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Burrum Heads river mouth and beyond

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Friday, 21 September 2007

Thumbs up to Squidgie Pro soft plastics

Fringefin Trevally

Launch:	- 6:00 AM
Landed:	- 10.00 AM
Tide:	- 9:40 AM, Low
Weather:	- Warm, 25 °C, 5 knot south easterly
Caught:	- Flathead, Fringefin Trevally
Method:	- Flicking and trolling soft plastic lures

Up at the crack of dawn I slid the Hobie Revolution into the calm waters of the Burrum river into an outgoing tide. Initially I was intending to paddle over to the other side of the river in search of Bream but when I was half way there my attention continued to be drawn to the heads and beyond. It looked so calm that I figured I'd never forgive myself if I didn't get another calm morning like this, so I stopped paddling/pedaling and let the current take me towards the mouth. I was working two rods - a larger 4 - 8kg outfit with similarly rated braid line and another 2 - 4kg outfit rigged with 4lb braid. The former was baited with a black & gold Squidgie shad (intended for Flathead) and the later with one of the new Squidgie Pro Range blood worms . It was a brief, but pleasant drifting session, spotting a few more of the so-called endangered sea turtles (these guys are literally everywhere in these parts, so the endangered label has me confused) as well as a couple of infant Manta rays.

The serenity was short-lived though because about 5 minutes later the lighter rod buckled over and soon after a 40cm Flathead was netted. With dinner in the bag I then decided to pedal out with the current on a leisurely troll, intending to pick up the pace once out of the river mouth. A few hundred meters the very same rod using the same lure was struck again and as soon as I started reeling it in I knew this was a different species. When I first saw the flash of silver I pinged it for a Trevally, although when I brought it aboard I realized that if it was a Trevally, it's actually type was unknown to me (later identified as a Fringefin Trevally). It's fins were much larger and more angelic. Because I didn't know what it was I was pretty careful in handling it, because after a quick photo it was returned. So instead of using the net I handled it with a wet towel, which typically seems to do less damage. As I'd hoped, it swam away with as much spirit it fought with.

40cm Flathead, destined for the grill

I was pretty close to the heads now so I pulled up the lighter line, rigged up a Squidgie pilchard styled flick bait, coated it with Stimulate gel and began to troll it out along the sand bar markers. I pushed hard for about 500 meters when the rod buckled over again, this time with much greater force. At first I thought it might be snagged but just as I was thinking 'no, there's unlikely to be snags here' line started screaming off the reel at blistering pace. I tightened the drag a little as I turned the kayak around and I think the extra weight of the dag made the fish - whatever it was - hit the panic button. It was really running hard now and the reel began to look precariously like it was about to be spooled. So I tightened the drag a bit more and that's when I felt the line go limp. Another damned bust off!

This is the second time in as many weeks that the albright line to line joining knot has failed me. I really should have listened to Scott Mitchell earlier in the week, when he told me that the albright knot is not to be trusted (unless being used to connect tracer wire). The double uni knot is a much safer bet he reckons, which is what I'll be using from now on. If asked what kind of fish it was that I'd hooked, I'd say it was either a Mackeral or a Queenfish - most likely the latter. There are Mackeral out there of course, but from all reports, right now only the smaller spotties seem to be around. I would have been happy with either!

On the plus side, I am suitably impressed with the new Squidgie Pro soft plastics. That little blood worm produced the goods this morning and I'll be going even harder with them this afternoon if the wind calms down (it's blowing up as I type). They seem to be made of a much tougher plastic than previous Squidgies, which I noticed instantly as I started threading it onto a hook. It'll be interesting to see what else I can catch with them.