ET's Ambo

Back in '92 my beloved Rugby League Club, the Cronulla Sharks, were heading towards an early off-season, slumbering in about 10th position with a month of football remaining and no chance of a Semi-Final berth. Our coach that year was the legendary Arthur Beetson, and with the season drawing to a close, the invitation to spend a couple of days fishing at the Fifth Qld Straddie Classic seemed a great midweek option.

The chance to fish with champion angler John Palermo, who has the reputation of being one of Queensland's 'snapper kings', was taken up at first offer.

I was up at 4am for a roller-coaster ride down the coast, belting into a strong sou'easter. It took a two hour boat trip in one of my favourite trailerboats, a Haines Hunter 680SF, to reach John's secret grounds. The 680SF's walkaround provided the perfect platform to target John's monster snapper. As the large tuna steaks entered the strike zone, the sharp bend in the short stroker rod told the story. Now, when you see the colour of your first 12kg plus snapper at dawn, it's hard to contain your excitement.

John looked the fish up and down, pondering whether or not it was big enough to take out the biggest snapper award, before sending down another bait. In a session lasting about 45 minutes we landed four fish between 10 and 13kg.

It was nine years before I got another chance to fish with John. This time, while snapper were on the menu, our main target species was a fish I had read about, but had never had the chance to do battle with - the mighty amberjack.

We ventured out in water suitable for larger trailerboats to the southeast of Moreton Island off Brisbane in Queensland. This time, however, we were aboard John's new custom charterboat, Prime Mover.

John has been fishing these waters for years, and you're in very experienced hands when you venture seaward with him.

Luckily, the 5kt sou'easter meant a 14ft tinnie would have bobbed around in comfort on the shallow reefs of Moreton.

That feeling of anticipation you only get when you're with a top guide on his home turf had us filling the livebait tank with yellowtail, ready for action.

With only a light current pushing us along, our drift was perfect, and as John positioned the boat over some large marks on an underwater pinnacle visible on the sounder, the nervous livebait made its way to the depths. There were four of us fishing, including Queensland and Australian fast bowler, Andy Bichel.

Andy is not only a great cricketer but pretty handy with a rod and reel. Before long, he was battling a nice 2kg snapper to the boat. Andy and the boys were fishing cut baits of pilchards and squid and having a ball on the pan-sized snapper.

It was on our third drift that my livebait went into overdrive before being crunched by a sizeable fish.

I had heard plenty of stories about 'Ambos' and 'Sambos', but the power and brute force they exert on your tackle sends the line crackling from your reel. Fortunately, I had come prepared for an intense tussle, and my 24kg gamerod and TLD 30 two-speed Shimano reel provided the perfect combination to drag it from the reef.

At around 16kg, it was a handsome fish. Yellow, green and brown with a silvery shine were the colours which stick in my mind. John had a grin as big as mine as I held it up for a few photos. The day finished with Andy landing a colourful parrotfish, and as we headed back to Brisbane, we reflected on another memorable day and the fishing lessons we had learnt.