checked the forecast, to find that gunnamatta, was looking good for an evening fish. Having not had much luck at gunna before I was a little hesitant to say the least.By 2pm it had gotten the better of me and I sms'd the boys, wolly unfortunately had to work night duty :sad: but the pom was all keen.
Left my place about 5:30 so we could attempt to read the beach in daylight. When we got there the carpark was all but empty(5 cars in total). We made our way out to the landing of the walkway and had a bit of a look, spotted 3 fishable gutters, with the closest one being our first(and in the end only) option.
Tossed a couple of small baits out hoping to snag some fresh bait, with nothing but crabs eventuating. So we opted to set up some big baits and lob them out also as it was about 8pm now.
Still lotsa crabs annoying us, then the pommys big bait starting doing some weird funky dance thingy(well the tip of his fishing rod did anyway) so he goes ahead and picks it up and says "it's a fish, it's not a crab and it's going f'n nuts" within seconds it was about 100yds up the beach and still travelling lol, he made a heap of line back and I saw what looked to be a splash from a skates tail.
"Damn it's a skate, just bring it in bugga ya" I said
He made more line and I saw the sinker and leader break the surface, then I saw a 4.5 to 5ft long 7 giller swimming beside me, bahahaha I sh!t and tried to think of what to do, seeing our gaff has a handle of 1.5ft and there is a gutter 1 step into the wash, I wasn't keen to get wet.
I managed to grab the line and with the next wave tried to drag the fish up enough to get a shot at grabbing or gaffing this thing, when "ping" it bites through the 50lb mono and washes back to deep water with the receeding wash
I was gutted and didn't expect the pom to be very happy either.Put this one down to experience, and being undergunned for things with teeth.
Anyway the evening went on slowly, with lots of bites, nibbles and annoyance from crabs, and I was starting to lose hope for testing my new outfits on a decent fish.
When one of my rods started loading up, I picked it up and thought feels more like a fish than a crab, then the line went slack and I was devastated, franticly winding in slack line and then the weight appeared again and I got my smile back. Landed a nice little 4kg gummy.
Baits back on and all 4 rods out, we sat waiting, hoping the pom would get onto a nice gummy also. Almost at the same time we had a reasonable bite and it was no gummy(or it was a freekin big one) I watched as 50 to 80m of line was peeled from my reel, and said to the pom its a good fish, by this time he'd managed to land a small port jackson.
This fight went on a little longer and I almost had fish to the beach, with pom ready to try and gaff it, I thought we had a good chance, I looked up the light hit the water and heres the tail half of a giller slapping around and at that moment "ping" bitten off, now I know how the pommy felt
He said it was bigger than his, but I reckon they were the same size.In the end, it was an awesome night at the beach and one of the best nights I have had in a long time.
Pretty sure the pom feels the same way and can't wait to get out and try again.
Sorry about the lack of pics, only had the phone camera's and wasn't keen on getting em out in the rain and sticky sand, hopefully next time wee'l manage some.
