The wind was not as strong as forecast this afternoon, and although the sea conditions looked “lumpy” an afternoon inshore fish for pinkies was too good to pass up.  Previous experience has suggested that the pinkies come in close after the storm so it was worth another go.

Headed out from Hillarys around 5pm to new ground about 5 minutes from the marina.  There are a lot of reefs in close so the plan was to fish just off a lump, burley hard and present a variety of baits.  It was a random selection of a new spot and we just chose what looked good on the sounder.  The sea was messy with swell, chop and current all going in different directions.

Within 10 minutes I had a solid take on my bottom rig.  It was a mini pink of about 300mm but a good sign.  Not long after another mini pink and hopes were high.  The bite was generally slow however as there were no other species taking the baits which was a little unusual.

As it got quite dark, and right on the change of tide, my floater went off big time.  This was a fish that picked up the mulie and was heading to the horizon.  The bait runner was screaming and I let it run before setting the hooks.  Solid, and then the drag started to scream which is always a good sign.  No doubt that this was a big fish as it headed to the rock with a lot of repeated runs and head shakes on the relatively light drag settings.  After a while it came to the surface and the concern was that it was a shark because it did this.  As it approached the boat we saw the colour and shape, and this was no shark.  A nice pinkie in the net for a happy end result.

We kept going for a while with another 45cm pinkie boated and released.  We got some big Port Jacksons but it was getting cold and windy about 7.30pm so was time to come in.  A nice target had been captured, and really you only need one.

77cm and 4.5kg (10lb) when measured and weighed.  It was long and skinny but still a nice fish very close to shore.