
Luke Mathieson fillets blue cod at Back Beach while Shannan O’Connell (centre) and Luke’s father, Bob, enjoy some beers. PHOTOS: STEPHEN JAQUIERY
Bob Mathieson was enjoying good blue cod fishing below the lighthouse at Cape Saunders with his son Luke and friend Shannan O’Connell in their Shearwater 840 boat on Saturday.
Bob had hauled two fish aboard and taken one off the trace when the other fish bucked and jabbed the empty hook up to its shank in his arm.

With the fishing bait still attached, Bob Mathieson attempts to push the barb and bend of his fishing hook through the skin of his arm. Photo: Luke Mathieson
With the barb exposed the pair cut it off before pulling the hook back through his arm.
"It was a bit of an ordeal but Dad didn’t make a sound. I would have been yelling my head off," Luke said.

The Mathieson Shearwater 840 boat heads up the harbour after a successful day’s fishing.