I was quietly confident that Friday would throw up some reasonable conditions given what Seabreeze and the BOM had predicted however when I was confirming with my Mate that she would be a goer I neglected to mention the swell to him. He is good with about half a metre but freaks out with any more, so I reckon the forecast of a two metre swell was good. Ha Ha!

We were on the road and passed through pockets of fog on the way so I thought yep no breeze at this stage. Well that didn’t last for too long cos there was fifteen knots blowin by the time we got to the ramp.

“Maaate everyones pullin their boats out and we are the only ones puttin one in, I reckon you gotta drag ya ass outa bed a bit earlier in the morning.” “Well I guess no ones gunna try and follow us to Toothfish Reef.”  We are underway and making about 25 knots and she’s a bit lumpy. We hadn’t gone more than a couple of miles before we had a pit stop. “Mate I reckon that swells about 2 metres what do you think?” “Crikey Mate, ya expectin a Tsunami or something, why ya putting ya lifejacket on?” LOL. We are underway again and settle in at about 22-24 knots so as to not get too much air time, although that is a bit of a struggle as we get out wide.

Thought we might do a bit of exploring today to see if we could find the extremities of productive ground on Toothfish Reef cos we know that the sheer drop offs of the huge bomboras always do well. I sometimes wonder if those bombies are a hazard to commercial shipping being so close to the surface or whether a ship would just knock them over and just keep going. They might rip open the sides of a ship and sink it but I certainly don’t want that to happen as that will certainly give the location away.

I’ve got some interesting structure showing on the sounder so we give that a bit of a go and it’s not long before me Mate is latched on to something interesting. It puts up a bit of a struggle before he has landed a small Sambo. A quick pic and back it goes. I managed to pull in a medium size Blackarse and sent him back too. Next me Mate hauls in two Dhuveniles on the next drift and we figured we have located the nursery for Toothfish Reef so we move on.

We move to the East of the reef and start a drift on some good looking ground when all of a sudden my line takes off. There is no having to set the hooks on this one and I pick it for something other than a Dhuie. It gives the impression of a Snapper and I am hoping for a big Red or a Pink but turns out to be Blue, a Queen Snapper. Next my Mate is on and he calls it for a whopper (as he usually does) and lands another Queeny, definitely smaller than mine. Snigger snigger.

We move back for another drift on the same spot and I’m just getting nibbles so I try a few strikes but nothing, although something has a go as the sinker drops back down so I strike again, and again something has a go. This happens four times before I haul in a nice KG, nothing huge but I’m rapt as I’ve wanted one for ages.

Right, we will have our bag limit of Prize Fish when we catch two Duies so off we steam to right bang centre of Toothfish Reef. I think to meself don’t let this bastard get the jump on ya so I make sure that my hooks are baited before we get to the spot. The action here is gunna be hot. I take note of the drift direction and go directly up wind and just over the X spot. The sea anchor goes over and we count one, two, three. Both baits are in the water at the same time and dropping rapidly then me Mate yells those horrible words to me. “I’m on”. I reckon he’s dropped his sinker straight onto the head of this fish who has been sleeping and has taken a gulp of water in surprise and sucked in his bait. He’s calling it for a whopper again but I can see that it is only a moderate size fish by the bend in his rod but that doesn’t stop him playing it up. I ask “So what are you calling it as” He goes “A bloody big Dhuie, I can tell by the head shakes”. I said “Bull$@#t Dhuies don’t shake their heads”. And he goes “the big ones do but you wouldn’t know about that.”  To add insult to injury I’ve got to leave my line unattended to net and land his Dhuie. It turned out to only be 4.5 kg.

So back over the X spot and the scores are nil-one. The rules are clarified; anything that is a bit iffy size wise has to be brought up slow. The sea breeze has started to kick in and the tension and excitement are at fever pitch. He screams “I’m on”. My heart sinks as I’m surely done for now. My ExMate is giving it to me big time. “I’m the Dhuie King”. What a relief it was to see an “Iffy” but me Mate wasn’t letting up. “I’ll release him just so you can have a chance to catch a Dhuie”. Sure. He wasn’t game to put him next to the measuring stick cos he knew he was under. Phew! I’m still in with a chance.

Back over X again and me Mate is all mouth cos he is one up in the Dhuie stakes. I paid careful attention to the way I presented my bait on the hook and I imagined how a squid would swim as I pierced the chemically sharpened hooks through it so as to present it naturally. I can feel the telltale signs of a Dhuie sucking on my bait and I was itching to set the hook but I held back long enough to give me Mate a running commentary on what was happening. I could feel the slurping and sucking of that Dhuie through the braid and I had plenty of line out with a long scope so I could hold bottom because we had a drift of 1.4 kts and I already had 16 Ozs of lead on and wasn’t prepared to go up to 20 Ozs. The thought running through my mind as I was looking at our lines in the water was that because I had played out so much line and that my line was further from the boat than my Mates was that when we drifted over a fish that he would get to it first. But anyway I was feeding out line just enough to keep the bait stationary, yet not too much that I couldn’t feel the slurping action. The swell was well and truly every bit of the forecast two metres and the rise and fall of the sea just meant that I had to be perfectly in tune with what was happening down below on the end of my line. Those times after every fishing trip when I had wiped down and cleaned my reel and maintained it so that the drag always remained as smooth as the day I bought it flashed through my mind. I had a heightened sensory alertness. I had my rod held high as we rose to the top of the swell and as we dropped down the swell and downwind I lowered the tip of the rod and then the Dhuie made its move, it started swimming off. I pushed the lever drag to the strike position and also thumbed the reel and then I struck. My rod doubled over, this fish was not budging an inch, in fact it immediately started taking line and in a voice that could of been mistaken on the coast as thunder I roared those immortal words that sound so sweet when coming from my lips “Iiiiiiimm Oooonnn” Now, instead of being an upside down smiley face I have sucked in the glorious West Australian fresh sea air because I have to savour the moment.

I am now very concerned for me Mates welfare because I think he’s got a sudden case of tonsillitis and is unable to speak. I however remain very humble. “Maaate.” But before I could say anything more a heap more line is being peeled off my reel and I realise that I truly have a nice fish. I savour the time it takes to battle this leviathan of the deep. Even though I know I have a nice fish hooked and I trust the gear I am connected with I take my time for two reasons- 1. To be able to return him to the depths if I choose and 2. Let my mate savour my moment. Ha Ha. Turns out to be a 10.5 kg Dhuie.

Me Mate reckons it was a bit rough on the way back home but honestly I didn’t feel a thing, I was floating on air. Ha Ha!

On a serious note I would like to report a case of attempted fraud.

Maaate, when you pick my fish up and ask to have photos taken I think the whole world needs to know the truth. Good try anyway.

Another great days fishing on Toothfish Reef.