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Saturday 3rd March - Barlings Beach
This trip seemed plagued with mishaps from the start, first Allan and his spider incident, second my staff member calling in sick on Friday with 1hrs notice meaning Derek had to work his but off all day without a chance to organise replacement member for shift and thirdly Claire taking off to Narooma with my keycard firmly concealed deep within the realms of handbag womanhood... How the hell are we supposed to pull this off with the world against us?.
Luckily the gods had heard my plea with Andrew from Mayfly Tackle's ( Insert quality service here ) Nitro representative offering my doomed 'Undertaker' a second chance at Barlings glory and my shops safe cracking skills producing enough dosh for the trip away, even if I had to go into town at 5am when it was still full of drunken yobbos! I felt a sigh of relief after surviving the night at the pill munching, Wild Turkey swilling, huge crazy dog owning house and after the short stint at the shop and my rank amateur fuel filling skills we were on our way to Barlings Beach for a trip offshore, quick text message to Red advising of arrival time as we left Queanbeyan was greeted with a cheeky reply promising at leaving me some fish or more importantly an 'Ooglie' or two...
Fell asleep to awake halfway down the Clyde mountain close to the river harbouring the protected surrounds of Nelligen and Ultimately Batemans Bay. Quick bypass through Mogo had us arriving at Barlings spot on 8:00am for a slightly delayed launch, we had made it and were suprised by 1 1/2m - 2m swell producing knee high waves from the departure point, us 'Fresho's' don't get much waves round our parts but we managed to nick out the side in between the rocks spying for the familiar yellow yaks of Squidder's Fish 'n' Dive and Leigh's Hobie Adventure, after rounding the first few points and clocking up the first 5km of the day we noticed the distinct outline of Jason's evil milk crate silhouetted between the rising sun and the roll and pitch of the waves, thank god for Travelcalm is all I can say ( Funda doesn't need to have any + im sure he didn't need to take more bloody pills this weekend! ).
Catching up with Jason we dropped lines for some slow results, Jason indicated he had not caught a keeper fish yet and informed me Leigh had caught all my 'Ooglies' which made my blood boil, down went the 130mm Slick rig in Technicolour yawn which I hoped would bring me another decent feed of poor man's Lobster, the drift was fast and nothing like my previous experience at Burrewurra Point... Wind and tide pushing me 100m every few minutes made for some excruciating paddling lengths so clocking up the miles was definitely a must on the agenda schedule, Allan headed over closer to the rocks while I lost what can only be described as a rock solid fish ( A Red Rock Cod of 'Ooglie' stature ).
Looked over in between casts trying to stay well clear of Squidder, I was holding my Nitro rod close to my chest when I saw the man in question hook his first Snapper of the day, it was giving him stick but he hauled it aboard for a decent 30cm model followed by the bigger sized Snapper, schools were around and he was on top so cautiously I paddled over and was met by Funda on the drift and a returning Red with stories of lost fish ( Sure mate, big fish eh? Snapped your Fireline? ),
Having no fish to record as yet no sympathy was dished out for Leigh's substantial loses. Just before Red bailed for the safety of growing Children I copped a decent hit and set the hook on a tiny 'Ooglie' that fought as hard as any Redfin, Sergeant Baker or any other red fish species I had hooked in my life, no size to the fillets so back he went but closely followed on the next drop was a 30cm Sergeant Baker which self released next to the yak to my disappointment, switched lures to a Storm / Tsunami style weighted shad for a few nibbles but nothing worth recording...
Funda was doing slightly better with a few more 'Ooglies' than I and some butchers pricks ( Sergeant Baker to you northern folk ) but it was pretty quiet on the fish front, Jason hooked some Yakka on an Ice Jig before the decision was made to return to shore and depart from Jason to go check in at the Riverview van park at Moruya for a well earned rest.
Sunday 4th March - Moruya River
After waking early to find the weather had turned bad we went to the launch site at 6am for the Moruya outing to find neither Squidder, Red Pheonix or Bart70 had made it out of bed for the proposed trip, a few quick text messages later and we went back to the cabin to figure out our next move, packing plastics all night in anticipation of a headland bash put me in a desperate mood for a fish but the gods aren't going to let me have my way...
Around 6:30 the weather cleared enough for a launch into the Moruya River around the culvert and weir in search of our lizard mates and anything else that wanted to eat Atomic Prawns or smelly Gulp products hauled with effect by Cod whisperer. Another slow start with not many fish till we entered the weir, Allan had some big hits but failed to hook up apart from a small Flathead in the culvert before we moved onto the opening around the weir when my luck changed, throwing the Atomic prawn on a 1/8th jighead towards the mangroves hooked me my first Flathead of around 20cm followed closely by another in the same area about 25cm long...
Allan produced Flathead after Flathead with none of legal tender so he moved closer to the opening of the water outfall while I changed to a heavier jighead and an Atomic 3" Jerk Minnow, cast after cast had the fish moving in but apart from a small Octopus holding on all the way to the yak ( Just missed a good photo opportunity, Damn! ) I wasn't having the best of luck.
The tide had turned so back to the culvert we went with Flathead travelling round the weed beds avoiding my casts but hammering Funda's offerings, he dropped a few fish but managed a decent Lizard around the 45cm mark before we decided to call it quits and pack up and travel home, Allan's hand was glowing and I was pretty sunburned after paddling a suggested total of 15km - 20km over the past 2 mornings...
Fell asleep again till we made it up the mountain and as we travelled onto and through Bungendore a big Semi Trailer caused horrific wind leverage opening the rear window of the Pathfinder and shaking the yak on the new Thule system ( Quick check showed the system holding up perfectly ).
Wasn't the best weekend fishing but was a great break from the local and im sure we are both pretty keen to hit the coast more and more as we move toward the dreaded Canberra winter, and im sure Funda will be relived when he realises that finally he wont have to waste time stuffing around transporting an extra passenger and yak all over town as by then ( Crossing fingers ) I should have my very own 'P' plates to call my own, thanks to Red & Jason for the company on Saturday and hope to catch up with you all very soon on, god forbid... lake Burley Griffin.
This trip seemed plagued with mishaps from the start, first Allan and his spider incident, second my staff member calling in sick on Friday with 1hrs notice meaning Derek had to work his but off all day without a chance to organise replacement member for shift and thirdly Claire taking off to Narooma with my keycard firmly concealed deep within the realms of handbag womanhood... How the hell are we supposed to pull this off with the world against us?.
Luckily the gods had heard my plea with Andrew from Mayfly Tackle's ( Insert quality service here ) Nitro representative offering my doomed 'Undertaker' a second chance at Barlings glory and my shops safe cracking skills producing enough dosh for the trip away, even if I had to go into town at 5am when it was still full of drunken yobbos! I felt a sigh of relief after surviving the night at the pill munching, Wild Turkey swilling, huge crazy dog owning house and after the short stint at the shop and my rank amateur fuel filling skills we were on our way to Barlings Beach for a trip offshore, quick text message to Red advising of arrival time as we left Queanbeyan was greeted with a cheeky reply promising at leaving me some fish or more importantly an 'Ooglie' or two...
Fell asleep to awake halfway down the Clyde mountain close to the river harbouring the protected surrounds of Nelligen and Ultimately Batemans Bay. Quick bypass through Mogo had us arriving at Barlings spot on 8:00am for a slightly delayed launch, we had made it and were suprised by 1 1/2m - 2m swell producing knee high waves from the departure point, us 'Fresho's' don't get much waves round our parts but we managed to nick out the side in between the rocks spying for the familiar yellow yaks of Squidder's Fish 'n' Dive and Leigh's Hobie Adventure, after rounding the first few points and clocking up the first 5km of the day we noticed the distinct outline of Jason's evil milk crate silhouetted between the rising sun and the roll and pitch of the waves, thank god for Travelcalm is all I can say ( Funda doesn't need to have any + im sure he didn't need to take more bloody pills this weekend! ).
Catching up with Jason we dropped lines for some slow results, Jason indicated he had not caught a keeper fish yet and informed me Leigh had caught all my 'Ooglies' which made my blood boil, down went the 130mm Slick rig in Technicolour yawn which I hoped would bring me another decent feed of poor man's Lobster, the drift was fast and nothing like my previous experience at Burrewurra Point... Wind and tide pushing me 100m every few minutes made for some excruciating paddling lengths so clocking up the miles was definitely a must on the agenda schedule, Allan headed over closer to the rocks while I lost what can only be described as a rock solid fish ( A Red Rock Cod of 'Ooglie' stature ).
Looked over in between casts trying to stay well clear of Squidder, I was holding my Nitro rod close to my chest when I saw the man in question hook his first Snapper of the day, it was giving him stick but he hauled it aboard for a decent 30cm model followed by the bigger sized Snapper, schools were around and he was on top so cautiously I paddled over and was met by Funda on the drift and a returning Red with stories of lost fish ( Sure mate, big fish eh? Snapped your Fireline? ),
Having no fish to record as yet no sympathy was dished out for Leigh's substantial loses. Just before Red bailed for the safety of growing Children I copped a decent hit and set the hook on a tiny 'Ooglie' that fought as hard as any Redfin, Sergeant Baker or any other red fish species I had hooked in my life, no size to the fillets so back he went but closely followed on the next drop was a 30cm Sergeant Baker which self released next to the yak to my disappointment, switched lures to a Storm / Tsunami style weighted shad for a few nibbles but nothing worth recording...
Funda was doing slightly better with a few more 'Ooglies' than I and some butchers pricks ( Sergeant Baker to you northern folk ) but it was pretty quiet on the fish front, Jason hooked some Yakka on an Ice Jig before the decision was made to return to shore and depart from Jason to go check in at the Riverview van park at Moruya for a well earned rest.
Sunday 4th March - Moruya River
After waking early to find the weather had turned bad we went to the launch site at 6am for the Moruya outing to find neither Squidder, Red Pheonix or Bart70 had made it out of bed for the proposed trip, a few quick text messages later and we went back to the cabin to figure out our next move, packing plastics all night in anticipation of a headland bash put me in a desperate mood for a fish but the gods aren't going to let me have my way...
Around 6:30 the weather cleared enough for a launch into the Moruya River around the culvert and weir in search of our lizard mates and anything else that wanted to eat Atomic Prawns or smelly Gulp products hauled with effect by Cod whisperer. Another slow start with not many fish till we entered the weir, Allan had some big hits but failed to hook up apart from a small Flathead in the culvert before we moved onto the opening around the weir when my luck changed, throwing the Atomic prawn on a 1/8th jighead towards the mangroves hooked me my first Flathead of around 20cm followed closely by another in the same area about 25cm long...
Allan produced Flathead after Flathead with none of legal tender so he moved closer to the opening of the water outfall while I changed to a heavier jighead and an Atomic 3" Jerk Minnow, cast after cast had the fish moving in but apart from a small Octopus holding on all the way to the yak ( Just missed a good photo opportunity, Damn! ) I wasn't having the best of luck.
The tide had turned so back to the culvert we went with Flathead travelling round the weed beds avoiding my casts but hammering Funda's offerings, he dropped a few fish but managed a decent Lizard around the 45cm mark before we decided to call it quits and pack up and travel home, Allan's hand was glowing and I was pretty sunburned after paddling a suggested total of 15km - 20km over the past 2 mornings...
Fell asleep again till we made it up the mountain and as we travelled onto and through Bungendore a big Semi Trailer caused horrific wind leverage opening the rear window of the Pathfinder and shaking the yak on the new Thule system ( Quick check showed the system holding up perfectly ).
Wasn't the best weekend fishing but was a great break from the local and im sure we are both pretty keen to hit the coast more and more as we move toward the dreaded Canberra winter, and im sure Funda will be relived when he realises that finally he wont have to waste time stuffing around transporting an extra passenger and yak all over town as by then ( Crossing fingers ) I should have my very own 'P' plates to call my own, thanks to Red & Jason for the company on Saturday and hope to catch up with you all very soon on, god forbid... lake Burley Griffin.
