RONNIE AND THE BIG SHARK CAT. I'm thinking I first met Ronnie at the Brunz Pub. I had joined the social Golf Club in the early days after our arrival, and joined the Hotel darts club not long after. Ron was a particularly good ‘spear chucker', he was a great scout and he became a very close mate over the ensuing years. Ian had sold his boat, mainly due to an unfortunate oversight. He forgot to add 2 stroke oil to one of the outboard tanks one day. We had motored down to the river entrance to go and catch some fish, we negotiated the break walls and then the most horrendous noise exploded from the starboard engine, you don't go far on one motor, particularly when a piston is hanging out the block of the deceased motor Lesson well learnt. Ron had sold his business and was keen to have a go at fishing for a living, a 22 foot clinker hulled green fibreglass SHARK CAT WAS THE GO. Twin 70 hp Johnson motors, with an open deck configuration. Ron was a deft hand at carpentry and fiber glass lamination. In no time a centre consul was built and glassed, a 4 ½ hp motor and windlass installed. We set about constructing fish traps, fitting out with mooring line and depth bubbles and I.D. flags. My fishing license changed boats again. By this stage in my fishing career a certain professional and knowledgeable approach was evident, fish trapping was the way to go. WE did good, spent some rough days weather wise, that's the trade off. Now we have a compass, and the very necessary colored sounder, we have Marine Band radio and CB, we have flares and we have a great fishing platform. THE STINKING BAIT. Everything from chicken guts to bags of prawn heads we used in our traps, we used fish frames, fish heads, we even used Ox liver on occasion. Now all these enticements had relative success, we had our special marks, the HOFTBREAUHOUSE was a productive place, and to this day I am not certain what attracts fish to this elusive spot in the ocean. As an aside; when nothing was biting on the "HOUSE", it was a good chance everywhere else was quite. The reference to the "STINKING BAIT" became evident after we hauled the traps, particularly if we couldn't service them for a couple of days, this occurred more times than enough. Well the bait goes down very fresh, it comes up pretty rotten. That is when we haven't had a "hit'. When the traps are fishing not much bait is left, when things are scarce the fish trap appears with most of the bait still intact. Chicken guts and Ox livers emit the most obnoxious odor when hitting the fresh air; the ooze gets all over one. But that's a fisherman's life. HAND LINING AND DROP LINING. We always had a couple of rods, hand lines and fresh bait. You would be silly not to take advantage of the "BURLEY TRAIL" streaming behind the traps way down below. We would drift or hang of one of our traps with good success from time to time. Generally our plan was to inspect our traps in the very early morning, re-bait and return later in the day from hand lining. You had to take advantage of weather conditions, remember the 2 ½ days average per week? We tried our hand at drop lining or set lining, big problem; the bloody green TOADS. These mongrels love fishing line, they will bite of anything that resembles nylon. But we can't complain, it's their patch. We caught many fish with the old 2 and 3 hook rig, we would on occasion set of mid afternoon, service our traps, and settle in for a few hours fishing the ‘MAGIC MOON".   WINDARRA BANKS COMES GOOD. The Cod Ground is located, roughly, 48 degrees ENE off BRUNSWICK HEADS. At about the 27 fathom mark, 8 nautical miles to sea, rises these incredible peaks, well, one big one and several smaller peaks. The main spire rises to within 13 fathoms of the sea surface, and I would imagine it would be a veritable lead mine, not to mention an anchor mine. Annually, the Brunswick Heads Wood Chop Committee have what we call the "FISH AND CHIPS' Festival, axemen cut the chips, fishermen supply the fish. This is where Ronnie and I enter the scene. We were fishing the Cod Ground on the Saturday prior to the Festival, then the sounder went mad, a huge school of fish had begun to congregate over the top of the big peak. Within seconds we are hauling 4 lb Yellow Tail Kingfish into the boat at a frantic pace, fish were bouncing around the deck, we're baiting up and hauling in as soon as the lines hit the water. The going was so physically exhausting we had to cut 2 of the 3 hooks off. And still they came, we're pushing them into the sponson fish boxes until over flowing, all things come to end, we were stuffed. We iced down our catch, hosed of the bloody deck and begun to make way for home. We both must have had the same though, "what about tomorrow, the biggest catch is a walk up start". (And 20 bucks first prize). More importantly, get our catch to CO-OP and weigh in our catch for markets, @ $1.50 a kilo we're looking at a good result. WINNER'S OF THE "FESTIVAL" Biggest catch, RONNIE AND FARLS. Yep, we set sail early Sunday morning, we had a devious plan; "fish the local for 10 or 20 minutes, wait until no bodies looking, then head for the WINDARRA BANKS". And it worked, another swag of Kingfish, but this time several Cobia were boated. For the contest rules the biggest catch went to an individual, hence each fisherman had to have their catch separated. This a gentlemen's agreement. How we did it was thus; Ronnie had the Starboard Sponson Box, I had the Port side box, and we filled them both, it was going to be a draw by all indications, and again we're stuffed. I must add that many other categories' were being contested during the Festival; biggest fish, tagged fish, most unusual, largest species. The tagged fish will produce the biggest prize money. I will make a few comments soon about how things have changed in my philosophy regards sports fishing. 550 lb's of Kingfish we boated over the 2 days, 250 lb's on the Sunday, it's going to be a good pay week. OH who won the 20 dollars, well me of course, I BEAT RON BY 1 KILO, I won the 20 dollars, he was pissed off, how close was that. There is an anti-climax to this little narrative, well isn't there always? WE took our girls for dinner at the BRUNZ that evening, 20 dollars had a fair value in 1980, well, a hamburger and 4 sets of knives and forks, plus a schooner of Old and 4 straws. Serious, the money went a long way for a pleasant evening. DOWNSIDE; we were ripped off, the catch went to an unscrupulous agent, we received 50 cents a kilo for our hard work. Monday we give the boat a good clean and a service, up on a ledge in the Starboard ice box was a 2 kilo Kingfish. THE MANTA RAY OF ALL MANTA RAYS. Up at the "HOUSE" we had a string of fish traps, between 10 and 50 fathoms? HOFBRAUHAUS was a very profitable little fishing mark. I have described "OLD WALL EYE", the monster Bronze Whaler, believe me he lives. LOOK FOR RONNIE AND ME #2.

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