Mike89 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 (edited) So for a little while I've had a minor fishing goal of bagging a trevally over 40cm. My PB thus far was a 38cm specimen taken last year. They are plentiful enough at my usual spots but rarely in models over 35cm. Fishing a few times at Clifton Gardens last year I realised that that was where I'd find the big boys, after witnessing blokes at the front end of the jetty there pull in some nice sizey fish one after another. With a new outfit - a 10ft soft action 5-7kg and my swish new Thunnus 4000 - ready to be christened I headed out this afternoon hoping that the rain would deter the crowds at Clifton. Bracing the patchy downpour we arrived to find the jetty abandoned. All to ourselves! Burleyed up pretty hard for about 45 minutes before some fish started to show. First a lone leatherjacket cruising back and forth between the pylons and our burley patch, but then - a solid down on my float! Must be a trevally. The line came up tight and I felt a tremendous weight pulling at the other end. Was it a salmon? It was pretty big! It pulled hard and to the right, straight under the wharf and I felt the dreaded *tink* as the leader shredded on the oysters. What was that? I rerigged and we continued to burley for another hour. No bites, no results, no signs of life! Then - a sudden and forceful down! I lifted the rod and the float fell slack. I thought he must have dropped the bait. But no - the float dived down again! I gave the rod a firm lift and came up tight. The fish pulled hard and dirty, ripping line off the reel and teetering ever so close to the pylons. I held on hoping that I'd at least get a chance to see what it was. This thing was taking some thumper runs and pulling like a 747. I pumped, wound, and edged him around the front of the wharf and off to the side, where my expert net-girl sat at the bottom of the stairs waiting to snatch him up. Was it a salmon? A baby kingy? At last after some precarious attempts my girlfriend scooped him up and he was revealed. Trevasaurus Rex! Clocked in at a whopping - at least for me - 47cm. Box ticked and a new PB! Edited October 17, 2016 by Mike89 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoingFishing Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Mate that is a thumping horse of a trev. Well done ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulman Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Awesome fish, well done... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaohuang Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Big trev it is! Nice work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 4myson Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Great effort mate ! They really go hard at that size & congrats on the new PB !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackfish angler Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Thats one fine fish mate well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest123456789 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Well done Mike that's a beautiful looking fish. Seems like a long time between bites for trevally, I've found normally when they come on it's a hungry school of them and you get hit pretty quickly one after the other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Well done mike! That's a great trev indeed and congrats on a new pb! Great report and certainly a worthy entrant for cotm! Cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike89 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 Cheers guys! It certainly put up a tough fight. Will enter for COTM if the pic and report meet the requirements! Luke - you're right, they do normally school up in a frenzy making it easier to catch them. Sometimes though I find they're not in the mood to stay put, but will come for 10-15 minutes and then take off, then possibly returning later on. Maybe it's the way I'm burleying? I also find that this often happens with blackfish for me. Perhaps you could help me out? Fishing for both I usually throw a small ball of burley in every few casts if I'm not getting action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordoRetired Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Nice Trev, try eating it Sushi style, they are lovely :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest123456789 Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Cheers guys! It certainly put up a tough fight. Will enter for COTM if the pic and report meet the requirements! Luke - you're right, they do normally school up in a frenzy making it easier to catch them. Sometimes though I find they're not in the mood to stay put, but will come for 10-15 minutes and then take off, then possibly returning later on. Maybe it's the way I'm burleying? I also find that this often happens with blackfish for me. Perhaps you could help me out? Fishing for both I usually throw a small ball of burley in every few casts if I'm not getting action. It might just be there ain't many fish there, then again it might be there are more there and they aren't going for your bait. Me personally, unweighted half pilchards (not too big) they can't resist (large and small) and scoff in one mouthful. Over burleying might be another problem. Dunno mate, I could be talking jibberish, in any event you hooked a monster trevally so I'd be more interested in taking advice from you rather than giving it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike89 Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 I might try the pillies. Normally I use chicken and prawn for trevs. It might be because I burley too much. Do you use burley for them? I'm still 3cm shy of your PB there Luke! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papafish Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 nice one there mike! saw a school of blackie today at balmain. but i was jigging and no bread or weed! they show no sign of interest lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mauricio Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 great fish, congratz on your new PB. we still have to go out for a drummer session soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest123456789 Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 I might try the pillies. Normally I use chicken and prawn for trevs. It might be because I burley too much. Do you use burley for them? I'm still 3cm shy of your PB there Luke! I burley if the current is not too strong and I can position my bait at the start of the trail. Normally 2 hours either side of tide change give or take. I like the aniseed burley pellets you can buy from tackle stores. One problem with pilchards is you catch a lot of gargage (eels, rock cod etc) and smaller undersized fish. For these reasons and because my wife hates strong fish smells i fish exclusively with lures these days. I've found the trevally love the Z Man 2 inch grubs pumpkin colour on a 1/24 jig head and light line (6-10lbs). That said, if it were a trevally catching competition I would go with the half pilchards. My 50cm trevally was more ass than class, by catch while spinning metals from the rocks and that was the only thing I caught after 1000 casts. Even that size is a pup compared to the models the deep sea guys would encounter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike89 Posted October 19, 2016 Author Share Posted October 19, 2016 Thanks for the tips Luke! I'd love to try them on SPs. The main reason I don't use pillies often is the same as your wife. Chicken and prawn doesn't leave that oily fishy smell on your fingers! Yeah there are some thumpers out there. A quick google image search of 'big silver trevally' was enough to show me that they grow a lot bigger! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest123456789 Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 No worries Mike good luck.. It's imperative the wind is to your back. The biggest problem most people make when targeting bream and the like on plastics is over enthusiasm. The goal is to let it present the lure in the strike zone either just floating or slight, erratic twitches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdevitt88 Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 Well done Smokey! Looks like you've been putting in the hours. Dev Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam bros Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 Now that is a stonker trev Well done mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finin Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 Solid blurter well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luddystomper Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Awesome catch! Very few around that size Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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