Beach workout

[JonD]

After back to back charters my daughter was keen on catching a few fish herself rather than help the clients onto fish.
Plan was to get the arms stretched and stretched they got!!!!

Walking 10 mins along the beach we saw three decent sized patches of salmon in the surf, with one patch being at least 150m long. For us these are bait and can be hooked on almost any lure or bait you offer them, for us it was 30g halco twisty's, which most fish love.

 

With enough bait on the beach and around 10 more catch and released on the light rod we put the first bigger bait out which was picked up straight away by a hefty black common stingray. This took us down the beach some 500m from where we first hooked up. After 45m I was able to get hold of the leader and then reach the trace which I quickly cut so we could get back on with fishing again after wasting 45mins!!!
 

Next bait didn't take many minutes before a toothy little shark discovered it (it was intact a 40-50kg grey nurse). This fight was under 10mins, with a quick removal of the circle hook to get it back on its way back out to sea. Won't post a pic of that!!!

 

From then on all we could catch were wobbegongs . These again taking under 10mins but still fun and able to make my daughters back feel a bit of pain. All quickly released after removing the circle hook.

 

Plan had been to chase bronze whalers and gummies, maybe next time for those.
 

[Rebel]

Super report. Faboulous photos. Well done.

Love Narooma. Plenty of memories.

Cheers.

[Restyle]

a lot of salmon there in the waves, quite jealous a lot of fun to be had there. The wobbegongs would've gotten annoying, from experience they are dead weight. But a great arvo with the baits struggling to stay in the water.

Awesome photos though, especially of the salmon in the surf.

[Isaac Ct]

Nice nurse shark mate, well done.

[JonD]

14 minutes ago, motiondave said:

That's a big wobbygong. 

Well done otherwise, can be fun dealing with rays and sharks off the beach. 

Its all done remarkably quickly. I use the trace and a very light gaff I made from a broken rod to get then on the edge of the waterline. I slip the gaff to the hook and pull both in opposite direction to each other (circles tend to be in the corner of the jaw).  I have the phone camera in my pocket and a torch to light the fish for a quick pic and then hand the phone back to my daughter.

As a wave comes right up to the sharks I quickly follow it back down dragging the sharks by the tail before running back up before the next wave gets me!!!!!  All sharks last night turned and made it back into deep water on the first wave, partly because we land them pretty quickly rather than wear them out to much.

[XD351]

Great catch ! I would have given my left arm to hook just one Salmon on Monday - new outfit and was stinging to test it out but all I got was a donut 😭.

[GordoRetired]

That looks like a lot of fun. 🙂

[JonD]

1 hour ago, XD351 said:

Great catch ! I would have given my left arm to hook just one Salmon on Monday - new outfit and was stinging to test it out but all I got was a donut 😭.

Salmon can be found on most beaches all year round down here. I used to do ok for them at the northern end of Narrabeen.

[Pickles]

Great report Jon, stretched indeed - that’s a very healthy looking Wobby and nice size salmon too.

[LuckyFil]

Those sambos would have been great fun at that size, especially in the surf.

As I'm sure you and the pro fisher would know wobbies have no trouble bending around to bight their own tail (or hand holding it) so this is just to warn others who might catch one to be careful when returning them . They are a bit like a bull dog - when they latch onto something they don't let go!

That's got to be one of the biggest wobbies I've seen.

Great to see a report from down south again.

Cheers

Fil

[JonD]

1 hour ago, LuckyFil said:

Those sambos would have been great fun at that size, especially in the surf.

As I'm sure you and the pro fisher would know wobbies have no trouble bending around to bight their own tail (or hand holding it) so this is just to warn others who might catch one to be careful when returning them . They are a bit like a bull dog - when they latch onto something they don't let go!

That's got to be one of the biggest wobbies I've seen.

Great to see a report from down south again.

Cheers

Fil

 

Totally agree, handle wobbies with caution. As for size, we do see some very hefty specimens diving, they will often have numerous rock lobsters in the caves and hiding holes with them. The salmon are incredibly good condition and full of small fry.

Edited November 2, 2021 by JonD

[jenno64]

That session is one heavy gym workout....great post!

[JonD]

3 hours ago, jenno64 said:

That session is one heavy gym workout....great post!

She's addicted to it. She fished today followed by gym this evening before heading into the mountains with her kayak. She will most likely be on the water before sunrise in the morning after a night in her swag and ping me a message on the Garmin in reach of her position for pick up to drive her back upstream to where ever she leaves her 4x4. A mountain paddle chasing bass is normally a 10hr slog from what Ive experienced with her. 

[Killer]

Ah to be young again. I have aches and pains getting out of bed to go to the Jim (new name for the John). We will arrive in Narooma on Sunday for a couple of weeks. Looking forward to a few kayak sessions.

[kingie chaser]

That's a huge wobbigong, have to be a FR record for sure?

[Yowie]

Some good fishing again J.D.

Waves full of salmon, and some toothy critters to follow.

[61 crusher]

Terrific write up & photos JonD. Looks like you two had a fun session working out 😎

When I saw your daughter wearing her work boots I figured you were the water boy

[Burger]

On 11/2/2021 at 11:39 PM, JonD said:

She's addicted to it. She fished today followed by gym this evening before heading into the mountains with her kayak. She will most likely be on the water before sunrise in the morning after a night in her swag and ping me a message on the Garmin in reach of her position for pick up to drive her back upstream to where ever she leaves her 4x4. A mountain paddle chasing bass is normally a 10hr slog from what Ive experienced with her. 

Oh to be that young and full of energy again.....