Hi, my name is Mike. I have been a lurker on these forums for a while and after getting myself a boat I have been trying to emulate the success that a lot you on these forums share with us. I fished all my life and never had an offshore capable boat so didn't have a lot of experience offshore and since moving from the east coast in 2001, never did much fishing in WA. The boat I bought is a bit sad and needs some love so have only been fishing close to shore out from the Marina in Mindarie while we get used to each other.

I have 5yo twins that like to fish but they aren't much for the 'wibbly wobbly' ocean so a lot of the time we fish from the back of the boat at the marina. Still beats watching TV! They have been out of the marina twice and last about an hour before they decide they are 'tired' which is code for 'I'm gonna barf'! Once back at the marina we can be there until the bait runs out.

I've taken the boat out myself a couple of times and the only time I caught anything decent was the day I got the keys and landed a solitary King George whiting. Other than that we can catch all the flathead, sand whiting, wrasse and blowfish to last a lifetime. The dream of something bigger was there.

Watching the forecast this week showed today would have favourable winds so I was granted a visa and headed out about 8am. I've been paying attention to the common themes on forum responses and decided I would try using octopus for bait today. One lot on the bottom and one unweighted. I berleyed as normal with the pellets from Big W (Ha!) soaked in tuna oil.

I don't have a sounder as yet so I work on the belief that the older Lowrance Global Map 7200c that came with the boat has accurate maps! I tried a few drifts between the inner and outer reefs and only managed an undersize snapper and a few bites that didn't hook up. I marked the spot where the snapper was and decided to anchor up near there in 10 metres of water (the map said there was a rise to 6 metres near there as well).

With the berley going and the octopus soaking I was ready to settle in and watch the world drift by. The rod on the bottom got a hit and a cod popped up. While I was celebrating catching something I'd seen on the internet, the floater had a small bend so I grabbed it and my very first Dhu fish surfaced after a nice battle. I was finally able to use the $3 lip grips I bought off ebay! The fish was between 70 and 80 centimetres.

I fished for a while longer and caught a few of the biggest skippy I have caught as well as another couple of undersize snapper. I was getting ready to pack it in about 11:30am and the floater bent again with a smaller Dhu fish this time. Not sure he would have been legal size anyway. I was only fishing with 4KG mono and 20KG leaders so all in all I was very happy. All fish were released - never thought I would need some ice and an esky!

So to all of you who post your pictures and methods, my heartfelt thanks. Sometimes you might wonder if your advice is falling on deaf ears but rest assured there are some of us out there who are reading and taking it in - it's made the difference for me today.

Image Upload: