| Shane Baker - Port Hedland, Western Australia |
We launched my 14ft tinny at about 5pm and
went straight to one of my best spots.We anchored in about 40ft
of water set our lines and then kicked back to enjoy a stunning
sunset and some delicious chicken and wine.
The pickers were rampant so regular bait changes were the go.
Mulloway don't usually take bare hooks!
We sat for about an hour or so and were joined by about 8 other
boats all within 100 meters of each other.
I said it was one of my favourite spots - not one of my secret
spots. What they didn't know is my exact spot was on the edge
of a 20ft drop off with a small reef formation in the deep area.
Mulloway like to work the edge of a deep hole in the hope of
catching an unaware bait school. Bait frequent the same area
hoping to scurry to shallow water should a predator attempt to
eat them.
I had just poured another drink when one of my handlines started
dancing madly on the deck indicating our first mulloway school
had just passed through and one had fallen victim to the fresh
prawn on my line. I scrambled for the spool, grabbed it with
both hands and yanked. Immediately after that, feeling the sting
of my chemically sharpened hook, the Mulloway decided he would
have no part of this and headed upstream under the boat. My wife
grabbed the video camera to get some nice action shots. Then
the inevitable happened.The second hand line started to jump
around under my feet so the wife dropped the camera and lept
on that line.
It was still light enough to see the other boats and when I glanced
across to them all eyes were on us. Envious eyes no doubt. We
both battled our fish until they were securely laying on the
deck wondering what went wrong. I took the liberty of lifting
the fish out of the water slowly so the people in the other boats
could see. I am very considerate like that.
The next line to touch the bottom yielded our third fish and
on that note we pulled anchor and decided to head for home. It
was just on dark and we were the first boat to leave. Back at
the ramp four more boats were launching. One guy 'forced' me
to show him my catch. Nothing wrong with showing off is there?
Shane
Baker
November 2004
Port Hedland,
Western Australia
Shane promises more Mulloway
fishing photos and Mulloway fishing stories
from Port Hedland and Darwin, so stay tuned!
|
