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| Bluewater
Magazine Article - Page 2 of 4 |
STEVE'S DARK SECRET
 Just
before this trip came to fruition I had received
a call from Steve informing me that they were getting
some monster kings to 35kg. This started to get
me excited, but when he added that he was catching
them all in the dark at the anchorage, I thought
he might be stark raving mad.
Kings don't bite at night, I told myself. But a
week later I was suddenly humbled by what I still
didn't know about a species I thought I understood.
Steve had invited BlueWater to tag along on a five-day
liveaboard charter to the remote waters at the southern
tip of the Eyre Peninsula. He promised some unique
and exciting fishing, and after a start like that
I certainly wasn't arguing.
There were six anglers on this trip: Mat, Scott,
Roger, Graham and Geoff from Adelaide as well as
my old mate Ian Bowden from Meridian Lures. Steve
was there to guide us, while Andrew and Rolf Czabayski
ran the boat. Flying into Port Lincoln, which is
famous for its tuna farms, we piled a mountain of
gear aboard the beautiful 57ft Calypso Star and
were soon on our way. Our destination was Greenly
Island, some 85 miles south-west of the peninsula.
DECENT EXPOSURE
Completely exposed, Greenly Island and the smaller
Rocky Islet suffer the full might of the Southern
Ocean for most of the year. During autumn the winds
subside, giving adventurous fishos a small window
of opportunity to explore these unspoiled waters.
The cold, nutrient-rich currents in this part of
the world are an extremely fertile home to all types
of seafood, from the southern bluefin tuna (SBT)
to massive kings and samsons as well as snapper
and groper.
On our first afternoon we pulled up over a distinct
reef to see if we could find a samson or two. Rising
up from 90m to within 40m of the surface, it was
certainly an impressive bit of structure made all
the more exciting by the big schools of pilchards
that breezed about on the surface. Eager to fish,
the guys wasted little time, sending both baits
and jigs down into the depths. It took a bit of
searching but we eventually found the fish. One
moment everyone was relaxing in the afternoon sun,
then seconds later they were struggling with rods
doubled over. The deck turned to instant bedlam
as big samsons charged about in all directions,
forcing our team of intrepid anglers to dance and
weave around each other in an effort to stay attached.
It was quite comical to watch, and after all the
smoke cleared three massive samson fish lay on the
deck. Ranging from 16-21kg they were certainly impressive.
Wasting little time, Rolf quickly repositioned the
boat for another drift. This time only Roger scored
and, after torturing his outfit, the biggest samson
- a 25kg beast - was hauled aboard. One final drift
earned us another smaller (only 18kg!) samson, which
was successfully released. The setting sun saw us
powering off to the anchorage, but not before Ian
picked up a nice little SBT on the troll.
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Members of the IGFA
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