If there is one thing about fishing, then that is the unpredictability of the outcome of this pastime enjoyed by millions around the world.  Fish behaviour is determined by so many variables which include air and water temperature, current strength and direction, moon phase, air pressure, wind direction ….. and the list goes on.  Seasoned anglers take decades to learn the patterns that determine fish behaviour, and even then they are not guaranteed that they will return successful.  

Enter the occasional angler like myself who only has the opportunity to get out on weekends and then only if the weather permits.  The point here is that a lot of my success is being at the right spot at the right time even though unintentionally and unknowingly.  Such an occasion occurred this weekend when mate Xavier and I decided that it was time to stock up on snapper fillets (I am starting to scratch the surface of this fish’s behaviour).

We took off from the Woodies ramp at first light with the plan to fish the West side of Garden Island until the wind settled and then to head off to a new patch of ground which I recently discovered South of Rottnest Island.  We have a few snapper spots on the west side of Garden Island, but the Raymarine told us that there was nobody home at the time that we passed over their regular feeding grounds.  There have been some good reports of snapper being taken in shallower (less than 10m) water recently, so we changed our plan to look for some promising indications at this shallower depth.  It did not take long before the sonar reflected some good activity below and the pick was summonsed to keep us on the spot.  A few handfuls of burley made it clear that these fish were not the snapper that we were hoping for, but in fact a large school of skippy.  I never turn my nose up to a good fight on light gear, so we spent the next hour plus being entertained by these willing trevally, with the occasional curious herring mixing it up for us.

Around mid-morning we made our way to Rotto in somewhat sloppy conditions resulting in a painfully slow trip.  Xavier and I had not fished together since PC (pre-Covid) which meant that the chinwagging made the trip across more bearable.  A number of drifts over the designated grounds resulted in no more than undersized pinkies (47 - 48.5cm ouch!).  Around mid-day Xavier suggested that we head off to the West end of Rotto to a spot where we had pulled baldies from the depths before.  Loaded with bottom baits we were soon drifting over the caves below trying to entice a baldie or even better a dhuie to take our baits.  Whilst on the first drift we noticed some good bird action closer to shore, not too far from some breaking surf.  I suggested that Xavier change his bottom bait for a stick bait while I manoeuvre the boat to within casting distance from the action.  At this stage we were convinced that the action was a school of tuna smashing the baitfish.  Xavier hardly had a chance to put two turns on the Shimano before we sighted a decent mackie come up and smash his lure.  The first run was hard and long with at least 40m being stripped from the reel in very rapid time. Xavier’s first comment was that he was not going to land this fish today, especially not on the 3-5kg rod and 20lb leader with no steel.  I spoke some courage into him and said that I would follow the fish with the boat and all that he had to do is keep the pressure on his end (I too was not convinced that this fish was coming on board).  At least these macks are clean fighters, unlike the kingies and sambos that run you straight down into the bricks below.  After a decent fight we eventually gaffed the shark mackie and had it on board, celebrating with high-fives (what Covid?)

By the time we bled the fish, we had drifted a good few hundred meters from the action, but the birds were telling us that there was more to come.  Xavier took the wheel and I quickly tied a 120mm Fish Inc sinking stickbait to my now favourite combo - loaded with 30lb Pandora X8 (thanks Luke Ryan from Tackle West) and waited in anticipation for my turn to get into my first - yes first mackie.  I need to digress for a moment and confirm that I have put half a dozen others onto mackies without being able to catch one myself - the confidence level was not too high at this stage.  Xavier skilfully lined me up and I put in my cast.  My hands were shaking and the mind was running through all the checks to ensure that I did not stuff up this opportunity that has been eight years in the making.  As my lure hit the water I witnessed at least three mackies jockeying for position as they raced to engulf my offering.  I am not sure that I even turned the handle before the PE4 Oceans Legacy bent over donating line through its guides at a speed that I have only experienced after hooking an angry kingie.  

After what felt like an eternity I eventually had the fish next to the boat so that Xavier could put the gaff into it and bring it on board.  After more high-fives (sorry Hon Roger Cook) and real smiles for the photos, and we were ready for another round.  Unfortunately three other boaties noticed the action and raced right into the middle of the school of fish.  Now this does not take decades of experience to understand that type of behaviour will chase the fish straight down and turn off the switch.  Oh well, I had my first mackie, we had two on the boat, and both without steel - let’s not push it. 

We decided to call it a day and made our way back to Woodies with smiles that were impossible to erase.

YouTube video - https://youtu.be/K47sFbMVqYk

 Went out with a mate from Hillarys for a tuna troll yesterday arvo. Acres and acres of bait out near the big ships but couldn't turn a reel. Still a beautiful day to be on the water and enjoy a couple of beers.

had an interesting arvo yesterday.

didnt get out til 1 as had to do a picnic with the wife in the mroing, took a mate out, and bashed straight out to the 40s.  managed 3 dhus, 2 baldies and a breaksea and a few undersize snapper..

dhues were 48, 48 and 49! we knew they werent gonna be huge so reeled up slow and released well with the dropper weight, same with breaksea and one of the baldies and the snapper.

only keeper was a 50cm baldie, so good fish.

highlight of the day was almost falling in when a whale breached not 5m away, then proceeded to swim striaght  under the boat and out the other side.... pretty disconcerting, but amazing! unfortunately no camera, and mate was tyiing a rig! we just stood there shocked for a few minutes..

saw 2 other whales and a pod of dolphins.

curised in at 35 knots with the sunset behind us to an empty boat ramp.

not very productive, but one hell of an afetrnoon all the same.

cheers

goat

Well i gave it a good crack this weekend and after getting thrown around by the Wind and swell last night i was starting to think my early success was beginners luck.   After catching a stingray, one skippy and two wrassse I gave up. Never to be defeated and living close to ocean reef, the wind change to SW tonight inspired me to do it again.   Arrived at my spot at about 4.30pm and had to spend a bit of time working on the drift to get on to the sand spot I had eyed off.  Started the burley trail of diced mulies with a few handfuls of chook pellets soaked in tuna oil.   second cast ....on to a just size pinkie. As I am unhoooking that one the other rod goes off and his twin comes on board.   two just size pinkies in about 20 minutes. Then it all turned to crap....the wind changed pushed me back onto the bombie....the pinkie stole my hook and when re-rigging my brand new terez  15-30 the tip clean snapped off...(back to bcf tomorrow for a warranty claim) and then to top it off I had to leave the stuck anchor out there.   Anyone know of someone who can help me retrieve it. It's in 5m of water??? Anyway, the good news is I bagged out on pinkies for the first time ever ...but as usual nothing comes for free! 

G'day All
Off to Rottnest Island this week for some land based fishing . Wondering if anyone has been having any luck over there and knows or has heard what's actually biting.
Im taking my poppers and sticks to try entice some pelagic's and my soft plastics over and a few squid jigs and will visit the usual haunts of Radars and around Strickos for some likely holes in the reef.
So yeah any info knowledge or reports would be appreciated
Cheers
Beats working.

 Been getting into a few pinks lately with fish on this spot about half of the time I go there and a few smallish sambos which is a nice bonus. 12m 

Havent put up a post in since before the young fella was born (now 9 months old), felt like todays run was worth it.

Newly found time constraints have meant more efficient fishing missions, so having a go at squidding with my wife lately (kid at grand parents).

First 2 trips for 3 and 2 smaller squid, not a bad feed for the 2 of us with some fish caught on previous trips thrown in.

Saturday seemed like weather could go either way, but report looked to good to miss today, hit the water by 2:45 and shot out to the weedbeds we had been trying.

Managed 6 squid in the hr on the water with biggest hood going 27cms, also finally managed to outfish my wife!

Water was like a pond when it was time to leave and honestly if my mum wasnt cooking dinner would have stayed longer.

Nothing beats heading home at WOT after a good day out.

Went out for a post covid fish with my son yesty arvo/evening trying for an inshore snapper out from Warnbro although not too much to write home about, it was just great to get out with my son after not fishing with him for a long time, I have so missed fishing with him so much and enjoyed the hours we spent out on the briney.  Ended up with a nice black arse 6 skippy a port Jackson each my son got a ray and me a poxy eel, but all in all it was more about the time you get to spend with your family doing what you love cheers

 Needed a fishing fix, so went out on Offshore Charters with 3 other punters today.

We got our boat limit of mainly smaller fish, with a couple of nice sized Pink Snappet rounding out the catch. Mostly pinkies, coral trout and a couple of redthroats going into the esky. A couple of undersized Dhuis, pesky Skippy etc also caught and released. I got done twice on my SP outfit by suspected sharks, the second one taking all my braid with the knot at the backing snapping when I locked up.

Heaps of whales out there today and as always, bloody great to be on the water.

A couple of pics of me with average fish should be attached.

I've been going out for the last 3 weeks around either dawn or dusk trying to get myself a snapper without any luck yet have caught black ass and a decent flathead but no snapper and after having to come home at dusk a fortnight ago on a flat calm evening becanuse I didn't have any lights I decided to replace all the lights wiring and all so I can stay out in the dark. Knocked off work and got the boat and headed down to woodies shot out behind the islands and got anchored 11m around 5, I knew the full moon was not going to help with the snapper but I thought the light would be handy I had a awesome burley sock I'd made myself and got to cubing up mulies around 7:30 when I was starting to think how long should I hang around for and one of my Rods was getting a little movement so I picked it up and started winding slowly and could feel something so I just pulled it up real gentle thinking it was another flathead then it got to the surface I don't think it knew it was hooked until it saw the dinghy all I saw was a white flash as it took off back for the bottom, I got it back up again and it took off back down again fought it back up and it was done, except I netted it and it just tore a hole in my cheap bcf net so I grabbed a rag and just grabbed him by the mouth and pulled him in. Still no snapper but my boats first dhue for me not too bad either at 68cm. YEWWWWW

look

 Been a bit slack getting this one up. took advanatge of the good weather pre the blow. been out a couple of times on mine and mates boat, getting the sounder to read well finally. both have airmar 1kw transducers but reading significantly better on the furono than my lowrance. always thought transducer made most the difference but clearly not. found some new ground about 1nm in closer to the ground have fished for years. same structure, being a veru steep rise from @ 200m to 220m. interestingly fish held on top of this rise, rather then theo other ground where they are at the bottom. the school is massive, made up of grey band, pinks (XL), a deep water tusky (XL), and nannies (okay size). biggest GB went close to 40kg and the range from 5kg+.

 Went out late Friday arvo off ocean reef for my second crack at catching a snapper. Read up on all of the tips and studied the charts for a likely spot. Anchored in about 8m of water just shy of the 3 mile in a clear patch surrounded by some good looking reef. Let a couple of unweighted snelled 5/0's with 30lb leader out the back and started to burly hard with chook pellets and chopped up mulies.   Was quiet to start with so decided to drop a whiting rig down for a bit or fun. Caught a couple of skippy before one of the rods went off....disappointingly a wrasse.   About 10 minutes  later had my first decent run and landed a 55 cm snapper.   Was stoked!  In the following half hour then caught 6 x 70cm snook which was fun to start with, then pissed me off as they kept destroying my rigs and getting in the way of the snapper I was after.   On sunset the snook went quiet and then I was smashed for the next half hour by some good fish, with both rods going off at the same time. Unfortunately they kept biting through the leader between the two hooks and after losing about 10 rigs I decided to pack it in. Home by 730pm with my first snapper and a half a dozen big snook for cray bait ...and gave a few to the old folks to try.   Have since upgraded my leader to 80lb cause I think it cost me some quality fish. Anyway live and learn and had a ball in the process!  Westy. 

 Been lucky to getout the last couple of Thursday's and finally checked out the fads off o/reef Thursday week ago ,still learning my new boat so a little nervous going so far offshore, not much going on out there as far as mahi mahi  but I was surprised at how many boats were out there so early, i was lucky to have my mate Eric  take his boat as well so I felt pretty safe. After a couple of hours we made the call to at least try to catch something so we came back into the bank for a Dhu hunt, as in the last post the comments the tide on the crazy current were bloody hard to fish, I was working pretty hard to get a bite but if you let the sinker stay on the Bottom  the bait was getting hammered , really hard to hookup; had prepped a couple of new vexed meats the day before and chucked one on and got a great 94 cm beast, pretty happy with that so the world for me was pretty good at that stage, we got another nice one in closer where it had glassed off and no current, nice day out and did  almost 80nm: this Thursday went Dhu hunting again and had an awesome day , had my best rod in a rod holder that I fitted the day before onto the bow rail thinking it was tight enough with a jig on on the line ( Stella  8000) , I was fishing wth my bottom bouncing setup and concentrating on the bite ,I don't know how long it was but after a little while I glanced at my stella and it was gone and the rod holder was on an angle that was pointing to the water, my heart sank so fucken low I could of cried like a baby, I looked at my mate and said Eric I just lost my Stella it's at the bottom of the ocean, very low moment I can tell you going fuck is all this effort worth it, picked up my other rod and started fishing again trying not to think how much money just went down the drain: after a minute or so I felt a light tap tap on the line, felt vague and light, I thought better check my bait anyway ,winding slowly up my line felt a little strange,up came the first hook no bait 2nd hook no bait , the tag on the sinker line had my braid I had just lost hanging there on top of the sinker and attached to that is my Stella and I all  of a sudden I felt a whole lot better, attached to the Stella was a great baldie; faark could not believe it; gets better, loaded up my bait again and put dropped a fresh prepped meat on the rod I just lost and put it in my back rod holder where I knew I wouldn't loose it, all good fishing again; soon as I hit the bottom with my other rod I hooked up and had a great tussle with a 82 cm Dhu; happy days; just happened to look at my Stella and the rod tip was almost touching the water, had so much load on it I thought I hooked the bottom; got it out of the holder and holy fuck it was screaming out line, I thought just maybe it could be the one I been chasing for a while; after a truly epic battle up popped something I dream about at night and it make all the effort worth it, cheers fello fishos; had to tell the story:

Big boy went 107 cm just on 20 kgs

Not much of a report - but I figured I would share my struggles in case it makes anyone else feel better about their fishing ability ! 

Went out today from Rockingham, cruised out 20nm @ 0600, conditions were magic but the current was ripping as hard as I have ever seen it. The sea anchor wasn't working as it seemed to overtake the boat. Tried to anchor but the current was so fast we couldn't hold ground. I'm hardly a veteran at the bottom bouncing game but that was the fastest I have seen the water moving out of rockingham ever. 

Changed spots (several times) and seemed to escape the current only for 1x massive cuttlefish. Hard to complain when the conditions were so good. 

So... that's my 3rd outing in a row where the eski has come back empty ! Wife is starting to question if we really go fishing ! 

I'll admit, the last 3 times I've been out have been labelled as "low fish activity" on a solunar website - so either the spots I have are fished out or there really is something to the solunar theory about fish ! 

Quick trip out today after work. Weather was too good to not go. Was a bit slow but did manage to land this one. Was just under 80cm.

Seems to be a few about at the moment. Caught in 35m off Rotto on an old mark I havent fished for a couple of years.

Happy Days...

Glen had previously invited me to fish the FADs, an opportunity that I had to reluctantly decline.  I was not going to decline a second invite and even though the swell was up, I gladly accepted.

We launched before first light from Mindarie and after navigating a rather tricky Three Mile Reef with white water breaking all over the place, we were on our way to the Recfishwest FADs about 54km offshore.  A short stop at Direction Bank for breakie whilst celebrating another awesome sunrise in a crazy Covid world, and we were on our way again.  We arrived at the FAD and were pleased to see that we had this part of the ocean all to ourselves.  Our target species for the day was the dorado (also called the dolphinfish or mahi-mahi), a species that has been on my bucket list for a long time.

I had visited Luke Ryan from Tackle West the day before and he had given me some great advice on catching this fish (btw, Luke has a well equipped tackle shop with quality gear and is never shy to share his knowledge and experience).  Loaded with the lure that Luke suggested, I hooked and landed my first dorado on the second cast.  What a great fight this fish offers as it delivers a number of breathtaking leaps in-between line stripping runs,  before eventually unwillingly surrendering to the angler.  Next it was Glen’s turn and so we took turns in landing this stunning species until our arms were cramping from fatigue.  

There was a period of about an hour where the bite slowed due to a couple of spearos who arrived on the scene.  They however soon reached their quota and thankfully disappeared over the horizon.  Another two boats made a brief appearance during the morning, but everybody acted like gentlemen and made way for each other.  There were more than enough fish to go around in any case.

After an exhilarating morning of landing about 20 fish between us, we decided to make the run back home.  Back home we cleaned the six fish that we kept and vacuum packed the fillets to enjoy on another day (two of which my daughters already pinched).

What a great part of the world we are privileged to live in. 

YouTube video

https://youtu.be/waBOfS0ExWU 

Headed out to the FADs again yesterday with the bro.

Very early doors start paid off and we had our choice of FAD to ourselves for about 90 minutes. After that a few other boats moved in and it was time to bail.

Bit quieter on the numbers but we still got a bag each, including two nice bulls for Paul.

First five fish came on the 1/4oz Bucktail Banana's again and a small cow for number 6 on a trolled 8" Zuker. Quite a discrepancy there.

The second last fish pictured regurgitated a 12'' fish into its throat when we boated it, the pig still ate the little peanut wafting in front of him.

Loving the new Mercury 175 V6.  

 Hey all, haven't done this in a while so here goes

Went for a quick anchor and burley solo a couple weeks ago, started off trying to get some fresh bait, absolutely no problem finding the herring (12 in 20mins) but finding sandies completely different story only 2 in 30ms of drifting my usual spots.

Once the sun had dropped enough set up anchor and started flicking around some small softies and nailed 3 black ass in 3 casts (all small and realeased one just size) followed by a small pink. Picked up the slightly heavier combo and nailed a just size pink (released). What followed was alot of bust offs and snap off from countless rays and sharks.. finished the night with a mid 600 snapper on the tide change. Called if after another ray happy with the avros efforts. 
 

Simple sessions are sometimes the most fun being close to home waa a bonus 

Thanks for reading

In the mid 30s

The annual 2020 Exxy trip got cut short, we had to leave on Sunday only half way through our trip, due to the impending regional road closures and increasingly restrictive social distancing rules, but we still got some good fish and had a lot of laughs.

67 cartons of beer, 15 blokes, 14 bottles of spirits, 7 boats, 2 houses and 1 mother of all parties prior to the restrictive social distancing rules coming in........what a trip!

I only have a few photos from my phone and I took very few, lots of other fish but here is what I got.....

On way up....a bit apprehensive with the whole Corona thing, but we still went.

Arrived Exxy midday after a stop over on the way up, first fish on jig to Daz by 2.30 pm:

Finally a red on jig after many, many years trying for me, first half day was a good one!

First half day with lots of red stuff, these go hard on jig. 

First night in Exxy......everyone with sad faces looking for Langa, who missed the trip at the last minute due to Corona work issues.....the other crew similarly had a crewmenber missing due to quarantine from overseas travel........we "relunctlantly" drank Langas beer and used his brand new 200 series for the tow up.

Nek day, it was skippers vs deckies......me and Bodie took my boat out, the 4 deckies took Bodies boat......and the winner is.....THE SKIPPERS....easily ! We bagged out on reds, goldband and a stonking jack by 11.30 am, the deckied dicked around all arvo for a few Charlie Court.....

Some of the weather was brilliant.....me and Troy from the other crew fished in pidgeon pair Whalers within a few meters of each other for over half an hour. 

Went out for blues one day, raised one and had a hit, 14 small blacks raised in closer and 4 landed between me and Bodie over two days. 

Heading home early......to Zombieland........

My mate caught a small dhuie on my boat about a month ago, while gutting it he found one of those big eyed gobble guts fish inside it's stomach. 

Just found it quite interesting, I've caught them before on small hooks, but never thought to send them back down as live bait, I will be next time tho! 
 

what surprises have others found in the stomachs of dhuies? 

 So many posts about the virus thought I would break it up with a fish post. Fished Gamex with some mates. First time never caught a marlin before. Broke heaps of gear. Two rods, outrigger but caught three Marlin and all solid fish in what was pretty quiet conditions. Went 4,4,3 

 Bagarius yarrelli, also known as the giant devil catfish or goonch, is a very large species of catfish in the genus Bagarius found in rivers in South Asia.
It is possibly also found in Southeast Asia, but this may involve a separate species.The Kali River goonch attacks were a series of fatal attacks on humans claimed to be perpetrated
by man-eating goonch catfish in three villages on the banks of the Kali River in Nepal and India, between 1998 and 2007.

I have the opportunity to fish this ferocious man eating catfish in Thailand.
While most goonch fishing were caught in India and Nepal by live/ dead fish.
As a avid lure fisherman myself, I tried to catch this magnificent fish by mean of artificial lure.

Youtube channel -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qZX8RKecIo&t=111s

We have had some excellent captures by our juniors at the club lately.  It is great to see the young ones out competing on the water, and all bodes well for the future.  In fact, juniors comprised 15% of the total field in the last club competition.

Pictured are Luke with a quality 10kg Spanish Mackerel, Grace and Scarlett with nice tuna, Darcy, Max and Sarah with Dhufish, and all caught out of Hillarys or Ocean Reef. 

The smiles say it all.

 Got a nice feed of herring, and 6 nice size skippy behind Garden Island.

Headed out Friday afternoon for a sunset/night fish. I was initially a bit worried about the winds as they did not drop off as per the forecast, however bit the bullet at 5pm and headed down the ramp to check it out. Turned out to be quite a nice night on the water. The winds were gentle, no swell and a nice sunset made it a pleasent couple hours on the water.

We trolled the back of the 5 fathom for about 30mins, while we sounded some spots, with no luck on lure. Picked a spot and anchored up just on/before sunset. We probably left it a bit late as soon as I dropped down I was on to a nice 600mm pink, didn't even have time to get any burley out. A few pics and I dropped back down then set to work on the burley pot. Shortly after the reel started screaming again and I was on, what a called for, a much larger pink snapper only to be reefed shortly into the fight.

After the sun went down it all went quiet and we packed up by 9 with the one fish and one unlucky squid that decided to hang around the boat.

 It's been over a year since the last time we went out for a metro pinkie bash and the weather looked too good on Saturday not to give it a crack. Got up early and made it to the ramp by 4.30 with the aim of making it out past rotto before the sunrise which was predicted for 6am. We buggered up and took a little too long to get out and missed that first light. Anchored up but quickly realised the tide was going apposite to the wind which was causing our burley and bait float away from the reef. 2nd attempt sorted that out and we were away. Action was instant and within 30 minutes we had a 65cm, 70, 50 (which went back) and lastly a stonker 90cm come up. All were caught on weighted floating mulies on snelled rigs. After a couple more bites but no hookups it went quiet  and that was us done. Pretty happy to get some fillets in the freezer. Didn't weigh the big boy unfortunately but it was super fat, does anyone have any thoughts on a rough weight?

upload pic

 I went out early yesterday to the 5 fathom to try and catch some skippy so i can take my dad out when he comes back down in a fornight. I got 6 skippy, 2 small snaps a small ray and a just undersize black arse  so hopefully they will be there when dad comes down cheers.c

 My old man came down for my daughters engagement party over the weekend, managed to get him out for a couple of hours on Sunday mornin. I know there only whiting but its his favourite fish. To me it wasn't about the fish, it was spending some quality time out on the water with your dad, memories  that you can remember and cherish especially as his health is deteriorating and i really only get to see him a few time's a year. On the way back in we were flagged down by a fellow boatie who was having fuel issues, so i gave him a tow back to pt kenedy ramp from the sisters, he wanted to pay me for doing it but i said no its not needed, as i was happy to help out a fellow boatie in a little bit of trouble. Darryl

Hit the ramp around 6pm to head out to one of my favourite inshore reefs.  Conditions were good with 5-10kn sw winds, moderate swell and a high tide.  After about 10 minutes we arrived and watched the swells for a while before deciding where to anchor.  The sets were reasonably large and surging so we couldn’t really get as close as I would have liked.  Before we set up there was a quick dash to check out the flocks of birds which were active about 500m away but by the time we got there the action was gone.

I had been dusted by kingfish at this spot before so brought out the reasonably heavy gear and set a heavy drag.  40cm garfish was the bait of choice and after a dozen casts or so it was smashed.  The fish played the game initially and headed away from cover towards the boat.  A moment of concern as it headed for the anchor rope but it swam above it and then saw the boat.  After seeing the yellow flashes there was no doubt what it was and it went pretty hard heading for the bommie that was close to us.  Nice to see it in the net and while it was only a rat, pound for pound they go pretty hard.  A quick photo and released to swim off strongly.

We kept casting and just after the sun set the tailor came on for a short while.  I had quite a few garfish loose their tails and probably need to change my rig to position a hook in the tail section.  It didn’t matter though as my eldest boy, who has never really fished a lot, hooked up to an angry fish using a large mulie on a gang.  It is always good to see “new” fishers tackle the task and we were stoked when it was landed.  Again, a quick photo and a strong release.

As the light failed we packed up to be back at the ramp about 7.45pm.  A quick trip where everything went to plan, other than having to cut the anchor off as the surging conditions wrapped the chain around a rock.