11-01-2006, 04:36 AM
[font "Times New Roman"]Our social club at work had organized a dozen or so members to go to Huskisson on an Off Shore Fishing party.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]The township of Huskisson is situated on the shores of Jervis Bay about 120 miles south of Sydney in the State of New South Wales in Australia.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]We left home about 1am and traveled to Huskisson arriving there about 4am. On leaving the protection of Jervis Bay (Pronounced Jarvis Bay) we encountered strong winds and the swells appeared to be about ten feet high. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]Upon reaching the fishing grounds the motor was stopped and fishing lines were soon over the side. I can’t claim to be a good sailor and was soon feeling the effects of the heaving rolling motion of the sea. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]The boat was a local trawler described as a "Banana Boat" as it had no keel and was curved like a banana. It was about 65 feet long and when it wasn’t rolling from stem to stern it was rolling from side to side. Not at all comfortable. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]We were using raw prawns (Shrimp) for bait and for half an hour no one was getting bites. My 10" Alvey hand reel was cramped onto the hand rail of the boat. I wound it in to check the baits. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]As I lifted the hooks and sinkers clear of the water I projectile vomited all over the prawns and involuntarily dropped them back into the water and I grabbed a firm hold of the hand rail with both hands.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]For several minutes I gripped the rail with white knuckles, my body shaking while I emptied my stomach. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]When I finally stopped vomiting I took a drink of bottled water to flush the taste out of my mouth and checked my fishing line. I felt a thud thud and commenced reeling in my catch. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]When the fish "Showed colour" I was able to see I had caught two large Nannygai and as they came to the surface flashing orange the rest of the party clamored in uproar "There’s a big shark after them".[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]As they broke water I could see the shark a short distance behind them. The Captain of the boat yelled out “Tease it up to the boat" and he yelled to my fishing mates “Clear out of the way you blokes, I'm going to Gaff this shark and drag it on board". I dropped the fish back into the water and teased the shark bringing it closer until it came along side the boat. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]It was an 8 foot Blue Mako. The Captain drove the Gaff into its side and heaved it aboard where it put on quite a performance bouncing around on the deck and biting the timber ribs sending flakes of grey paint in all directions. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]It was soon immobilized with a steel tomahawk in the brain and was lashed to the opposite side of the boat for safety to that where we were fishing. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]Being the first catch of the day my two large 2 ½ pound Nannygai were the focus of attention as they are generally only caught here up to 1 ½ pounds and various friendly voices jokingly called out “Here Max, spew on my prawns too”.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]What with the excitement of the Nannygai and the Shark the sea sickness promptly took a back seat and was soon forgotten and fishing proceeded in earnest with modest catches of various species being taken.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]Suddenly voices were raised in unison up at the bow of the boat [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]“LIFT YOUR LINES.. LIFT YOUR LINES” [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]they shouted and proceeded to lift theirs on high. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]I was baffled what the hell they were on about. I thought. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]A minute or so later a huge Whale Shark came alongside the trawler. It swam slowly along rubbing its mottled skin against side of the boat. I was told later they often do this to remove parasites and barnacles. It appeared to be about six feet wide at the head and was half the length of the boat.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]We all promptly lifted our lines to prevent them being fouled on the Whale Shark which are not known to be dangerous as they are plankton eaters. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]Nannygai have large black eyes and are a brightly colored orange fish with large mouths. They are covered with large shiny scales and have lots of prickly poisonous barbs and spines which makes handling them difficult and cleaning them tedious. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]The flesh is white and flaky. They have few bones and are an excellent eating species; the flavor is sweet and resembles crab in taste.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]Because they have large mouths they have lots of colloquial nick names such as Monster Mouth and Garbage Guts and reeling them to the surface with their mouths wide open requires a lot of physical effort particularly with a double hook up.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]The Blue Mako Shark was later cut up and the steaks shared amongst the party. They too are excellent eating. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]The Captain wanted the jaws for himself so they were cut out and were later to be placed on a Bull Ant nest so the ants would clean the meat residue off the jaws and they could then be sold to tourists.[/font]
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