AUSTRALIA - GOOD VARIETY IN COOL TEMPERATURES
I put this report up on a different forum nearly 3 weeks ago but forgot to put it up on here. So here it is for all those that may not have seen it.
Well in general shark fishing has come to an end for us Queenslanders. The days are getting down to 25 degC (77 degF) and the nights are rather brisk at 12 degC (54 degF). With these cooling temperatures aside, we are still keen on putting some more monsters on the sand especially as this Summer has been relatively quiet for us, with very minimal trips. After a quick breakfast, the 4WD’s are packed and we are on our way. Our group comprised of a total of 5 people, 3 of which are anglers bringing along an arsenal of three 80W’s and two 130 sized reels.
We Are Met With Beautiful Conditions
We Found This Poor Guy On The Beach Too. Looking Like A Tiger Had Given Him A Hard Time
We arrive at our location at around midday and waste no time setting up camp, rigging up traces and defrosting baits. This trip saw a large variety of bait such as rays, tuna, queenfish, mackerel, catfish and eels. Due to a storm in the previous couple of days the water wasn’t as clear as it usually is but wasn’t too bad. Luckily the wind had now flipped around to the West and the swell was as flat as we had ever seen it. It wasn’t too much longer and there were 5 baits in the water at staggered depths.
My First Ever Ray Bait
The Santiago Waits Patiently
It was a few hours until around mid-afternoon before the tuna attached to Jimmy’s Tiagra 80W was getting some attention. After a few nibbles the shark takes off with the bait. Jimmy lets it have the bait for a bit then throws the lever up to strike and cranks down hard.
Jimmy Hooked Up
The shark is hooked but no run is made. Jimmy winches the shark in and within a few minutes I bound out and grab hold of a 7ft bull. After a few pics, hooks are out, tag is in and she is on her way.
Jimmy’s 7’ Bull
The afternoon went by without any excitement, so we gather some firewood as we know it’s going to get cold tonight.
Camp Setup
We all have some dinner and are huddled by the fire with a few beverages. Not much has happened other than an entertaining missed hookup by Brett, which I won’t go into. It wasn’t too long before someone notices my glow stick move a few metres out to sea. I am pretty stoked at this point because this is my big ray bait. I race over, pick my rod up and wait for the shark to commit to the bait. After a minute or so, the shark picks the bait back up again and starts heading off with it at a nice slow constant pace. I let it have it for a while then I slide the lever up to strike and crank down hard before setting the hook. I am met with weight but it soon drops away and I know the hooks haven’t connected. Due to the lack of swell the bait seemed to hold itself in place, so the choice was made to leave it out there. It was within half an hour when the same slow run starts taking line off my reel again. I let the shark have the bait for even longer this time in hope that a hook will be in the right spot. I slide the lever up the strike, wind down hard and I’m met with weight again. It holds for a few seconds then fades away again…… I am pretty bummed at this point. I wind the bait in to inspect what the damage is. Looks like there was a smaller shark took a couple of bites out of the front of the ray (I suspect this happened in the afternoon when I thought something was playing with the bait) as well as two large bites out of the rear. Looks like both hook set attempts the sharks jaw was just shy of the hooks and I just reefed the bait out of its mouth. I leave the bait on the sand as I still have another bait out there.
My Ray Bait Remains
A couple more hours go by and something is showing interest in my catfish bait. I wait until the shark has fully committed before cranking down and setting the hook but again I have missed. I wind my bait in to inspect but it looks relatively untouched. Our guesses are that something has taken the whole thing in its mouth and somehow I have pulled the bait out without a hook sticking.
It’s not until around midnight when I hear some commotion outside my tent. I peak out and notice the other guys down by the water as a shark swims back and forward in the wash. Due to lack of experience of the other guys down with him, Brett hands over his rod and heads out to grab his shark. It was around this time that the decent sized bull makes another turn and the hook pops out. It’s looking like we are having a bad run at missing sharks this trip. This is a first for us since turning over to circle hooks.
We wake up to a gorgeous morning and new baits are run out. The other boys grab some fresh baits but as I didn’t bring many along for this trip and the fact that both my baits from the previous night were in relatively good condition, I put them back out.
Brett With A Nice Big Queenfish Bait
I notice a little run on my rod with the ray about mid-morning and as I’m running over to my rod Brett’s rod goes off too. I pear out to sea and suddenly there’s a big bust up breaking the surface way out deep. This happens 3 times but there’s not enough action making it through my line back to my rod to convince me to set the hook. While this is happening Brett is getting small runs too and we’re all trying to work out if it’s the same shark or not. Then all of a sudden something breaks the surface in front of Brett but it’s in much closer. After this both rods go quiet. I leave mine out there as I know that the ray would hold up to a few nibbles before it’ll need to be checked but Brett brings in his Queenfish. Our lines weren’t tangled at all, so it was looking like two separate fish behaving the same way, at the same time, on two separate baits…… weird. Anyway, Brett’s bait has a few good chumps out of it, so he quickly rigs up a new tuna bait and out it goes.
Queenfish Remains
Lunch goes by and the rest of the afternoon sees Brett put a small sandbar on the sand. This sandbar was very green and took a few guys to hold still to remove the hook and stick a tag in it.
Brett Hooked Up
Brett’s Small Sandbar
It’s not until about 4pm that I decide to bring my baits in and drop some fresh ones out for the night. Half way while winding in my ray bait in, it seems to dig into a sand bar and after a few good pulls it seems to come free. Someone then yells out that something has broken the surface not too far out and then with the last 50m or so to bring in my line slowly starts to head to the right. I can hardly believe it but I have a shark on! With a few more flicks of its tail above the surface I can clearly see it’s a tiger (as was expected to have broken the surface on both Brett’s and my baits earlier). The poor little bugger had been sitting on my line for hours. It hadn’t moved from side to side at all, the only sign was that my line needed tightening every so often but I just thought that was my bait coming loose a bit as the shark earlier in the day had broken the break-away weight off. Anyway, here’s my skinny little 7’9” tiger. She swam off slowly but seemed ok.
Josh tiger
My 7’9” Tiger
The second night sets in, there is a mixture of 5 fresh baits in the water and we’re back to cooking up some dinner and having a few drinks around the fire. Brett gets a hit on his rod and is quickly up and setting the hook but it's another small shark. He winches in another small bull.
Brett’s Small Bull
My rod with an eel bait got hit soon after but the shark didn’t hang around for long enough for me to attempt to set the hook. It wasn’t until a few hours later, after we had all gone to sleep that Jimmy’s rod wet off with a screaming run. I was a good 50m away and it woke me up. Sadly this just turned out to be another small greedy sandbar. No pictures were taken of this one.
We all went back to bed and a couple of hours later Brett’s rod goes off at a nice steady pace. He gives it plenty of time and sets the hooks. He is met with a good amount of weight and gets harnessed up for the fight. The shark comes in reasonably quickly but once it’s in close it keeps going from side to side and we have to work over and under another line multiple times. A few minutes later Brett has this 8’3” female bull on the sand.
Brett’s 8’3” Bull
The rest of the night is uneventful with my two and Brett’s second rod sitting there all night without a touch. We wake up to a gorgeous sunrise and hate the thought of having to pack up and head back to reality.
So in the end it was a total of 6 sharks, 3 species, between 6’ and 8’3”. Not the monsters we were hoping for but it’s great to get away none the less.
Beautiful Sunrise To Say Goodbye Too
Australia - Brisbane
Kool colorful pics ,awesome sharks and writeup .Thanks for sharing it with us.
SOUTH FLORIDA SHARK CLUB -President SFSC-Founding Member est 1983 SFSC-Website Administrator BIG HAMMER SHARK TOURNAMENT -Founder Rene Memorial Sharkathon -Founder NMFS Shark Tagger
I had trouble too when I first turned to Circle hooks. What made a big difference to me was;
Ensuring they are as sharp as can be.
Crush the barbs down with geared pliers (I would rather do this than grind it down as the heat may temper the hook).
Place electrical tape on the wire 3 inches above the hook and wind it down all the way to the bend of the hook. This essentially "Snells" the circle hook for better hook presentation.
Don't ever be tempted to set the hook, come tight gradually, untill you either stop the shark, or you nearly get pulled in.
After adopting all the above, my hookup ration went from 40-50% to 80-90%, don't give up on circles.
Love that Big Bull!
Don't worry I won't be giving up on circles, we just had a bad run.
Australia - Brisbane
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