Yakabout - Bowen Island, Jervis Bay

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Bowen Island, Jervis Bay

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Wednesday, 09 April 2008

The one that got away (and the one that didn't)

You dirty rat!

It was completely unplanned initially, but in having to address some rather nasty issues in the last couple of days I suddenly found myself with 2 days off. Most of that time was spent doing things I'd much rather not be doing, but upon wrapping it all up early this afternoon I looked out the window and realised that the weather was actually pretty good (compared with yesterday especially). I didn't waste any time packing up the car with the kayak and all my heavy fishing gear and took off to catch an afternoon yak fishing trip at Bowen Island. Normally I launch at Murray's boat ramp and slowly troll my way to the island but this time I just paddled directly to the north east end of the island, which is where I landed a couple of kingies last trip out.

I alternated between 2 rods - one of them packing a 5" pilchard style Squidgy flick bait, the other rigged with a Berkley Blade Dancer lure. Just like last time, both rods managed to hook a fish - one of which I reeled in, the other of which I fought with utter futility for about 10 minutes. The first fish was the smaller one, a rat-sized kingy of around 40cm. Only moments after I'd returned it my other rod hooked up, but this was no rat. I'm pretty sure this to was a kingy because it dove for the sea-floor upon taking the lure and for most of the fight that's where it successfully tried to stay. It was a heavier fish than the one I lost on the last trip out, easily in the double figures kilogram wise, and most likely well over a metre. Unfortunately I can't confirm that, however, because I didn't even get it close enough to the yak to have a look. I'm pretty sure it swam into a hole and once inside figured out a way to spit the hook.

Ironically, the small fish took the lure that was on the larger rod (Nitro Godzilla) and the larger fish went for that which was tied to the smaller rod (Nitro Viper). Things may have been different had it been the other way around. Regrettably, that wasn't the case though.

Nth-east end of Bowen Island

I'm starting to figure out that the closer one gets to the rocky cliffside outcrops of the island, the greater the chance of hook up. This is good in that it makes it easier to find the fish, but bad in that the closer one gets, the more dangerous it is. It does get pretty damn rough there at the heads of Jervis Bay, although so far I haven't had any problems keeping the kayak upright the entire time. *Touch wood*