Up early to get on the water by sunrise. We made our way out to the gummy shark location and I immediately started pulling up some flathead. Just small ones though, the one that was barely size got used for some bait. Pretty soon, the skipper was onto a gummy shark. After a decent fight, we had our first shark.

After that things went really quiet. We used the last of the burley and were about to head off when the skipper was on again. Unfortunately the runs stopped pretty quickly, and the “shark” seemed to be content to get to the bottom. When the skipper got it to the surface, our fears were confirmed it was actually a skate.

After that we headed off to the flathead location. When we arrived I baited my hooks, and hesitated to drop a line out. The trip over in 5-10 knots had got to me, and unfortunately I was now seasick. It wasn’t too bad but I stopped fishing for a bit hoping it would pass. That was unsuccessful and I retreated to the seat and managed to nod off for 10 minutes. When I woke I felt a bit better and ate a sandwich. A bit of a gambit, but I was hoping it would settle me. It did, and soon I was back in action.

We didn’t get anything for a while, until soon the flathead came on the bite. I got my first one, and my first Victorian fish in a while.

The fishing became reasonable for the next hour or so, I managed around 5 flathead, Dad had twice that, and I think the Skipper three times that.

Caught:
Me: 5ish flathead
Dad: 10ish flathead
Skipper: 15ish flathead & 1 gummy shark

One interesting thing was the damn Octopus… you wondered why you didn’t have a bite, go to wind up, and you could feel the weight there. They usually didn’t hook up, but they were everywhere and a real pain. The Skipper kept a few, wanting to try to cook them up. I have ordered them before in restaurants, but I really couldn’t be bothered.

Nevertheless it was a good day and we got a good feed.

 

Get off my line