Then it happened. Literally as I pressed "send", the butt of the rod tipped up in the air and I heard the baitrunner starting to whir into a high speed whine. I managed to grab the rod just in time as (for some reason) the lever clicked into gear of its own accord. The drag engaged and I was on, the 10ft graphite rod buckled over in my hands and was pinned in an upside down arc over the side of the decking ... the fish - I figured a decent mulloway, was heading straight under me at an unbelievable rate. I lost 50m of 30lb mono in what seemed like seconds, and the fish just kept going, and going, and going - the preset drag doing little to slow it down. I battled on for a few minutes, until I could feel the inevitable scrape of monofilament line on structure. Fortunately it was game test I had bought after losing so many fish in last year's season, and I figured I might have a chance if I held on ... but then, as quickly as the fight had started, it stopped dead. I couldn't move the line at all. Damn!! Snagged. And that was that.
I tried to move it with the rod tip, but the line was wrapped firmly around something and there were no more head shakes or movement of any kind. With the bail arm open, it was just limp line hanging in the water in the darkness.
I rang my brother and explained what had happened - he commiserated on the phone with me for 5 or ten minutes, then I said good night, and told him I'd let him know if anything else happened after breaking off the line and re-rigging.
I put the phone back in my pocket and started the process of locking up the drag and trying to free the line - figuring it would eventually snap. But then felt a slight sideways motion, and a brief slipping of the line, before it stopped again. I tried left and right, as you do when trying to free a rig from a snag - suddenly, without warning the line lurched free. For a moment I thought it was just a big stick or something left attached to the rig, but then the rod buckled over again - I was losing more line. After another big run, it was back to panic stations - I could feel more of the scraping, but managed desperately to hold on and regain line, hoping for the best. Eventually, I could see the sinker, but couldn't get the fish up in the water. Frustratingly, it stayed about 2 metres down for some time, the rod heavily curved over the edge of the wharf, moving left and right. Without warning, I saw colour - a long flash of the body in the light and something moving from under the structure and out into the river. In a few quick movements, I had it on top of the water - it looked decent, but not as long as I expected - a chunky mulloway I thought, but then, no - a massive snapper. In seconds it was in the net, and up on the wharf, the 40lb leader frayed but holding on, and a sizeable chunk of cunjevoi and mussels anchored to the bottom of the 2-hook rig.
I could hardly breathe for a few minutes. Later, back at my parents-in-law's place, I was able to properly measure and weight it - a personal best at 81cm and 7.6kg. Not a mulloway, but something of a life long fishing ambition realised, and in the most unlikely of circumstances.
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great job!