Interesting day in the harbour. Got some advice off a mate which didn’t pan out that well. The first place we went too looked great and there was bait busting up everywhere… chased by trevelly as big as my hand. Got a few and gave up. Went to the next few places recommended, but they were all out of the water by a metre or two, just got the right tides for it. Boated around for ages before finding a few interesting drains. Very quiet until bang bang, 50cm & 61cm barra. Suddenly the wind kicked up like nothing else and we had to go home. Also saw two sharks fighting each other in the shallows… was pretty cool!

Got:
Me: Nothing of course.. but I am excellent guide!
GT: 50 & 61cm Barra.

Story of the trip:
Probably the boat ramp. The department of fisheries says you can use it on “most tides” what rubbish. I tried to take it out about 2.4m of water and had to wait 30mins. Even then it wasn’t protected by the breakwall and the chop from the 8knot northerly was horrible. A very difficult retrieval.

Boat problems:
*sigh*
During the week when I was playing with my boat cover I noticed the retrieval winch wasn’t working. Luckily my trailer guy (Michael from Promoter Trailers, great guy) was able to replace it entirely on Friday so I could still go. Which means last week wasn’t problem free, must have happened on the drive home.

And when I was cleaning the boat I noticed the seal had come off the bung. I will need to sikaflex that again.

Snap

Broke the drought, sort of at the Adelaide. Mate got a barra, I didn’t. Great trip though, plenty of action in the morning. Bit quiet after the tide changed but got heaps of stuff on baits, all pretty small though. Got some great crabs. And no (new) problems with the boat! Pretty decent trip, given my recent form. Even the road had been graded, haha.

Got:
Me: Lots of small goldies. Two good bucks.
Mate from QLD: 58cm Barra, lost another over 80 easy, kept a 30cm goldie (mostly because it had killed itself swallowing the hook)

Story of the trip:
First thing I did was go to the same place we got that 53cm Barra a few weeks ago. I pointed the branch and said “that is where we got one last time”. So my mate cast, first time, and hooked the 80cm+ fella. He spat the hook, but he looks at me like I a guru and says “well, you called it.” Haha if only he knew what a hack I was 🙂

Boat problems:
Nothing new! The trim was being a bit of a pain, they had fixed it but it was taking a second or two to kick into gear. The lekkie didn’t want to turn left (have nicknamed it Zoolander) but was easy enough to use with magic eye.

Fuel stats
20.5 litres, 74.6km. Max 46.4km

Snap

Had a lot of problems getting someone to go out with me this week, of all the problems I thought I might get in a boat, finding people to fish wasn’t one I expected. Found someone willing to go on a Sunday, (hate fishing on a Sunday) but wanted to go to Corroboree. It is 90 mins from mine, freshwater, no bait allowed, and just a beautiful place. Bloody hard to get a fish though. Known for being just about impossible. And so, we got nothing. I have to admit, when you are in freshwater and no bait, it makes “no fish” a bit more palatable when it is so easy to clean things.

Got:
Biggest cat fish ever. Biggest tarpon ever. No barra of course.

Story of the trip:
Never seen the billabong like it, the lilies were so overgrown in areas.  Very pretty, see pic.

Boat problems:
Gawd. Again.
This time I thought that I would certain it would be my first time without a new thing going wrong.
I had fixed the lekkie. Nothing had any signs of going wrong.
Drove and launched with no worries. Boated with no worries.
Lekkie was working great after I had taken the pedal apart and cleaned it.
Drove back and retrieved it.
Drove home.
Unloaded the first amount of gear and I thought to myself while grabbing a beer to sort the rest of the stuff out “this is it. This time. I am in clear water from here on out”
Came back downstairs and the trim was stuck upwards. No f-ng clue why. I can’t sort it, gotta go back into the shop.
It is like the boat is taunting me… and I have a huge weekend planned next hope it is sorted by then.

Snap

Perfect tides. Great wind. Heaps of boats around. No one got anything! At least not in the creeks or the mouth, those that went out to the islands did well. I hate to admit, there is some comfort in the fact that no one got anything, it wasn’t just us. I have been a bit unlucky lately, hope I didn’t jinx an entire region!

Got:
Me: Two decent mud crabs, kept a large bream, mostly because the hook took his eye out I thought it was more humane to kill him.

Story of the trip:
Pretty quiet! Umm, I guess it was that my tarp & rope worked very well down the dirt road.

Boat problems:
Nearly has a clean report card, except the foot pedal of the lekkie couldn’t get fixed, so I will have to get a new one. Am going to work on that.

Fuel Stats
8 Litres
30km travelled
43km max speed

Snap

Wanted to go jewfish hunting at leeders but Mud suggested barra chasing at the Adelaide. I never have much success but agreed to it. Not much success! The electric motor got fried a couple of hours in which hindered us. Was just getting out in the bluewater when the wind got picked up and had to come back. Put the pots in for nothing, again.

Got:
Me: One decent cod
Mud: 53cm barra & a large shark. Could stretch the barra to 54 lol but not 55. 🙁

Story of the trip:
Not sure really. Helped a guy with a large boat retrieve his as he had snapped his Achilles when he got off the boat. Fishing by yourself is scary. He still had to drive about 2 hours home.

Boat problems:
At first the electric motor wouldn’t turn, but would go. Then power cut out all together. Hope I don’t need a new one, I use it about every trip, hard to be without for the fishing I do.

Snap
53cm barra caught in morning… half assed photo as I was sure we’d get something better to photograph later in the day: