MID COAST BAPTISM

by Kurt Edwards

Got up on time, no alarm failure, bonus. I woke to find half a dozen cars in the car park. That was about the time the coffee idea went out the window. I managed to rouse my fishing compadre. This is always a struggle, as he is notoriously bad in the mornings. We got the packs on, rods and gaff off the roof and headed up baker breaker hill. A short time later we made it to the shoulder of the headland. The first spot was well occupied so we ducked around the corner. The front was dark no lamps, good start. We made our way along the platform and saw a bait pool in the centre of the ledge, no probs, we kept heading south and got the spot we were after. Packs off and we sat down to check out the conditions. The swell was up and from the south tending south east occasionally. I didn’t like the east part but we had fished the ledge in bigger seas from a similar angle. After about twenty minutes I started setting up the gear and Shad spotted a bait pool heading out to sea. I had seen a couple of waves come up high in the centre of the platform so it made sense. After reassessing our pool position we sat down to wait for some better light before bucketing water.

Just before the grey light I heard some muttering from up the platform. I turned to Bakes “did you hear that?”… negative, and then a little louder “youse guys are c##kheads” … I turned to Shad “before light and all” … affirmative. “What’s you’re problem?” He started carrying on about us stealing his bait pool. “No mate it’s sitting out there. Come down here, you might be able to pick it up with a spinner. I’ve got a couple of patches if you need them” that got us a bit of an apology which made me feel a little better as I really don’t enjoy arguing with people before daylight. I’m quite sure they declined my offer because when we got a bit of light they were packing up.

Those boys had spent the night up in the cave too.

Bakes set about filling the pool and I flicked the jigs wide. Rat-a-tattat and I lifted the tip to see a healthy curve in the rod. I managed to dead lift a full stringer of good size slimies without damaging them on the rocks and climbed back up the ledge. With a couple of kilo’s of bait hanging off the tip of the long rod I over balanced on a bit of dodgy territory and not wanting to damage the gear or the baits managed to bash my left shin and hand up pretty well. “Bleeding for your fish again”, “yeah mate” I replied. Two casts later the bait fishing was complete and I had a slimy heading out to sea under the “black death”.

The little fellow must have read the map I gave him because he arrived at his destination just in time to be nailed by a fast mover. I still had the rod in my hand so I counted to six and moved the lever forward to strike. Solid connection and line started peeling off the 30TW. Shad got the rod bucket and I didn’t have much choice but to let the fish to have it’s way. I got a couple of pumps on him and he turned. The tip went down and I was on the coffee grinder. My arm had started burning before I got some tension back and lent back on it. Still solid, sweet. He started arcing and my arms started aching. We got a visual after about 15 minutes. “Big Fish” Bakes saw it first. Up and down the ledge we went with a bit of fancy footwork. He came in close enough for the hook, “next pass sarge”. “All right” Bakes said as he picked up the gaff. The fish turned and headed north. Just as Shad was about to throw the hook out the fish did a power dive and took me under a rock on the face of the wall that I didn’t even know was there. The fish came up on the other side then broke right pulling my line up into the cunjie on the under side of the rock. I let go a litany of profanity and had to back the drag right off and free spool hoping it might come out. I probably let 100m of line go before I had to bite the bullet and try and muscle it out of the cunjie. Not so lucky, we parted company. After serious discussion we decided that if we had landed that fish it would have been “all too easy”, first bait and all.

I set about re-rigging and Shad got another bait out on the 10 footer. No time for wind on leaders I tied a plat to form a short double and an allbrite to secure the leader. By the time I had finished with the crimpers Shad had his bait sitting on the edge of the wash. I got one out myself then it went quiet for a few hours.

A little after lunch the Penn roared again. I got to it quick time unclipped the play line and locked it up. A bit of weight but no run, we got the Mac onto the rock without incident.

By this stage the tide had run down and the sea had settled somewhat. A couple of lads had come down for the afternoon session; we had a bit of a chat, float here balloon there, that one is unattached etc. and settled in. Shad and I had swapped rods because he figured the Penn was firing. With the “Red Baron” out wide and bait moving in the area it looked promising.

I set the Live Fibre so I could flick the jigs out and get a couple of fresh baits while they were around. Tap-tap I lifted the tip and got about 3 turns on the Spinfisher before the rod really loaded up. Something must have nailed one of the baits. The fish hung deep and slogged it out. I got a series of head shakes but didn’t lose any line. By this stage I was quite intrigued by this behavior and really wanted to get a visual on the offender. Unfortunately the fish pulled the bait off the string but I still got a couple of slimies for my efforts. With those baits in the pool the jig went wide again and got nailed about one third of the way in. I lost a bit of line this time, fast mover. A couple of minutes later I dead lifted the bonnie out of the water and ran to the biggest rock pool I could find while signaling to Bakes to bring his bait in. I got a bit of a blank look but he must have got the message because the tip went down and he started cranking with little respect to the bait that was still attached. When he got back down to the pool where I was swimming the bonnie his eyes lit up. “Oh yeah.” The bonnie was about 500mm long and I was having a bit of a chuckle as I pinned him thinking Shad had more chance of getting sharked than hooking that big Cobe he was after.

With the bait heading seaward I got back to the business of tending to my rod. I took in some slack and straightened the line bringing the torpedo float into line with the rod tip. After a couple of minutes I returned the rod to the holder and made my way down to pick up the net. I got about 10m when the ratchet on the HV50 screamed. I spun on my heel with Bakes looking on in disgust. I removed the play line clicked the ratchet off and locked up with the tip only slightly raised to let the circle find its mark. The rod loaded up and I lent back into the fish. He made a fair attempt at a run but that combo is a little powerful for a Mac under 10Kg. I got colour on the fish in about 5 minutes. As Shad had his bonnie sitting just wide of wash on the point at the northern end of the platform I figured I would have to deal with this bait stealer myself. By this stage I was up high at the southern most point of the ledge. The Mac had worn himself out and allowed me to lead him around the corner.

I locked the reel up dropped the tip picked up the slack and tried a dead lift. His body came about halfway out of the water before it was obvious he was just a little heavy for that sort of treatment. I had a look around and checked the swell coming in along the ledge. It usually sits up slightly as it touches the rock when coming from the south. It was flat and had been quiet for sometime. With the water lapping at the bottom of the chute I thought I would be able to get down quickly and wash the fish up. Resolved I ducked out of sight of the other anglers.