SUBURBAN REDS

As the sun neared the horizon the seabreeze began to lose its sting. The boat still bounced rhythmically against the pull of the anchor but the dance was becoming noticeably less frantic.

For West Aussie anglers the summer breezes of Perth are all pervasive. It can be a windy place. Most mornings are met with an easterly breeze that gusts with intent before the land heats up and begins to suck the cool Fremantle Doctor shorewards from the south west. Once the sun begins to dip and the land cools down you sometimes feel the sea breeze begin to cede to the prevailing easterly, slowly giving ground and creating an hour or two of stillness before the offshore clocks back on. We’d been there 30 minutes or so and in that time had been feeding the berley out in a constant stream.

I knew that in the twilight the fish would be feeding and we’d positioned ourselves perfectly for that moment. The first rod bent down and any semblance of the meditative trance that patient anglers fall into