So I headed down to my local beach last night and found it a lot quiter than it has been, there would've been only about three guys there fishing, rods all set and hoping for the best....the conditions were a tad average and was caught out by a stiffer than expected sea breeze. It was rather decieving as there was bugger all wind in my neck of Wanneroo and thought it'd be a pearler as I headed down. Never mind, only a minor hindrance...at least it's warm enough that when you get wet you won't freeze your arse off into the night and you dry out quickly. The surf was surging up the rocky platforms tonight as I tried out my new Richter plugs but nothing was interested...probably didn't help that I couldn't get them out too far but I suppose that's what happens when your trying to cast lures with 20lb mono (don't laugh!)

I ended up falling back to the old mulies, starting with an old 10ft Daiwa combo with a reel pinched off my old 8ft Penn that was just the right size and threw out chuncks of mulies on snelled hooks. I did get one hook up which I think was just a lost herring but it jumped off. Old mate next to me didn't seem to be having a great deal of success casting his floated mulies...in truth it wasn't the best conditions to be using floats at all. Before long he took off and I decided on snaffling his spot which afforded a bit more protection from the surging waves...or so I thought as I set up and found out that every so often it would just race up the rocks and I'd be standing there knee deep in wash. Luckily my gear sat back on the sand and there was a sort of gutter running between the rock platform and the main part of the beach so it all just poured down behind and raced around back out to sea.

The tailor which I was primarily interested in where decidedly conspicous in their absence. No big hits, no peeling runs, nothing. All I got up till a fraction after sun down was a small flat head. He managed to dislodge himself on the rocks and was carried back into the sea. After dark wasn't much better and after feeling some taps, up comes a legal sized snook. He joins the bait pile but proved to be useless later on. It's looking like a miserable night before I feel some weight on the end of the line and then it's off. Some definative shaking around leads me to think that I may have gotten a tailor after all but as it comes up it's actually a mulla that goes 48cm. He has hooked himself good, with one gang out and the the others lodged in the throat. He bleeds a fair bit and it doesn't look good but some delicate surgery sees the hooks removed and it is taken back to the water where it manages to swim off thankfully. At this point it's just past high tide, around 9.15. It's quiet again and my initial finish time of 10.30 looms and all looks lost.

Then came a hookup which I intially missed, only noticing I had something as I begun to retrieve. I allowed it to run when ever it wanted to, before the old pump and wind brought it back towards the beach. It runs a few more times and I search out any sign of it in my head lamp. It's not keen on making an appearance and whenever it hits the wash it starts pulling frantically again. Finally, after seeing some commotion in th water,  I time it right with the incoming waves and it gets washed over the rocks and onto the beach. Unfortunately, as I suspected, it was an eagle ray. Not big by any stretch but enough to put the hurt on but my gear shows it can equally put the hurt on as well. The silly bugger has fouled himself good and is mighty pissed about it. Hook removal is difficult so it's a snip of the line and he is free. I try and guide it from out the back of the rocks but it won't have a bar of it. Somehow it manages to find its way back to the ocean after flapping around pathetically. I lose sight of it and after searching up a few meters from my gear I see no sign of it anywhere and can only assume it got back to where it wanted to be.

Not long after, there is another hook up and an equally tenacious fight with plenty of line peeled. Alas its another eagle ray, smaller than the other who gets to go free but I must admit it's good fun fighting them. Just for shits and giggles, I grab the 10ft Daiwa again and grab a herring that I must've half filleted previously and set it out before resuming fishing. Nothing is happening out there but after about fifteen minutes and one retrieval in between, the bigger rod starts to bend slightly. It's not the waves doing it this time and pulling back on it there is definately something there. It doesn't seem to be in any hurry intitially so I set it back in the holder momentarily to pick up the Eupro I had quickly thrown onto the sand and clean it up. As i grab the other rod and see what's going, the thing other end takes off and is seriously putting some flex into the 10 footer. There is no pumping and winding here, it just would not turn around. No amount of pulling back can dislodge it and mindful of the 12lb mono parting, I let it have it's head whilst adjusting the drag. I needn't have worried. Whatever it was, it's bitten through the leader and gone. That gets rerigged quickly and another herring sent out but nothing was interested this time. Yet not long after (and yes, this tale does end soon!) I feel some solid hits and slight pulling of the line. The baits gone so I reload and almost as soon as it's settled on the bottom there is a solid hookup and a dogged fight ensures. This time its not a dam ray, Neptune be praised, as there is plenty of shaking and thumping and all manner of shenanigans. Gotta be a mulloway this time and it feels a good size. It fights dirty and and several times as it gets right before my feet it digs in and goes hell for leather. My headlamps spies a flash of silver thrashing about in the wash. Could it be? As it's comes up, it certainly is...my biggest mulloway yet! A grab of the tape measure puts it at 64 cm, so its a decent upgrade on the one earlier and last weeks one. Mindful of the fact that the smaller ones can sometimes taste soapy (never tried one before, just going reading) I still decide that it's a candidate for the esky and destined for the brother in laws bbq tonight. The session draws to a close after another much smaller mulloway is hooked and sent back and its clear that he has told all his mates of what happened,  that it's time to call it a nght.

Apologies for the quality of the picture, was using an i phone and trying not to get my feet in it and its my wifes so its got some stupid cover on it that makes it hard to hold the damn thing...and also the length of the post!

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