1st Swan River Mulloway!
Decided to head to the my favorite jetty on the swan river for a quick fish last night... Got there around 9pm and set up my big rig with a big mulie... After an hour my girlfriend rocks up, so I set her up to catch me some live bait on the flick rod. Luckily she got right into it and landed me a couple of big herring and a just size tailor, which i put straight on my big rig.... after another hour of fishing for bait, everything went dead quiet.. the wind died and the tailor stopped jumping... a second later my big rod starts to twitch and bounce around... as my GF was standing between me and my rod , i yell "Mulloway! MOVE!!!!!"... grab the rod and attempted to set the hooks... too soon.. ended up with a half chewed tailor and an angry girlfirend.... "bugger"... next chance, I rig a couple of big 7/0's and half a herring... 10 seconds later... bang... drag screaming... go to set hooks again.... another miss!!!! starting to feel the frustration now.... Rig up the other half of herring and wait, this time with no drag pressure on my reel.... 45 mins goes by while i stare anxiously at the tip of my rod... eventually my gf catches me another decent tailor... straight on the hooks and in 5 mins my reel starts going off again... this time I wait.. as my reel starts really screaming I slowly tightened the drag & set the hooks... "GOTCHA!!!" ... all hell breaks loose as this monster runs for the moorings.... "shiiit"... I manage to turn its head just in time, as it screams out into open water taking ~150m of line with ease on a heavy drag.... After 10 mins, the fish was tired enough to bring in, and after a couple more short runs, up comes the giant silver silhouette... I was speechless to say the least.. with a quick one handed gaff shot it was on the jetty... what a sight... my very 1st mulloway!!.. my lucky night :) 1.2m and i'm guessin around 25kg Swan River Mulloway... Not bad for my first :)
To everyone who says I should have released it... NO !!! Its mine now... I've spend way too many full moons for the last 4 years chasing this fish, so i'm keeping it... Everyone should be allowed to keep their first... :)
BTW, she forgave me :) and said "Hmm... Do you think it's big enough?"
Gone Fishing...
.thumbnail.jpg "First trout on the straight hook")
madm
Posts: 79
Date Joined: 14/10/09
I would have kept it too
being a first!
Sounds like a a typical case of patience pays off. Well done on a nice fish.
Nice story too!
By the way, did the GF forgive you?
Pete D
Posts: 1681
Date Joined: 07/06/07
Can't see the pic (work
Can't see the pic (work blocks some sites
), but you have put in the effort and can now tick that species off the list. Great capture and enjoy a few good meals.
I'm sure fisheries would like the frame too.
Be nice to the GF too. What a girl catching bait.
Cheers Pete
Trousersnake
Posts: 172
Date Joined: 20/12/09
Nice Fish dude
Good to hear that tha missus earns her keep! Hope she's crackin stubbies in between casts and of course gets you and your mulloway home safe after LOL.
Seriously nice catch tho!
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Colin Hay
Posts: 10407
Date Joined: 23/10/07
Great fish there John
A great pay off for your dedication to chasing a tough species to find.
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Bones76
Posts: 476
Date Joined: 03/11/08
Great fish for a shore based
Great fish for a shore based capture in the River!!!
Feral
Posts: 1508
Date Joined: 01/11/06
no harm in keeping a fish
no harm in keeping a fish for food mate thats why we go fishing :)
very nice effort there . just next time dont annoy the girly or she wont come down and catch your bait for you ..
big john
Posts: 8751
Date Joined: 20/07/06
Quality
Quality mulla. Good to see effort rewarded!
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Lucky Tim
Posts: 2536
Date Joined: 28/11/07
wicked effort that, I've put
wicked effort that, I've put in SOOOOOOO much time chasing mulloway so can relate to your story big time.
And as for keeping it, go for it. Everyone is entitled to take a legal limit whenever they want.
chrisp
Posts: 1217
Date Joined: 24/05/08
Good work Mate..
No better feeling than seeing that silver silouette. Lucky you got a few chances,Sounds like they were on the chew...
Percula
Posts: 273
Date Joined: 23/09/08
jeez
They must have been hungry last night! Picked a good night for chasing them!
Congrats mate, have also done many hours on the river chasing them, and I did get one eventually, such a good feeling catching your target fish!
Well done!
Paul G
Posts: 5215
Date Joined: 12/12/07
Nice work ,top fish As you
Nice work ,top fish As you said its yours now, each to there own Will get some nice fillets of it .Now lets hope you don't wait four more year for the next one.well done
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cudbfishn
Posts: 1311
Date Joined: 06/04/09
awesome catch. Besides
awesome catch.
Besides mulloway dont usually release too well after a long fight. Most of em die after about 15 min.
makai
Posts: 459
Date Joined: 28/10/08
Top fish John
I have caught a few small ones, but nothing that size. Makes your efforts worthwhile.
Peter
Auslobster
Posts: 1901
Date Joined: 03/05/08
You earned it mate!
The mulloway do a pretty good job of protecting themselves by being very fussy, hard to hook when they DO take your bait, and generally making themselves a real pain in the arse to catch, so don't second guess your decision to keep it...enjoy the feed and bragging rights!
If you had known there were fish that size around when your rod went off the first time your girlfriend possibly could've been well and truly crash tackled off the jetty in your rush to get it!
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15645
Date Joined: 29/11/05
well done
Quality fish there John, congrats mate.
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hemi
Posts: 349
Date Joined: 17/01/10
nice 1
nice fish dude and dedication , i guess the gf forgave you, but when you get one like that on i wouldve pushed whoeva was in my way off the jetty
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PilbaraBrad
Posts: 3628
Date Joined: 16/05/07
top fish mate,
top fish mate, awesome!!!!!!!!!!
fords_rule85
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 05/03/09
CONGRATS!
Nice work, that is a stonka of a fish and even more impressive from the river! Maybe even a contender for photo of the month. Well done mate
Faulkner Family
Posts: 18032
Date Joined: 11/03/08
you gotta be totally stoked
you gotta be totally stoked getting a fish like that to open an account. only prob getting one like that as a first is its going to be hard to beat your pb on mulla's. well done with the catch and persistance in chasing them
RUSS and SANDY. A family that fishes together stays together
Freo_Boi
Posts: 266
Date Joined: 23/02/10
Awesome..
Wow i bet it took as long to catch your first mulloway. As it took for the page to load><..
hekser
Posts: 572
Date Joined: 31/03/10
shes a bewdy.. welldone man
shes a bewdy.. welldone man maek sure u get its jewels!
trailcraft_tony
Posts: 75
Date Joined: 15/12/09
congrats looks like you
congrats looks like you picked a good night to do it. well done and hope you catch plenty more. lovely photo and a few good meals there for you.
STONEY
Posts: 9
Date Joined: 13/03/10
sounds like you got it sussed
Great read,top pics,well done champ.
I was doin a bucket check the other week and a fella said that no one caught any mulla at this years swanfish!?! is that right?
Webby
Posts: 835
Date Joined: 24/09/08
great fish mate? does your
great fish mate? does your missus clean fish as well? sounds like a keeper. I need to teach mine to catch livies for me.
I live with fear every day... sometimes she lets me go fishing.
beejay
Posts: 55
Date Joined: 22/02/10
Nice mulloway
I hope the GF cooked it for you!
Seriuosly though thats a great LB capture. Well done.
GrahamM
Posts: 648
Date Joined: 19/01/09
Great fish and good reward
Great fish and good reward for the effort some people put in lots of hours for no return and some get lucky and get 1 on their first trip I havent seen a big one like that come out of the swan in ages. Good on you for keeping it so long as you are going to eat it i reckon keep whatever is in the limits. Just dont waste any
fisho-ron
Posts: 2539
Date Joined: 26/09/09
mate i would of kept it as
mate
i would of kept it as well.
did you eat it ?, as i have heared they taste like shit?
also i have been hunting them latley and all i keep getting are rays.
i have been floating unwaited mulies and then i changed to a float with a mulie and the f.....nnnn rays are still getting it.
tried a live tailor and at least the rays never got that but he didnt live for very long, how are you kepping yours alive on the rig?
cheers ron
JohnSorrell
Posts: 137
Date Joined: 28/07/09
I keep my tailor & herring
I keep my tailor & herring alive for ages by using thin gauge hooks & just pinching the skin as far away from the spine of the fish as possible... Use a wet rag, and dont squeese the fish when putting it on the hooks... So you dont remove its slimey layer or give it brain damage... :) Also use a light running sinker rig.. Seems they can escape the crabs & blowies if they have a little more freedom to move around... Also, try to cast it back out gently... not launching it 20m in the air... it'll go into shock if it slaps the water, and will die soon after. Ive found my live bait way more active this way, and usually last >30mins.
Gone Fishing...
joe amato
Posts: 731
Date Joined: 21/12/08
nice mulloway
well done m8 on your first mulloway,hope you catch more and dont have 2 wait 4 years between,im still waiting for my next mulloway,caught my last 1 6 years ago and good onya for keeping it...........................
JoeH
Posts: 85
Date Joined: 08/09/05
Memorable moments!
Congratulations mate,
Really enjoyed your writeup too, could really sense the adrenalin, I guess you were shaking and grinning from ear to ear while you typed it up!! Brings back memories, but yeah, that huge silver slab is a 'slow motion memory' alright!
Oh, and don't feel bad about keeping fish!
Cheers,
Joe
The smaller the icebox you take, the bigger the fish will be.
bungeye
Posts: 90
Date Joined: 10/06/09
wicked
wicked fish man well done ,
Simmo
Posts: 106
Date Joined: 26/05/06
Nice one mate
Cracker of a fish, especially for the first one.