Had just my second fish off Dampier yesterday after moving from Samson to Karratha.  It was a pleasant surprise when we arrived at the ramp just after lunch, unlike last the last time when we attempted to wet a line we could actually find a car park...Good start!
Went out to a little spot i had been told about, was a little choppy on the way out but i knew that a  break in the high pressure system was due to cross the coast mid afternoon.
Found some good ground and dropped the pick around 1330.  By 1335 the fisrt fish made it to the boat, a coral cod and a sign that we were hunting in the type of forrest we were looking for.
Second fish a few minutes later, yes a small coral trout 45cm but not big enough to convince me to put it on ice but promising.
A few small cod and bluebone next, then a solid hit on the float line.  The Abu7000's ratching was smoking.  I was excited until i saw the whaler do some crazy sort of death roll and bust up my gear, oh well!
Bottom bashing with my creek rod proved to be a lot more fun, fishing with six kilo line i managed to land two nice rankin's one 5kg one 7kg.  Sorry the photos's ar in slide format and i am saving them for an article.
We caught another two coral trout, one 41cm one 40cm unfortunately we didnt get the monster we wanted still had fun on light gear.
I was hooked on to something solid with the Shimano Calcutta 200B and my 6kg Barra outfit for twenty minutes and it kept burying itself into the reef, i managed to stay connected to it for a while and get that necessary practice ready for summer time on the light stuff, dont know what it was sorry guys.  My guess with the dead weight and flighty runs to different sections of the reef is it was either a mother of a cod or even a trout.
So all in all was a good day, only kept the two rankin's one each for me and my mate, let more than 40 fish go.
Was glass on the way back to the ramp, gave me a chance to open the old girl up and clear her throat, Bring on summer!