of the anchor rope so that if in the case that this happens again, we can simply release the knot and chase the fish down. Later the anchor can be retrieved via the bouy. Simple really. Ah, hindsight - such a wonderful thing.

Edited February 26, 2006 by keenist

[Blackfish]

That Bl#%dy Hindsight , could of been a shark , they like big fast runs ... though I have heard a 3rd hand report of a Very large Cobe coming out of Botany Bay.

B.F.

[big_steve]

That Bl#%dy Hindsight , could of been a shark , they like big fast runs ... though I have heard a 3rd hand report of a Very large Cobe coming out of Botany Bay.

B.F.

yea herd the same mate,

i herd it was a 30kg specimen...

steve

[Guest hottuna]

yea herd the same mate,

i herd it was a 30kg specimen...

steve

Jew! It wouldn`t take a big fish to do that after all we`re talking about 6kg and 3500 baitrunner not the size of reel you`d use if you were after the biggens. If on the other hand it was a 6500 btr and 50lb braid with heaps of drag and it kept going id say cobe/big king/jew/shark/ray

dan

[Burnsy]

Yep sounds like a big cobe. Brings back memories of getting smoked off the rocks by Monster cobes up at Port Stephens. These things would eat your livey swim off, you would smack them with 24 kg and they would not speed up, just swim off and keep going. I once had a cobe that swam over 1km from one headland across to another, locked up on 24kg mate hanging on to me by harness.

Great trick, attach a bouy to the end of your anchor rope, when you hook a good fish ditch the anchor and come and pick it up after you land the fish.

Burnsy

[clutch]

Hey Keenist, no matter what it was ....itsalways really exciting when that happens hey??

[KINGvirgin]

The good ole FREIGHT EXPRESS

Best u can do is try remember the feeling and look back with a smile

Also i've always believed that a fisherman shouldnt be judged by the size of his fish but whether or not he learns from his past mistakes , coz i've learnt that when u learn from your losses ( believe me i've had more than a few) it makes victory ( a prize fish) all the sweeter !

Keep up the good work!

THE APPRENTICE

[willk]

yes indeed it was a painfull expeience..

i was the one who was on the fish at the time and all that can be said I GOT F....N SMOKED

and yes i have lost some sleep over it tryin to work out what it was, my guess a big cobe!! king would have reefed my at some point and it didnt feel like a ray or a shark..

all i can say is that ill be headin back to that spot this week armed and ready to go.

YOUR MINE!!!!!!!!!!

[Gibbofisho]

mate teh exact same thing happend to me on the exact same day, all i can keep thinking is maybey i should have let it run a bit londer before putting my hand on the spool, or maybe it should have tried to tighten the drag up, hopefully next time i'll have another chance to try a different tactic!

[keenist]

I am thinking TLD 30 and 50 stand up gear, 1kg plus live squid for bait, getting set and ready for battle (including bouy on anchor rope).

I tell you what, 30 kegs of cobe would look mighty fine on the deck of the Topender!!

[Bucket]

What a strange coincidence in the timing of this post. I just got back from a week of fishing with my old man up at Swansea.

We had setup for a night of chasing tailor with two light outfits (4000 series reels and 10lb line) and one overhead reel with 30lb line. It wasn't long until we got hit and boated some nice 40cm+ tailor. After a bit everything went quite then one of the light rigs went off with an amazing "ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ". This thing was going fast, I grabbed the rod and tried to set the hooks, it kept going without missing a heartbeat...then nothing. So I retrieved the line and amazing the bait looked perfect, no marks at all. Must have hooked a submarine I said as surely the bait would have had so damage to it after a run like that.

A couple of minutes later the second rod goes off, same story as before, this time my old man grabs the rod, insisting that he could land a submarine . This time instead of jerking the rod to set the hooks he slowly tightens the drag. This in no way slowed the "ZZZZZZZZZ", after a 150m of line went off the reel once again it was let go and the bait still in tact.

While this was all happening the big 30lb overhead was sitting there silent.

Third time lucky i said, before casting out I tightened the drag up almost all the way, (I will stop this thing i said). Didn't have to wait long till the magic ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, was off again..... This thing was fast, I waited until half the spool was gone and i tapped the spool to stop it rotating..... SUCCESSS I had actually hooked the sucker . Then bang off it went again, I hadn't even had a chance to rotate the handle on the reel. Several seconds later I was broken off and 180m+ of line to retrieve.

WHAT WAS THAT ???

[willk]

plus the holy trifecta big jew, big king and cobia in the one session is not out of the question!!! with the write baits and rigs.

the time of the year has come for us to rasie the bar!! the big boys have finally arrived

[dragon]

The cobe of which you speak has been encountered by myself twice just off kurnell,

30 - 35kg swam along side the boat cool as you like as we where trolling.

[Big-Pete]

Just a tip,

what I have done is set up a small long line float a small orange ball made of rubber and off this hangs a long line clip. So when you have to chase something it just clips onto the rope where ever you can then throw the whole lot over, I also had a small brass plate engraved with my details and I mention a reward.

Works well and I haven't had anyone pinch the set up yet. It only takes about thirty seconds to deploy, then your off chasing the one that would have got away.

Big-Pete