North Head yak sesh vs cobia

[HenryR]

Thursday just gone, Razz, Krause and myself set out just before sun-up for North Head. We're all pretty new to fishing there so were looking forward to the combo of expectation and the unknown that is so much a part of fishing mixing it with waves crashing on rocks and North Head's grand cliffs and - please, please, please this time, please - some kingfish.

It's a short paddle from the ramp to the bait grounds where pretty quickly things seemed encouraging. A few bust ups in the half light and fish thick on Razz's sounder made up for the breeze that pushed us around while we tried to gather bait. A few yakkas were collected before, one by one, the breeze and impatience got the better of us and we set off around the corner toward more prospective 'real' fish grounds.

We tried the first big drop off but there was nothin' doin' there and, in kayaks the swell and the breeze made staying appropriately in place quite difficult.

Pretty quickly Krause was towing his live baits parallel to the cliff line and straight out to sea - as he is very inclined to do. Razz and myself hung in the first little bay near Old Man's Hat, one bait down, drifting around, and hurling plastic in all directions. I could see someone spinning from the ledge at Old Mans Hat, catching an occasional fish. It seemed a reasonable place to give a go. As time wore I grew impatient. Krause had vanished over the rolling hills of water that made up the horizon. I decided it was time to give way to the current sweeping gently oceanwards, and worked the water just out from the shore line, occasionally correcting my position to keep a safe distance from the rocks.

The swell wasn't massive but it was both big enough to deserve taking account of and running straight up against the cliffs  and the reverb made bobbing around in that faint bay constant work.

Razz decided the move out toward the sea would likely make things even more uncomfortable and stayed put in the Old Mans Hat area.

As I  drifted past the landslide, another kayaker - who hadn't come with us paddled by,  trolling lures. He'd caught a few bonnies and mack tuna he said. Only people out were kayaks

A few drifts later Krause reappeared. He'd been smoked by something that took a livey. As we chatted I picked up a little mack tuna. Krause jumped at the chance to pop it on as a bait. More used to yellowtail as live bait, we both chuckled a bit at its size. But not even a few minutes after it was dropped down Krause had a take. Sadly the line parted and an unknown fish swam off with bait and hook.

It was a barely formed thought to pull my rod from its holder and throw a lure in the general vicinity of the missing mack tuna but one cast was all it took. I let the lure sink for a few seconds and then almost in the instant I began retrieving I was on.

Quickly I was confidently declared to Krause, 'this one feels like a king.' The fish went straight down in a series of runs punctuated by short breathers. As the runs continued, the initial excitement morphed in to worry. The longer the fish went without stopping, the bigger it became in my mind and the more I wanted it. And, the closer it got to the bottom the slimmer the odds became.

"How deep do you think it is here", I nervously asked Krause. Neither of us had a sounder, this was the first time we'd been at North Head in conditions suitable for this bit of the headland - we were right at the heads, where the cliff turns the corner from the harbor to run up the coast.

Very luckily, as the fish worked its way down, the current was steadily pushing us away from the shore, into deeper water. Luckily too the fish didn't head back toward the rocks, there's no way I could have stopped it if it had done that.

As happens, when the runs finally slowed, I started trying to work the fish back. It didn't go well, I just made it angry and it took off again. On the second big pause I tried again with the same result: angry fish going deeper. I changed tactics and settled for steady pressure and only taking line that was given. It became clear this wasn't going to end quickly.

Occasionally the line would angle out a bit and I thought the fish might be going to surface. They were moments of anticipation that faded to nothing, Pretty near the whole fight was straight up and down. I worked the fish up to within about 10m of the surface and there it stayed. 5m of line would come in, then 5m would go out, back and forth, as we drifted.

Things passed through stages. From the initial, woohoo! to worry about how close the fish was to the bottom, to being really grateful that the fish had swum down not back to shore, to thinking this is a pretty good fish and joking, repeatedly to Krause; 'this one's legal - ha-ha', to worrying about sharks, not so much in the moment but knowing that we'd be spending some time drifting the ocean at the whim of wind current with the steady beating of a stressed fish below us. To monotony, both Krause and myself commenting on how fights that last longer than usual are great and all but it does start to drag after a while.

When, eventually the fish came in to view, I was first floored, it was much bigger than I had imagined. Then, as more colour showed, I was a crestfallen. Seeing the big fork in its tail and the browny grey, I thought shark. Krause was the one who first picked it for what is was - more detached? and probably a bit cluier It was more than a moment, both of us marveled for a while at the fact of a cobia and its size as it inched toward the surface.

The next big problem, one that hadn't been on the radar until we knew the reality of the fish's size was how, if at all, to get the fish aboard. We had no gaff and no gloves, only two laughingly insufficient landing nets. Krause wisely suggested recording its existence before trying anything else. I held it near the surface while he filmed for a bit. Then we consulted.

We decided to try grabbing it by the tail. It would have been impossible for me to pull it within range so Krause paddled to the other side of the fish and I did what I could to swim it in his direction. As soon as he grabbed it the fish bolted back down to the 10m mark and as it did so we had line and rod running between two kayaks, with line and rod dominated by the fish, with my kayak also being pulled toward krause's by the fish's little run.

It was a narrow escape for us and another is a series of unlucky breaks for the fish.

It took quite a while to get the fish back up. In the meantime we went back to worrying about sharks.

The second time the fish surfaced, it was properly tired and we had come up with plan B. Krause remembered he had an old pair of lip grips on board. He tossed them over with the caveat that they were not to be lost in the struggle, they were his dad's.

Merely getting the fish's head close enough to reach with the grips was a major worry. Rod in one hand, my arm extend out as far from myself as I could push it, I twisted the other way to reach back over the kayak and put the grips in the fishes mouth. It took a few shots and when I finally managed it the fish just rolled and the grips popped loose - they weren't made for metre long cobia.

In desperation, let me call it creative thinking out loud, I even unhooked my landing net at one point and waved it at the fishes tail. Krause laughed! I contemplated putting my hand in its mouth and hoping its teeth weren't too sharp. Likewise trying to grab it by the gills. It had to be the lip grips. They did work, sort of, eventually (and had to be repaired later). After about half a dozen tries the fish was too exhausted to roll out of them and I managed to gently pull it close enough to grab its head. I put the rod down and grabbed the leader. Krause paddled over to lift the rod to the safety of his kayak. Somewhere in the lip-gripping my line had both gone slack and got caught on something. As Krause took the rod I looked up from the fish to the rod where I saw a broken end of braid wrapped several times round the top guides. I thought of the size of the fish and the leader running from the fish to tip of my brand new rod and my stomach jumped to my throat. Lucky again: the fish was too exhausted to move. We cut the leader and I wrestled 20kg of unsecured slimy cobia over the side and into my lap. At this point the fish had one last freak out. It thrashed as I pushed it down between my legs and into the front of the kayak. It kind of swam its way to the nose where it got stuck.

We'd drifted about 2kms out by this time. The paddle back to Little Manly was long and slow but happy.

Stats on the whole thing are: the line was 8kg braid with a 30lb leader. I have no idea how long the fight lasted but at least half of that time was getting the fish aboard. Both Krause and I are buying gaffs! The fish measured 121cm to the fork and 135 to tip. I guess it weighed about 20kg - a cement bag being the reference point and looking at others on Fishraider, that seems about right. Below there's a pic of the bit of plastic the both the cobia and the mack tuna fell for. It was a no kingies result but, at 20kg the fish was few kilos heavier than the 'boat' it was landed from. On those grounds I think we can call the yak sesh a success. We are all looking forward to the next one   

Edited April 7, 2017 by HenryR

[krause]

F#@% yes, what a day. This report does it justice

[damos]

Wow congrats Henry. That is one amazing catch and an awesome write up as well. Felt like I was there watching it all happen. I'm sure you had some sore arms after that one.

[dynabolt]

Awesome catch! Thanks for the write up. I can't imagine bringing up something that big in a yak. Would be dragged out to Tassie! ?

[Wellzy94]

That's an awesome catch, and what an effort to land it in a kayak with no gear!

Wish I could've made it out.

Cheers,

Wellzy

[Ozzybass]

Great capture!!  Congrats.

[Scratchie]

Awesome! Great report! I'm yet to get myself one of them! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

[Farvos]

Thats a fantastic catch. That species has eluded me also..

[Rah]

What an awesome effort. Great teamwork getting that fish into the yak. Keep it up fellas. 

 

Cheers

Tara

[Guest Guest123456789]

A real trophy fish well done!!!! Great report,  I was there right with you.

I hope you're giving a fillet to Krause.

[HenryR]

ta to all, for the comments.

flatheaduke, absolutely one fillet each !! and if we hadn't been gone so long that Razz had to leave not knowing what had happened (he's since be apologised to and is good with the excuse) fillets would have gone thirds. that much fish, that is the etiquette, no ?? That and .... I'll be explicit .... chuffed as I am that that fish happened to end up on my line, there's no way it was anything but a joint effort. There's too many things that could go wrong to properly speculate but, me on my own, inexperienced and unequipped. I'd bet that, pressed between the dual anxieties of being that far offshore alone (I love a good adventure and have done plenty of kayaking in the last 15 months, but I am new to open water) and threat of losing such a cracking fish, So pressured, I'd have succumbed to the temptation to try grabbing the cobia's mouth, the gills being too far to reach. People take note, both krause and i have abrasions on our hands from handling the fish dead - don't put your hand in live cobia's mouth!. I'd have lost an awful lot of skin and flesh and the fish and in all likelihood a rod and a reel in the thrashing that would have followed. Teamwork, all the way

Edited April 7, 2017 by HenryR
because there is always typos

[REELCRAZY]

Good work fellas a great catch, u will not forget this one in a hurry. I love north head in the yak, such a productive spot

[Razzell]

Amazing effort mate, fish of a lifetime. Congrats - wish I'd sacked off work etc. and stuck around!

[savit]

Great report and awesome catch from yak! 

What reel and rod were used?

[samjames95]

Mate well done, thats the biggest cobe ive seen caught down this way since I was around 5 out the front of the hacking! Well in

[Yowie]

Great work on a great fish in not too easy circumstances.

[Mike89]

Well done on such a beautiful fish. Be glad that you managed to get it on board in the end!

Must have been a hell of a fight.

Excellent report, enjoyed reading every line. I know these moments where the adrenaline is running hard and I felt like I was with you every step of the way. Awesome!

[big Neil]

An amazing account of the entire experience guys. Well written, very descriptive...I'm always filled with awe at the courage of people who kayak in the open ocean. Your report painted a very vivid picture (for me) of the struggle between man and beast, with the unpredictability of the open seas, thrown in. The experience has taught you quite a bit too and next time you'll be even more prepared for the potential problems such a hook up presents...and you'll be ready. Hope you have many more (such) experiences guys. A real pity that we may not be able to share them. Cheers, BN

[HenryR]

6 hours ago, big Neil said:

 The experience has taught you .....

totally Neil ! and of course, we've still got so much more to learn. I would say the veil has on just begun to part. At the very least learning is half the fun, yeah?

[HenryR]

21 hours ago, savit said:

Great report and awesome catch from yak! 

What reel and rod were used?

Savit,

I reckon my gear knowledge is so thin that specifics here are little more than a stab in the dark but: the reel is a 3000 eggbeater capable of racking up sufficient drag. I run the drag at about 3 - 3 1/2 kg which is well within the reels specified 'max' drag. The rod is  7' spin stick (7' is conveniently a very good length for my kayak - I can get the rod easily over the nose of the kayak when fish circle). It's rated 4-8kg with a reasonably (but not super) fast action.

[wizza]

Looking forward to the film version....The Young Men And The Sea....an epic tale !!

 

[howies]

Good work, reading reports like this makes me keen to give the yak a go, what a catch I'm still after my first Cobia

Edited April 9, 2017 by howies

[adamski]

That's an awesome fish, congratulations! Sounds like a pretty epic battle!

[jenno64]

Great post and a magic catch off Sydney!

[savit]

11 hours ago, HenryR said:

Savit,

I reckon my gear knowledge is so thin that specifics here are little more than a stab in the dark but: the reel is a 3000 eggbeater capable of racking up sufficient drag. I run the drag at about 3 - 3 1/2 kg which is well within the reels specified 'max' drag. The rod is  7' spin stick (7' is conveniently a very good length for my kayak - I can get the rod easily over the nose of the kayak when fish circle). It's rated 4-8kg with a reasonably (but not super) fast action.

Thank you Henry.