Dry 2015 continues…

Oh dear. I didn’t think that it could get much more frustrating than last week. Well… I wasn’t the skipper this week, my deckie had a much larger and nice boat than me with a 250 on the back, we hit shoal bay and given the forecast of 17 knot winds we decided to take his out. First thing we did was launch at buffalo creek and get stuck on THREE sandbanks on the way out. Then we hit shoal bay hard for zero fish.

The skipper was persisting in casting with a very old baitcaster that kept getting into birdsnests… he was joking that he every time he did his rods up he ended using the reel that didn’t work. Well it ‘not funny’ quickly when he hooked a huge fish and BANG his reel exploded, splitting on the base that connects it to the rod!

Got:
Nothing.
Maybe I’m a the human banana?

Story of the trip:
Came across a smaller croc who had thought it was a great idea to bite into a crab float. Problem was he couldn’t quite get his mouth around it, and his teeth got stuck in it. So there he was thrashing around trying to get this float out of his mouth.

Beautiful creatures, rah rah, it was actually pretty funny. Wasn’t out crab pot so we left it alone.

Boat problems:
The skippers spring on his trailer exploded when he was reversing in his driveway. Nice to know my luck extends to other people’s boats too.

Snap

Lots of work, one small barra

Well, well. Looking at the tides I thought the harbour would be good, but ended up hitting shoal bay instead. Lots of work for this trip! Apart from the 8 hours of solid fishing for one undersized barra, other fun included:
– Motor constantly getting blocked with mud
– Electric motor problems, culminating with the foot pedal starting to smoke
– Someone’s crab pot rope wrapped around the prop
– A constant battle to keep the main battery charged (I had a back up battery for the trip home, but I wouldn’t lekkie from it)

Wasn’t all bad. I learnt a lot from the experience, shoal bay and buffalo creek boat ramp is a nice spot, and the boat handled the small chop really well. I’m sure I’ll get some results soon, though that electric motor is critical to how I fish.

Got:
Me: 1 undersized barra
Mud: Nothing

Story of the trip:
Some guys were battling a large barra. I think they were live baiting and it kept taking it and jumping out of the water. I really wanted to go over and start flicking at it, but that would have been majorly uncool. I don’t think they ever landed it, but they hooked it a few times.

Boat problems:
Need a new foot pedal. No more electric motor until I get one. And at this time of the year…

Snap

A crock getting stuck on a float

Lots of life, no fish

So this was my theory, I wanted to do more quick fishing trips. If I don’t have time for a full day, I would just put the boat in Dinah Beach Boat Ramp (10 mins away) and spend a few hours in the water, (plus an extra 2 packing up). Well I had to work Saturday so I figured I might as well give it a shot, and everything went great, except no fish.

Things are doing really well elsewhere so next weekend I need to put in the miles.

Got:
Me: 1 small, 1 medium catfish
Tameka: Nothing

Story of the trip:
Went down to Reichart’s and there was life everywhere. A few boofs, fish jumping, it all looked pretty good. Yet nothing was biting, apart from a couple of catfish. So much life for nothing. At one point I could see a fish (thought it was a barra, but a closer inspection now thinking maybe a shark) and I swam a lure past its face a few times, once I dragged the lure into its body, it just lazily continued swimming along without a care in the world.

Boat problems:
The battery ran out, I think I did too much on the minnkota, and not enough on the engine. I started it on the second one and managed to charge it a bit on the drive home. Started on battery 1 for the engine flush so I think it is okay.

Snap
Lost in the photobucket episode of 2017