Had a great day out on the water today, even thou the first 8 hours were extremely slow! Will post up some pictures soon..

We decided to go fishing out of Ocean Reef yesterday as we had tried from Fremantle the week before with some success, but not enough to warrant the hassle of the East Fremantle ramp and the costs of parking. Hearing reports from the weather bureau of strong 10-15 knot south easterlies and a 3.5-5mtr and over swell, we were a little concerned about what sort of fishing we were going to be able to do. After making the decision to meet at the skippers house at 5.45 we arrived out at our first spot 2 hours later and proceeded to use two drift anchors as the current and seas made difficult fishing.

We decided that we would use a combination of squid and mulies and on the very first drop I landed a great sized cuttlefish. Things were beginning to look good with the bites continuing over the lump and onto the flat ground. We decided that we would go back around and try it again to see if we could hook up onto anything solid. Three drifts later we were still hadn't found the lump and decided that we would try elsewhere.

Traveling another 5 km out we found a great spot with fish all over the sounder and we set the drift anchor and proceeded to get some good bites over the lump and decided that we were going to anchor and berley up as a big school of midrange fish popped up on the echo sounder directly over a 5 meter coral rise. After two failed attempts of anchoring we finally got onto a decent spot with some severe ledges below us. The problem was that we landed three scorpion cod all of equal size for the next 15 minutes and a bit of tension surfaced in the boat. Shortly after I thought I had hooked into the bottom and left my line in free spool until mighty thumping headshakes began and I was onto something. After a 10 minute fight in 40 meters of water a 6 foot wobbygong shark surfaced and my hopes for a big dhufish had been dashed. Even though wobbygongs are good eating, we decided to return him back to where he came as the effort of filleting and cleaning them hardly makes up for their taste.

For the next 8 hours we traveled the ocean moving over 15 different spots, 30 kilometers and trying many different methods to catch a fish. Having no luck we were sure that we had hit a black day as there was a big full moon the night before and maybe the fish had gone on holiday. The only thing that kept our spirits up were the masses of whales heading north to breed and the huge water spouts appearing from over the ocean. We decided that we would head back in close and have one more drift over a spot that normally produces, called dhufish alley. This was the first spot we had tried during the day without any luck, the only thing different this time was that the wind had swung south westerly and dropped to 8-12 knots.

Two minutes after the first drop we knew our luck was about to change with some great bites on everyone's rods. After re-baiting we all put back down again and things heated up with Gribbo hooking into a solid fish, first called for a pink snapper, but a few good tail beats later we knew it was a dhufish. As Gribbo got it halfway to the surface, Bolts hooked into another dhufish which sucked down his bait and things began to get hectic. I had my car in the Sunday times for sale and as the phone rang, the first dhufish hit the surface and was successfully netted. Three minutes later number two was onboard and the boat began to fill with smiles, jokes and jubilation. Even thou I had missed my fish, my car sold first thing the next morning as a result of taking the call.

We decided that we would go back around and try again as there were some really good King George(KG) bites off the back off the lump and into the weed. Shortly after 3 of the best fish we had seen for quite some time came aboard with one measured in at 57cm, one at 55cm and one at 50cm, very close to the boat record for size. After the third KG came aboard we knew we had enough fish for a bbq and enough until the next time we go fishing. The pain and agony of a long day fishing soon turned into one of happyness and satisfaction and the half hour journey through rough seas home became all the more worth while. Amazing what an hour of good fishing can do to the system compared to nearly nine hours of next to nothing. Was a great day to be out on the water!