Successful offshore angling is pretty much reliant on the weather conditions, especially if fishing from a small to medium platform of under 10m. I consult an App called Willy Weather which is linked to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to plan my fishing outings. When the weekend plan is to get out to the blue yonder, I already start consulting Willy Weather on the Monday to ascertain which of the two days on the weekend is the better. As the weekend draws nearer so the information displayed for that timespan becomes more accurate and one can plan where to fish and what species could be targeted. A strong South Westerly will keep me in Cockburn Sound in the shelter of Garden Island, a moderate Northerly or Southerly will keep me ashore, a moderate easterly and I will fish the western side of Garden Island and so on and so on. Understanding the wind directions and the effects of islands as wind shields could still provide the opportunity to have a session even in moderate wind conditions. Furthermore the swell and to a lesser degree the temperature and rain add to the variables in this decision making equation. Other factors which I consider are the tide times, moonrise and moonset, sunrise and sunset and lastly (and often importantly) my partner on the boat (get to this one later).

So by Wednesday I knew that Saturday would start with a moderate (19.8 – 28.8 km/h) wind and settle to a gentle (12.6-19.8 km/h) wind later in the morning only to pick up in the afternoon after 14:00 again. Wind direction was a southerly changing to a south westerly as the day progressed. The plan was to hit Five Fathom Bank in the morning and move into the Sound as the wind picked up later on during the day.

I called trusted angling mate Nic on the Thursday evening and it took no convincing for him to confirm his attendance. Nic has spent many hours on the boat with me and we complement each other well. By this I mean that we know exactly what is needed to be done when the other is hooked into a fish, communication in terms of working at a strategy to get fish, keeping the boat clean, assiting with launching, anchoring, and so the list goes on. Nic also does not go green when the water starts becoming choppy or when a decent swell is pushing through. Important? Heck yes, because there is nothing worse than being out on your favourite spot and having one of the crew heaving and giving you that land loving look. Unfortunately I am not one of those hardened skippers that stay out there regardless, but rather look to the welfare of my crew.

Enough said – let’s get down to the important stuff – the fishing. We launched just after 06:00 from Woodman Point and after radioing our schedule to Cockburn Sea Rescue, sped our way across a reasonably flat Cockburn Sound towards Five Fathom Bank. Once we passed the northern point of Garden island we had to reduce our speed as the open ocean was still being tossed up by the prevailing southerly. Our plan was to cut the Yammie about 500m due south of Seaward Reef and allow the wind to push us towards this fish magnet whilst we dragged mullies behind the boat and bottom bounced along with second rigs. As the wind was pushing us along at a reasonable speed we added a small ball sinker to the trace in an attempt to keep the bait in “the zone” and off the surface where the birds were picking them up.

The first fish caught were Wrasse, Breaksea Cod and a couple of small Dhufish – all on the bottom rigs. As the wind subdued I removed the ball sinker from the drift bait and lowered the bait down below the boat before allowing sufficient line for the bait to be drifting about 15m behind the boat. It was whilst I was dropping the bait below the boat after rebaiting that my bait became snagged on the bottom – or so it felt until the bottom started moving. I set the hook and the slow moving resistance suddenly turned into a steady hard pull away from the boat. Nic immediately realised the situation and dived into the cabin to retrieve the landing net which had not been called to duty as yet. A decent fight on the 10 - 15kg rig ended with Nic landing my largest Dhufish to date – a specimen of 60cm. The customary high-five and quick barrage of photographs concluded with the Dhufish released to fight another day. It was whilst we were taking snaps that Nic’s rod which was trailing the drift bait jerked violently calling Nic to action as he set the hook into a 50 cm Pink Snapper, which was also snapped and released.

A couple of minutes later and the same rig indicated an enquiry at the business end with a couple of short jerks on the rod tip followed by the reels drag protesting as a fish consumed my bait. After a hard and deep fight I landed a Silver Drummer which pushed the “lie detector” to a decent 62cm – my largest to date. The rest of the morning was slow with the odd nuisance fish taking the bait.

The wind started picking up around mid-day and the ocean was becoming decidedly uncomfortable. We decided to take cover on the north eastern side of xxxxxx. Gail had caught a decent Tiger Shark here earlier in the year and with the foaming water resulting from waves being pushed against this rock and a nearby reef, we were sure that there should be some action. We dropped the anchor about 20m from the rock and allowed the south westerly to push us away into an open patch of ground between the reef and the weed in 6.5m depth. We set about burleying and this done dropped our baits in anticipation. Nic had the first action as he hooked into a ray which gave him a good pull before we cut the trace at the boat. A short while later and I followed suit also with a quick release at the boat. We noticed that we were not catching the ever present Wrasse and Trumpeters under the boat. We also noticed that every so often the fish finder would alarm indicating a large fish in about 3 – 4 m below the boat. Nic looked down below the boat and exclaimed that there was a large fish swimming around under the boat. This was the clear reason why we were not catching any of the nuisance fish. I grabbed the GoPro and pushed it below the water surface so that we could identify the fish at home later the afternoon. Oddly the fish seemed to remain in the vicinity of the boat patrolling up and down as if it knew that free offerings were available. Nic and I jumped into action and started dropping a number of baits below the boat to entice this fish. No matter what we put down or how well we presented it, the fish would investigate the bait and turn away. After about 45 minutes of frustration I decided to hook a red Western King Wrasse which I had caught earlier at FFB and drop this below the boat. With a 7/0 Extreme hook at the end of 1.5m length of fluoro-carbon line and my 20lb braid as a main line the Wrasse was hooked through the back and dropped below the boat to about 4m. Ten minuted later a screaming reel followed by the hook being set followed by my line parting at the knot between the braid and the flouro. Nic quizzed me as to the bait and it took a bit of convincing when I told him that it was the whole Wrasse. One more Wrasse in the live well and this time a brown one of about one kilogram. We both thought that this bait was too big, but in the absence of anything else it was worth the try. Same procedure – same result, the 20lb rig smashed. Time to play dirty and out came the Daiwa 50SLH loaded with 15kg line on the 15-25kg rod – take no prisoners.

Nic gave me a Trumpeter that he had caught and which I was having extreme difficulty in catching, whereas normally I could not keep them off my hooks – something to do with “fish fever” I believe. The bait scarcely hit the water and it was gulped by a hungry customer. Once the hook was set the fish took an easy 20m of line before I could stop the first of a number of runs. A good ten minute battle and I landed what was going to be the first of no less than seven Samson Fish to be boated for the day. At one stage the Sambos were biting at such a regular rate that we had three fish on the boat before we could snap and release them. The largest Sambo pushed the measuring tape to 106cm, the largest taken from Fish Eagle to date. Nic and I hastily caught Trumpeters in between the Sambos to ensure that we had a constant supply of bait whilst enjoying this golden period of fishing. Eventually after about three hours of splendid angling the bites slowed down and the bait supply exceeded two Trumpeter. With seven Sambos landed and a further six dropped, we pulled anchor on a setting sun and made our way across a very bumpy Sound to complete 14 hours on the water. See You Tube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifA1LlJRMzo.

I like to catch fish and release them. I probably haven't killed a fish that I've caught in sport fishing for 20 years. No reason to kill it. You know, just take it and release it. - Jack Nicklaus

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