It sounded like a car falling into the sea from a great height, snapping me from momentary distraction back into focus. What the hell?!

Looking out around 70 metres away, I was just in time to see a massive area of foaming water and a large grey tail slipping back under the surface. And just one sweep of my rod was enough to confirm it had been after my popper!

The only culprit that made any sense was a decent mako, so I proceeded to crank my $80 lure back at high speed to prevent a repeat attack. However, the moment I slowed around six to seven metres away from Andre Kassal’s five-metre boat and started saying an incredulous, “Wow, did you see that?!”, a heavily built shark, grey on top and white underneath, launched itself clear of the water and onto the poor lure, biting through the 100lb mono leader in an instant.

Initially left with just roiling white water and my mouth hanging open, the aftermath improved somewhat when my barbless popper bobbed back up just a few seconds later.

Wow. I’ve seen several great white sharks before, but having one attack a lure was new for me. It reminded me of the Shark Week promo where a GWS erupts onto a baby seal!

“Don’t you dare grab that lure out with your hands, mate,” a decidedly pale Andre sternly warned as it drifted near, causing me to sheepishly withdraw my arm and grab the gaff instead. This overactive youngster might have only been eight or nine feet long, but no doubt it could still have given me a rather stingy nip! Andre’s first reaction was to suggest we head for safer waters, but it didn’t take much convincing from me to move just a few hundred metres away and keep trying for our target species: big kingfish. After all, if this beast was in the area, there was probably plenty of tucker around!

And lucky we did. Adopting a slow-troll tactic that involved working one 230mm popper and the same size stickbait out the back, just a few minutes elapsed before Andre’s stickbait disappeared in a crash of foam. It was a good fish, too – not of GWS proportions this time thankfully, but still a ripper!

Exchanging places at the helm, I gave chase to help avoid a bust-off, His Majesty giving a good account of himself over the next seven or eight minutes. But, as always, Andre was up to the task, and finally he had the hefty 22kg specimen up next to the boat for lip gaffing, photographing and releasing!

Then, just a few minutes later, it happened all over again, with a slightly smaller specimen eventually heading back into the drink a little wiser for the experience. Andre was on a roll!

The situation was not as exciting for me. My GWS popper failed to elicit any more interest (bloody fickle kingfish!), forcing me to try a stickbait in similar colours to Andre’s. But all it attracted were some lazy swirls before the short bite shut down. Time to try for some snapper on softbaits instead.

Fortunately, Andre’s Spot X was just 20 minutes away, so we were soon casting again, with the abundant fish sign showing on the fishfinder providing great encouragement.

Even better, many of the snapper marks were obviously well up off the bottom, indicating actively feeding fish. And, sure enough, our lightly weighted 7” softbaits were sometimes getting slammed just a handful of seconds after hitting the water. In my case, these proved to be a succession of very hungry and enthusiastic snapper, around 32-45cm, whilst the situation continued to evolve very differently for Andre. Although he wasn’t hooking as many fish, the quality was much better.

It started with a “Yep, this is a goody!” and a well-bent rod unloading line.

Jumping into my helm position for the third time that day, just in case, it turned out I wasn’t needed, and five minutes later Andre had a chunky snapper of around 6kg to the boat. It too was released.

It’s fair to say that at this point I was starting to feel a little pressure. While Andre is not the sort of mate to rub salt into the wound regarding my lack of big fish success, my competitive nature means I was doing that to myself anyway – I don’t like to be comprehensively out-fished by anyone, especially when it comes to softbaiting! So I consoled myself that I was regularly catching snapper and that eventually the law of averages would see my turn come.

Then another grunt of success from Andre, and again his Daiwa reel began releasing line in a steady stream, the occasional solid headshakes indicating another decent snapper. How was I ever going to catch my own beauty if I was constantly at the helm chasing bloody Andre’s fish?

Sure enough, it was another gleaming specimen weighing around 5kg, and as it swam away my brain was in a state of turmoil: “What’s going on buddy? The Law of Averages, Mark, the Law of Averages – it has to come right for you. Try to stay positive and keep on doing what you’re doing!”

So that’s what I did, and with fish still savagely hitting the lures midwater, it wasn’t that hard to retain a glimmer of optimism… until Andre wound in and started stowing the gear prior to heading back for one last, quick, topwater session.

However, just as my heart began to sink, I felt a heavy crunch transmitting up the slightly slack braid mid-descent, and upon lifting the rod to set the hook, it seemed as if I’d hooked the bottom. Then my deep bent rod pulsed once, twice, before line began exiting my little reel, accompanied by a thin metallic wail.

“Ooohhh! Big fish mate! Big fish!”

With his gear already stowed, Andre was immediately at the helm, but after one quick reposition, I felt in control. Now I just had to keep the pressure on and be patient.

It’s always hard to know how much time elapses when you’re fighting big fish, but I reckon it was around six or seven minutes before the dull gleam of a large snapper started emanating up through the green depths. Yes, this was the one I’d been waiting for – and a bit more!

“Oh my god,” said Andre, “it’s a bloody horse!”

And yes, if a horse can be chunky, 84cm in length, coloured an orangey-brown, and be covered in scales, then this was, indeed, a small bloody horse!

Better still, after a quick few photos and a careful vent with a new needle, it swam back down to get even bigger.

I’ve caught a lot of large snapper, but this was still one of the better ones for me. However, I have to admit that, although exhilarated, the feeling of relief at having caught at least one good fish to Andre’s four was almost as powerful!

Oh… okay, five really, if you count the big trevally he caught on a softbait at our stickbait spot later on!