Just not my day :-( 

As planned, I took to the waters of Urangan again today, hellbent on hooking something that resembled a Mackeral or Tuna of some description. I even busted out my most expensive Rapalla hardbody lure for the occasion. I'd been waiting for the right day to put this not so little lure to the test and I figured with a high tide at around 8:00 AM and with winds shifting to northerlies, today would be a good opportunity.

The Urangan pier was lined with anglers, many of them taking great interest in my presence, quite a few of them taking photos of me. As I pedaled out and observed a guy fighting what was obviously the very kind of fish I was chasing, my optimism increased. Wishing that I knew the words to Billybob's 'Mackeral song' I pushed out to the tip of the pier from the southern side and trolled around to the opposite side, right where I spotted those big fish just a few days ago. As fate would have it, I was only about 20 meters from the spot when my rod bent over with enough force to drag the rod tip into the water (obviously I'd neglected tightening the Ram mount rod holders enough to keep it fully upright).

The rod remained seated where it should thankfully, and just as I went to grab it the line went slack. Noooo...

Whatever chomped that lure took it whole, severing the line (15kg leader) in the process. Just as soon as the excitement began, it was over. It was one of those moments when I wished I was using a wire trace, although had I been doing so, there was every chance I wouldn't have hooked up in the first place. Billybob had warned me that those wire traces had a tendency to deter fish from striking and that same sentiment was echoed by a few local fishermen here in Hervey Bay. When in Rome, and all that, so I'd used a mono trace instead. Unfortunately, losing the fish is the risk you take by doing so. Oh well... there's always tomorrow. 

I did continue trolling around the pier for a while but couldn't muster any more interest from the fish. Eventually I gave up on them and decided to head off towards another sot that I'd been informed of the day before. As I made my way out there, however, I noticed that one of the cables on the mirage drive was a bit loose, so I decided to head back to the car to get a spanner and tighten it before going any further. It was then that my daily dose of stupidity reared it's ugly head, as I attempted an il''fated landing with both rudder and Miragedrive fins fully exposed. of course they wedged themselves into the sand as I rode a small wave into shore. The next wave forced the kayak to swing around and this didn't do the fins a lot of good at all. While the drive unit itself held up fine, one of the fins did suffer some damage, with the mast poking out of a newly formed hole at the bottom. When I realized this I decided to head back to camp for a quick repair job, which I performed with some industrial seam sealer.

Currently the repair job is drying out and will be good to go again tomorrow. There's a storm rolling in tonight (apparently) which I'm hoping will cause a stir for the fish, inspiring some frenzied activity on the water in the morning. If I'm right about that, tomorrow should provide better results than today.

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11-09-2007 17:44

Did it myself on Saturday

Hi 5th, 
 
Did exactly the same thing with the mirage drive myself on Saturday. Now have two mast ends protruding from the end of the fins  
 
Had a look on the web and found two recommendations. Superglue and 'bike tube' repair patches. I might try the superglue first. 
 
Regards, 
Cal

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