So, there we are, fishing in 90 meters of water off the western coast of Exmouth. We had tried a few spots that morning and seemed to get sharked on almost every drop! Bloody tax man always gets their bit. We moved to a new spot to try our luck, the ground looked good on the sounder, and I was optimistic about catching some more Gold Band Snapper as we had landed a couple at the previous spot.
Bart, my fishing partner for the day baited up and dropped his paternoster rig down while I was still rigging up my rod which was snapped off by a shark at the last spot. He was letting out line when suddenly, the line stopped dropping and went slack. He looked at me confused as we were running large sinkers and it was as if something had smacked it on the way down. I got excited!! Something is chasing the baits on the way down, around the 40 meter mark! I rummaged through the tackle bag and noticed I left all the jigs in the car, back at the boat ramp!! I was guttered, so here I am, staring at all my tackle and wondering what I can use to attract what ever it was that attacked the bait on the way down. I opened the lure roll and noticed I had some large pink jig heads, some plastic squid style skirts, and a bag on large pink soft plastic lures. We are on I thought, I grabbed the jig head, cut the top off the skirt, and fed it over the hook and attached the soft plastic. I remember thinking “its not pretty” but I was willing to give it a go.
I attached it to my jigging rod, opened the spool and let the home made jig disappear into the water below. I let it drop about 50 meters and started to retrieve, because it had the skirt and a thumper soft plastic (tail acts like a rudder) I did big lifts up and let it drop down a bit before reeling in some line. I repeated this action for four more ups and downs and then I felt a massive bump. I gave it one last big jig up and BANG, fish on! We still had no idea what the fish was, but it was big, fast and powerful. It swam away from the boat and started to come to the surface about 40 meters of the back and the out of nowhere, the sail fish breached out of the water, flying straight up and shaking its head. I was ecstatic to say the least. I had never caught a bill fish before and we weren’t even targeting them that day. I fought the fish for about 20mins, it was running, shaking and breaching constantly. I finally got the fish to the side of the boat, and it was huge! The sail was it great condition and the fish looked extremely healthy.
As it was so big, and I dint want to kill it for the sake of getting a photo, we let the fish swim around the boat hoping it would stop fighting long enough to get some good snaps. We had the sea anchor out the side as we were drift fishing and the sail fish started to dart straight for the rope. I gave the rod to Bart and jumped up onto the front deck of the Stacer. I grabbed the rod and ensured the fish wasn’t tangled around anything. The sail fish then decided to take me for a bit more of a run down the Port side of the boat and me being the hero I think I am, still holding onto the fishing rod with my right hand, decided to walk down the side of the boat grappling the bimini top with one hand while still fighting the fish. The sail fish had other ideas! It took me for a run, and I had nothing to do but run down the side, hoping and praying that I don’t end up in the drink! Here goes, I ran down the side of the boat, as elegant as a baby elephant in roller blades, and bang! I landed on the deck, feet first (somehow) while still having the fish on the line and the rod in the hand! Bart was amazed that I didn’t end up going for a swim (but was also mad that I would attempt something so silly!).
After the debacle of a dismount, I managed to get the fish beside the boat, I reached out and held onto its bill. Admiring the fish, I looked down and saw that the bodgie homemade jig was only just hooked onto its bill. I couldn’t believe that I had finally caught and had a massive sail fish beside the boat. While I was admiring my work of creation, I knew that I had to get photos otherwise no one would believe me. Bart was standing beside me and as I went to grab the line to pull the fish closer the jig just dropped out of its bill. I couldn’t believe it, it was only just in there! I still had held of its bill and was worried it was going to take me for one last thrash. Without thinking, I leaned back into the boat and pull the fish straight out of the water and into the deck of the boat. It was the biggest and heaviest fish I had ever landed. I had a grin from ear to ear and could not hold my excitement in! Yahooing on the back of the boat, Bart captured some pictures of the beast in my arms. Such a beautiful animal and what a fight! We reached over, picked the fish up and carefully put it back into the water. Ensuring it was ok and had water moving through its gills, I carefully gave it a push and the fish gently kicked down and disappeared into the deep water. What a privilege it was to catch, land and release such a beautiful fish.
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