Cant quite remember the exact details on why the decky (wife), wasn't keen but anyhow I found myself alone powering out the slightly gnarly south passage on a recent trip to coral bay. The wind wasn't bad and was supposed to get better so I decided I was going to fang out to the 80 metre contour and drag some skirts around to hopefully connect myself to my first billie.

So out I went, life jacket on, dead man switch connected, flares and epirb in easy reach (the passage exit made me poop a little) and tried not to hit any whales while heading out to the chosen spot which was only about 10 mile straight out. Once out there I threw in the richter witchdoctor knockoff, a williamson sail catcher I think it was and a larger skirt and commenced the troll, wishing I brought beer already.

Took maybe 20 minutes for the smaller skirt/saragosa 14000 setup to start bounching around in the holder, peered back and it looked like little tuna or something were savaging the lure just little splashes and what not. Then I saw the shoulder of something large come sideways through the wash which sent the pulse rate through the roof and sure enough a few seconds later the rod buckled over and something went off on a fairly slow but steady run.

It was at that point I started wondering If it was a good idea going for a solo fish as I had to fumble around looking for the gimble belt, wind in the other line/teaser in then put the motor in gear and get ready to possibly chase some line back. Luckily the fish appeared off in the distance and started jumping around also letting me ID it as a sail and not some 500lb monster so I knocked the motor back into neutral and settled into the fight. Didn't take too long maybe 10 minutes to get it near the boat but then it started circling the boat for quite a while ,not finished yet. I was quite happy that the boat is sort of open style and was able to follow it round and round till I decided it was done. It was time to grab the bloody thing, all I could find was a hand towel for a glove so I just grabbed the bill and hoped it didn't lunge and spear me in the face or somehow embed the hook in me. It was fair tired so it let me hold it vertical and still, while I struggled to muster the finger strength to work the pliers without droppping them over. Hook came out alright so I grabbed the camera to get the money shot which was supposed to be a self video of me and the fish, but I discovered later on that the camera had already been rolling so when I pressed the shutter button it turned off not on. SPEW. Any way I wasn't exactly going to be able to swim the fish with the boat in gear so I just dropped it back in the water. Luckily it self righted in about 3 seconds and made its own way off looking quite healthy.

Time for a rest so off went the annoying smoky engine and I bobbed around in the ocean for while rejoicing but wishing once again I had brought some beer. I was proper stuffed because I never had time to remove the thick jacket which was under the lifejacket I was wearing and the sun had heated up a fair bit. Some large looking whaler sharks came up for a look with a few remoras which dettached and came to suss out one of my skirts I had dangling on the surface.

After a rest and some water the motivation returned and out went the spread again. I doubled back around to run over the same spot and within 10 minutes the 'gosa went off again. This time the fish took off at speed with the rod in the holder leaving me to wind in the other line. The lines crossed with the braid cutting through the 15kg mono/ tyrnos 20/ larger marlin skirt, so I lost that. As I grabbed the fish rod the hook pulled so I lost the fish too. Bugger.

OK round 3. The lure of they day was tied onto the 15kg tyrnos setup and sent back alone with the teaser. I cant remember how  long I had to wait but sure enought the rod starts bouncing around and I brace for anouther hookup. This one took a while maybe a minute or two. I give the fish credit it really wanted to eat that lure and eventually the hook found home and the fight was on again. Being on mono this time it felt like a big elastic band which took a bit of getting used to but after an unknown while it was boatside ready for a de-hooking. This time the leader was wrapped around the bill which complicated things a little and it took a fair amount of effort to pull out and unrwrap. I can still remember the feeling of the hook just starting to penetrate my hand momentarily before falling away and allowing me to drop the fish back in the drink. This time it wasn't looking that flash and was swimming along on it's side one the surface. I got back to the controls and started to follow it with the boat but luckily before I got there it got its bearings and swam away.

At this point I decided to call it a day. Even with the water starting to look like it may glass off and only being about noon I figured I wanted to end it on a high note, and started the steam back to the ramp dodging all the whales again. For me coming in the south passage always seemed sketchier than going out so I went the north (for the first time) And was back before one O-clock I think. Never been happier to bring back zero fish, and finally got to have a drink or ten. Sorry about the massive spiel and crap photos.

By mr_meks at 2012-07-24

By mr_meks at 2012-07-24

The first one just before release.

By mr_meks at 2012-07-24

The greysuits coming for a look.

By mr_meks at 2012-07-24

By mr_meks at 2012-07-24

By mr_meks at 2012-07-24