CLEVELAND’S Recardo (Rick) Caputa takes one day a week off work in a bid to go fishing.
It’s his way of de-stressing from his mechanical workshop business and fulfilling a life-time love of fishing.
For Rick, 44, it’s about the pull of the open ocean and the fight of the larger fish.
His targets are snapper, pearl perch, bonito, mahi mahi (dolphin fish), coral trout and red emperor, with shark a regular catch.
“My favourite are coral trout and red. I like the fight. I have caught some fish that have nearly pulled me off the boat,” he said.
To that end, Rick fishes with deep sea rods and overhead reels to cope with catches up to 10kg.
“I don’t really fish for the chance of getting a feed of fish,” Rick said. “There is just something about it that attracts me and takes away any stress.
“You can really be yourself and relax when you are out there.”
Rick said he had always held a fascination for fishing, remembering hanging around fishermen at age three.
“I was hooked at an early age. My brother used to take me fishing off the canal. I would play with the fish that the fisherman caught,” he said.
Favourite fishing spots are offshore at Moreton or Stradbroke islands, and he can name about 20 spots that are good for fishing.
“Now there’s a story. There are about 20 FADS (Fish aggregation devices) that attract the fish and these are apparently going to be pulled out. That has made a few fishermen unhappy,” he said.
Rick said he had always had a boat, but had recently sold his 6m aluminium plate boat and was going fishing with friends until he found another vessel.
“That’s part of it too. I always fish with mates and there’s a lot of camaraderie there,” he said.
Rick said fishing with his three children, aged 5, 12 and 14, was an entirely different story.
“They don’t really like fishing. They like pulling in a fish once it’s hooked,” he said.
