Every Easter Greg Tarrant rallies his family and friends together for one of the biggest fishing hauls of the year - the east coast "mullet run".
The Port Stephens fisherman has been up at the crack of dawn this week chasing schools of fish down at Stockton beach, and is already seeing an increase in catches compared to 2022.
"On average we haul 300 tonne per season but last year because of the floods we had about 70 tonnes for the whole season, we've caught probably a hundred tonne in the last week," he said.
While the sun was shining on Tuesday morning, April 11, the weather made a move with a big swell battering their caught baskets of mullet across the beach.
"The waves were crazy here this morning they came right up and washed everything away," Mr Tarrant said.
"It was like a tsunami, it came out of nowhere and the tubs were washed into the water."
But that didn't stop Mr Tarrant, his son Lee and dad Glyn, from getting on with the job.
"The hard part is getting belted up in the surf, it can be a bit dangerous but we just spot a school, get the boat and shoot around the back of them and haul back to the beach," he said.
Also helping out the fishos and keen to catch a couple of dollars for the school holidays, were brothers Will and Fred Watson and Ben Abeckett.
"We just came down for a look and one of the blokes said if we wanted some extra money we could help out for a little bit," Will, 16, said.
"We're enjoying ourselves, earning some money, it's good fun. We'd come back every year if we could," he said.
Mr Tarrant said he has been doing the mullet hunt for 40 years and it was something he enjoyed doing with his family.
"We've got four generations of family doing it and while it's my job, it's always been a family event," he said.
"It's a bit of a lifestyle and it's in my blood."
The mullet were trucked off to a processing plant, ready to be sent to market.
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