I returned to Woorim today only marginally better prepared to catch a Longtail Tuna. I'd searched around trying to find tackle stores with a soft plastic large enough to satisfy their hunger and failed. Plan B was to resort to a hard-body alternative in a 2.5 meter diving Halco for the Tuna and a 4” Power Minnow for the Snapper.
Without haste I paddled my kayak towards the nearby beacon where I encountered the Tuna the day before, trolling 2 lines at the same time. I didn't have to wait long for a response. The first came in a vigorous strike that felt a lot like a pinky (or Squire as they call them here) Snapper. Just as I was bringing it in I got wacked in the face by my other rod – the one carrying the Tuna-intentioned Halco. It had been hit hard and line started racing off the spool... could it be?
I knew as soon as I had the rod in my hands that this was no Tuna, but it was a damned good fish all the same. No doubt about it – judging by the way it was jerking and making runs for safety, this was a Snapper (approx 60cm)... the best I'd hooked in a while. And unlike the last one I hooked, I managed to get this one to the boat. With two barbs firmly hooked into it's mouth the only way this fish was getting away was to bust my knots... and I wasn't letting that happen – not after yesterday.
Net result of a double hook up
As soon as I recovered from the rapture of my capture I realized that the other fish was still on (I put it down in order to deal with the big one) and proceeded to reel that in as well. It was pretty much finished when I brought it in and probably wouldn't have survived if returned, so I kept it also. I shouldn't have done that because I've since found out that this particular fish is likely to be undersize by QLD standards and I do feel particularly guilty about this. Although it clears Vic legal limits by a good 3 - 4cm, it's still not worthy by QLD standards (and fair enough to). First order of business tomorrow will involve making sure I'm familiar with all of the QLD size limits and will pick up a measuring device of some kind to take out the guesswork. That's not the kind of mistake I want to make again.
I continued to fish for another 45 minutes or so, hoping that the Longtail would show up to join the party. They didn't, although I did pick up a couple more small Snapper, both of which were returned. With a few kg of fish in the bag to keep me going for the next couple of days I figured now would be a good time to head back in. My legs were pretty tired from the last 2 trips especially, so I decided to give them a bit of a rest.
I think I'll make one more effort at finding those Tuna again tomorrow and fail or succeed, will move on Monday.
