Monday 5th September - One big fish & a broken rod

Day 3

Awoke to a windy morning with very choppy seas, hoping the swell would calm down as we had been told we are going on our fishing charter this afternoon.

After a lemon juice & hot water shooter followed by a very healthy breakfast, it was off for a wander heading S/W along the shore under the jetty. Picking up shells as well as more bits of rubbish that had washed into shore. Every bit we pick up helps.

Tracey was heading down to meet more newcomers and told us we would be going out on our fishing charter at 12.30pm. and advised us to eat something beforehand.  So it was home for a quick lunch of sandwiches and it wasn't long before Drew arrived to let us know what would be happening and to wander down to the beach when we were ready.

We're ready

Our Skipper, Dave and deckhand Adam took us out to Rosily Cay where Tez pondered being lost at sea and how could she know which way to go when there was no land in sight. Dave provided her with directions to Indonesia and Africa which made her feel a lot better.  NOT

As we moved about the ocean looking for the best fishing spots, we were starting to wonder whether we were going to get a go or not. Dave and Adam were just testing the water.

When is it our turn ?

When we were finally set up, and Tez ready with the video camera to catch all the action, it wasn't long before Mags caught the first fish of the day, a lovely dinner size Spanish flag.

Mags & Bugsy waiting for the big one

Bugsy was next, catching another dinner size Spanish flag and then a Chinaman cod which was too small to keep.

3 lines over the edge saw a bit of entanglement as a few sharks invited themselves to the party.


Mags & Dave’s line ended up being hooked up together with a 9ft bronze whaler shark giving  us all a bit of an adrenalin rush as we watched him twist and turn fighting on the end of the line going under the boat and back again.



Yes that is a shark and yes a little too close for comfort.

The shark was fighting but when it got to the top it just hung there with no movement then in the blink of an eye, suddenly whipped around and flung its evil torso snapping Dave’s shimano rod in half leaving the other half wrapped up with the fishing line still attached to the shark. Another quick tail flick and the rod, line & shark were all freed, leaving Dave to have a cry over his broken fishing rod and us feeling very excited about what had just happened with some of us hesitant to drop our lines in again.

Dave's broken shimano

Sue’s turn next,  as she wowed us all with her fisherwoman skills by catching a Remora (those fish that stick to sharks) which we let go after having a bit of a look at how it works.  Then she hooked a HUGE Spanish mackerel on the end of her line, the rod holder belt was put on as she fought for about 10 minutes to bring it in. What a beauty.

Dave's still eating

We saw Loggerhead turtles, whales breaching in the distance and a sea snake as we moved around to different areas to get a better bite.

Pilot whales were rounding up the fish, but the sharks were eating them just as quick as we were dropping our lines in.

We did some trawling on the way home, lost a lot of lures and got no fish. The day turned out to be a quite expensive one for our charter crew, with lost lures, broken rods and snatched hooks.

We stopped on the way to feed the left over bait to the local resident giant cod.  We were met by more sharks and could just see the shadow of the big fella in the deep, he apparently only likes fish and wasn't impressed with what we had to offer. Hopefully we can come out here again.

Dinner

When we got home, we were all pumped and we now had a shark tale of our very own. We prepared a dinner of freshly caught fish along with the vegies from Carnarvon.  It was absolutely delicious with a little glass of complimentary red.