So I've been going on for a while now about getting my 1st Duckbill but I never put in the hours. However this year I decided it had to happen
, so with some help and advise from a few friends and a listening ear everytime I heard that a Ducky had come out of our waters I decided that I would need to spend some time at a few spots I don't usually fish. Last night I decided that conditions were looking OK for a Kob and I decided to head for some formation I'd seen in the surf at Cinsta. I chose Cinsta because it is a place that reguarly popped up when I heard about Ducky's in our area, and if the Kob weren't there a Ducky would be on my target once the sun was up.
Wade 001 and I arrived at 4:45am and I went and got us 4 nice mullet. I slid one live for a Kob but after an hour no takers. I have a theory that 90% of the time it only takes 3 cast or 30min to catch any Kob that are there. So after a livie went untouched for 1hr I figured the odds of a Kob were low with the sun getting up and the water clean and reasonably flat.
I had packed my last whole occy and a handful of slide traces and sinkers just in case I got a gap to look for a Ducky. I only had my Assasin Toray heavy but the medium tip was in as I'd gone to target Kob. Instead of wasteing time changing tips I launched a 8oz grab on a 5mtr 1mm leader and 0,45 Awa Shima Big Game loaded on my Finnor20.
I slid the Occy and after 5min of sliding I was going to continue for another 2 min when my rod got pulled flat. I set the hook and could immediately feel it was a flatfish but it took very little line and I was able to gain line steadily for 10min by which time I had it close to the lip. I was thinking 30-40kg at best when slowly it turned and progressively went faster and faster & faster!!!! as it peeled over 150mtr of line on one run
Maybe a bit bigger than I thought??? Wade was convinced that the 300mtr of 0,45 would be stripped off to reveal the braid but it stopped with the braid almost in sight. After a Dogged see saw battle I spent the next half an hour getting it back to the lip
Then with it at the lip the anti reverse on my reel started slipping. Eventually I got it over the lip and then was amazed how strong it still was. The white water rolling in had no effect on pushing it in a little easier and every inch of line had to be fought for. After 45 min the leader was in reach for the 1st time BUT it is only a 1mm leader and by now we have seen that this is a Ducky and a BIG one at that. Wade was impressively gentlet(((up((t(((up((
on the leader and after about 5 or 6 attempts he had her
I was truely amazed at the stamina of this beautiful ray that fought to the very end. I very quickly tagged it, got 3 pics and walked her back in to recover for a while before releasing her to fight another day.
My First Ducky & at 172cm / 70,56kg it was a real Bull and at that ticked off item 1 on my 2013 bucket list.
, so with some help and advise from a few friends and a listening ear everytime I heard that a Ducky had come out of our waters I decided that I would need to spend some time at a few spots I don't usually fish. Last night I decided that conditions were looking OK for a Kob and I decided to head for some formation I'd seen in the surf at Cinsta. I chose Cinsta because it is a place that reguarly popped up when I heard about Ducky's in our area, and if the Kob weren't there a Ducky would be on my target once the sun was up.Wade 001 and I arrived at 4:45am and I went and got us 4 nice mullet. I slid one live for a Kob but after an hour no takers. I have a theory that 90% of the time it only takes 3 cast or 30min to catch any Kob that are there. So after a livie went untouched for 1hr I figured the odds of a Kob were low with the sun getting up and the water clean and reasonably flat.
I had packed my last whole occy and a handful of slide traces and sinkers just in case I got a gap to look for a Ducky. I only had my Assasin Toray heavy but the medium tip was in as I'd gone to target Kob. Instead of wasteing time changing tips I launched a 8oz grab on a 5mtr 1mm leader and 0,45 Awa Shima Big Game loaded on my Finnor20.
I slid the Occy and after 5min of sliding I was going to continue for another 2 min when my rod got pulled flat. I set the hook and could immediately feel it was a flatfish but it took very little line and I was able to gain line steadily for 10min by which time I had it close to the lip. I was thinking 30-40kg at best when slowly it turned and progressively went faster and faster & faster!!!! as it peeled over 150mtr of line on one run
Maybe a bit bigger than I thought??? Wade was convinced that the 300mtr of 0,45 would be stripped off to reveal the braid but it stopped with the braid almost in sight. After a Dogged see saw battle I spent the next half an hour getting it back to the lipThen with it at the lip the anti reverse on my reel started slipping. Eventually I got it over the lip and then was amazed how strong it still was. The white water rolling in had no effect on pushing it in a little easier and every inch of line had to be fought for. After 45 min the leader was in reach for the 1st time BUT it is only a 1mm leader and by now we have seen that this is a Ducky and a BIG one at that. Wade was impressively gentlet(((up((t(((up((
on the leader and after about 5 or 6 attempts he had her
I was truely amazed at the stamina of this beautiful ray that fought to the very end. I very quickly tagged it, got 3 pics and walked her back in to recover for a while before releasing her to fight another day.
My First Ducky & at 172cm / 70,56kg it was a real Bull and at that ticked off item 1 on my 2013 bucket list.
The first one I hooked was on a similar setup, fin-nor20 with 300m 0.45. It stripped me one time, and I still have nightmares about the size of it 