Sailfish off the bricks

Luke Gilbert and his mates have a boys fishing trip every year. In April this year, they headed to one of their spots near Carnarvon off the rocks in Western Australia to chase the likes of Spanish mackerel, tuna, cobia, and other big fish. The last thing they expected to see was a sailfish, but not only did they see one, Luke caught it too.

It was the last day of their trip and Luke and his mates thought they’d head out for one last morning fish to balloon off the rocks and try for some big hookups.

Weather conditions weren’t perfect, with the wind blowing North Easterly, which stopped the balloons from going straight out and made them drift along the cliffs. But with a Penn International spooled with about 800m of braid and about 100-200m of 150lb top shot, Luke still gave it a go.

“It’s a funny story really. My mate Jakob was with me at the time of the hookup and maybe 10 to 15 minutes before it we were joking about catching a sailfish, as we had seen something pretty big free jumping out further past our balloons,” says Luke.

Not long after that, their other mate Ed, who was further up the rock than them, told them that he saw a big splash on Luke’s bait underneath his balloon. They had no idea that it was a sailfish, but it kept smashing his bait on the surface.

“Eventually after about the fifth hit, I hooked up and the reel started screaming. That’s when we all realised what was happening and started screaming at each other too. Then the fight was on and the battle started,” he says.

“When I first realised it was a sailfish I instantly had the biggest adrenaline rush – my legs and arms started shaking and I was just hoping the fish would not throw my hooks.”

As the fish got closer and closer, Luke explains that he felt more confident that the hooks would hold, and they really were going to land the fish.

“After about 20 minutes the sailfish got close to the rock ledge and I got very lucky and had the perfect set of waves to wash it on the rocks. Then my mates Ed, Brook and Jakob grabbed the bill, got a gaff shot and got the fish up the rocks,” Luke says.

“It was the catch of a lifetime. And off the rocks too. I was ecstatic and overwhelmed with emotion and my friends and I were screaming, swearing and hugging. We were just so excited we had landed this fish.”

Luke and his mates measured it to be roughly around 2.16-2.20m long and weighing around the 40-50kg mark. To see more of what Luke and his mates get up to, check them out on Instagram at Fish the Ledge.