THIS story is part two of an ongoing series on Port Stephens fishing identity Jimmy Chalkley.

JIMMY was sixteen-years-old when he became a licensed professional fisherman in 1960 but, as previously explained, he had been catching and learning about fish long before that.

While at school Jim worked for Yabsley as a deckhand on board the ‘Viking’, a charter boat, not to be confused with the boats owned by Jack Jensen of the same name.

“I’ll tell you my claim to fame Johnny,” Jimmy said to me some years back.

“In under ten foot of water there is not a rock in this harbour that I can’t tell you where it is.

“I know every rock.

“You ask me where a rock is that sits up like a pyramid and I can tell you where there is one.”

Puzzled, I then quizzed Jimmy on whether any square rocks existed in the Bay.

“Yeah, yeah under the Inner Light there is a square rock,” replied Jim.

“You see, not only was I a fisherman but I was also a snorkeler.”

It was a remarkable and unique body of local knowledge Jim had developed over many years.

“So you’re telling me that you know every rock under the water from Tomaree Headland to Corlette?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“Try Tomaree to four or five miles the other side of Allworth,” suggested Jimmy.

“And 100 yards this side of Bungwahl up in the lake.”

Although it is an extraordinary claim I don’t doubt the man for one second.

“That’s amazing,” was all I could say.

Jim spent “more than three quarters” of his fishing life in the Myall Lakes.

“Once you leave the bottom lake the water is as clear as gin,” he said.

“That’s why I know every rock and just about every old tree on the water line as well.”

Thinking I could stump him, I asked Jim about the location of a well-known shipwreck.

“Now what about the wreck of the ‘Psyche’ in the silty water in Salamander Bay?” I queried.

“Even you can’t see that.”

However, Jim was not to be outsmarted.

“No I can’t but I can tell you exactly where it is and what direction it is sitting,” he said.

“I’ve shot plenty of net over it,” the fisherman replied.

The ‘Psyche’ was a light cruiser built in Devonport, England in 1897 and first commissioned in North America.

In 1903 the vessel was commissioned for the Australia Station and arrived in Sydney to replace HMS Archer.

During WW1 the lighter was commissioned by the RAN and took part in the capture of the German protectorate of Samoa and other colonies in the Pacific.

In July 1922 the 2135 ton, 314ft x 36ft ‘Psyche’ was sold and hulked.

The owner was Waterside Ship Chandler.

The ship was employed in Port Stephens until sinking at her mooring in Salamander Bay under dodgy circumstances.

Today, the wreck of the ‘Psyche’ is eagerly searched for by recreational fishermen as the artificial reef has become the home of a myriad of baitfish and large predators, particularly sharks and mulloway.

Excellent snapper, bream and longtail tuna have also been caught over the old wreck.

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE