Sharks, kingy, salmon, flatties and a BIG bonito!

[james7]

A good mate asked if I could take his kids fishing during the school holidays as he was busy working. We finally made onto the water despite the threat of showers.

We trolled for a bit and it wasn't long before Jimmy had the first fish, a little bonito. The smile on his face said it all. Even his big brother Jay was impressed.

Ten minutes later and Jimmy's into it again. This time it's a chunky little salmon.

The next fish was his brother Jay's first salmon.

But "Mr Salmon" (young Jimmy) just kept reeling them in.

The boys caught and released a few more salmon before we decided to drift for a few flatties.

I don't know whether the trawlers have been around that area lately, but everywhere we tried was devoid of fish. In an hour and a half we only found a couple of flatties. Nothing was touching the bait.

It was the skipper, Syd who finally provided some excitement, bringing in a small gummy shark. It was a surprise because we haven't caught a gummy for a couple of years.

Still no flatties around, but the gummies kept on coming. There must have been a few of them down there.

Jay was excited to get one and even I joined in.

But once again it was Syd who caught the "gummy of the day".

Back to trolling and Jimmy was soon into the salmon.

And Jay didn't stay out of the action for long. He was very excited to get his first king. Unfortunately it was just under 65cm. It gave him an idea of the power of them even though it was just a rat.

However, my luck was about to change. My reel started screaming. It had to be a kingy the way it was running. It certainly had some power. We were surprised when it came close to the boat. There wasn't any "yellow tail". What was it? Mac tuna, stripey?

Into the net goes the biggest bonito I'd ever seen. Easily a pb for me.

Here's Jay holding the big bonito.

The boys were reluctant to leave without getting some flathead, so we persisted for quite a few hours to get a few for them to take home. It was a much later finish than intended but we headed back to the ramp with two "new" fishermen very happy with their first day fishing outside.

We only kept Syd's biggest gummy to see what they taste like.

The salmon and bonnies were filleted and salted for bait. Stupidly, I didn't measure the bonito! We weighed it (3.4kg), but I never put it on the brag mat. We measured the gummy, but not the bonito. DOH! I reckon it had to be at least 80cm which would be close to the FR record. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Finally, here are two very happy boys with the "table shot".

It was good to take two great kids out fishing. Judging by the smiles on their faces, I'm sure it wont be their last time.

Cheers

Peter

Edited October 8, 2011 by peterS

[spizza]

Outstanding catch...that Bonny is a horse and nice work on the gummy too.

Cheers,

Spizza

[Basil D]

ah Pete, what a ya doing mate, I reckon that could have got my record, oh well next time.

Gummies are great eating arnt they

And great to see Bonnies back on, one of the nicest sushimi fish I reckon

Edited October 8, 2011 by Groper

[PRED-ATOR]

wow thats a mega bonito lol. dam they can pull hard aswell. Well done on the gummies also they are an awesome looking fish.

[Hodgey]

:yahoo:

Outstanding report, Peter. What a beaut bonnie! fantastic to see that you managed to get the young blokes onto a variety of species. No wonder there was big smiles around the table. Congrats to you, Syd and the lads on a productive and enjoyable day on the water.

Cheers

Skip

[luvbigfish]

great report pete and well done on taking the boys out , you guys ended up with a nice feed and im sure you wont be dissapointed with the gummy

they taste great

cheers paul

[Bawley]

MMmmmm... gummies are top eating....well done once again I see

[james7]

wow thats a mega bonito lol. dam they can pull hard aswell. Well done on the gummies also they are an awesome looking fish.

I really thought the bonito was a kingy at first. It hit like a freight train. Unlike smaller bonito, that go hard for just a couple of minutes, this one kept going for long runs. The luckiest part was, unlike a kingy, the bonito headed out for deeper water so there wasn't much chance of getting reefed.

MMmmmm... gummies are top eating....well done once again I see

great report pete and well done on taking the boys out , you guys ended up with a nice feed and im sure you wont be dissapointed with the gummy

they taste great

Cooked a bit of the gummy up tonight with some chips and salad.

Cheers

Peter

Edited October 8, 2011 by peterS

[Converted 2]

Hi Mate , Great report, the kids are hooked now. Will take a bit of time to get rid off there smiles. Awesome bonito ,your friend would be very happy after that effort.

[pmak]

peterS,

What a great way to have those kids end their school holidays. Good on you for taking them out but better still, getting them all that fishing action. Some great eating fish there and love the finishing cooked fish shot.

[finin]

peterS, if you have ever had fish and chips before then you probably have eaten a gummy. Absolutely great eating like all small sharks are. That Bonny is a BIG specimen and would have been awesome on the tooth too. Well done! now you will be looking for an excuse to go fishing, Hang on heres one "sorry love ive gotta take the boys fishing blah blah blah" Hooked for life they will be for sure. Good on ya pete

[Bashful]

Nice report peterS! It was really good to see the kids with smiles from ear to ear.

As I read your report, it made me want to go for a fishing trip on Monday...but with school holidays over it means I gotta get back to work as well . Oh well, thanks for the excitement of seeing you get such a good feed

If only that haul came when I fished lol. Will have to do more homework on that one!

[james7]

Nice stuff guys, those kids look pretty comftable out there...looks like their hooked for life now.

Cheers cg.

You're right George, I reckon they're hooked. However, as for looking comfortable, the young one did turn "green" for a while. He had his head down and I thought we'd be heading back in early, but after about half an hour he jumped up and was right as rain and back into it.

By the way CG, you might recognise the lures we used for trolling.

Thanks also CG for your recent advice about snapper. Can't wait to get out and have a go for a decent red. As Jewgaffer told me a while ago, you have a great wealth of knowledge and are very generous in sharing it.

Cheers

Peter

[cut_loose]

Looks and sounds like an awesome day out mate, as per usual, i need to get out there !

[FRITZABU]

Very nice report and some very nice fish caught. Glad the boys enjoyed the fishing trip !! They will now be hooked on fishing for live?

[james77]

Good trip Pete. The boys look like they had a good time.

huge bonito and gummie shark.

Why wasn't I invited?

James

PS about time your got a new computer

[GOOS]

Great report and all round fishing trip that bonito obviously hangs around muscle beach

gummy are great to eat i love em, thou haven't had any for years lol.

Edited October 10, 2011 by GOOS

[Formosan]

Great report and getting the kids into fishing. You guys always do well.

I bet the gummy tasted great.

[james7]

gummy are great to eat i love em, thou haven't had any for years lol.

Great report and getting the kids into fishing. You guys always do well.

I bet the gummy tasted great.

You're not wrong Formosan and GOOS. The gummy shark was very nice indeed. I just put a bit of lemon pepper on the fillets, dipped in flour and shallow fried.

Anyone got a good gummy recipe I can try next time? A mate of mine told me that I should have done them in a light beer batter. It's the best way to eat them he reckons.

Cheers

Peter