Mate Nic asked if I would take his brother-in-law and nephew visiting from South Africa for a fishing outing on the boat. With a bit of a break in the wind forecast for the next day we hastily finalised arrangements in anticipation for a couple of hours fishing. After hooking the boat I picked them up at 03h30 the next morning and we made the 20km journey to Woodman Point. On arrival at the Cockburn Powerboat Association slipway we realised that there were a number of other keen anglers capitalising on the favourable conditions.

After an uneventful launch we made our way across the Sound and out into the Indian Ocean towards one of my favourite spots. I always get decent fish at this spot and wanted the guys to go home with at least one good fish. As we approached one of the bommies we cut the motor and dropped weighted baits trolling behind the boat as the Easterly wind pushed us along. The sea anchor was deployed to slow the drift and to ensure that the baits remained in the “zone”. I decided to “bottom bounce” with a lighter rig whilst waiting for the other baits to be picked up. Within minutes I managed to land an undersized Baldie after which Chris picked up a small Pinkie. As we were unhooking the Pinkie for release my rod with the Scalie in tow took off and I was into the first decent fish for the day. Seconds later the second rod took off and a full minute had not gone by since the first hook up and a third fish was on – a triple hook up! I was reefed soon after followed by Chris and then Tiaan – what a disappointment, three hook-ups and no fish. All three were decent fish and I was starting to think Sambo or Kingie, as they all gave very decent tugs on the business end of the tackle.

A second drift over this bommie resulted in a couple of undersized Dhufish and Breaksea Cod with no further large visitors taking our baits. The wind had dropped by a couple of knots and we decided to drop the anchor near the bommie and entice these elusive fish with a burley trail. Not long after we anchored I picked up a large fish on an unweighted mullie fishing a light 20lb rig. I was on a hiding to none as this fish also took little time to reef me. This left me with no choice - out came the “big guns” – the T-Curve Jig 200 rod with the Daiwa SGT35H reel loaded with 40lb braid as the light tackle was an insult to these keen fighting fish. At the business end two 7/0 Gamakatsu hooks snelled onto 60lb floro held the scalie in place.

Nic had been dropping a constant stream of mullie blocks behind the boat and we saw the Yelowtail Kingfish dart up from the dark blue depths and engulf the free offerings. The baited rig was tossed a short distance behind the boat and allowed to drift amongst the free offerings. Nic had the first pick up but failed to set the hook. When my turn came I restrained the urge to strike and allowed the Kingie to swim off with my bait before setting the hook. Bang! I was into a steam train with rocket propulsion and spent the first couple of seconds hanging on in awe before I came to my wits and steadily set the drag to prevent this fish running me into the reef as all its previous mates had done. After a couple of anxious moments I eventually turned the Kingies’ head from its intended destination and slowly brought it up to the surface amidst a lot of protesting from this formidable fighter. As it slipped into the net there were high-fives all around as we eventually managed to boat one of these tackle busters.

Chris managed to lose another Kingie to the reef below before I handed him the T-Curve which had a dissenting Kingie at the other end. After a tense battle which lasted a number of nervous minutes Chris boated his largest fish ever and was he a happy camper. Young Tiaan caught a feisty Bronzie to conclude his first day out on our wonderful WA waters.

By mid-day the regular December Fremantle Doctor was starting to show its presence and we decided to make our way back to the slipway before the sea became too sloppy.

I have been privileged to land a number of decent Sambos and am willing to give the title of heavyweight fighting champion to the Yellowtail Kingfish after this weekend’s bout.

YouTube clip - http://youtu.be/RP2MLsTLSDU?list=UUWIj5krFAWitD-_FZNeBC2g

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