Winter in southwestern Australia brings north-westerly gales. Under these conditions large fish often congregate around the Fremantle Harbour breakwaters (locally known as moles), attracting fishermen who use large fishing rods on the rocks in an attempt to catch the fish. Fishermen often leave their fishing rods unattended, with the rods placed in lengths of PVC pipe wedged in a crack in the rocks. On this day the tip of one of the parked fishing rods suddenly whipped down, with line spooling off the reel as a very large fish ran with it. Fishermen scrambled to reclaim the rod and fought the large fish – a Southern Eagle Ray (Myliobatis tenuicaudatus) for several minutes before it snapped the line and escaped.