Woke up early Sat morning and headed around to my mates in scarbs at 5:30am. 15min late and my mates boats not there..Oh shit!! Anyway 10min later he comes back fuelled up and ready to go phew! Drive up to two rocks and only 3 other boats there so got out quick snap and motoring up toward Moore River. Mouth must have just cracked as lots of brackish water running out of the river mouth. Thought would be a great spot to troll the outskirts of the stirred water. Anyway keep motoring to one of our marks inside the 3 mile get the burley trail going which I find extremely important and get a floater each out the back. Dropped another rod each straight down and ready to go. Nothin for 10min until first small dhu comes into the boat. Size but only early so back in she goes. Mate then got one shortly after size but again little so back in again. Pulled one more Dhu at first spot within 40min and decided that this one we would keep. Only 55cm but nice for dinner nonetheless.  

Had some good fights with a ray and a few sharks then all quiet so decided to move on…Started winding in my floater and hmmm snag! Tightened the drag to try to snap or get the hooks free when I started getting a little line in so thought maybe there is something on so I lightened the drag off just in case. Rod slowly started bending  and could feel there was something very decent on my line…No head shakes for 5min so called a shark or ray when suddenly it must have seen the boat and the line peels off and the BIG head shakes start. Maybe a big dhu and we start getting excited. After about 10min we could see some colour below and a HUGE pinkie was on…Didn’t want to lose this so just eased the drag (wasn’t fishin the heaviest line even tho we were in 14m water) until my mate got the net and first net I had my PB Pinkie on board..High fives big grin and my biggest Pinkie to date. Went 85cm!  

Pic 906

So stayed another 10min but nothing so moved to next spot not far away!!!This spot only provided us with some good shark and ray action for an hour before the first pink came aboard. Undersize but such beautiful colours a quick kiss and back in!!! Ended up with 5-6 undersize pinkies been released of course when my mates rod screams off…Head shakes again and calling a big Dhu or Pink. A few minutes later I was netting his Pinkie and again hoots and shouts all aroundJ Got him aboard and measured 89cm to the tail…His first comment sorry I had to outdo you again…Bast%$rd!!! Anyway limit of two good pinks above 70cm and we are stoked!!! 

Pic 908

With two good Pinks and a little dhu we decided to head just behind 3 mile to try for some sambos as the swell had dropped off nicely and the breeze dying off too.Didn’t get much for a while until we saw some pots and decided to drift past them. Quiet for the first few minutes until the pinkies came onto the bite BIG time…We were pulling in pinkies left right and centre and on most occasions we were on before the bait hit the bottom. Out come the plastics and my mate was having a ball on them. Nuclear chicken I think??? For about 20 min we were just laughing and shouting how much we love fishingJ Could only fish the one rod so dropped one down and only halfway down BANG something big this time….After 10min the biggest pink I have ever seen was next to the boat yeeehah I'm going mental at my mate to get the net. Once in huge high fives, some measurements and the all important pics. This one measured 95cm beating my earlier PB for the day. As you are only allowed two over 70cm’s another kiss and back in to live another day. Makes the day even better when you can beat your PB that day and let a beautiful fish swim off…More high fives!!! 

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Set up again for the next drift and same again pinks everywhere however most were undersize. We both pulled a pink in at the same time and both were of size (under 70cm tho) and so we kept one for our boat limit…This was on the softie tooJ Insert Pic Decided one more drift and pulled in pinks one after another until my mate shouts Sambos are here…started pulling small sambos only around the 50-60cm but fun nonetheless especially on the lighter gear! Kept one for Thai fish cakes that was just size. Other half makes the best Thai fish cakes in the world and we find sambo to be really good for it. The fish were going mental 30min after we started our drift and my mate decided to leave his soft plastic out secured in the rod holder and filmed the rod getting hit then fish on line peeling out off again hit again fish on again was great to watch! Also in the mix were good size skippy aswell (40cm+).

Anyway decided we should get going home as the breeze had just swung and the swell had picked up.  Once we were back into the boat ramp their were police, camera crews and ambos everywhere. Heard that someone had died and was 28yrs old. Decided to check my phone and had numerous missed calls and messages to see if I was ok as I'm 28 too! After letting everyone know I was safe and getting checked by the fisheries (good to see you are doing a good job) we headed off home. Ended up with 3 dhus, too many pinks to count, sharks, rays, sambos and skippy!RIP to the guy and family, always be prepared and keep safe!

The two stonkers Pic 915 

Timmo  

PS Hope the pics work!!!!!