SHAKING THE MONKEY AGAIN

by Ben Heinrichson

The clock struck 3pm and I was officially unemployed for 9 days. That marked the start of an 8 day fishing trip down the NSW North Coast and back again and it only took me a matter of seconds to change out of the work gear into the fishing gear and hit the road.

The mission: to finally land one of these elusive Longtail Tuna.

Day 1 saw a pod of 5 or 6 fish bust up right at our feet just on sunrise and you got the feeling it was going to be a good day. There were a few familiar faces on the ledge and there was much anticipation for all anglers, but alas that bust-up was the only action we would all see that day. Apparently there had been a lot more action and a few fish landed the day before. I soon found out this was going to be a recurring theme, the old "should've been here yesterday". By mid-afternoon I decided to hit the road and head further south but planned to come back to this spot later in the trip.

Day 2 saw me exploring a new ledge, a long walk but very picturesque and enjoyable to be some place new. After a few hours spinning the line came tight right at my feet and I was hooked up. There was a lot of glare on the water which made a possible ID impossible. The fish was stripping line but not at the speed I had experienced from previous Tuna or Mackerel hookups and there wasn't a great amount of weight. I yelled out to the boys on a higher ledge to come down to assist but it was short lived as the hooks pulled out and left me wondering what it may have been. The rest of the day was extremely slow, apart from a bit of enjoyment at being told to "Relax Dad!" after I asked some young fellas if they were going to take their empty beer bottles with them.

Day 3 saw the weather change so I decided to fish the south side of the headland before the sun had even breached the horizon a familiar face was hooked up and landed on spin, a nice Longtail of approximately 15kg. Once again anticipation was high and everyone was busy spinning their arm off for the rest of the day plenty of bustups and Gar showers but well out of casting distance and unfortunately no one else on the ledge hooked up that day. Apparently there had been many fish hooked the day before but only one landed with a big swell making it very difficult to successfully gaff a fish. Got a phone call from my uncle in Laurieton who was having an Easter Sunday BBQ and the thought of some cold beers, warm shower and tasty food sounded very enticing so I promptly hit the road to run away and join the Circus in Dunbogan the next day.

Waking up early for Day 4 was hard, the enthusiasm tank was only half full but I was still keen enough. Ran into an old salt in the car park and after a brief introduction I walked in with him and he gave me a few tips about the ledge and also informed me of 6 Blues hooked........Yesterday. Bait was hard, punters few, weather terrible and live Gar eating Bream ferocious! A Mack Tuna hit the ledge at about 10am and so did a lot of water from the sky. The punters slowly flowed in and whilst not a full 3 ring Circus, it was going to be a bit of a lotto draw with so many baits in the water.

I had heard there was a Tuna Guru in town and I was keen to see this man to pat his head for luck or something...He arrived but I think he had got things mixed up as the Tuna arrived but they were all of the Mackerel variety. Given this I decided the Circus wasn't for me and ran away with the Tuna Guru to try another new ledge.

With the fading dusk light we did a quick recon to assess what I was in for on the climb in the next morning. The Guru said he could smell Bluefin blood on the ledge, I could only smell my own sweat and wet socks, but hey this is the Guru speaking so I felt confident!

Morning came and we were getting ready to go. The Tuna Assassin just needed a bowl of Sustain for breakfast and we would be off. All of the sudden headlights appeared and were getting closer fast. In the blink of an eye two vehicles arrived, two anglers jumped out, grabbed their packs and rods and almost broke into a gallop sprinting down the track. "MANGO PINEAPPLES!" This spot was not going to handle more than two people, especially not having to share with these two unknowns who had made it clear they were not interested in wanting to know or share with us. We made a call to change plans on the fly and fish another spot down the road.

Finally we arrived on the rocks and found a few blokes with a similar plan already setup. With not much room left luckily two of the anglers were Lou and Golly who were happy to share some space with us. It became apparent that the Tuna Slayer really did need his bowl of Sustain as he was really struggling with water bucketing ability, lost bait jigs and the old "throw the water bucket over your mate's bait jig" trick. I reminded him we were on the same team and sabotage was not necessary, however I was willing to let it slide.

After a brief altercation with some vocabulary challenged individuals I finally had a bait sitting nicely in the kill zone. There had been a few signs of life and Lou's enthusiasm was keeping me in good spirits. After a prolonged period of float watching the water erupted. Gars were showering at our feet then all around Lou's float. A big dark shadow then appeared darting around Lou's float. It went under and the adrenalin was pumping. We were waiting to hear that ratchet scream but it didn't happen and his float reappeared. Damn, it has stolen his Bait off the hook!

I had picked up my rod during all this commotion then in a flash it came to life!  ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!

My heart was pounding as pushed the lever up to strike. Rod tip down, wind, wind, wind, felt the weight then WHACK! Yeehaa i'm on! The fish made a bee line straight for the point on the right that Tuna Guru Bob was sitting on. I noticed that he wasn't looking and had missed the action so I yelled out to him half to show off that I was hooked up and half to get his attention as the fish was headed his way and I didn't want to get caught up in his drift.

I briefly thought I was going to be in trouble with the fish going around the point but the fish gods must have been on my side as I backed off a bit and the fish turned and arced to the left. I then got stuck into the fish pumping and winding madly. I had the 1770 mentality firmly ingrained in my head "Get that bugger in before the sharks get him!". I also thought it may have been a Mack Tuna the way it's run had stopped so quickly.

For the rest of the fight the fish then stuck it out down deep and I could feel him pulsing as he arced back and forth. We finally got a brief glimpse of the fish and with the colour of the fish everyone was calling it for a Mack as it looked distinctly grey and green. After a closer look I was 95% confident it was a Longtail and told the boys "if it's a Mack it's a bloody Big Mac!".

Once it was ID'd I'd backed off a bit and my emotions started running high. I started having all these flashbacks of previous Tuna I had lost within this range before and I was praying that a big Noah wasn't going to suddenly appear for lunch. It finally came up to the surface and I steered it to Lou.

True to his name the Gaffman sunk that big hook in it and the fish was mine!!!!!  WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

That moment was honestly the best i have felt in such a long time. A mix of happiness, adrenalin, achievement, redemption, revenge...I had worked so hard to finally land one of these fish. Thousands of km's driven, hundreds of hours spent standing on a rock in the sun and rain. Pulled hooks, Sharkings, fish eaten by Groper, Angler error...they were all forgotten and were a thing of the past. The Monkey had well and truly been shaken and I could feel that the fish are going to flow now with this added confidence boost.

After some brief celebrations, I dealt with the fish, packed up the gear and made the trek out. The real celebrations then started as the beers flowed and shared stories with Tuna Guru Bob and cooked up a feed of fresh Longtail Tuna Pete Oberg Style for the boys.

Stoked!

ALBAA member Ben Heinrichson who as an aside prior to the publication of this short story Ben's already repeated this achievement with his second longtail for the season.  Well done Ben!