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Trip Reports Woody Head, Clarence coast Woody Head (Sun) | Woody Head (Sun) | | Print | |
| Written by Josh | |
| Monday, 21 September 2009 | |
Pike, cod, bonito, tailor & snapper Thats what I'm talkin about! Marty pulled up with his brand new papaya Island not long after me, about 6:30am. Still in his honeymoon 'OMG, I love sailing this thing' period, once again, today was all about the sailing for him. But looking at the conditions I was glad I'd decided to just set up the Island as an outrigger, because for me today was all about the fishing. Yesterday I'd kept a bonito for bait so today I was determined to get the pay off. I launched about 20 minutes before Marty, but it wasn't long before he'd sailed well off into the distance. By this stage I was drfiting along to the tune of a moderate sth westerly wind, bouncing a baited lead jig on one line and a baited running hook sinker on the other. The first couple of fish came in nice and early - the obligatory little red rock cod and another bonito (this one returned). Also coming nice and early today was yet another shark sighting, and not just any old shark either. I spotted this gargantuan from about 250 metres away and let me tell you, it was massive. We're talking 5+ metres. As fortune would have it I happened to be staring right at the patch of water that the fin rose from - that classic (yet very elusive) fin breaking the water, moving quickly and holding position above the water line for about 7 - 8 seconds. I only saw the fin and even at that distance, I could tell that whatever it was, it was huge. If I was a betting man, I'd have called it for a great white. There is the very slimmest of chances that it was a whale, as there are plenty around at the moment, although no, it didn't look anything like a whale to me. If I'm right, thats the 2nd GWS sighting in the area in 2 days, both different sharks to (yesterdays sounded like it was less than half the size). Woody Head truly isa hot spot for sharks right now. When I saw the fin I turned around and headed back into the bay - not to head for land, but to warn the other guys yak fishing the area. I felt a bit guilty doing this afterwards, because the first guy I told packed up and paddled in immediately (thus ruining his fun) but letting him know felt like the right thing to do. I kept fishing of course, feeling nice and safe with the Shark Shield unit buzzing away behind me. I'm glad I did, because a couple of hours later I was rewarded for my patience.  Lots of by-catch returned today A few hours passed with not much happening - a parrotfish here, another pike there and eventually I gave up on using bait. It just wasn't raising the results I was looking for, and sitting on the drift started to bore me a little. So I tied on a couple of lures and started trolling on a zig-zag pattern back towards Woody Head. I was expecting the Predatek Hyperviper to get hit at any stage (you can never tell with those things) but it was actually the Rapalla medium diving slashbait that got hammered. At first the fight belied the true size of the fish, although the closer to the yak it came, the harder it pulled. When colour emerged I was a little surprised at the fishes size, but as soon as it saw the kayak it started acting it's age, jerking around desperately to get free. After a few seconds of fish-netting gymnastics at the side of the yak I was able to bring it aboard. This was the fish I came for, so soon after bagging it I called stumps and head back in.
Where: Woody Head, Shark Bay, Clarence Coast, NSW |
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