Date: 17-04-2019 Time: 2030hrs Rod: Penn Slammer white 10.6ft Reel: Daiwa Saltist 40 Rig: Long snood bottom feeder Bait: Fresh Tamban
Went there around 6 plus….Tide was on the way up….Current is strong with a powerful eastern wind blowing endlessly.
Setup two sets of tackle on bottom feeder rig. Bait was quite lasting. Just waiting for my alarm to sound.
Then come 2030hrs…The alarm sounded….I strike hard….Fish ON….it taking out line for the first run…..about 100 meter line out with the assist of the strong current flow. I manage to stop it and able to gain inch and inch of line back. My mind was thinking shouldn’t be too big. But with the strong current, it take me about 30 minutes to bring it back close to the jetty.
But after so much hard workout, it just refused to surface up…By now then I realise it is much bigger than i thought. The very moment when it almost surface, it dive back down.
After much struggle, I finally able to surface it….Wow…It is a leopard ray…with a size of about three feet in diameter. Estimate should be around 30-40kg in weight as a leopard ray body is much thicker than a brown ray. No wonder so hard to surface it.
My friend ah wee try two time to gaff it while it surface but fail. Then the fish try going under the jetty…I had no choice but to stop it at all cost. My main line snap on the part near the rig swivel. The fish won on his last fight for freedom.
Overall, I am very happy to see the fish although I didn’t land it. It gave me such a wonderful workout and I think this is what the sea dragon king present me for my coming 62 birthday.
