Managed to head out to Toothfish Reef yesterday. The wind was up a bit from the North East, blowing at 15-20 knots. It made for a bit of excitement out wide as we over ran the waves with the bow digging in to a few on the way down the face. I said to my Mate with a grin on my face and my needle point teeth showing “Do you think anyone is following us to Toothfish Reef?” Travelling at 25 knots neither of us was game to turn around and look cos you couldn’t take ya eye off what was happening in front of ya for a split second for fear of getting splattered on the deck when we landed.

Short of getting a solid wheelhouse there has gotta be a better way of staying dry when ya take a bit of water over the bow and it runs up the windscreen cos bugga me I reckon it should run over the top of the canopy and not under it. Those push studs that join canopy and windscreen just don’t cut the mustard. My biggest beef is not getting wet, it’s when ya dry out and ya get salt crystals in ya jocks. LOL

The forecast was for the wind to swing to the SE and drop a bit which suited me cos the Toothfish Reef Dhuies don’t go for that Northerly much, well not the decent size ones anyway and we didn’t want to be releasing 6 and 7 kg fish all day.

Me mates Missus had put in an order for a couple of pan size Red Snapper cos the ones we got a few trips ago she reckoned were terrific. My parting words as we left that morning were that she better “go and get a bigger pan”. 

Well getting the Dhuies was no big deal as we managed two of 10Kg, well me Mate did and that’s enough said about that..... Bastard! 

Gotta protect this valuable resource on “My reef” so we betta go an get ya Missus a couple of Snapper.

Well who do ya think is the gun fisherman and can go and “Fish To Order”? Yep I reeled in two magnificent Red Snapper a double header no less! Well if only the Fisheries would adjust the minimum size then all me Mates Missus would have to do is get a smaller pan!

Well the focus of the day was two Red Snapper or KG’s or Cod or any bloody thing that was gunna fit in the pan. I gotta say that the magnificent Cod that I battled with was a sensational fish and had me scurrying for the Fish ID book because its Movie Star good looks had us both baffled. Turns out it was a huge Black Arse who was that pale that it looked as though it hadn’t seen the light of day ever. Catch of the day in my book. Anyone can catch a couple of Dhuies on Toothfish Reef!

Time to move again to catch those bloomin Reds so I put me nose into the wind and got the sextant out and plotted a course to........ X.  I’m now using all my cunning and guile to tweak the knobs, buttons and dials on the sounder.  I’ve found the spot so I carefully calculate the drift to put us on it.  Well, “Fair Go Mate I’m still at the helm, the engines not even switched off yet and if those Polaroid glasses are not made of safety glass then when that rod snaps in two ya gunna lose both eyes and probably ya head”. “What the hell have ya got on the end of the line, ya rod looks like a U bolt?” I don’t know about Fishing for the Future Mate I reckon ya “Fishin Fa Ya Life”

We had our two Dhuies for the day and we had made a pact that we would bring up anything else ultra slow and even give it a decompression stop when we first saw colour (great advice Andy Mac).            I reckon I was gunna have to give me Mate a deco stop on the way back up cos I reckon he wasn’t far off goin over the side. Anyway after huge amounts of encouragement I persuaded me Mate to not get dragged overboard cos it was too much explainin to his Missus. He was swearin on the Bible or the Bourbon (I can’t remember in the excitement) that he had a bloody huge great Snapper that was trying to drag him over the side and drown him. He reckoned the head shaking was rattling his fillings out. “Toughen up Princess”.

“Maaate what sought of fisherman do ya call yourself”. “That’s not a Snapper that’s the biggest bloody Dhufish that I’ve ever seen”. “We’ve got a couple of 10 kg’s on board, we caught a 15 kg a few weeks ago, this thing looks like 20kg+”.

We didn’t bother to bring him on board and I had the duct tape in me hand and was in the process of taping the release weight to the reef anchor when there was a huge splash and me Mate has copped a face full of water as this thing has turned tail and headed home. It’s as if he was saying “I’m the old man of Toothfish Reef you can’t catch me”. We stood on the deck and saluted him under the fluttering ships flag as he quickly vanished to the depths. It was truly one of those blokey and fish moments. For the record me Mate is saying that it was not a tear in his eye and that it was sea water rolling down his cheek. Yer right!

At that moment I’ve seen movement in the corner of my eye and I’ve realised that we’ve been followed. Damn, someone has sent the Merchant Navy to ping our spot. A 50,000 Tonne live sheep carrier is bearing down on us but we have taken evasive action and we move into stealth mode. I push the throttle down and head for home reminding my mate that he has to have his blindfold on within five nautical miles of Toothfish Reef.

As if on cue the Nor Easterly drops and swings behind to give us a fair wind home after another great day.

Toothfish