"Oi old man, here’s a tale for the blog.
Check out this queenfish I caught yesterday late afternoon!!!! She smashed
a live mullet that I had merrily working for me on the edge of a deep hole on
the Don River. It was only in about 60cm of water. The tide comes sweeping up
through the hole & up through a gap 50m wide out onto the sand flats. Purely
tidal; at this time of the year there is no flow & the river drains fully on
low tide.
When she took off, she headed back into the hole and ripped off 80m or
so of 20lb braid. The Stella did as always, rock solid. Full on acrobatics,
jumping many times clear of the water during the 15 mins it took to land.
Unfortunately, all the exertion had taken it out of her, there was no chance of
a release here. Quickly dispatched with a strong jab behind the eye, bled &
cleaned immediately so as to make sure the fish was best on the chew. Shared
around the street. The walk from the point (Yasso Point, mouth of the Don) back
to the car is only 600m or so, but with this beast, 2 rods, cast-net &
bucket, I struggled indeed. Plenty of folk fishing for whiting & flathead
along the way back.
Plenty of the same old question....... “F**K mate, did
you’se get that here???” Awesome, buzzing as you can tell. The all-tackle record
for queenfish is just over 17kg & 130cm. This measured 115cm & I would
say around 14kg. They don’t get much bigger. I generally put big fish back, but
like I said, this big girl was unlucky & wouldn’t have survived long even if
I swam her for 15 mins in the croc infested waters......"
Tackle
G-Loomis GL2 LR905S (an awesome livebait rod, heavier than I usually use,
but I had seen these big queenfish over the past few days feeding.)
Shimano Stella 4000SW loaded with 20lb Fireline
Fixed ledger rig with 80lb flurocarbon trace.
Cracking fish - respect!
Tight Lines...................
