FREQUENT Fishing World cover girl and fishing writer Chloe Taylor recently had a memorable fishing experience in southern Sydney.
We’ll let Chloe tell the story:
What an extraordinary day – I think I’m still in shock! My partner Tom and I started the day catching squid for a quick kingfish session before heading wide to chase a marlin for our Game Fishing Club’s pointscore day. The kingfish were uncooperative and our marlin fishing was cut short by a stronger than predicted North East wind which quickly built up a very messy sea. Returning to Botany Bay a little dejected, we decided to have a quick fish for a jewfish before heading for home. With only our heavy game fishing tackle and light squidding rods on board, we weren’t well prepared but we deployed the light rods with some fresh bait and sat back to eat some lunch.
After about 15 minutes one of the outfits buckled over and I picked it up as line started quickly disappearing from the Stradic 1000. The fish headed straight for structure so we worked quickly to lift the anchor and position the boat to try to steer the fish into open water. Somehow this started to work and we spent the next 25 minutes nervously chasing the unknown beast around the river, applying as much pressure as I dared on the 4lb braid and 20lb trace. When she finally surfaced we were absolutely blown away and any thought of fitting her into the waiting landing net quickly disappeared.
By this stage the fish had taken us onto a shallow sand flat and we were now fighting her in about a foot of water. After a couple more runs she was close enough for Tom to get a lip grip on her and lift her into the boat. It was only then that we realised just how big this beautiful girl was and how lucky we were to be able to land her on the light tackle. With both of us still shaking with shock and excitement we took a few photos before swimming her beside the boat and watching her swim back to the depths.
I feel so humbled to have experienced such a special fish and will cherish the memory and photos for a very long time.
Great catch Chloe, well done!