STORIES and memories of fishing have formed the soundtrack to Chris Whitehead’s life.
From catching minnows as an 11-year-old in South Australia to trawling for tuna in Fiji, landing a marlin offshore and chasing whiting around Moreton Bay, the Cleveland local has spent decades finding adventure at the end of a fishing line.
His earliest fishing memory is on the River Torrens in Adelaide, where he and a mate would collect minnows with a sieve before using them as bait for perch.
“We had a couple of 1.5-metre rods and would get the little minnows off the couch grass on the side of the river,” Mr Whitehead said.
“We’d fish with a float and bring home a few fish to gut and head and put in the frying pan.
“Perch are easy fish to prepare, but I don’t like the bones.”
His fishing horizons expanded during high school when his family moved to Fiji.
His father owned a 5.5-metre Hartley boat powered by a 50hp Mercury motor, opening a world of tuna, mackerel and tropical reefs.
“We’d go out trawling and we’d catch tuna and mackerel,” Mr Whitehead said. “Then we’d go to the reefs and go diving to check out the tropical fish.”
After leaving Fiji in 1972, Mr Whitehead joined a workplace social fishing club two years later, enjoying regular deep-sea expeditions with his workmates.
One of their favourite destinations was Swains Reef, about 140km north-east of Rockhampton.
“We’d go out for five nights, plus a day to get there and another day to get back,” he said.
“We’d get sweetlip and red emperor and had a bonnie time.
“The crew on the boat would fillet and skin the catch and snap-freeze it into two and five-kilogram packages.
“You could feed half of Cleveland with what you caught.”
A game fishing trip also delivered one of his biggest thrills, catching a marlin weighing over 85kg.
“It was the thrill of it,” he said.
“Reeling fish that big is a big hit and good fun.”
However, not every offshore expedition went to plan.
On one trip, Mr Whitehead and about 15 friends were fishing in 15 metres of water.
“I was lounging on the back railing when a wave hit and off I went, arse overboard,” he said.
“There was about a three-metre swell.
“I had my red cap on and was doing side stroke, up one wave and down into the hollow.
“All I could see was the sky.
“It took them 15 minutes to pull me back.
“One bloke did suggest that they leave ‘the bastard’ there.”
Mr Whitehead moved to Cleveland in 1991 and bought a four-metre Cruiser Craft with a 70hp Johnson motor, beginning another chapter of fishing adventures across southern Moreton Bay.
He regularly chased whiting off Coochiemudlo Island, school whiting on the sandflats near Peel Island, snapper near Mud Island and St Helena Island, and bream and flathead in Canaipa Passage.
He also helped a mate set crab pots from Cleveland Point to Toondah Harbour.
“We’d get some good-sized mud crabs in the mangroves,” he said.
Three pelicans near Air Sea Rescue quickly learned Mr Whitehead’s boat could mean an easy feed.
“You’d hear them – splash, splash, splash. It is just beautiful,” he said.
“There are dolphins around too and, if you go out in winter, you get to see the most incredible sunrises.
“The fish are there … there are certain fish that stay in that area and it’s easy to hook them and have a bonnie time.”
For Mr Whitehead, however, fishing has never only been about filling the esky.
“It’s about getting out there to have fun and relax, where there are no cars and no people,” he said.
“Catching a fish is a bonus.
“If you have to recharge your batteries, this is an unbelievable way to do it.
“I’ve been lucky in my life.”
