XstreemFishing.Com Blog: April 2010

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Fishing for weather

I find it amazing how much the weather dominates what we do. In this day and age when we humans have been to the moon and back, seed clouds for rain and snow, damn rivers and hold back the oceans, yet when the weather is crappy we are stuck inside. Sure there are those that venture out into it with protective gear and rod in hand, but for what? The love of fishing, or just because.....? It's wet, cold and darn right miserable.

As I type this it is raining, no it is pouring and it is so loud that it is the only thing I can hear. If I were to go outside I would literally be soaked in seconds. As you know I live in the tropics so rain gear is really out of the question. I would sweat to death and then end up wetter than if I did not wear anything.

Ok you get the point that weather does play a major role in my/our fishing times and lives.

So it came to be, Yuki wants to go fishing again on Sunday. We make the plans to meet at 7:30 at the boat.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday all have fine weather. In fact the weather is so fine I start thinking Sunday is going to be fine. What a fool I am.

I wake up around 4:30 to the sound of wind and driving rain. I better text Yuki and see what he thinks. Not surprising he says we go. As my Australian friends would say, "fair dinkum". We go.

As Yuki, Jose and Imaken (Kanto) arrive at the boat the sky actually starts to clear up and for a brief moment I feel that the fish gods are smiling at us. Yeah right, dream on.

We head out with high expectations and visions of Giant Trevally.

As we clear the river mouth the first thing I notice is a Southerly swell and a NE wind. Not what the doctor ordered.

It does not take us long to arrive at our starting point and the first casts are made in no time.

With in minutes Yuki is hooked up to a nice GT. After a classic Yuki fight where he almost gets pulled out of the boat, he weighs maybe 60kg, the GT is boated.

From Yuki and friends April 18 2010

Now before I go on I must first stress how much respect Rosie and I have for these fish. I refuse to let anyone kill one and do everything in my power to return them in good condition from whence they came.

This next image is Yuki and myself performing a bit of hook removal surgery. Notice the blue saltwater hose in the mouth. I had to remove the hooks from the popper to get them out. Luckily the gills were not hooked and only minor bleeding that was stopped by the time I released it.

From Yuki and friends April 18 2010

Now for the grip and grin shot. I just love this guy.

From Yuki and friends April 18 2010

It went quiet for a little after that firecracker start.

The weather then started to act up. With the wind kicking up to 25knots and rain squalls blowing through, it's amazing we even caught another fish.

Here is a shot of Yuki and Jose doing the popping thing.

From Yuki and friends April 18 2010

Here is a close up of Yuki in action.

From Yuki and friends April 18 2010

Next up is a nice Red Bass that put up a good fight. Notice the size of the swell behind Yuki, and how rough it is.

From Yuki and friends April 18 2010

This is Kanto with a classic action shot.

From Yuki and friends April 18 2010

Kanto had a bit of a rough go in the beginning. He was hooked up to a giant and could not really handle it. He was a bit overwhelmed by the shear power of the GT. Unfortunately he lost the fish but not the lure.

From Yuki and friends April 18 2010

Good for him he persisted and never gave up. He eventually hooked a very large Unicorn fish, albeit in the ass, but a fish is a fish.

From Yuki and friends April 18 2010

Yuki, not to be out done, lands a nice Bluefin Trevally.

From Yuki and friends April 18 2010

Another Red Bass and a Bluefin Trevally were boated. Unfortunately no more GT's were to be seen this day. All said 6 fish were boated and there was four misses. Not to bad for a half day out. We all had a good time and made plans for another trip.