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Bribie Island #3

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Saturday, 11 August 2007

Did someone say Longtail ?

The beacon pictured to the left is where the Tuna appeared

Launch:	- 2:00 PM
Landed:	- 6.00 PM
Tide:	- 6:45 PM, High
Weather:	- Warm, 24 °C, 10 knot north westerly breeze
Caught:	- Nothing
Method:	- Trolling and jigging large soft plastic lures

Whilst I really haven't covered enough miles to have done the inner side of Bribie Island or Moreton Bay any real justice, the allure of Longtail Tuna drew me towards the Ocean facing side. According to a recent report by AKFF member pcsolutionman, Longtail had made an appearance at a specific location off Woorim. He'd encountered them in the afternoon, which coincided with other reports I'd heard of birds crashing the water off these beaches during the afternoons (although observers thought that Tailor alone were the culprits).

With relatively calm conditions the launch into the surf was very easy going and with the tide coming in (for a good few hours yet) I didn't have to be terribly concerned about being washed to sea. I did have to take note of which directions the currents were flowing and how fast, however and I'm glad I paid attention to that early. It really was moving fast, carrying me in a southward direction swiftly. The Hobie Revolution was able to push into it but it was a bit of a workout.

Pcsolutionman wasn't able to hook those Tuna but he did catch some nice Snapper, so my strategy was to cover both bases with soft plastic lures. I used a 4” Power Minnow for the Snapper and a large 6” Squidgy shad in black and gold for the Tuna. Anticipating a strong fight if I did hook up, I took extra care tying knots and sharpening hooks.

I spent the first few hours patrolling the beach from north to south and visa versa, alternating speeds along the way. At times I just drifted with the current and jigged lures across the bottom. No takers were putting their hands up and as the day drew on it was starting to feel like a fish-less day and thoughts of heading back entered my mind. That's when I saw the birds crashing the water about 500 meters further off shore.

Wait a minute... I fell for this trick the day before and now I was too tired to pedal out. But as I continued to watch the birds drew nearer. And the closer they got the more obvious it became that this wasn't the same as yesterday. No sir... not with gargantuan Longtail Tuna leaping out of the water it wasn't!

When I first saw that silhouette of the slender missile shaped fish sailing through the air just meters off my bow my heart started racing like it had never raced before (while fishing). These fish weren't just big... they were huge. Big, long, fat and hungry. But hungry for what, I wondered.

I could see a large school of baitfish in the water, consisting of minnows of around 2”. Among that I could detect flashes of silver moving through them – most likely Tailor. Ah ha...

It was like a David Attenborough documentary. Even the dolphins turned up later on to complete the picture. Speaking of pictures, there was no time for me to take any right now because them-there fish needed my urgent attention. I was only using one rod at this point, opting for the larger squidgy lure. My first approach was to try and drift past the school (which was widely dispersed) and cast into the edges with a fast retrieve. This wasn't producing any results and if anything just allowed the current to take me away from the fish zone too quickly.

My next strategy was to simply troll into the current past the edges of the school. This was rather challenging because not only was the water moving quickly, so to were the school. Despite this I was able to get amongst them numerous times but after a while it began to feel like there'd be no interest.

I persisted, however, finally deciding to try a speedier troll, which I performed by pedaling into the current for a km or so and then turning back and traveling with it. It worked. When my rod jerked back violently one word came to mind: SHIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!
Line started racing from the spool like I'd never seen before – I swear I could almost see smoke. I grabbed the rod and the fight began as I slowly eased up the drag and swung the kayak around. This fish was bolting in the other direction and my instantly concocted plan was to pedal towards it in an effort to bring line in that way. Until the fish tired there was no way I'd gain line any other way.

At a guess I'd say most of the fish I saw jumping were between 10 – 20kg and if I was a betting man, I'd say the specimen I'd hooked up was somewhere in between. As the drag tightened the fish started towing the kayak, assisting my forward momentum. There was still a lot of line to retrieve, however and I already knew it was going to be a long fight. My biggest concern now was how far out to sea this thing might tow me. So far it wasn't showing any signs of slowing down, so it was hard to tell.

Unfortunately I never got to find out because about 10 minutes into the fight the fish was declared the winner by technical knockout, busting me off and exposing a weakness in my knot (where braid meets swivel). Argh!!!

The Tuna lives to fight another day. Another day – perhaps 2, is exactly what I'm giving myself as a second chance to land one of these fish. I had planned to head to out of Bribie (and onto Calloundra) last night but eventually I changed my mind. With such amazing fish being so predictable at the moment I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. So weather permitting (wind could bring me undone today), I'll be trying again this afternoon.

I didn't get any photos of these massive fish but I did get some footage. I'll upload that in a day or so (when my bandwidth isn't so limited) unless I get some better footage today or tomorrow, which is entirely possible.

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Comments (6)

11-08-2007 13:31

nice kayak

That looks like a nice kayak set-up...
You should do an article about it!
Can't wait to see the footage of the fish...

Written by acefreemok

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11-08-2007 17:03

nice kayak

I have done one article about how I set it up and why, but I do plan to do a full review (pending a month or two more of harsh abuse).

Written by 5thofNovember

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11-08-2007 18:41

nice kayak

bugger bugger bugger bugger bugger bugger bugger :cry

bugger

Good luck tomorrow Josh.

Cheers

Scott

Written by Hobie Vic

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12-08-2007 07:52

nice kayak

Yeah Scott, it hurt a lot. And they didn't return the following day either. I did pick up a nice Snapper though. I'll try for the Tuna again today. But first I'm gunna go get me a new rod that'll handle such beasts, as well as a measuring stick and probably even lipgrips with scales.

Gotta love credit cards :-)

Written by 5thofNovember

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15-08-2007 22:49

nice kayak

Great story Josh - sorry to hear you got busted off!

Written by Eberbachl

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16-08-2007 15:10

Thurs arvo 4pm here Josh and my adrenaline just got a rush reading that encounter. That traffic will have to look out on my drive home...great read!!