And by that definition, I mean I would need to have it in the boat and at least touch the fish.
Did I get a hook up? Yes...
Did I get a leader touch? Yes...
Did I get a fish in the net? Yes...
Did I land one? No
My new friends from a Hong Kong fishing website invited me on a "boat game" night last night.
We boarded a 20+ foot wooden sampan at 10pm and fished on the dropping tide until 2am. We covered a lot of areas such as oil refinery pilings, boat yards and rockwalls.
I was the first to hook up at a shipyard casting right tight to a dark corner. Unfortunately, that gluttonous fish also took another lure landed nearby that was casted by out skipper. He had some line problem so I played the fish 100%. We had the fish to the boat, handled the leader, had the fish in the net...and then the fish gave one miraculous kick and somehow ended outside the net. The fish made a dive...and I think one of hooks on either lure tangled the other ending with a fish that came unbuttoned!
It was a nice 4-5lb fish that gave two great jump. I think that fish came at about 11pm.
Night was still early and the window of opportunity was still to come...so I wasn't too bummed. Another group landed 7 the night before and lost 2...so we were anticipating for a repeat!
Well...the repeat did not happen.
We fished for most of the night with little action. We did have two fish landed and one fish cut off on the piling. The smaller 5lb fish was caught similar to mine...in a dark corner at a shipyard...almost exactly the same way. The larger 7.5lb fish came out of a set of piling and the same pilings also gave up the fish that cut line.
For the 4 of us, we each had one bite...2 caught, 2 lost.
It was a mediocore night...but fun nonetheless. I wasn't even dreaming to have a chance to chase the Japanese Seabass...so I was more than happy to experience this type of fishing, not to mention hooking up a fish on the first try.
It would just be a happier ending if my fish was actually landed...so bloddy close but to darn far!!!
Casting tight to the pilings, under the platforms or tight to the shipyard metal surfaces meant a lot of lure damage. I had one broken X-Rap and another two that had the rear hook ring bent 90 degrees. One X-Rap was missing an eye. But you got to get your lures in tight to get bit.
Anyways...here are some pictures...
The rightful owners...
The imposter...
This big (in centimetres)...
Mug shot...
My friends gave both fish to me so I can have a taste. Nice white meat fish that is just slightly oily but very delicate.
I will be back for revenge one day
Illegitimus Non Carborundum