KAYAKERS all over the country often find themselves in weird and wonderful situations while chasing fish, just ask any one of them!
Passionate angler Jeff Sheppeard recently found himself hooked up to a feisty marlin miles out to sea, filming the whole epsiode for us all to experience.
It’s hard enough to catch a marlin from a boat, let alone from a kayak, check out the video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrMrtx62DPY
In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald’s Eamonn Duff, he explained ”I went out with a mate on Australia Day but we ended up coming back after 35 kilometres without even a turn of the reel,” he recounts. ”Then, two days later, I headed out by myself to Currarong. I paddled out about seven kilometres. I was only there for about 20 minutes before something took my bait. I didn’t know what it was at that stage because over the past three or four years, I’ve caught 50, 60 sharks. Each time I was hoping it was a marlin, but I’m always disappointed.”
”About five or ten seconds later, it’s jumped out to the right of my kayak. It’s a marlin. I held on for grim life and squealed like a girl. It’s jumped out again right in front of me … it’s pulling me through the water … it jumped out of the water again and done about five [consecutive] aerials. I thought, ‘I hope the camera’s recording.’ ”
”When you’ve got a big marlin on like that … it’s pulling you through the water at seven or eight kilometres an hour – and straight out to sea. Within an hour or so, I was already six kilometres away from where I’d started … so I’m halfway out to the continental shelf. It’s like, where do you draw the line?”
”He’s decided to take another jump about three metres from my kayak … and then he’s snapped me off and the line’s gone slack.”
For the whole interview and further footage please visit: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/a-lone-kayaker-a-marlin-and-one-wild-ride-20120204-1qypb.html
