I’m back from my first dropshot trip on the South Coast and there were some really big highs and some seriously low lows. Let’s start with the low point.
I was staying in Warner beach and made short trips to Scottburgh and Bazley beach where I managed to get my species list kicked off with the usual suspects, Blacktail, Toby, pompano, barred flagtail and some other 5 striped type with some fish louse parasites on its’ head.
I heard that Shad were being caught at Sheppie the previous week so on the fourth morning I got up at 4am to be able to get to Sheppie before sunrise. When we arrived I saw a Garrick of around 4kg landed. I knew I was taking a chance with really light tackle (6lb Berkely fireline and 10lb Berkley vanish flouro on a Penn Accord 1000 reel with a 7ft Daiwa Megaforce medium 2pc rod). I was fishing high tide with a 4 inch pearl watermelon minnow on a ¼ ounce Nitro jighead with a 1/0 hook. Whatever hit me must have been really big because I couldn’t turn it’s head or persuade it away from its’ run even after fully tightening my drag. You can tell by the look on my face that I knew I was in trouble and unfortunately, my girlfriend managed to capture the moment.
I can only assume it was a nice Garrick as I had seen two awesome specimens landed over the week that I was at the coast and I would have really loved to have been able to post a pic of a 5kg Garrick caught on my first dropshot outing but alas, it was not to be. In the end it was a 12 turn Yucatan knot from braid to flouro that let me down. I keep playing this scene over in my mind and wish it had turned out differently. I’m sorry to say it but when I left, I was so mad that I could have wiped my arse with a snake!
The moral of the story? I’m going much heavier on my tackle in the early days. Once I’ve landed some nice fish and had some good successful fishing I’ll go lighter and sportier. Until then, I don’t think I could endure much more disappointment than what I experienced that morning.
I’m really glad that I didn’t throw my gear in the sea after that because the next day I was rewarded with this awesome little catch in Scottburgh. Which brings me to my high point. This was a real little treasure for my first dropshotting trip and this little 36cm flounder managed to turn the memory of this trip into an exceptionally joyful one. This little guy was released back into the wild with a new found fear of a 1/8 ounce jighead with a number 4 hook cleverly disguised as a 2 inch Berkley camo worm.
I was staying in Warner beach and made short trips to Scottburgh and Bazley beach where I managed to get my species list kicked off with the usual suspects, Blacktail, Toby, pompano, barred flagtail and some other 5 striped type with some fish louse parasites on its’ head.
I heard that Shad were being caught at Sheppie the previous week so on the fourth morning I got up at 4am to be able to get to Sheppie before sunrise. When we arrived I saw a Garrick of around 4kg landed. I knew I was taking a chance with really light tackle (6lb Berkely fireline and 10lb Berkley vanish flouro on a Penn Accord 1000 reel with a 7ft Daiwa Megaforce medium 2pc rod). I was fishing high tide with a 4 inch pearl watermelon minnow on a ¼ ounce Nitro jighead with a 1/0 hook. Whatever hit me must have been really big because I couldn’t turn it’s head or persuade it away from its’ run even after fully tightening my drag. You can tell by the look on my face that I knew I was in trouble and unfortunately, my girlfriend managed to capture the moment.
I can only assume it was a nice Garrick as I had seen two awesome specimens landed over the week that I was at the coast and I would have really loved to have been able to post a pic of a 5kg Garrick caught on my first dropshot outing but alas, it was not to be. In the end it was a 12 turn Yucatan knot from braid to flouro that let me down. I keep playing this scene over in my mind and wish it had turned out differently. I’m sorry to say it but when I left, I was so mad that I could have wiped my arse with a snake!
The moral of the story? I’m going much heavier on my tackle in the early days. Once I’ve landed some nice fish and had some good successful fishing I’ll go lighter and sportier. Until then, I don’t think I could endure much more disappointment than what I experienced that morning.
I’m really glad that I didn’t throw my gear in the sea after that because the next day I was rewarded with this awesome little catch in Scottburgh. Which brings me to my high point. This was a real little treasure for my first dropshotting trip and this little 36cm flounder managed to turn the memory of this trip into an exceptionally joyful one. This little guy was released back into the wild with a new found fear of a 1/8 ounce jighead with a number 4 hook cleverly disguised as a 2 inch Berkley camo worm.
:first:fst: