MMMMMulloway!

My first fishwrecked post...please be gentle haha.

Making tuesday and wednesday night by mulla hunting nights this week, thought it was a great opportunity with the upcoming full moon tides and bit of rain to flush the mullas out the rivers. 
Tuesday night went down to the local for a cast, fighting the strong winds and weed I had a wicked run on sunset....but failed to hook up. 
Wednesday night, determined to get my revenge....hit the same beach. The calmer weather and no weed was very much welcomed. However, the pickers were ferocious and driving me insane. Herring/Tarwhine were jagged on my rig every cast after 30 seconds of soaking. 
Just before 9pm, the pickers died off....that eery calmness, then crap combo of the two I had out had a picker looking bite, but then took off at full speed about 50m. 
When I grabbed the rod, the fish had stopped and I was angry as for a brief moment, as this was the second in two days. But i chanced it and wound in quickly as I thought it had to be hooked with the tighter than normal drag I was running. I gained a good 80m of line before i realised it was still on it just ran right back into the shorebreak. Lucky break #1. 
When it had realised I was into it, it ran out a good 50m peeling line like expected with bone rattling headshakes. Managed to gain half that before it did another 4-5 smaller runs of maybe 20m but it felt more like a ray now (i knew otherwise though). Really weird, I guess I know what people mean now when they think they hooked a stingray. The odd headshake here and there, but nothing like a fish. 
This fish took me up and down a good 100m+ of beach riding at the back of the shorebreak. In the final stages after about 10 mins, my heart dropped as I felt the hooks pull, thinking I was on barely by one hook, i backed off the drag a bit. Lucky Break #2. On my 2nd Attempt I managed the beach the mulloway, to realise that hooks had pulled and the hooks had managed to foul the fish on the underside of the gills. Lucky Break #3. 
I was stoked.....
Measurements: 120cm, a healthy 16kg. (I actually use calibrated scales, not thumbsuck).

 

Where the hooks pulled and fouled....luck as!

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 -Spence

Insta: @wafishingofficial

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Mitch300491's picture

Posts: 166

Date Joined: 21/03/11

Great catch mate, beauty of a

Thu, 2011-04-14 11:27

Great catch mate, beauty of a fish. The mulloway are out everywhere at the moment

MattMiller's picture

Posts: 4171

Date Joined: 15/06/09

Well done mate

Thu, 2011-04-14 11:30

good fish off the sand. It's always a thrill when you see that big silver flash in the shorebreak, instead of the heart breaking flapper.

soupster51's picture

Posts: 2724

Date Joined: 29/11/06

Good fish

Thu, 2011-04-14 11:31

I'm guessing with everything that happened you were 'meant' to catch that one. Nice job.

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The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.

Gricko's picture

Posts: 109

Date Joined: 09/07/10

got to be happy with that

Thu, 2011-04-14 11:32

got to be happy with that sweet revenge.

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All this working keeps getting in the way of fishing!

Posts: 55

Date Joined: 18/02/11

Nice nice very nice

Thu, 2011-04-14 11:35

now I defiantly want to go tonight

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ernie

grantarctic1's picture

Posts: 2546

Date Joined: 03/03/11

Good fish

Thu, 2011-04-14 11:48

Very nice , Good report and photo's mate. hope to see more from you

Posts: 501

Date Joined: 09/07/10

good effort dude, great fish

Thu, 2011-04-14 11:53

good effort dude, great fish n good report,keep em coming...

Ryan C's picture

Posts: 1575

Date Joined: 08/07/10

nice one!!

Thu, 2011-04-14 13:06

the best comment i've heard on here"i use calibrated scales not thumbsuck"  you have to chuckle sometimes at the "estimated" weights of some peoples fish!!!!

Spence's picture

Posts: 302

Date Joined: 09/08/10

weight

Thu, 2011-04-14 13:09

Exactly my point there Ryan C. haha.
Sick of seeing oversized weights/Lengths to fish, i think there must be plenty of 8ft people on here, or fish that love eating sinkers.  

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 -Spence

Insta: @wafishingofficial

dkonig82's picture

Posts: 2091

Date Joined: 06/07/10

Haha great call

Thu, 2011-04-14 13:37

Haha great call

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When asked by a non-fisherman 'how many fishing rods do you really need?' the correct answer is either:

n+1 (where n is the number of fishing rods you currently own); or

n-1 (where n is the number of fishing rods which would cause your significant other to dump you. 

Spicey's picture

Posts: 219

Date Joined: 17/01/11

Great fish and good report

Thu, 2011-04-14 13:59

Great fish and good report there mate.

Ryan C's picture

Posts: 1575

Date Joined: 08/07/10

definately

Thu, 2011-04-14 13:59

it's very common and similar to drag pressures "i was fishing 15kg of drag" roughly translated for most people means "i had about 3-4 kg of drag on and i was shitting my pants"!!! Lol!! we tested our drags during sambo season this year and i fished with up to 15kg of drag (which hurt) and my brother in law was pulled overboard with about 12kg.  cheers

Spence's picture

Posts: 302

Date Joined: 09/08/10

 Yeh, although its only 5kg,

Thu, 2011-04-14 14:08

 Yeh, although its only 5kg, when a fish runs the momentum/intertia behind it probably could move 15kg of weight. 
15kg of drag pressure would be like trying to tow a car. haha. Anymore and you need to be locked into your seat otherwise when they do a run, you'll go with it. I don't know what pressure i run, but i never full lock unless its a ray and when the line pings finally when it can't keep up i go about 5m backwards into the sand.

Sambos are just epic though, gotta admit. 

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 -Spence

Insta: @wafishingofficial

hlokk's picture

Posts: 4290

Date Joined: 04/04/08

Momentum/intertia of a 5kg

Thu, 2011-04-14 14:31

Momentum/intertia of a 5kg weight could move a 15kg weight (lift and move are very different though!), but through the drag system its unlikely you'd see 15kg as the fish lunges. Otherwise you'd be getting snapped lines pretty damn often due to sticky drag. Its just the sudden zero to 5kg that makes you think its a lot more at the start (well, theres a little more force, but not 3 times)

However, it takes a lot more than 5kg of hand pressure for 5kg of drag pressure for most rods. A bream rod gives off 3kg for only 0.5kg of drag weight for example. The fish doesnt see the 3kg though.

 

 

Though, more importantly: nice mulla!

Spence's picture

Posts: 302

Date Joined: 09/08/10

 i'm no physicist, but just

Thu, 2011-04-14 14:35

 i'm no physicist, but just explaining the concept. But yeh u r right. higher hand pressure due to leverage of the rod no doubt?

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 -Spence

Insta: @wafishingofficial

hlokk's picture

Posts: 4290

Date Joined: 04/04/08

Thats the one. 12' rod (minus

Thu, 2011-04-14 14:44

Thats the one. 12' rod (minus a few feet for bending) and say 2' arm placement and theres a big lever not working in your favour. One of the reasons the short jigging rods that fold over are a lot easier to hold (arm way out and rod bend right down so the hoizontal distance is small).

Also means when you lower your rod to the fish, you need less arm force. Fish sees the same drag though (assuming no guide friction)

Kasey L.'s picture

Posts: 1390

Date Joined: 02/03/06

Nice! Did you go and buy a

Thu, 2011-04-14 14:00

Nice! Did you go and buy a lotto ticket straight after?

Spence's picture

Posts: 302

Date Joined: 09/08/10

 haha nah mate...should have

Thu, 2011-04-14 14:03

 haha nah mate...should have though. Not a gambler...

 

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 -Spence

Insta: @wafishingofficial

mullows's picture

Posts: 738

Date Joined: 25/12/08

No point buying the

Thu, 2011-04-14 17:09

No point buying the ticket....used up all your luck with the fish ;-) Mate, well done on a great catch and an entertaining read.

 

Cheers

Mullows

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The Older I get the better I was :-)

milsey's picture

Posts: 1462

Date Joined: 22/08/07

 Well done mate, looks like

Thu, 2011-04-14 15:17

 Well done mate, looks like it wasnt on very heavy gear also. Bloody good effort.

Zikoux's picture

Posts: 101

Date Joined: 01/01/11

 Well done man. great catch

Thu, 2011-04-14 15:23

 Well done man. great catch :)

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 A bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work.

cuthbad's picture

Posts: 1266

Date Joined: 22/04/09

very nice fish mate! And

Thu, 2011-04-14 17:16

very nice fish mate! And great report, always nice to read a cool story that goes with the pic.

Good work

falttymatty's picture

Posts: 163

Date Joined: 14/01/11

Very nice fish mate well done

Fri, 2011-04-15 08:14

Very nice fish mate well done and its always handy to have the right scales as ive now found out they never leave me now never know when youll need them.Its better to spend the money on good scales and know the exact weight for your own records.

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to fish or not to fish is that even an option?

mannablue's picture

Posts: 106

Date Joined: 24/02/11

Yet another great mulla for

Sat, 2011-04-16 12:49

Yet another great mulla for you mate, you must be getting sick of em by now hey?

Think thats the third in the last month isn't it?

Bout the tenth in the last 6 months?

By the way...photoshopped...!!!!  ;)

Well deserved bro.

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Not all who wander are lost...