8th April 1999 - the long awaited day had come. I had been a year since I planned this trip but due to many factors (financial problems, transport, season) the trip did not materialize until this day. I had enlisted the services of Mr John Joubert, owner and skipper of 'Samaki', a 25 footer aluminuim craft operating out of Queenscliff with Gonefishing Charters. Queenscliff is about one and a half hours' drive away from Melbourne city and is just mere minutes away from superb fishing grounds.

The morning was cool and John had lled the night before saying that the weather was going to be great. We met up at the boat ramp at 7.30am and headed off towards Bass Strait, out of Port Phillip Bay. The ride out of the bay was quite a scary one as we had to cross a rough patch of water called "The Rip", which was the mouth of Port Phillip Bay. The immense amount of water going in and out of the huge bay had to pass through this little stretch of water only a few miles wide, thus resulting in the rough waters. We proceeded to the shark grounds. On our way we were escorted by a pod of dolphins at the bow of the boat.

The strategy was simple. We didn't need to locate a wreck or reef. All we did was drift along with the current and Michael, the deckhand proceeded to chum the area with lots of smelly fish from the berley pot mixed with Tuna Oil. This resulted in a long slick thats stretched for miles and would bring the sharks to us. While waiting for the sharks, we did some bottom fishing and mid-water fishing. The first fish was a John Dory, a red fish with lots of spines. Then the Barracouta packs came. They are somewhat related to the Barracuda but smaller and slimmer. First they attacked the baits but later in their frenzy, they even bit and ate the sinkers! On several occasions, our lines came back minus the sinkers.

After about an hour or so, Michael shouted "Blue Shark!" and sure enough, a long sleek shape came up from the berley trail and circled the boat, investigating the source of the berley. John took the rod coupled with a Shimano TLD30 and 30lb line and baited it with a large squid while I buckled on the gimbal belt. My two other friends, Tim and Kenny got their cameras ready for the action. The Blue Shark saw the squid and bravely took the offering. Instinctively, John set the hook and passed the rod to me. The shark sensed a foreign object in its mouth and so took of at high speed. The line went off from the reel and all I could think of was "YES! Thank you God!" This was the moment I was waiting for and dreaming of. It eventually slowed down and with some pumping work on the rod, it came alongside but seeing the big gaff, it dashed off again. This happened about 3 times before it was finally gaffed and brought into the boat. John approximated the shark to be about 6 feet long and weighed 35kgs! Boy was I happy!

A while later, when Michael was gutting the shark, another shark came into view. This one was slightly shy and stayed deep down. It was Kenny's turn to fight the fish and so he buckled on the gimbal. The shark circled the bait several times before engulfing it. HOOKUP! John passed the rod over to Kenny and he reeled and pumped. It was a Mako Shark! Makos are reputed to be very very aggressive and good fighters. Line would peel of the reel at high speed and it would perform acrobatic jumps like a marlin or sailfish. However, Kenny's shark did not give high speed runs, yet perform any acrobatics at all. It just simply swam sluggishly away as if it didn't know it was hooked. When it came near the boat, Michael tried to evoke it by poking a pole to its head. That worked and it sped off but not very quickly. After a few pumps, it was gaffed and brought in. Oh yes, it was then the trashing started. It thrashed the deck and struggled. John dispatched it with several blows of a club on the head.

Our trip ended at 5.00pm with the customary photo shots. John Joubert is a really helpful and experienced skipper with more than half a lifetime's knowledge of the fishing grounds. Visit the Gonefishing Charters website at http://www.gonefishing.com.au