COBIA-19 (Fathoms) and Dolphins: Stray-lining Jetski Fishing

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Squalls and swells- and a LOT of Dolphins- met me when I headed out last Sunday. But other than a wet ride, it was great to get out there, away from COVID-19 hysteria, and away from the huge life challenges we are all facing right now. As a bonus, I came home with a quality fish!

Join me for what might be the last fishing trip for a while. Our government's directions are a bit conflicting about whether we can go fishing or not during the current COVID-19 crisis, so I'm not sure when the next opportunity will be for me.

"Stray-lining" or "Float-lining" are simple techniques to "float" a bait down to the bottom and try to make it look as natural to the predators as possible. In this video I used a circle hook with a heavy sinker as I had to get the pilchard down in 50M of water and a fair amount of current. Lighter sinkers are used in shallower reefs, or no weight at all if there is no current. I keep a really light touch on my small overhead reel, and let the fish take the bait. Once they run, simply put the drag on slowly and let the circle hook do it's work! This technique works for a lot of species, and normally you'll just get the bigger sized fish! (Check out the coral trout I caught one morning using this technique: https://youtu.be/EZ2P4sn53NQ )

There are variations of the technique in terms of sinker size (or no weight at all), the hooks (single, snelled, trebles etc) and many people use "baitrunner" reels. It's almost impossible to do this well on a normal spinning reel unless you leave the bail arm open.

I prefer my Shimano Talica 10. On the jetski it's perfect for one handed bottom fishing this way, and the reel is also good when trolling for mackerel. It's rotten for casting, so always take a spinning reel casting setup for the topwater fish you might come across!

Please note that I follow the regulations of our state, and I only take what I can eat and share with my family and close friends. I do not fish for or harm "no-take" protected species- and definitely NOT Dolphins! I love the way they come over to meet me miles out at sea. I spotted the Bottlenose Dolphins in this video from 100m away, and they also saw me, and diverted off their course to come up in front of me and say G'day in the best possible way! There were even baby dolphins swimming right under the ski! It's an amazing thing to see, one I hope you all get to experience at least once in your life.

Fish in this video:
Cobia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobia
Grass Emperor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethrinus_laticaudis

Thanks to Shoreline Jetskis for helping keep my fishing chariot in top-notch condition! www.shorelinejetskis.com

Music in this video:
Song: Outlaw
Artist: it's different, Miss Mary
Licensed to YouTube by
AEI (on behalf of NCS); Featherstone Music (publishing), and 1 Music Rights Societies