My woefull weekends fishing
I had a bit of a disastrous weekends fishing. Hence I have not been too bothered about putting up a report. The weather forecast for the weekend had Saturday looking pretty good, and Sunday even better. But with the club comp running Friday and Saturday, I was a restricted to fishing days.
I was pretty keen to get a jump on the competition, so after work Friday I headed to the freshwater to chase some Tarpon. I had a reasonably successful trip in terms of fish hitting the lure, but I was finding it hard to stay connected. I must have dropped dozens of fish, with the lure being thrown back at my feet! But I finally gave up on the plastics and tried a small hard bodied minnow with the hope that the trebles would hold better. It proved a good move, with several quality fish being landed in the dying light.
Saturday the plan was to take the family to the shoals. It was a good plan, but nothing seemed to work. Left the ramp about 6am and headed out the channel. It didn't take long to realise that, although the winds were light, the sea was horrible. We got about 2/3 the way to the North Cardinal when enough was enough. I was doing 16 or 17 knots and still slamming down in the trenches. We quickly realised the shoals were out for us, and the North Cardinal was as far as we were going. But with so much fresh around we didn't think it was worth going that far. So we spun around and headed for front of Alligator creek. We played there for a bit trolling some lures for a Barra. With nothing happening we made a move toward the Cape. If it was ok, I would have ducked out to Salamander Reef. But a storm was building in the background. A quick look back to Maggie Island showed a large patch of rain moving in. Not wanting to be caught in a rain squall with the kids we bailed back to town. But we didn't beat the rain anyway. Not that it mattered, wind dropped to nothing as the rain came through. So I pointed the nose back out to sea. BANG, BANG. Nope, that swell was still there. At this point it was about 9ish and I had not turned the motor off all morning. We had done almost 60km and had barely put a line in the water. Feeling rater frustrated I opened the motor up hard and headed home!
I was pretty keen to get a jump on the competition, so after work Friday I headed to the freshwater to chase some Tarpon. I had a reasonably successful trip in terms of fish hitting the lure, but I was finding it hard to stay connected. I must have dropped dozens of fish, with the lure being thrown back at my feet! But I finally gave up on the plastics and tried a small hard bodied minnow with the hope that the trebles would hold better. It proved a good move, with several quality fish being landed in the dying light.
Saturday the plan was to take the family to the shoals. It was a good plan, but nothing seemed to work. Left the ramp about 6am and headed out the channel. It didn't take long to realise that, although the winds were light, the sea was horrible. We got about 2/3 the way to the North Cardinal when enough was enough. I was doing 16 or 17 knots and still slamming down in the trenches. We quickly realised the shoals were out for us, and the North Cardinal was as far as we were going. But with so much fresh around we didn't think it was worth going that far. So we spun around and headed for front of Alligator creek. We played there for a bit trolling some lures for a Barra. With nothing happening we made a move toward the Cape. If it was ok, I would have ducked out to Salamander Reef. But a storm was building in the background. A quick look back to Maggie Island showed a large patch of rain moving in. Not wanting to be caught in a rain squall with the kids we bailed back to town. But we didn't beat the rain anyway. Not that it mattered, wind dropped to nothing as the rain came through. So I pointed the nose back out to sea. BANG, BANG. Nope, that swell was still there. At this point it was about 9ish and I had not turned the motor off all morning. We had done almost 60km and had barely put a line in the water. Feeling rater frustrated I opened the motor up hard and headed home!
Back home I needed to get away for a relax and de-stress. So I took my little spin rod and headed for the lakes. I fished around the various lakes for a couple of hours. But the only thing I managed was a small Jack of about 27cm. A nice fish it was quickly tagged and released.
Apparently Sunday turned out to be a ripper. TYPICAL. And I have had reports of good fish on the shoals. Including some hefty Spanish Mackerel. Oh well, there is always next weekend. Weather permitting!