BOASTING RITES OR RIGHTS?
I know that when a couple of so called mates from down south leave a phone message, saying something like, ‘you’ll regret it if you don’t ring back’, and you can hear them giggling like little kids with the sound of the ocean in the background, that there is a fishing story involved. When it comes to fishing, boasting rights are a rite of passage. Anyone who fishes likes to tell their story and who better to tell than your mates, especially if you know they are not fishing at the time. So when Jungle and Duths left the above message a few days ago, I decided to let them hang out to dry for a few days before phoning back to let them claim their boasting rights.
A few years ago we found a couple of good Dhuie spots in the Capes region and our rules were if you search together, then you both get to mark the spot for future reference. We have only fished this spot six or seven times, which is one of the main reasons it keeps producing. Bite time has also played a major role here, with the fishing quiet for a few hours and then the dinner bell goes off on bite time. This spot also seems to work best later in the season, when the Dhuies have moved further out. This year I did not get a chance to test all these theories out again before heading north, so Jungle was more than pleased to fill me in on the details. Seems they fished the first spot with some small fish landed and while heading to another spot noticed a cloud of fish and so dropped over. With three on board, they only did two drifts, because on both occasions they had triple hookups on big fish. The end result was two large Dhufish landed to 35lb, huge blackarse cod and then unfortunately another 40lb + Dhufish, landed immediately after, that was difficult to release. The weighted release required three more snapper leads along with the swim bladder being vented under the pectoral fin. The fish did make it back to the bottom, was not seen floating afterwards, but the jury is still out on whether it would have survived. The guys knew it would be suicide to continue fishing at the spot so did a quick run further out in the Barcrusher, before heading home.
No sooner had I finished this phone call when another mate, Gary, phoned to tell me about his recent five day trip with the Great Escape Charter Company, out from Broome. Besides the grandeur of exploring this spectacular part of WA, the fishing was apparently sensational. Using only overheads and lures, the action was fast and furious with an array of fish landed including barra, mangrove jack, big trevally and blue nose salmon. With a chef on hand to cook their catch, it was basically fish for breakfast, lunch and tea, with the odd mud crab thrown in and all washed down with a selection of Gary and Jude Berson’s Victory Point wines. I am yet to go fishing on my northern sojourn, but you can bet when I do they’ll all be hearing about it.
To answer last week’s question, the skipper of the ill fated ‘Exide Challenger’ who was rescued off the southern ocean in 1997, was Tony Bulimore. This week’s question is, ‘Why did the boys have to release their 40lb+ Dhuie?”
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