Week 5 / Monday

Midway through the next morning, she got a text from Julian: “You’re just evil! ”. She laughed and replied, “Looking forward to hearing about it!”

After work, she drove to Seaford, and left their car with Suzy, and then ran along the pier to the boat, which was already waiting for her. She jumped into the boat and hugged Julian and looked around. The boat was pretty crowded – there was seven of them, and it probably only really held five comfortably; Layna, Sue, Julian and Larissa were fishing, Nigel was their driver and fishing advisor, and Callum and Dylan were recording.

She was introduced to Nigel first, and then to Sue, from the department of fisheries. “Nice to meet you,” she said to Sue. “How did you draw the short straw for this duty?”

Sue laughed. “Well, given it’s Layna, there was a bit of contest, but I got the gig because I said I’d go on Youtube in my bikini. And I’m having a lot of fun, too. And it’s great to meet you, I’ve been looking forward to that!”

Larissa turned to Layna, and said, “So how’s it going? Caught much?” Layna smiled and opened a large esky at her feet, and Larissa could see a few fish in the ice in there. Sweet. “How’s the seasickness going?” They were out in the bay now, and there was a small swell running, less than knee height.

“It’s OK as long as I don’t look down for very long. Which is kind of cool, the guys are doing all the rigging and baiting for me, and I don’t have to. And it’s nice to be out here with friends on a beautiful day. Jo left a bag of stuff for you – it’s over there.” She pointed to a little bag at Nigel’s feet.

Larissa looked in the bag and found a bikini, hat, sunscreen, and a fishing shirt with a note that said, ‘if you get cold.’ She looked around – no boats around. On this boat, a fishing boat, there was no privacy, nowhere to change. She said to Nigel, “I have to get changed. Don’t get distracted, OK?”

He laughed and said, “I’ll try not to have a heart attack.”

Nigel was a non-descript middle aged guy, and she knew from Callum that he was divorced, and he’d poured all his money into this boat. She’d just got her bottom half naked when Nigel hit a wave and she went down in a heap, much to everyone’s amusement. Nigel helped her up, and she said, “I bet you never expected to do this with your boat.”

“No, I sure didn’t. Three beautiful and intelligent young women in bikinis? How could that be? I’ll tell you what, I look at what Callum does for a job, and sure wish I was young again!”

“Pointing a camera at a beautiful woman all day? I think he does enjoy that.”

“Well, of course, but it’s much more than that – doing something interesting and outdoors, having real adventures out in the bush, solving really interesting and difficult technical problems, and also doing something really useful with his life. We think he’s scored the jackpot, and I’m really happy I can help out this week.” He waited for Larissa to finish changing and said, “There’s a fridge in under the front here, and it’s loaded with water. Just fill your bottle up when it’s empty. And there’s snacks on top of the fridge, help yourself. If you need to go the toilet ... well, the only option is to get in the water. Sorry.”

No problems. She went and stood next to Julian, and gave him the sunscreen, and enjoyed it as he put it all over her. This was really nice; a warm day, bright blue sunshine, hardly any other boats out around them, and great company. “This is work?” she said to Julian, and he laughed. Then she turned and hugged Julian while Layna brushed her hair out.

Soon after, Nigel stopped, and put the anchor out. We’ll try here, he said. “Larissa, have you fished before?”

“Not really. Julian mostly does it.”

“OK, Callum, should I just give her a quick tutorial, or should one of others do it on video?”

“It’s not in the storyboard, so I think just do it.”

Nigel gave her a tutorial, how to go after flatheads, which was what they were after at this spot. Very shortly after, she had her line in the water, and then she stood next to Julian. “Having a good day?”

“Yeah, I think so. This morning was fun,” he said, ironically. Larissa laughed. “But we got out onto the water with all our gear just after ten, and we’ve been out since then. We’ve caught some fish and got some good footage. We’re really hoping you’ll catch something. If you do, Dylan and Callum will film you landing it, and I’ll help with the net. Otherwise, just relax, ignore the cameras, and the four of us can talk.”

It was fun, talking with Layna, getting to know Sue, and cuddling up to Julian whenever she felt like it. Suddenly she felt a tug on her line, and gave it a yank. She’d definitely caught something, and reeled it in. Too easy, so it was very small, but something was there. When she pulled it in, there was a crab hanging off her baitfish. A crab? They all burst into laughter – it wasn’t hooked, just refusing to let go of the bait. What?

“It’ll let you go when you pull out of the water,” Nigel said.

“Do it, I’m ready,” Callum said, so she did. The crab took its time letting go so it made a good splash, and Callum was happy.

A couple of minutes later, Julian caught something. He switched lines with Larissa so that they could say she caught it. Whatever it was, it was damn heavy. Had he caught some rubbish or something? No, so discovered when they could see what she had on the line, it was a banjo shark, and quite a big one, Nigel said.

“What happens now?”

“Well, we’re not going to keep it – too many bones to eat. So pull it out onto the platform at the back, and use these pliers to get the hook out, and then put it back.” She did as she was told, leaning over the back of the boat. The hook was well embedded in its jaw, so she had a bit of a tussle to get it out cleanly, but she did. That was a bit like work. Then she lowered it gently back in the water, and off it went. When she stood up, she discovered that Callum had filmed her doing that, while Dylan ... he’d filmed her butt from behind. Well, that was the game, she supposed.

They re-baited Julian’s line and swapped back, but there was nothing for a while. Eventually, Nigel said, “Let’s try something different.” He pulled the anchor up, and headed towards the shipping lane. When he stopped, he explained to Larissa, “It’s often good fishing along the edge of the shipping lane, and the tide’s good for snapper. Everyone, change your rods.”

Larissa put her line in the water, and Nigel explained what she should do to catch snapper. They didn’t get anything for a few minutes, and suddenly Layna said, “Hey, there’s a squid here.” Larissa moved over to look, and a few metres from the boat, there was a squid, and it was watching them.

“Alright,” Nigel cried. He grabbed a different rod from the boat and flicked the line into the water. The squid ignored the jig and pushed itself away. “Damn,” Nigel said, but he left the line in the water.

Suddenly, Larissa had a bite, and she pulled hard on the line. This time she certainly had a fish, and a fighter too. Good thing her core strength was good because this one really made her fight for it. She had Julian and Layna on either side of her encouraging her. This was fun! By the time she had it swimming just under the boat, her wrists and forearms were starting to feel it, but they could see that it was a good size Snapper, probably legal size. Awesome! She grimly kept going and wound the fish all the way in, fighting every step of the way. Finally, Julian leant down and netted it. He pulled it in, and she pounced on it. This was hers, and she’d done all the work!