POWER FISHERMAN

This is Terry Hessey's Report

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Well, what an interesting last week we?ve had. We had a much anticipated trip planned for the 21-24 December and were going to give an exciting new location a crack with the potential of some large sharks. Then two nights before the trip, the planned vehicle for the trek breaks down. Being rather limited on needing a 4wd for this location, we had to scramble to find another vehicle or another location. As it turns out, the two other 4wds we might have been able to use were also out of commission, so a 2WD friendly location was in order. I?d wanted to give one location up north a crack, so we headed up to a spot near on the mainland near Fraser and at the very least set up to enjoy a nice trip away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
We got set up late Sunday arvo, and quickly prepared for the night ahead, rigging up a 14kg (about 30lbs) stingray whole on the Tiagra 80, and about a 7kg half ray on the Okuma T50W. Rigs consisted of 2 18/0s and 2 16/0s J style Mustads. No doubt you might be able to spot some similarities on rigging the whole rays with what?s in the Shark Fishing Handbook






Anyway, baits deployed we sat down and waited. It wasn?t too long until we saw our first action, and at about 9pm we?d got our first run. The Tiagra?s ratchet started off fairly quiet with a rather slow run. We all sat there watching the rod, waiting for an opportune time to strike. The run stopped for a brief moment, before beginning again. Yet again it wasn?t at any great pace and the shark was allowed to take it. After about 5 seconds it picked up pace and started to really swim off with the bait. I pulled up the lever to bring the drag up to 30lbs and ran back to sink the hooks. I felt some resistance from the shark and knew I was hooked up. It wasn?t before too long and I began questioning if I?d still had a shark on. Even when the trace was coming out of the water I was still wondering if it?d had just dropped off, and I was just dragging a ray back along the sand.


Well, it wasn?t until the shark was almost out of the water that it suddenly popped up out of the deeper water, literally metres from the water?s edge that we saw a fin poke up, and it didn?t take a rocket scientist to realise why this poor shark quit its fight early.


Typically sharks this size don?t put up a big fight on 100lbs, but even still, more was expected. Perhaps being wrapped up in a trace had something to do with it? Poor bugger. We worked quickly to remove the hooks, unwrap its tail and have a quick happy snap before sending this male bull back on its merry way. Measurements went 176cm fork length. Not exactly the shark we were hoping for on a 14kg ray.



Like half of our sharks caught on this trip, the noticeable sound of a large overheads clicker/ratchet going off attracted a few of the nearby fishos over to have a watch. As such, some releases were made in a very hasty manner with little regard taken to photo quality. I also found it amazing how, when we had a shark on the beach, trying to take hooks out one fisho walked over with a large gaff and lined up its head before I told him alternative locations to place the gaff (Not in the shark!). We?ve also started using a different camera which took much better photos at night as a result of a bigger flash. Too bad our photography was a bit poor.

We re-rigged with another 14-15kg whole ray and redeployed the Tiagra in a hope for a larger shark.

It wasn?t until a few hours later, when we were all having a snooze next to the rods that I got awoken to the Tiagra?s ratchet making a fairly loud noise, indicating the bait was in motion. I went to set the hooks, and thinking I initially felt some resistance brought it in to find nothing. Oops



The hook on the right is how it was rigged. That?s 2 18/0s.Lucky shark struck dead in the centre, just clipping both hooks but not taking them into its mouth. I think had it hit more off-centre towards either wing we might have had another shark on the beach. Oh well, that?s fishing. The Tiagra was left alone for the night and we sat around wondering why the half a ray remained untouched.
Well, it remained untouched until well into the day and we brought it in before we went and enjoyed the rest of the day.

We returned in the afternoon for a fish and dropped out a couple of eel baits. Some of these baits were dropped ridiculously close; I could have probably thrown one of the baits out that far. Some of the baits were literally no more than 30 metres out. Just after deployment, I went back to our camp to get changed from wet clothing, and upon returning had heard about the bait on the Tiagra getting a small touch. The boys left the rod untouched as it wasn?t really anything convincing (few rod bends and about 2m of line taken off). The sandbag felt like it was still attached and it all felt rock solid. Rod was left as is.

Some 6 hours later, as we?re starting to doze off to sleep, Ben wakes me with a loud ?OI TERRY?. The Okuma?s clicker clicking away at a slow to medium pace. Ben was ready to strike but we waited for a few moments. The run suddenly picked up and Ben set the hooks. Line crackles off the reel and we know it?s either a much bigger fish than the bull from the previous night, or a much better species. After 30-50m of line is taken off the run stops and Ben begins to muscle the shark in. Definitely not a lot bigger than the last, but certainly a much better fighting species.



This cool little scalloped hammerhead appears in the surf and I quickly bring it ashore before again doing our stuff. This little bad boy went 182cm fork length.







The shark pretty much swam off as soon as it hit the water, and I started to take the release equipment back to the kayak. On my way over I hear a low ratcheting from the Tiagra. By the time I get to the rod its picked up pace and I slam the hooks into the shark. This time the shark manages to take drag off for about 5 seconds, although at a rather slow pace. It didn?t take long for me to bring in the next shark, all while Ben and some others hadn?t realised I?d already hooked up! Literally minutes after the hammer was released we had another shark, of 214cm fork length in the shallows.





In desperate need of sleep, we packed up and headed off for a good night sleep.



We set up our site mid next day and deployed 2 more eel baits out.



At about 1-2pm the Tiagra comes to life and this time I passed the rod to Tim who had come up to enjoy watching us fish, along with enjoying the camping. Another small shark of some 154cm fork length was dragged in, had some snaps taken and released. The rod was re-rigged and deployed, but no hits were made on either rod for the rest of the day/night.





Not necessarily the trip with massive sharks we were hoping for, however given the sudden change of location I wasn?t exactly expecting anything huge. Hopefully next month we?ll be returning to the island in search of some monsters.

surfstryker

Wow, great report with pics. I see you tape up your hooks, use coated leader, and sand bags for weight. I saw those methods on an Aussie shark fishin site. I do like coated leader here in Florida. I also back-braid my hooks and swivles on.

roofordie

Nice report:clap. Are all those aussie sharks?

Tex@OIP

Cool Report!!!

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http://www.oceanepics.com/tex/

POWER FISHERMAN

Aussie Sharks...Yes!

I do not know if their scalloped hammer is genetically different than ours. I think one of the pictures is some kind of a whaler.

Deaver