Game fishing Club of South Australia Marion Bay Tournament

So the weekend 18th to 20th Jan 2016 saw us fish the
GFCSA – TDR Electrical – Marion Bay Tournament Weekend
Heaviest & Most Meritorious GFAA Species, Shark & Eagle Ray.  Highest Point Scoring Boat & Angler, Highest Tag scoring Boat & Angler.
For this tournament we suggested at he briefing meeting that instead of there being Ladies  & Men’s category for Highest Point / Tag scoring angler we all fished together as senior anglers, and of course there was Jnrs.   Everyone agreed to it so it was set.
Mum and Dad headed up to Marion Bay Thursday night to fish from lines in at 12pm on the Friday, with everyone else while Greenhorn and I had to wait until Friday night to head up ready for a fish Saturday and Sunday.
By time the boats all arrived back in that night, Tuna, sharks and rays had all been caught, and war wounds were on display.  Everyone was a little cagy about the day’s catches not wanting to give too much away but we were happy as justagirl courtesy of mum had its shark for the weekend.


Saturday morning saw average conditions after Friday’s storms, with a south westerly blowing so we decided not to venture to far and we didn’t need to.  Trying to pop Greenhorns tuna cherry, the rods peeled off and double hook up… snap.. Greenhorn’s fish gone… Mum’s fish landed and tagged and released.  Setting up again we were back under way and it wasn’t long until we were hooked up again… we won a few and lost a few!!! By now the conditions were snotty to say the least and then zzzzzzz…. Greenhorn looked at me… No Ren, you take it I don’t want it to lose another one… and I definitely didn’t want to lose it, so 15 minutes later it was landed.
Conditions didn’t improve so we headed around the islands to seek some refuge and try for a ray, inside a little bay we set up our rigs and chucked in some whiting lines.  A few massive whiting later and a couple of decent flat head as well we saw the ray swim in over the sand….. Rubbing our hands we just waited for it to take the bait.
Hooked!!!…. All lines in we pulled anchor to chase it as we certainly didn’t want to lose it around the anchor rope. Within a few moments it was at the side of the boat and looked to be a decent size, setting up to grab it so we could tag it… Saw me hit the accelerator to hard and while we zoomed off at 100 miles an hour, mum and dad were nearly out the back and in the water with the Ray… hahahaha… “GOOD ONE RENEE” was all I got J .. Well at least the drag was set right and the ray was still on… now it wasn’t going to play nicely and after an hour…. SNAP!!! Gone L …
Regrouping we moved back into position to continue whiting fishing and try again…. The ray took off and the line didn’t even get a chance to hook in, resetting again saw a smaller ray come in for a sniff… this one we said… at the side of the boat about to net it and SNAP!!! Rig broke …. By now frustration was setting in…
As we set up again… nothing… nothing at all, it just wasn’t meant to be, but hey that’s fishing and lessons learnt!

Back at base, everyone seemed to have a good day on the water and funny stories where shared.  Rigs were retied and leaders re-crimped, and team strategies for the next day were discussed. Greenhorn and I were bunking in the same room talking about the earlier mishaps and dropped fish.  Shut your eyes and picture this I said, “tomorrow the heavier line will be out, the first tuna for the day is going to come up and smash it, and get hooked, then all you have to do, is just gently pump and wind, and before you know it, it will be in the boat”
Sunday morning saw us leaving a little late, but we were ready and pumped.  The conditions were a way than the day before, however the action was pretty slow, then before we knew it… zzzzzzzz off peeled Greenhorns line, and BOOM – Tuna Cherry popped!! With high fives all round, and it tagged and released lines were back in.  After trolling for a little longer we saw RACSO hooked up near us and the boys where on!!

We got a radio call from one of the locals out wide, who told us there was plenty of action happening out there, so calling it we pulled in the lines and headed out.  Blind trolling for a bit we managed our first hook up – triple hook up!! Mum, Dad and Greenhorn were all on.  Mum and Dads both spat and Greenhorn was still hooked up and round 2 started.
Bigger fish than her first one, it took a little longer, however in true form before we knew it, it was on the deck, another round of high fives and pics and it was back in the water. This continued for the next few hours with fish being dropped and landed.
Deciding the fish were bigger, we figured we would run our favourite and nick named char-chi lure out the back as a shottie, then SNAP… everything was gone…. And so was our char-chi …. L devo was an understatement!!
wp-1454051474465.jpg
As the day worn on we thought we should start heading back towards the mainland, and we noticed a lot of bird activity, and then masses of bait fish being pushed up out of the water, heading straight for the action saw us hook up immediately.  We could see the crew on Big Fish near us and saw we were hooked up, but they keep driving further so we figured they mustn’t have seen what we were looking at. Oops spoke to soon… as they started to head in the same direction and it wasn’t long before they were hooked up as well.

We decided as it was late we would just continue on our way back trolling as we went and alas no more fish for us for the day.
Back on land a flurry of activitly with recording forms being completed so tournament offical Steve Morris could add them all up
Final Results
Highest tag scoring boat “Bigfish”
Highest tag scoring senior angler Mick Dawes on board Bigfish
Highest point scoring boat “justagirl”
WP_20160124_18_57_33_Pro
Highest point scoring senior angler Tracey Tito on board “justagirl”
wp-1454067614143.jpg
To say team justagirl was happy is an understatement, Iam sure that bigfish will give us a run at the Port Lincoln bue water classic in March, we will need to be on our toes.
justagirl now only needs a ray to qualify for the Annual champion boat award, and then points.
 

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *