Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) > Reports & Expeditions

Fishing for Sea Frogs

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David Clumpner:
Two weeks ago I took off in my kayak after work and headed up the west side of the island I live on.  The weather was beautiful, water was flat.  I had only been fishing for 10 minutes when I stole a glance away at the sunset while popping.  I quickly turned back because I thought I felt something touch my Sea Frog.  I was right - on the next pop a ~6-7kg grouper-looking fish came out of the water and took my lure.  Since I am set up for a big, big fish (how might I land this on a kayak, you might ask?  i don't know, is how i will answer) and I clearly saw that this was not a big fish, I decided to let him have a fair fight.  Instead of cranking down I let him have a little line.  This was a big mistake, of course, because even though I thought the bottom was flat, he found the only piece of coral to go under and attach my lure to (and disattach himself).  Now I was in a fix because I was attached to the bottom.  There was no way out, so I emptied my water bottle, then cut the line and tied it off to the water bottle, fully intent on returning later to dive for the lure.

The next day I went back, but the current was too strong to let my kayak loose while I swam down (and I hadn't rigged up an anchor), so I decided to hold off another day.  (But I did check out the scene with my snorkel gear and the coral where I thought my lure was, about 15m down.)  Well, the winds and waves came up quite strong for the next 4-5 days and by the time I made it back, it had been a week.  It was still way too rough to go by kayak, but I thought maybe I could make a long, shore-based snorkel out of it.  I had to ride 30 minutes to this point, then walk around the reef 400m (at low tide), then swim another 200m to the point, then I got stuck in a decent current - and the water bottle was gone.  I was triangulating myself when I looked down and saw a Sea Frog floating up off the bottom.  The color didn't look like mine and I actually thought it might have belonged to another fisherman, but once I dove down and got it I realized it was in fact mine.  Score!

Recently I have decided I should take 20 minutes every morning and fish off a jetty at the entrance to the harbor where I live.  It's a nice thing to do when I wake up and who knows, maybe a GT will be passing by one of these days?  I am also experimenting with single-strand leaders, but I don't think I have the materials (bobbin) to make a PR knot just yet, so I went with the mid-knot.  Well, after 20 casts this morning, the mid-knot came apart, leaving my Sea Frog 30-40m out in the channel in front of me.  I wasn't about to leave a Sea Frog out there, so I watched as closely as I could for the bobbing head, then tried to line it up with landmarks (I concluded it was 'not in line with anything'), then I stripped down to my boxers and dove in.  I swam out to the middle, into a headwind, and couldn't see the orange lure anywhere.  I treaded water as best I could until I looked up and saw a sailboat coming towards me, leaving the harbor at 6:20am!  I quickly turned back to get out of their way and found my lure on the return swim.

I rarely catch fish here, but it's nearly as fun to cast Sea Frogs until I lose them, then try to figure out ways to get them back.

Luke Wyrsta:
Best read in a long time! Made me chuckle  ;)

Peter Morris:
 :D :D....that was a good read...Thanks mate.

I was expecting you to salvage the lure after the goupers efforts then lose it to a GT....But No you swum for it twice... :D...It will hurt when you lose that one..!! :P

Pete

Darren Cook:
That's funny David.

Jay Burgess:
Funny read, well done on getting your sea frog back on both occasions. Where is it that you live?

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