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Posted

Hi all.

Went out on Wednesday with full boat my neighbour & Brother. Both who have yet to experience the wrath of a YFT battle...one subject that is very hard to explain to people & one that needs to be experienced to beleive. And what a cracker of a day it was. Seas & weather could not have been better.

Got out early morning to attempt catching livies. No success. They were nowhere to be found. So we decided not to waist too much time & head out to sea. I made the decision to chase the temp break which was sitting somewhere at about 65km NE. A loooong way away. I thought that we would hit over 20 degrees but only managed 19.7 at 67kms away. SST was full of clouds & was very hard to judge. So there we stopped assuming that we would slowly drift back down to Brownes anyway. Unfortunately the drift was heading NE so after cubing for 20 mins we decided early in the peice to stay within the realms of fuel capacity & returning safely home.

Got a fair bit closer & set the cube stream "steady as she goes." THe pressure is always on as a Cap. with new fishos. Especially when you tell them how good 2006 was for Tuna. It was still so early in the season & with only one week old reports just starting to come in about the YFT's. I didn't feel overly confident.

Sure enough by midday they came on & I was over the moon with prooven evidence that YFT have started. Be it that it was on the lighter side. My brother Vlad had his first taste of what power was. He knows of what Kingfish do but to have a YFT fight hard right to the end shocked him but he lapped it in. 15 mins later another tears off. I passed it over to Norm my neighbour for his turn & watched him sweat his ring out & demand a heart transplant be waiting for him at Port botany after the fight was over. :1prop: We landed a chunkier baby. Both of them came on my lightest & luckiest setup. It has seen alot of tuna & has hurt alot of backs including mine. A Torsa 30 & a custom United Rod 10 to 15 kg. No clips for a harness on a torsa & not the best ratio for short pump action. But handles the runs like a treat. I love it.

Anyway before we knew it a third came along & it was on the same rig again. THis time it was my turn.The reel was screaming it's tits off & watched the line shred. What felt like 2kms of line peeling off ....I knew quite well that there was less than half a km worth on there. But I did have partial confidence that it would stop. I punched the drag up to about 15 pound & she still kept shredding. Then as my mind started thinking oh I hope she stops soon...it did. Then the hard part. I was fighting mine for a good half hour & Vlad hooked another one as well. Half an hour of fighting he brings his in while I'm still fighting my one. Another great YF. At this point we decide that there was no need for anymore & that all three families will have enough for a handful of feeds & friends too so we decide to go once I bring mine up to start up a BBQ & gathering. As it was we had a bit too much. But on the other hand we knew that none of it ever goes to waist in our houses.

She started coming up & noticed it was tail-wrapped. But as it was coming up & maybe 3 meters below, it somehow manged to unravell itself & took off again & we didn't see it for an hour. In the third hour we finally got her up & then "Gaff desaster". We miss her & possibly grazed the main trace. Here's me feeling like I've got a blow torche on my lower back holding a YFT for 3 hours without a harness. Don't care how fit you are or what anyone says...It's friggin hard work. Half hour later we finally boat her & end with an amazing day. It is not the first time I've experienced an odd consistancy in fight lengths of similar weights in YFT. I always had the theory that the ones that have had their belly full of food would be the ones that fight the hardest. But never remembered to check the stomache. This time I did. Out of all of them caught, My big bertha was the only one without an ounce of food in it's belly whereas the others were full of sauries. that's blown my theory out of the ground. Whichever it is...I know that 3.5 hours of fighting a descent YFT reallys hurts you. My lower back was destroyed & she wore me out like no other YFT had done before. And I've got grazes on my knuckles from dragging my extra long arms on the ground today :-))

Beautiful weather & perfect ride home. BBQ in the evening with friends & Three smiling fishermen telling the story of another great days YFT fishing, comparing scarrs & planning the next one. What more could a fisho want?!

Cheers

Zol

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Posted

Hi Mate

A great story. I am going out tomorrow for a day. How far out were you when you struck gold? W@hat was the temperature on your way back? Sounds like it could be a bumper season. Hope they come in a birt closer though.

Winnings

Posted

That's a great report, Zol! :thumbup:

Having never caught a YFT I am just left to shake my head in wonder at the 'painful' descriptions that other fishos write. 3.5hrs is an incredible battle, and to land it after all that is the icing on the cake.

I hope the boys participating in the YFT tourno at Bermi this weekend do as well. Congrats to your off-siders on their first YFTs too. Look forward to your next report and photos!

Hodgey

Guest Big-Banana
Posted

Looks a solid 50kg+

Awesome stuff, my weekends been ruined by a sh*house northerly, but I'll be out there sooner or later!

Posted

Well done on some hot yellowfin action & some great fish too,

They are awesome conditions to be out in as well.

Top day for you guy's!

Cheers

Steve

Posted

Most fish I've heard of so far have been Between 35 and 45kg. Slighly ebtter average that last season.

I saw these pics and instantly headed to the cubboard to grab the 30lb outfits !

Well done to all involved

Chris

Posted (edited)

Thanks guys.

Temp was 19.7. We were sort of NE of brownes.

Fish weighed 17, 35, 38 & 45kg.

The temp break is moving hard & fast & conditions won't be the same on a daily basis. But I'd suggest getting out there in the next day or two as the weather is going sour. I'm tempted to go again in the morning.

Djmac. If I had a submarine I would have chased him. hahaha. When a Tuna hits a circle pattern there is no chasin' nothin as he is straight down below the boat. That's the part of Tuna fishing that breaks your back. In another way you're sorta right. We could have driven AWAy from the YF & fight him sideways but we had a major concern. I was fighting her on a 40pound leader that was damaged on first gaf attempt & the YF was regularly swapping body sides which meant that his teeth would have been acting as a blunt file & destroying the leader. It was truely touch & go & was very lucky to have caught him with such light line. The trace was on it's last legs (like me lol) when I had a look.

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Edited by Seazar
Posted

Well done mate. This is the sort of stuff that gets the blood pumping. I can't wait now.

Posted

Excellent report well done guy's, I'm organising a trip out there as soon as this weather passes.

Look's like you jagged a perfect day weather wise. :biggrin2:

From what I heard week was like that. But yes we had a great day. The boys couldn't have had it better. I think they were spoilt. As we all know... it can get very nasty out there. Speaking of nasty, that weather is changing. There still might be hope for Sunday as well.

Posted

Well done boys! UNBELIEVABLE FISH!!! Awesome fights! Bodes well for a good YFT season

Roberta

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