Posts
On this day let it be known that Squidder ( Jason ) embarked on a truly dope adventure taking in the seaside town of Longbeach and its sister beach named Maloneys, now before I begin to ramble on in the same fashion as yesteryear ( Previous trip reports ) I must elaborate on how truly magnificent the weather really was… Words wont do this justice but by comparing the 7:00am 2 degree start in Canberra to the 9:30am absolutely perfect launching condition and warm, still weather may help.
After arriving at Bateman’s Bay and heading to the local Marine dealer to pick up rubbers ( Nope, not some gay porn shoot ) we arrived at Maloneys and spied Itchyant ( Anthony ) and Caught2 ( Kim ) mooching around offshore anticipating our late but gentle start, quickly rigging up the yaks and tackle we headed off towards the duo who were working the local bombie closest to shore, Immediately Jasons Squid perception skill kicked in and rather than greet the invited guests he proceeded to try and level up on his brethren.
Anthony had already pulled in some decent Flathead including a ripper of an unknown documented size some 20m off the beach while Kim landed a legal Snapper as I arrived for a chat, the water was Gin clear even in 9m of water making structure easy to spot even without the aid of a fish finder so I eagerly threw a few plastics around hoping for a fish early in the day.
Got worked hard on the first cast of the day and lost half my plastic to some toothy critters but the good news was that the Leatherjacket plague were out for an extra long lunch and would not make an appearance today much to the pleasure of the locals and interstate guests alike, saving the Gulp and the Slick Rigs for later I switched to Pilchards and clipped on a Paternoster dropper… The wrasse hammered my offerings to the point that I got reefed many a time, I quickly learned once the snapper sinker had hit the bottom to turn the reel twice allowing the sinker and the angler ample time to stop the run towards home.
Squidder failed to raise a Squid but soon had a present fit for a Mother-in-law ( Red Bass? ) and a few wrasse to his name, conditions were that good he headed in to collect his dive gear and commence a dive of the yak hidden behind bombie section number 2 ( some 300m left of the first set ), I switched to Squid bait and hoped to hook an Ooglie or two but alas found myself dropping fish left, right and center mainly due to my oversized hooks and pickers struggling to get the mouths round my presentation, m and Anthony headed towards Yellow rock while I followed gingerly behind testing the depths further out.
Where are these so called Kingfish close to sure? What about these pan sized Snappers members seem to harvest from this fishing destination?
While watching Squidder disappear into the depths I moved on to Yellow rock while dragging a plastic way to fast, the big Hot Tomato Squidgy was smashed by something with a yellow tail, perhaps I had found the species I was looking for or PERHAPS it was the dreaded smelly toothy critters I had been doing so well to avoid over the past few years, a frown appeared quickly followed by a sigh of relief as the Pike was landed with the aid of a net and Boga grips, relief that I had finally boated my first fish for the trip some two and a bit hours after initially launching.
Met Kim and Itchyant behind Yellow rock as the wind picked up slightly and the swell rose an inch or two ( Was still an amazingly clear day ), spotted a Trevally following my Squid bait drift but failed to entice him, perhaps we wanted some Pilchard but keeping these away from the offending reef scum would be hard, moved back following the bread crumb trail on the GPS and set adrift again but this time I was smashed by a 33cm Silver Trevally who decided he didn’t want to become dinner and tried to bust me off on the reef below…
This model put up more of a fight that the 45cm Skippy I caught at Easter easily pulling drag on the Caldia Kix and bending the Heavy Procaster tip into the water, poor fish lost out to my 20lb braid and 20lb leader and was quickly bled inside my Hobie dry bag stowed securely inside the middle hatch on the Quest, checked the time on the Garmin and decided to troll various lures along the rocky edge back towards Squidder to see how his dive fared and to ask when the Hamburger Deluxe mission was scheduled for.
Squidder seemed pleased but a little miffed at conditions on the day, a few Leatherjackets ( Jealous Davey G? ) and a nice Black Drummer were speared but no Abalone or Crayfish were discovered, these conditions made for perfect sailing and boating weather but perhaps forced the fish into deeper water where conditions are murkier and safer for fish and crustaceans, Diving from the yak looked fun and the Fish ‘N’ Dive was used for its intended purpose for the first time since Jason moved from Melbourne to Canberra.
Itchyant had to head off and Kim seemed to never want to come in so it was burger time, a plan of packing up the gear and going for a shore based fish / dive was hatched but only after one of these so called super burgers was munched alongside a minimum chips and many a coke beverage, must say the burgers were quite nice and it was pleasant to taste a good, crisp flavour ( Sign read ‘ We use Soy Linseed oil in our cooking ‘ ) I have not experienced before.
Running out of time we headed back to the beach with bloated bellies just in time to meet Kim loading her yak on her roof racks, Jason offered assistance while I bludged about enjoying my ciggie and perplexed over when sunset would actually occur, Kim thought we had about 1 hr left so we bid farewell and went left along the shore towards a reefy point and Squidder entered the water immediately spooking a few monster Flathead in his first five minutes of diving, I cast plastics from the beach hoping to secure a fish of any species but found nothing but rocks and weed which claimed the life of a few Gulp laden jig heads.
Moving away I kept hoping plastics till I found a Stingray holding ground at my feet, I had not noticed this Ray before so was amused and took some photos before testing its response with plastics, It was interested but I was not going to hook this little beast so I just teased it on and off for a few minutes before I noticed Jason exiting the water empty handed exclaiming that once the sun had set behind the hills that eyesight had become extremely poor, he was pleased that he saw the big Flatheads and estimated a few close to 80cm in size.
Packing up we headed for home and arrived at my house for a feed prepared lovingly by my partner Claire, she made me proud cooking up her famous Lasagna & garlic Bread combo followed by Chocolate Pudding, Offering Jason free veggies and poultry plundered from her sisters rural property we sat down for a good feed and a tale or two… Thanks to Jason for his driving skills and invitation and to the others for spending time with me on a body of water I have not fished before.
After arriving at Bateman’s Bay and heading to the local Marine dealer to pick up rubbers ( Nope, not some gay porn shoot ) we arrived at Maloneys and spied Itchyant ( Anthony ) and Caught2 ( Kim ) mooching around offshore anticipating our late but gentle start, quickly rigging up the yaks and tackle we headed off towards the duo who were working the local bombie closest to shore, Immediately Jasons Squid perception skill kicked in and rather than greet the invited guests he proceeded to try and level up on his brethren.
Anthony had already pulled in some decent Flathead including a ripper of an unknown documented size some 20m off the beach while Kim landed a legal Snapper as I arrived for a chat, the water was Gin clear even in 9m of water making structure easy to spot even without the aid of a fish finder so I eagerly threw a few plastics around hoping for a fish early in the day.
Got worked hard on the first cast of the day and lost half my plastic to some toothy critters but the good news was that the Leatherjacket plague were out for an extra long lunch and would not make an appearance today much to the pleasure of the locals and interstate guests alike, saving the Gulp and the Slick Rigs for later I switched to Pilchards and clipped on a Paternoster dropper… The wrasse hammered my offerings to the point that I got reefed many a time, I quickly learned once the snapper sinker had hit the bottom to turn the reel twice allowing the sinker and the angler ample time to stop the run towards home.
Squidder failed to raise a Squid but soon had a present fit for a Mother-in-law ( Red Bass? ) and a few wrasse to his name, conditions were that good he headed in to collect his dive gear and commence a dive of the yak hidden behind bombie section number 2 ( some 300m left of the first set ), I switched to Squid bait and hoped to hook an Ooglie or two but alas found myself dropping fish left, right and center mainly due to my oversized hooks and pickers struggling to get the mouths round my presentation, m and Anthony headed towards Yellow rock while I followed gingerly behind testing the depths further out.
Where are these so called Kingfish close to sure? What about these pan sized Snappers members seem to harvest from this fishing destination?
While watching Squidder disappear into the depths I moved on to Yellow rock while dragging a plastic way to fast, the big Hot Tomato Squidgy was smashed by something with a yellow tail, perhaps I had found the species I was looking for or PERHAPS it was the dreaded smelly toothy critters I had been doing so well to avoid over the past few years, a frown appeared quickly followed by a sigh of relief as the Pike was landed with the aid of a net and Boga grips, relief that I had finally boated my first fish for the trip some two and a bit hours after initially launching.
Met Kim and Itchyant behind Yellow rock as the wind picked up slightly and the swell rose an inch or two ( Was still an amazingly clear day ), spotted a Trevally following my Squid bait drift but failed to entice him, perhaps we wanted some Pilchard but keeping these away from the offending reef scum would be hard, moved back following the bread crumb trail on the GPS and set adrift again but this time I was smashed by a 33cm Silver Trevally who decided he didn’t want to become dinner and tried to bust me off on the reef below…
This model put up more of a fight that the 45cm Skippy I caught at Easter easily pulling drag on the Caldia Kix and bending the Heavy Procaster tip into the water, poor fish lost out to my 20lb braid and 20lb leader and was quickly bled inside my Hobie dry bag stowed securely inside the middle hatch on the Quest, checked the time on the Garmin and decided to troll various lures along the rocky edge back towards Squidder to see how his dive fared and to ask when the Hamburger Deluxe mission was scheduled for.
Squidder seemed pleased but a little miffed at conditions on the day, a few Leatherjackets ( Jealous Davey G? ) and a nice Black Drummer were speared but no Abalone or Crayfish were discovered, these conditions made for perfect sailing and boating weather but perhaps forced the fish into deeper water where conditions are murkier and safer for fish and crustaceans, Diving from the yak looked fun and the Fish ‘N’ Dive was used for its intended purpose for the first time since Jason moved from Melbourne to Canberra.
Itchyant had to head off and Kim seemed to never want to come in so it was burger time, a plan of packing up the gear and going for a shore based fish / dive was hatched but only after one of these so called super burgers was munched alongside a minimum chips and many a coke beverage, must say the burgers were quite nice and it was pleasant to taste a good, crisp flavour ( Sign read ‘ We use Soy Linseed oil in our cooking ‘ ) I have not experienced before.
Running out of time we headed back to the beach with bloated bellies just in time to meet Kim loading her yak on her roof racks, Jason offered assistance while I bludged about enjoying my ciggie and perplexed over when sunset would actually occur, Kim thought we had about 1 hr left so we bid farewell and went left along the shore towards a reefy point and Squidder entered the water immediately spooking a few monster Flathead in his first five minutes of diving, I cast plastics from the beach hoping to secure a fish of any species but found nothing but rocks and weed which claimed the life of a few Gulp laden jig heads.
Moving away I kept hoping plastics till I found a Stingray holding ground at my feet, I had not noticed this Ray before so was amused and took some photos before testing its response with plastics, It was interested but I was not going to hook this little beast so I just teased it on and off for a few minutes before I noticed Jason exiting the water empty handed exclaiming that once the sun had set behind the hills that eyesight had become extremely poor, he was pleased that he saw the big Flatheads and estimated a few close to 80cm in size.
Packing up we headed for home and arrived at my house for a feed prepared lovingly by my partner Claire, she made me proud cooking up her famous Lasagna & garlic Bread combo followed by Chocolate Pudding, Offering Jason free veggies and poultry plundered from her sisters rural property we sat down for a good feed and a tale or two… Thanks to Jason for his driving skills and invitation and to the others for spending time with me on a body of water I have not fished before.
