- Trolling hard body lures and bait fiswhing under float
Yesterday's trip was more about getting a feel for my new kayak than it was about catching fish, but far be it from me to hit the water without a rod or two. This day I decided to leave the Nitro Viper rod behind, instead opting for the Nitro Ultrabream finesse, which I'd planned on using to drift soft plastics over the shallow depths of middle reef. I took the Nitro Godzilla along to, and I used this for trolling (as always) as well as floating a bait (Stimulate gel coated chicken) over the reef.
Once again I decided to troll the dreaded red-headed hardbody lures (this time a cheap Trollcraft version) and it rewarded me with a School Mackeral, which was just over the legal size of 50cm. It didn't put up much of a fight truth be told, but I was glad to bring it aboard all the same. Mackay based kayak fisho, Astro, showed me a great way to pickle spotty mackeral and that's likely to be the fate of this fish.
Upon reaching the reef I kicked myself for leaving behind my sea anchor, which would have slowed my drift down to a perfect speed. I don't think my rate of speed helped while drifting, only managing one more hook up for the short time I was there. Unfortunately, whatever swallowed the little 2" minnow soft plastic lure had a lot of power and it managed to snap the leader knot (4lb braid line, 8lb leader) before I even managed to grab the rod. I think this was a mackeral as well, although much larger than the first one I caught. I was surprised such a fish would go for such a small lure, but then again, these very same lures have caught so many fish for me that I probably should have expected it.
Spotty Mackeral, 51cm
The highlight of todays trip was seeing a manta ray leap out of the water, performing a belly whacker on the re-entry. Its the second time I've seen that happen but I was no less impressed by it. In fact I was more impressed, because this time it happened only a few meters away from the kayak - and yes, for a nano second there my bowels wanted to open up.
that looks like a small queensland school mackerel(aka doggie mackerel)..spotted mackerel are more slender and have a finer aray of small spots,by looking at the following link
