gee pretty scary stuff there colin, never been in that situation, dont think i would want to be either

mine would have to be south passage coral bay. headed out in the morning in a 6 m ally boat the swell was rocking through big but not breaking so we went through had the most dismal day fishing then the sou wester came in incredibly strong so it was time to head in. the swell was no breaking through the passage big enough that you couldnt see the land channel marker. we ended up relying on the gps and rode the back of a swell in let me tell ya walls of water either side of you breaking is scary as shit to say the least and i can honestly say NEVER AGAIN FOR SOUTH PASSAGE
brenz

into Devils Gorge(Beecroft Peninsular) with a mate in the pre-dawn darkness many years ago, this particular track starts off fairly tame weaving your way through a jumble of sandstone boulders and then gets serious as you follow a narrow track along the southern side of the gorge , about halfway in I guess there was a section of track which everyone knew was basically an overhanging clump of dirt/grass which dropped away about 30mtrs into the ocean below , my mate was following along behind me when I heard a yell,I turned around , he was'nt there, I started screaming his name thinking that he had hit the water below only to hear a muffled voice yell he was okay and had landed on a ledge about a metre wide about 4 metres below . The section of track he stood on just gave way under him , thought he was a goner, scared the shit out of both of us .

(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

Excellent stories guys! 

Colin Molloy

(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

Mine was fishing the south coast of NSW with a friend.  We got to the ledge that we had fished all week and overnight a huge swell had moved in.  Normally this ledge is about 2-3m above the water with the biggest seas I had seen off there about 1.5m below the lip but today it was coming right up to it.  Stubbornly and stupidly we decided to fish anyway.  We set up the live bait pool, bait rods and started trying to catch live baits.  I was trying to catch livebaits while my mate was berleying up.  We weren't having much success and noticed a large wave building.  All of a sudden I get a bite, we concentrate on the fish and forget about the wave.  When we next look up there is a huge wall of water in front of us, my mate runs, leaps up on the next ledge and gets well away.  I jumped up the first ledge then made a run for our gear trying to grab as much as I could.  I got our backpack, game rods and spinning rods and tried to keep running.

I got swamped and the water came up to about my chest (but I managed to keep my rods above my head ) and the suckback was amazing.  I managed to keep good footing fortunately otherwise I would have been taken out into a wild ocean and likely never come back.  As the water receeded I yelled at my mate to grab as much gear as he could as it was being swept in.  I saw one rod and reel go over the side only to find caught on a rock crevasse.  After the water cleared we sat on a high rock and watched buckets, pools, tackle boxes, etc floating out towards NZ.

We were young and stupid, no one knew we were there, we should never have fished there on that day and we should never have taken our eyes of the water.  Oh well we were lucky.

That would have been WAY scary 

Colin Molloy

(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

My scariest fishingmoment was when I showed my wife the final invoice for supply and fit out of the boat - after the dealer I bought off had priced and tallied all my modifications - 12 pages of them!

(Still holds the record at that dealership for the greatest number and detail of spec mods LOL)

Colin Molloy

(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

Angry wives are even scarier than sharks.
(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

had a few close ones in boats,south passage at coral bay etc,the worst was at high rock at quobba many years ago,thankfully they had put the posts and safety ropes there because this big one came over and if it wasn't for the safety ropes 2 of us would have gone in.
As usual the swell was up and we had no business being there.
it was about that time I got my first boat
Fast fish rule!

Great story's  guys  glad you are all here to tell us

RUSS

"A family that fishes together stays together"

That's the important bit ay!  

Colin Molloy

(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

My story is about a mate and he wasnt fishing, just sight seeing at Kalbarri.

He was walking along with his missus when a big wave hit come over the rock ledge they were walking along and swept him off the ledge.

Next wave came in and pushed him up against and then under the reef.
He says that he had the old time stopping feeling, got his head up, managed to get half a breathe in a air pocket under the reef when he felt the swell recede and pushed, swam , groveled back out from under the reef.
There was another wave coming in that he managed to swim under and out into the sea.

He got fairly cut up and grazed but was alive.

Never turn your back on the surf as you might not be as lucky as my mate Dave especcialy in places that are known for king waves.

Hey GOATCH, I used to be based in Canberra but fished a fair bit of the area between Ulladulla and Batemans Bay.  Also fished Narooma a bit. You from over that way?

You are not wrong mate, they target cars down there somethign shocking. As you say south side of JB is the worst.  It is getting to the point where you dont want to leave your car and go fishing.  Not good at all.

Down south at Hamelin bay

Just around the back of the island in a 3.9m tinny, trying to pull a Wooden craypot up that was stuck under the reef in bad conditions. In hinesight should never have been there but hey!!

Was trying to pull it out (I was driving) in probably3 metre swells, which were smashing up against the back of the island. We were doing ok, getting smashed around but still afloat!, then all of a sudden a big wave came, and i said to my cuz... throw the float over and old on...

Put a little power down on the boat stright into what i would say would have been 4+ Metre wave which was starting to break.

Hit the front and powered down up over the wave... Small tinny was Vertical with my cuz holding onto the nose! some how we stayed upright and got the heck out there.

Scary stuff, woulda been a hard swim out otherwise.

That it was.... i did do it a 2nd time aswell, a couple days later trying to get it out, but that time i did it on my own (I know the waters pretty well, and i know i could swim the distance :) ) not that thats an excuse, was pretty stupid to do, but hey i was 18!!

Vertical with only you sitting at the back of the boat is even more scarier, but i rekon i was more pumped after the 2nd one!

Very first time to Quobba--mate and I travelled up from Bunbury in valiant ute loaded with gear and only a map drawn on bit of paper.Was in the early 70s when largly unfished . Arrived in Carnarvon about 9 00 pm and decided will drive on and park near fishing spot [Whistling Rock]have a kip and fish at first light.were looking for a track leading off to left of main track,couldn't find it so got to a fence with a track and away we go.Went for maybe 10 mins a steady pace and track disappears,so we stop and roll up in cab and sleep if you can call it that.Wake up in morning at first light to find we were only 50 metres or so from edge of cliff,no warning signs or whatever ,if had kept driving wouldn't be here now.
The track we took is the one past the one we should have.Still brings a cold shiver each time I go back up there

all i can say is...LOL!

s3bz

I was diving for crays out the back of Carnac Island one year and as I was reaching under a ledge to get some crays, a seal hit me in the side trying to get the crays in my catch bag. Frightened the crap out of me.

Cheers
Dale

I'm not scared of banana's

Callsign: AS-144

Many years ago (I should get a stamp made up for that LOL), as a youngster I was spearfishing around woodies, on the south side in about 5 meters of water. I though I saw something move under the weed, so proded with my pathetic little speargun (prong head).

All of a sudden a really narked 5' wobby lurched out and swam straight towards me. There wasn't much of me in those days and I panicked and frantically swam backwards trying to keep the wobbly wobby away.

Fortunately, I got bored chasing the submerged 'stick insect' and swam off.

Scary at the time LOL 

Colin Molloy

(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

I was taking my first scuba lesson at a beach in Sydney. We were dropping down doing face mask cleaning and equalising ans such forth and the next thing something smashed me in the groyne. I thought it was a shark, panicked and raced to the surface. After a few seconds or so the instructor, who was a friend, came to the surface cacking himself laughing. He said he had never seen anyone swim so fast.
It turned out it was a numb ray. Thank god I had a wet suit on.
(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

sounds like theres a few people lucky to be here, just shows how much fun fishing and boating can be , but on the other hand, how dangerous it can be, one thing i have noticed is that the amount of rock issues and the fact that alot of the problems occured when no one knew where anyone was, always a good reminder to let people know where your intending on going and when your planning on coming home

hey guys looks like almost everyone whos fished for awhile has come across some scary stuff.... mine happened just recently craying over at the abrolhos... was a beautiful day with a average swell rolling thru and i was working deck solo with the skip... had just pulled our first line and a few from the second when we had 26pots on deck  when we had one in a tad shallower than the rest... had noticed some nice waves go thru but nothing breaking or lookin dangerous (how often is that said) so we rounded up and went in to get her... as we went in the skipper says " just keep ya eyes out" yeh no probs... so we grappled the floats chucked er on the winch and up we come...as its coming i see one in the distance start looming... said "wat bout that one grunta" nah shes right so no worries... pot coming and i look behind that one starts gettin bigger...now our boat is pretty old and aint got the best set of legs so i said wat about that one mate... by that time the pots on the tipper but still over the side and grunta said yeh we outta here.... as we take off and approach the first one he said something ill never forget haha...  " its not this one we gotta worrie bout mate its the next one" just as we crack the first one we looked in tandem and i sh:"""t... it had already started crackin and was taller then the bridge so id guess bout 14ft or something.... grant says hold on its gonna hurt and the last thing i remember was seeing white water thru the windscreen and a huge bang as 60ft of boat was smashed... i couldnt believe the power.. anyways  i rolled my ankle and couldnt move we lost 13 pots off the back crates off the roof the lots it was real messy... how we didnt roll or punch the windows in was a wonder to us both and it was something ill never ever forget... no matter how much u respect the ocean you should always respect it that bit more..

cheers poddyfish :) 

(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

Crikey Poddy - a VERY hairy moment!

Colin Molloy

(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

Not a nice feeling is it,been there done that and really makes the spincter tighten when it happens!!!!!

Many years ago (there's that stamp again!), I was fishing in my Douglas Sabre runnabout out just past Carnac.

It was one of those magic calm days and I was sitting on the starboard side of the transom, staring into the hypnotic blue assure water below me, watching the sun's rays probing from surface to depth - totally hypnotised by the effect.

It was both soporific and trance inducing.

SUDDENLY! A bloody great sea lion SHOT out of nowhere, and, with a very large splash, smashed to the surface just below me!

CHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYSTTTT! I yelled and me and rod went tumbling backwards onto the deck, landing in amongst a couple of rods, the net and the esky, the lid of which was covered in bait and miscellaneous bits and pieces. Chaos ensued!

I reckon my heart was going about 1,000 beats per second and I spent at least 15 minutes composing myself, taking a LOT of very slow deep breaths.

My caring twin brother collapsed, p******* himself.  

Not life threatening, but certainly skin shedding! 

Colin Molloy

(Colin 2 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

I used to fish the Goulburn river ( breakaway area)in central Vict.quite a lot. So much so I thought I knew every nook & cranny, even in the dark! One day I had a mate come along to learn fly fishing which involved climbing over various farm gates & styles to get to the good spots. As it got darker he started to voice his concern about getting back to the car so we began the walk back with me carrying the only torch.
The thought came to me that I would play a trick on him so at one spot I turned off the torch, moved steadily ahead,& jumped over one of the gates I headed for a dark spot under a tree where I intended to scare the sh-t out of him with my great bull roar inpersonations. Suddenly I dropped 10 ft or so into deep dark very cold flowing water! I could feel it seeping into my thigh waders as I clutched at tufts of grass on the steep bank,& every second it was getting increasingly difficult to hang on! My cries for help werent at first taken seriously as I was known for my fooling about. " What the F---- are you doing down there? was the bemused question.
"For F---`s sake get a long branch & pull me out quick"
After breaking off & stripping a branch my mate peered into the dark & lowered the end of the branch to reach me. Geez I scrambled up that bloody bank, but I ended up needing a artheroscope on one of my knees as I had damaged the cruciate ligament in my panicky escape from the dark depths. Through it all I managed to hang onto my new graphite rod & only lost my hat. It could quite easily have been my life!
The relief was so great that after the event we rolled around on the grass for ages just pi---g ourselves laughing.
Crazy though, but a another visit to that spot in daylight revealed a large bough over the water that I could have hung onto quite easily.
Crazy bloody things you do when young, eh ?

quite a I`d rather be fishin`!!!

(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)

I was spearfishing in 10M of water with a mate at Frederick Reef lagoon in the Coral Sea. We had got a few crays and a trout. I had just missed a big parrot fish when I noticed an inquisitive, very large olive sea snake swimming straight for me. I know they are not normally aggressive, so I'm thinking it will just move off and do its own thing....nope. I start to back paddle with the discharged spear gun out in front of me, fending off this crazy serpent. While this was happening, my mate had seen it all unfold and was out of there and back into the boat. I made my way to the boat, back paddling and fencing with this stupid snake, that could theoretically kill me in minutes. As I jumped in the boat, I dropped the spear gun....it was my mates. After a moment to reflect, he said I had to jump back in and get it....mmmmm....should be ok....that snake will be gone....I'll just check. I stuck my head in the water with the goggle on and that bloody snake was pretty much lying on the gun! I waited ten minutes, the snake left and I got the gun.
Back on the mother ship, after much debate, it was decided the snakes may have been mating, and the neon blue coloured fins I had looking just like a big hungry parrot fish. So as I was back paddling, with the fins in this snakes face.....must have been like waving a red flag at a bull......I don't like sea snakes anymore

My first wife and I noticed there were some very large blue swimmers in the harbour.
So one evening we decided to do a bit of crabbing with scoop nets. We caught a few and then the sun set.
I would not recommend walking around the tidal flats in Dampier Harbour at night to anyone. The water was very murky and despite being pretyy shallow, it was pretty hard to see what was on the bottom. We were pretty much walking across the backs of stingrays, brushing up against sea snakes and I don't know what else.
I had to hand it to my ex- she had heaps of guts and wasn't prepared to give up until we had a decent feed of crabs.
Thinking about it now we must have been mad. You get some pretty decent sharks coming into that harbour.
(Colin 1 - Co-founding member of the prestigious Colin Club)