Today was an experimental day in the boat. Helby Bank is the one mark we have from our Fishfinder book so after making our way out through the beacons to the outside of the Ningaloo Reef we turned to the north and set about trolling the 5 or 6km to Helby.
45 minutes of trolling the famous purple lure and a green skirt proved unsuccessful so we tried "bottom bouncing" over a couple of fishy looking lumps, next to Helby Bank.
After catching a few Sweet Lip (good rating) and losing a lot of rigs to the rocky bottom, we decided to head for home.
Not long after the lures went out the back Hanno had a major run on the purple lure. It's run was quite different to that of a Spanish Mackeral so my immediate reaction was he had hooked a billfish, possibly a sailfish or Marlin. His fish first ran backwards away from the boat and then unusually took a massive run sideways centre metres below the surface. Just as this was happening and we were all yelling Marlin, the other lure took off at a similar speed. Although it was rightfully Stelleen's turn she kindly offered me the rod as she already has a marlin to her name from Warroora. Unfortunately it quickly spat the hook so all attention focused on to Hanno's fish that seemed well hooked but was still putting up a great fight.
After having a bit of difficulty netting it (although it was the biggest landing net I could get in Adelaide it was still only about half the size of what we needed) the 122cm monster was in the boat.
Lots of measuring and photos followed as we discussed this massive fish being the biggest "Spanish Mackeral" we had seen. It wasn't until we sent Brett a photo and he identified it as a Wahoo that the unusual run and it's huge size all made sense. Sure wish Brett was with us on this trip cos we spend a ridiculous amount of time scouring through books and brochures, trying to identify the fish we are catching. His knowledge of fish would be invaluable.
Soon we were trolling our way back home again and within a minute or 2 the purple lure took off again. Unfortunately I took over the rod, only to see my hooked fish start flying skyward out of the water about 60 metres behind the boat. 3 or 4 of jumps of 2 or 3 body lengths or more and we noticed the cause of all this frantic action. At least one and we suspect more sharks of a reasonable size were chasing our hooked fish. It's leaping was it's way of fleeing these vicious killers. To cut a long story short the sharks got their fish and the prized AND highly successful PURPLE LURE. A sad day!
Despite the loss we still headed for the ramp feeling very satisfied that our "experimental day" had produced a bit of fun and had us thinking that when we gather a bit more info, Exmouth will probably produce a few more stories to tell.
Fresh wahoo and our last pack of Port Lincoln Nannaghi, finished off a great day.