THIS is the skill we all have and the one that nobody wants. It appears at the worst of times, causing disappointment and even self-loathing. It’s more common with larger fish yet it’s a possibility every time we hook up.
In case you haven’t twigged yet, the skill I’m referring to is losing fish after the hook-up, and if my recent record and past monumental stuff-ups are anything to go by, I’m more than qualified to discuss the subject. Take a recent NSW mackerel season as an example. When the water really heated up one weekend I couldn’t fish because I was working and by the time the run of large swell subsided sufficiently to tackle the river bar, I was chaffing at the bit. Bait was near impossible to get, but each slimy mackerel landed was a certain mackerel hit, so after 90 min of jigging, with two yakkas and one humungous pike in the bait tank, I finally hooked two slimies, only to have both flick off the bait jig at the surface! A good Spaniard hit the pike and we were mid-fight when my braid parted at the rod tip… the porcelain inner of the tip guide had popped out of the metal frame which cut the line. Major bummer! Hit two was short-lived and went off like a shot; the wind had wrapped the braid around the rod tip. Fish number three tore a new swivel apart.
The next mackerel trip was better but not bug free. We landed two spotted mackerel from four hits and lost more baits without so much as a flickering rod tip or turn of the reel, but that is to be expected. We lost fish by having what felt like small mackerel ie spotties, bite through 44 lb wire trace.
Trip three was fishless but fine until I decided to add a third bait to the slow-trolling pattern by using the downrigger. After putting the bait about 15m behind the boat, I had “secured” the line in my lips whilst reaching for the line clip when a fish hit, tore the line away and came up tight on the reel. Almost immediately, both other baits were hit, and we went from two hours of quiet cruising to chaos in a few seconds. However, my fish ran the wrong way and severed the lines and then spat the hook as I was reaching for it.
Take 5 and I’m back chasing big flatties in the river with my mate and two kelpies. I hooked my longest ever off the tip of a sandflat by working a 12″ weightless soft plastic through the adjacent eddy and after a great fight, slipped the net under her and lifted her aboard. However, the pup lunged at the net and I reacted by swinging the net behind me because I could see the treble that was secured in the tail of the lure had come free and was hanging below the net. Next thing I knew, the net was being pulled over the side and I turned to see that the fish was hanging in the air, suspended by the treble caught in the net. Neck minute, she was gone… would have loved to get a length on the fish and a pic before releasing her. Our premature-release on big flatties struck a second time when in clear, shallow water a big girl completely swallowed a 10″ glide bait and bit us off, before thrashing her head wildly and spitting the lure back out … a bright spot and now something to talk about!
In closing, I’d have it known that so far this mullet run I have not lost a single mulloway, but I haven’t seen hide nor hair of one either. I had two disasters last season when big fish spat the lure after the first big run. I’ve lost big fish before and have learnt to set the hook on the initial hit and then set it two or three more times as they run away from me. In my experience, large mulloway when targeted on lures on the inside of break walls, take a run with the tide and close to the wall before turning out into the river and swimming back upstream. On both occasions it was when the fish turned to face me that the lures slipped free.
Can’t help bad luck, but we should be able to land more fish by taking care with lines, rigs, hooks and gear. Good luck fellow anglers!
