FOR most people, Double Island Point is a fishing destination.
For Victoria Point resident Ron Ruhland, it is much more than that.
The 80-year-old describes the waters off the iconic Queensland headland as his “fishing garden” – a place that has provided adventure, friendship, close calls and countless fish over a lifetime on the water.
So special is the location that Mr Ruhland hopes one day his ashes will be scattered there.
“It would be a nice way to say goodbye and give something back to an area that has been so good to me,” he said.
Mr Ruhland recently returned from the annual Rainbow Beach Fishing Classic, where he spent June 14-20 among fellow anglers.
He has entered the event 34 times in its 39-year history and has collected more than $72,000 in prizes over the years, including two Garmin Echomap units worth $4300 each.
This year’s event was hampered by poor weather.
“It was a washout,” he said.
“I only got one day of fishing in and caught about 30 fish.
“The other day I spent officiating.”
Despite the conditions, the trip brought back memories of some of his most memorable fishing adventures.
One of those came when he was 66 years old and won 66 bottles of wine after recording the highest fish tally at the competition and taking out the veteran’s division.
“I was in the old bastard age group,” he laughed.
“The bar was closed at Double Island Point so me and my mates slept in swags on the point. It rained all night.
“When I poured about 10 litres of water out of my swag there was a black snake underneath it.”
The next morning, he and longtime fishing companion and former deckhand Paul Korczynski headed onto the rocks.
“We caught jew, parrot, snapper, tailor, dart and bream,” he said.
“It was atrocious weather, but it was bringing in the fish.
“The biggest thing was rescuing the fish from the rocks before another wave got them.
“It was an adrenaline rush.”
Not all of Mr Ruhland’s memories are happy ones.
He once won the competition’s Best and Fairest award, a memorial trophy named in honour of a close friend who died after being washed from his boat while crossing the notoriously dangerous Wide Bay Bar.
“I’ve got a lot of fishing stories,” he said.
“Some are sadder than others.”
His love of fishing stretches back to childhood.
Mr Ruhland recalls sitting on a bag beside Gap Creek with his mother catching catfish before moving to Boonah at age five, where local dams became his playground.
As a teenager he spent nights fishing by gaslight and catching catfish in large numbers.
“Catfish are the whitest fresh fish in Australia,” he said.
“They take a lot of preparation, but they are beautiful to eat.”
One of his most remarkable fishing stories came in 1987 when he was 24 and fishing off Caloundra in his five-metre Stessl boat.
A storm was approaching when disaster struck.
“A rogue wave got me, and I swam the bar without a boat,” he said.
“I was spotted by the coastguard near the Caloundra lighthouse and woke up in hospital.
“I had died and come back. I still have issues understanding this.”
Mr Ruhland retired to Victoria Point seven years ago and still spends as much time as possible on the water.
Next month he will celebrate his birthday with a seven-day fishing trip to Exmouth in Western Australia alongside his son Tony and friend Dave Harvey.
