Posts
Sunday 24th December - Merimbula
Christmas eve marked the first of many trips to ports of call up and down the south coast of NSW, the crew consisted of myself ( Captain Paffoh ) and my partner, first mate Claire ‘The Gun’ Stunden ( The designated driver for the duration of the trips ), after a small hiccup trying to locate and secure the cat inside we managed to depart for my parents place located in the Merimbula / Pambula region approximately three hours away.
After stopping in Cooma briefly to check the straps holding the kayak we continued over and down the Brown Mountain and arrived just in time to watch the AFC Bream series on television for about half an hour before my yakking urges got the better of me, the weather was crap with 30 knot + winds which may have deterred Claire from accompanying me but my sister Sarah ( Who had arrived with her partner the previous day ) was keen so we decided to launch from the old boat ramp located near Robyn’s nest resort in the Merimbula top lake.
Without any bait or knowledge pertaining to saltwater yakking ( apart from information gathered within this site ) we set up for some trolling with various lures but found it extremely difficult due to the fact the previous weeks weather had ripped and blown plenty of weed onto the surface, moving around some small points assisted heavily by the wind we found loads of fish on the sounder but encountered none until Sarah cast along a weed ledge and brought a 20cm Leatherjacket alongside the yak ( The first and only fish of the day ).
Monday 25th December – Christmas Day
With Christmas finally upon us many alcoholic beverages were consumed by all so driving let alone yakking was completely out of the question and the weather was still pretty crap with wind gusts topping 45 knots during the day making for a great day indoors, many top presents were exchanged with myself receiving some awesome native lures ( Golden child, Gold Double Downer ) from my Nan + amongst other things a $50 gift voucher for my local tackle store ( Dedicated to a pair of Ugly Fish polarized sunglasses which I picked up when we got back from Merimbula before our trip to Batemans Bay ).
I prayed for some better weather over the forthcoming days but alas the God of Kayak fishing had other plans...
Tuesday 26th December - Pambula
Awoke to find more crap weather so cursed the Gods and had my usual breakfast consisting of a smoke and a strong instant coffee, we had a good view of both the top and bottom lake at Merimbula and could see the wind was up around the 40 knot mark but maybe the Pambula lake was out of the wind?… A short trip without the kayak to the Merimbula boat ramp confirmed a no go situation so we drove towards Pambula lake in hope of a reprieve from the harsh conditions for an afternoon trip and on the way close to our destination passed over a bridge containing the Yowaka River.
Arriving at Pambula lake the surrounding landscape blanketed the wind well enough for some serious contemplation ( Should we go the lake or would this mysterious tidal river be perfect for a yak? ), on the way back to my parents we turned off to visit the river system and were delighted to find it sheltered enough for some great fishing so we went back to the parents and had some lunch then packed the car.
Arriving at Yowaka River a few hours later we parked at a public campsite by the river and set the yak venturing upstream looking for what Claire had deemed ‘Bream City’ noticing plenty of fish on the sounder whilst watching Mullet jump all around us, we decided on drifting Prawns hoping for a Bream or two and it wasn’t long before my rod tipped with a healthy Bream of around 20cm, Claire ‘The Gun’ was not to be outdone and pulled in another 20cm Bream which put up a great fight around the snags followed closely by an almost identical fish which had taken a liking to Claire’s Prawn presentation.
The following few hours produced 3 more small Bream with one absolutely smashing my prawn as we drifted through the city, the wind picked up and the tide started to fall so we left vowing to return in the near future to look further upstream following the brackish water towards Nethercote Falls in search of Bass... Would they be there?
Wednesday 27th December - Merimbula
The wind finally calmed to around 15 knots which was a pleasant sight to see with the Merimbula boat ramp completely full with boats, cars and trailers everywhere, just down from the ramp was a small beach capable of handling a yak launch so off we headed under the bridge to some moored boats on the edge of a channel ( Which we have inhabited in the past on my Dads stinkboat ) to try our luck drifting some Prawns, Claire’s first cast was nailed in under a minute producing a big run pulling braid with ‘The Gun’ landing a great Flathead of 56cm, I haven’t heard her scream so much over a fish before as I netted the beast and considering we were on a yak made her even more ecstatic.
Things went quiet for awhile after that due to the amount of boat traffic ( And possibly Claire’s Flathead hooting ) but some 20cm Bream ventured away from the oyster leases and nailed my offerings followed by a decent 33cm Silver Trevally which put up less of a fight than the following few 15cm Squire I managed to bring to the yak, we ran out of Prawns and needed to drive home to Canberra after lunch to feed the cat so we departed the lake but neither of us were phased considering the fillets we would get from that lizard and the skippy.
Thursday 28th December – Durras
After a long drive home to Canberra with coastal traffic the previous afternoon we fed and locked up the cat and traveled to Batemans Bay down the Clyde Mountain and into town grid locked with fellow Canberra citizens eager to secure accommodation before the forecasted storms hit, the bay was pleasant enough but after unpacking our gear into the Hotel ( They even let me store my kayak in my room overnight ) we proceeded to head to Durras Lake escaping the hordes and looking for a decent pedal before the weather closed in.
Having spied Durras Lake before hand a few months ago on a LBG trip we arrived at lunchtime to a mostly empty boat ramp and launched into a wind free body of water, I wanted to troll but Claire was keen to boat another Flathead on Prawns so a drifting we went around the corner away from the ramp… It was shallower than I predicted in areas, which made for some steady maneuvering into a 3m deep pool harbouring returns on the fishfinder, landed a few 15cm Squire between us before another forecasted storm decided to blow in from the coast ( That and the amount of beer swilling stinkboaters that arrived after us creating havoc ) forcing us to retreat with swift haste to the Hotel.
Lovely place out of holiday season but during the peak period we decided to avoid the place for the rest of our trip, after reading favourable reports on lizards in the Moruya and Clyde River systems Fridays destination was penciled in and the yak was put to bed on the Hotel floor ( No I didn’t make Claire sleep there, chances are I would have had to sleep down there if I tried! ).
Friday 29th December – Moruya
Alarm went off in the Hotel room at 7am so we could beat the traffic and the weather to the Moruya River, we traveled along the coast the 38kms to Moruya looking for a place to launch on the north side of river ( Passing unnoticed the ideal location which was later marked on the GPS as the ultimate launch site ), after driving towards the bridge we decided to cross it and depart from the town boat ramp… Waiting patiently in-between Departing boats we stole our chance after fitting the transducer, walking down the ramp and pedaling out and away drifting slowly as I set up the sounder and the GPS.
Right ready to go, hang on I know I have forgotten something due to our quick departure… where is the bait?, I had left it on the car floor but told Claire not to worry and opened a packet of Berkley Gulp 4” Sandworm in bloodworm colour and threaded them onto our hooks for a few hits but no real result.
Claire was getting frustrated knowing the Prawns were in the car but I insisted we tried trolling due to the lack of weed + I had been hanging to try some of the SX 40’s I purchased from Lureworld a few months ago so on they went, took about 10 minutes before I got a hit on the baitcaster but failed to hook up to the unknown fish, this lifted our spirits and it wasn’t long after passing a snag that I hooked up a 25cm Leatherjacket which spat the hooks alongside the yak ( Didn’t really care as I wasn’t keen to land this species ) so we trolled further along passing another snag with fish all over the finder resulting in my first Tailor ever, at the 25cm mark he was too small and thrown back.
Continuing on traveling back and forth along the rocky banks Claire finally got a hit when we hit the sandy 1.5m mark with her SX 40 securing a decent Flathead of legal size ( Which I assumed was too small and let go much to Claire’s disgust ), about 5 minutes later in the same approximate location on the trip back up the river I landed a 36cm Dusky lizard that was slightly smaller ( I got out the tape measure this time ) and threw it in the Hobie cooler behind my seat.
Wanting to hit Nelligen in the afternoon we called it a day around lunch and while pedaling back to the busy ramp I caught a 28cm dusky that hooked itself and my net badly breaking a hook from the rear treble as it thrashed around, eventually as I tried to free the lure from the enviro style net it escaped and catapulted over the side to hopefully grow up into a much bigger specimen for me to catch in the future.
Friday 29th December – Nelligen
With one day left before we had to return to Canberra there was only one place left I wanted to fish and that was the Clyde River, having stayed parallel to the river in Batemans Bay for the last few days observing absurd amounts of boats and PWC a quick nip down the road brought us to a muddy mangrove opening that was vacant of water craft next to the Nelligen bridge.
Upstream towards Batemans Bay is considered a no wash zone with all PWC ( Jet skis, water skiers and wake boarders ) banned which made our trip a little easier, the difficult thing was the weed on the surface which once again ruled out a troll session but with some Prawns and Worms to waste we moved away from the bridge and found huge schools of what we assume was either Snapper or Bream ( Came to this conclusion from the amount of 15cm Squire and similar size Bream we brought aboard ).
Interesting to note the few 18cm Squire we landed loved the Prawns fighting hard to avoid Claire’s wrath whilst the Bream loved the worms and found avoiding my tempting offers almost impossible, about half a dozen pinkies and a couple of 15cm Bream later we called it quits as we were getting quite sore after so many mini adventures up and down along the New South Wales southern coast… God I love to yak but this was the first time since I got my Hobie Outfitter that I had actually had enough of a fix to last me a year, luckily for me the year 2006 was almost over…
Friday 30th December - Canberra
After packing the car and checking out of the hotel we departed for Canberra feeling extremely satisfied of our saltwater achievements catching over 30 fish and many different species ( Even if only a few were kept for the table ), arriving home for lunch about 12:30 I edited the levels of the images captured and uploaded them to my photobucket page and started compiling this report ( Minus paddle charts ).
Its at this stage I wish to thank you all at AKFF for the support since I joined in August, I am glad I have found an enjoyable hobby and get to share it with likeminded people based throughout Australia and the world, Claire and I wish you a happy new years and we cant wait to finally meet some of you guys at the NSW annual AKFF convention held at Barlings Beach in 2007.
Christmas eve marked the first of many trips to ports of call up and down the south coast of NSW, the crew consisted of myself ( Captain Paffoh ) and my partner, first mate Claire ‘The Gun’ Stunden ( The designated driver for the duration of the trips ), after a small hiccup trying to locate and secure the cat inside we managed to depart for my parents place located in the Merimbula / Pambula region approximately three hours away.
After stopping in Cooma briefly to check the straps holding the kayak we continued over and down the Brown Mountain and arrived just in time to watch the AFC Bream series on television for about half an hour before my yakking urges got the better of me, the weather was crap with 30 knot + winds which may have deterred Claire from accompanying me but my sister Sarah ( Who had arrived with her partner the previous day ) was keen so we decided to launch from the old boat ramp located near Robyn’s nest resort in the Merimbula top lake.
Without any bait or knowledge pertaining to saltwater yakking ( apart from information gathered within this site ) we set up for some trolling with various lures but found it extremely difficult due to the fact the previous weeks weather had ripped and blown plenty of weed onto the surface, moving around some small points assisted heavily by the wind we found loads of fish on the sounder but encountered none until Sarah cast along a weed ledge and brought a 20cm Leatherjacket alongside the yak ( The first and only fish of the day ).
Monday 25th December – Christmas Day
With Christmas finally upon us many alcoholic beverages were consumed by all so driving let alone yakking was completely out of the question and the weather was still pretty crap with wind gusts topping 45 knots during the day making for a great day indoors, many top presents were exchanged with myself receiving some awesome native lures ( Golden child, Gold Double Downer ) from my Nan + amongst other things a $50 gift voucher for my local tackle store ( Dedicated to a pair of Ugly Fish polarized sunglasses which I picked up when we got back from Merimbula before our trip to Batemans Bay ).
I prayed for some better weather over the forthcoming days but alas the God of Kayak fishing had other plans...
Tuesday 26th December - Pambula
Awoke to find more crap weather so cursed the Gods and had my usual breakfast consisting of a smoke and a strong instant coffee, we had a good view of both the top and bottom lake at Merimbula and could see the wind was up around the 40 knot mark but maybe the Pambula lake was out of the wind?… A short trip without the kayak to the Merimbula boat ramp confirmed a no go situation so we drove towards Pambula lake in hope of a reprieve from the harsh conditions for an afternoon trip and on the way close to our destination passed over a bridge containing the Yowaka River.
Arriving at Pambula lake the surrounding landscape blanketed the wind well enough for some serious contemplation ( Should we go the lake or would this mysterious tidal river be perfect for a yak? ), on the way back to my parents we turned off to visit the river system and were delighted to find it sheltered enough for some great fishing so we went back to the parents and had some lunch then packed the car.
Arriving at Yowaka River a few hours later we parked at a public campsite by the river and set the yak venturing upstream looking for what Claire had deemed ‘Bream City’ noticing plenty of fish on the sounder whilst watching Mullet jump all around us, we decided on drifting Prawns hoping for a Bream or two and it wasn’t long before my rod tipped with a healthy Bream of around 20cm, Claire ‘The Gun’ was not to be outdone and pulled in another 20cm Bream which put up a great fight around the snags followed closely by an almost identical fish which had taken a liking to Claire’s Prawn presentation.
The following few hours produced 3 more small Bream with one absolutely smashing my prawn as we drifted through the city, the wind picked up and the tide started to fall so we left vowing to return in the near future to look further upstream following the brackish water towards Nethercote Falls in search of Bass... Would they be there?
Wednesday 27th December - Merimbula
The wind finally calmed to around 15 knots which was a pleasant sight to see with the Merimbula boat ramp completely full with boats, cars and trailers everywhere, just down from the ramp was a small beach capable of handling a yak launch so off we headed under the bridge to some moored boats on the edge of a channel ( Which we have inhabited in the past on my Dads stinkboat ) to try our luck drifting some Prawns, Claire’s first cast was nailed in under a minute producing a big run pulling braid with ‘The Gun’ landing a great Flathead of 56cm, I haven’t heard her scream so much over a fish before as I netted the beast and considering we were on a yak made her even more ecstatic.
Things went quiet for awhile after that due to the amount of boat traffic ( And possibly Claire’s Flathead hooting ) but some 20cm Bream ventured away from the oyster leases and nailed my offerings followed by a decent 33cm Silver Trevally which put up less of a fight than the following few 15cm Squire I managed to bring to the yak, we ran out of Prawns and needed to drive home to Canberra after lunch to feed the cat so we departed the lake but neither of us were phased considering the fillets we would get from that lizard and the skippy.
Thursday 28th December – Durras
After a long drive home to Canberra with coastal traffic the previous afternoon we fed and locked up the cat and traveled to Batemans Bay down the Clyde Mountain and into town grid locked with fellow Canberra citizens eager to secure accommodation before the forecasted storms hit, the bay was pleasant enough but after unpacking our gear into the Hotel ( They even let me store my kayak in my room overnight ) we proceeded to head to Durras Lake escaping the hordes and looking for a decent pedal before the weather closed in.
Having spied Durras Lake before hand a few months ago on a LBG trip we arrived at lunchtime to a mostly empty boat ramp and launched into a wind free body of water, I wanted to troll but Claire was keen to boat another Flathead on Prawns so a drifting we went around the corner away from the ramp… It was shallower than I predicted in areas, which made for some steady maneuvering into a 3m deep pool harbouring returns on the fishfinder, landed a few 15cm Squire between us before another forecasted storm decided to blow in from the coast ( That and the amount of beer swilling stinkboaters that arrived after us creating havoc ) forcing us to retreat with swift haste to the Hotel.
Lovely place out of holiday season but during the peak period we decided to avoid the place for the rest of our trip, after reading favourable reports on lizards in the Moruya and Clyde River systems Fridays destination was penciled in and the yak was put to bed on the Hotel floor ( No I didn’t make Claire sleep there, chances are I would have had to sleep down there if I tried! ).
Friday 29th December – Moruya
Alarm went off in the Hotel room at 7am so we could beat the traffic and the weather to the Moruya River, we traveled along the coast the 38kms to Moruya looking for a place to launch on the north side of river ( Passing unnoticed the ideal location which was later marked on the GPS as the ultimate launch site ), after driving towards the bridge we decided to cross it and depart from the town boat ramp… Waiting patiently in-between Departing boats we stole our chance after fitting the transducer, walking down the ramp and pedaling out and away drifting slowly as I set up the sounder and the GPS.
Right ready to go, hang on I know I have forgotten something due to our quick departure… where is the bait?, I had left it on the car floor but told Claire not to worry and opened a packet of Berkley Gulp 4” Sandworm in bloodworm colour and threaded them onto our hooks for a few hits but no real result.
Claire was getting frustrated knowing the Prawns were in the car but I insisted we tried trolling due to the lack of weed + I had been hanging to try some of the SX 40’s I purchased from Lureworld a few months ago so on they went, took about 10 minutes before I got a hit on the baitcaster but failed to hook up to the unknown fish, this lifted our spirits and it wasn’t long after passing a snag that I hooked up a 25cm Leatherjacket which spat the hooks alongside the yak ( Didn’t really care as I wasn’t keen to land this species ) so we trolled further along passing another snag with fish all over the finder resulting in my first Tailor ever, at the 25cm mark he was too small and thrown back.
Continuing on traveling back and forth along the rocky banks Claire finally got a hit when we hit the sandy 1.5m mark with her SX 40 securing a decent Flathead of legal size ( Which I assumed was too small and let go much to Claire’s disgust ), about 5 minutes later in the same approximate location on the trip back up the river I landed a 36cm Dusky lizard that was slightly smaller ( I got out the tape measure this time ) and threw it in the Hobie cooler behind my seat.
Wanting to hit Nelligen in the afternoon we called it a day around lunch and while pedaling back to the busy ramp I caught a 28cm dusky that hooked itself and my net badly breaking a hook from the rear treble as it thrashed around, eventually as I tried to free the lure from the enviro style net it escaped and catapulted over the side to hopefully grow up into a much bigger specimen for me to catch in the future.
Friday 29th December – Nelligen
With one day left before we had to return to Canberra there was only one place left I wanted to fish and that was the Clyde River, having stayed parallel to the river in Batemans Bay for the last few days observing absurd amounts of boats and PWC a quick nip down the road brought us to a muddy mangrove opening that was vacant of water craft next to the Nelligen bridge.
Upstream towards Batemans Bay is considered a no wash zone with all PWC ( Jet skis, water skiers and wake boarders ) banned which made our trip a little easier, the difficult thing was the weed on the surface which once again ruled out a troll session but with some Prawns and Worms to waste we moved away from the bridge and found huge schools of what we assume was either Snapper or Bream ( Came to this conclusion from the amount of 15cm Squire and similar size Bream we brought aboard ).
Interesting to note the few 18cm Squire we landed loved the Prawns fighting hard to avoid Claire’s wrath whilst the Bream loved the worms and found avoiding my tempting offers almost impossible, about half a dozen pinkies and a couple of 15cm Bream later we called it quits as we were getting quite sore after so many mini adventures up and down along the New South Wales southern coast… God I love to yak but this was the first time since I got my Hobie Outfitter that I had actually had enough of a fix to last me a year, luckily for me the year 2006 was almost over…
Friday 30th December - Canberra
After packing the car and checking out of the hotel we departed for Canberra feeling extremely satisfied of our saltwater achievements catching over 30 fish and many different species ( Even if only a few were kept for the table ), arriving home for lunch about 12:30 I edited the levels of the images captured and uploaded them to my photobucket page and started compiling this report ( Minus paddle charts ).
Its at this stage I wish to thank you all at AKFF for the support since I joined in August, I am glad I have found an enjoyable hobby and get to share it with likeminded people based throughout Australia and the world, Claire and I wish you a happy new years and we cant wait to finally meet some of you guys at the NSW annual AKFF convention held at Barlings Beach in 2007.
