Mystery romper at Balmoral

[Mike89]

Been a bit lazy with reports recently but after a session at Balmoral I won't forget tonight I thought I'd have to make a post.

Knocked off uni this afternoon and thought I'd have a quiet session down at Balmoral to give spinning garfish a try off the wharf in the hopes that I might catch a salmon or something of the like on sunset.

Got in around 5 and with a bit of fiddling around with the rig I started flicking out gars on a set of three ganged hooks to a swivel and a small sinker. Not much action at all. Probably a better bet earlier in the day as I've had kings chase down ganged gars all the way to the wharf before although never had a hookup.

Met the Mrs. down there and as she was off picking up a couple of burgers for dinner I threw out my last garfish and felt a light tap as I reeled in. I lifted it out and produced a small squid that had sucked onto my bait and caught itself on the hook. Beautiful. I'd been trying for squid for jew baits recently but hadn't had much success. With the tide coming in at 8pm I thought I'd re-rig to a snell and throw it out unweighted, munch down some dinner and see what happens after the tide peaks.

After a few casts and no joy I pinned my hopes on some action after 8. The girlfriend and I had long finished our dinner and were just itching for a bit of action. We decided we'd head off whenever the bait expired or at 9 otherwise.

Waiting.. waiting.. we speculated as to what time the 'big hit' was gonna come. I've been trying to nab my first jewfish and with the right bait, moon and tide I was feeling quietly confident. 8:30 was my guess. My girlfriend said 8:23. 8:23, we agreed.

At 8:20 we noted it was 3 minutes until showtime. I took a call from my dear mum and at precisely 8:22 my rod took a tentative dip and I told her I might have to go.

Off the phone now, it's business time. I let the girl know that we might have some action coming and we both gathered around the rod tip to see what might eventuate.

Two tiny little taps, and then an almighty whomp and the rod keeled over and line started shredding out. Zzzzzing! It was 8:23. We couldn't believe it.

Line was zipping out and I stood calmly over the spool and picked up the rod, waiting for a moment before softly setting the hooks. It was heavy!

I hit it too soft, I thought, so I had another go. Yep, definitely hooked. The reel was spewing out line as the beast took its first run. After a short time it stopped and there was an eerie calm. I tried to lift to see what I might have. It came up heavy. I could barely move it.

"Jew!" I declared, without realising that without ever having one on the line I wouldn't be able to tell.

It started to pull line again, slowly at first, and then faster, faster and more forcefully. It was dragging me out off the edge off the wharf. I had both my hands over the railing and our fish showed little sign of stopping. I glanced at the spool as I began to slowly tighten the drag. It was heading straight out into the centre of the bay. I was gonna get spooled, I was sure of it. I still had some braid coming off but it was very thin and panic began to set in.

I held the spool and feathered it lightly, moving backwards to try to gain some control over this romper stomper.

Pop.

Oh no.

And with that, it was all over. The line had snapped at the top snelled hook. Packed it in and went on my way.

Still have the adrenaline rushing in my veins three hours later. What a run, what a fish. My thoughts are that it could have been a big ray, a large shovel-nose, even a big shark or even (though I really hope not!) a sizeable jew. All I know is that it's the largest and most powerful thing I've ever had on the end of my line and that I wish to hell that I'd handled it better and maybe had the chance to catch a glimpse of it.

I had enough line to let it continue to run but the panic of being spooled took over. I figure most people aren't gonna land the fish the first time they get a thumper like this on their line, so I take that as consolation.

My girlfriend, who had never seen a big run or ever witnessed me catch a big fish caught some of the fight on camera. We have some great stills of the moment the line snapped. My face is priceless.

Great session, hope you enjoy the read.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Mike89

[stevefish]

Mmm no good.

I always put a couple of wraps of dental floss at the eye of gamakatsus cos the sharp edge takes out a leader at the snell as described

Edit, poor writing

Edited April 21, 2016 by stevefish

[big Neil]

Thanks for a great read Mike. A real shame you didn't (at least) get to see what it was. You came off second best this time. Next time you may get lucky. I'm sure that you learned a few things from the experience. Cheers.

[Ramo97]

From my experiences at Balmoral and the fight you described i'd either say some sort of shark or a really nice jew. Unlucky mate, it's always 10x harder to land a fish like that land based compared to being on a boat and being able to chase the fish. Good luck next time!

[Scratchie]

Unlucky mate. Yowie once said to me that every good fish you lose is a shit shark! I try to keep telling myself that, but it doesn't always work!

Better luck next time!

Cheers scratchie!!!

[Captain Spanner]

Mmm no good.

I always put a couple of wraps of dental floss at the eye of gamakatsus cos the sharp edge takes out a leader at the snell as described

Edit, poor writing

The eye of the hook is only sharp on one side and the problem of cutting off you are talking about can be fixed by doing your wraps in the other direction so they pull and stay away from the sharp edge. Just make sure you pay attention to which side the eye join is and which way you do your snell wraps.

[Mike89]

The eye of the hook is only sharp on one side and the problem of cutting off you are talking about can be fixed by doing your wraps in the other direction so they pull and stay away from the sharp edge. Just make sure you pay attention to which side the eye join is and which way you do your snell wraps.

Yeah, I think this may have been part of the problem. Will have to be extra careful tying snells next time.

Phew, I guess it'll be a while til I get another run like that.

When it had stopped I did try and lift it a bit and it was really, really heavy. Makes me think it's a shovel-nose or a ray but I guess I'll never know.

[Guest Guest123456789]

Join the club Mike, like you also learning and like you been dropping big ones. That's the fun though isn't it? Once we crack the code on these fish it will be onto something bigger and better until next thing you know it's 2030 and were chasing Marlin.