Things finally start to heat up at St Helens
Posted By: Michael Hay
on May 7th, 2007
The Haines Suzuki – Coastal Marine Easter competition came and went with only a few small albacore up to the 14 kg mark caught over the 2 days. Most anglers only caught small albacore and striped tuna so this made for frustrating fishing. A few marlin were seen over these two days but none were hooked. Most anglers were treated to 2 days of flat calm weather and the chance to also tackle some deep sea fishing. The Blue Eye Trevalla are in large numbers at present of the shelf at St Helens and are easily caught on a rod and reel or drop line.
The Big Fin Sports Fishing Competition was held over the 14th – 15th of April with a number of boats entering. The Saturday was slow with albacore up to the 13 kg mark landed and lots of small fish tagged. The weigh in turned out to be a bit of a surprise with one angler weighing in a 17 kg albacore. Mako sharks are easy targets at this time of the year with a few tagged and lots seen cruising around the drop lines waiting for a easy feed. A small mako shark was tagged by a lady angler on Saturday adding to the pressure on the men for the tag and release prize. The boys on Reload had a top afternoon hooking up to a large Yellow Fin. The hard work they put in went unrewarded as it was cut off as the line touched the boat. This was a story we were all interested in, as the yellow fin had some how missed St Helens so far this season.
Sunday started out flat calm and about 10 boats raced towards the Plateau with the sun in their eyes ready for the 8.00 am start time. As the boats pushed further south in search of the fish, large numbers of birds could be seen circling and diving on large bait schools. As we looked up we realised the fish that were jumping were not small dolphins but large yellow fin. The boats all converged on the spot and we all tried our luck but to no avail. As the day pushed on the call came over the radio that the team on Indecision had hooked up to a large Yellow fin and had a battle on their hands. At approximately 12.30 on my own boat Pipe Dream, we were shocked by the sound of my 24 kg rod smashing in half on the bait board. The line snapped and the rod broke about half way up as the large yellow fin smashed the lure. The 24 kg rod on the other corner was bent over at a right angle and screaming line of at a very fast pace.
The rod was plucked from the rod holder and the fight over the next hour and 45 minutes pushed our female angler to her limit.
With the fish finally landed we headed home with smiles on our faces and the crew members having a small wager on the weight. The scales hit 68.8 kg whole (60.8 kg cleaned) and could set a new Tasmanian record for a female angler on 24 kg line.
With the rumours and the photos I have seen coming from Pedra Branca it’s a good thing the boat is sitting at home in the shed, fuelled up and ready for a long tow to South Port.
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