Posts
Friday 4th May 2007
After missing out on the Congo trip due to some minor issues ( Adequate camping gear, personal organizational skills and possibly brain power ) Claire and I decided to venture to Bateman’s Bay for the weekend hoping for some decent fishing and a relaxing getaway, leaving straight after work on Friday we arrived at our Hotel around 8:30pm and headed straight to ‘Sam’s on the Water’, our favourite boring Pizza restaurant for a quick feed before raiding Woolworth’s and bunking down for the night.
Saturday 5th of May 2007
Bart 70 ( Rob to most people ) had sent me a few PM’s on the forum mentioning he and his wife Therese were up for a fish and had the same idea in mind, find somewhere calm to launch close or at Casey’s Beach allowing for kids to be ferried to a babysitter plus finding decent fishing grounds ( Followed by a quick snooze, actually that was my agenda ) before having a BBQ around 6pm, I must thank Rob once again for organising and inviting both Claire and I for an evening BBQ saving us from more Pizza and drunken neighbours in the Hotel room next to us.
Launched at Casey’s beach opposite the Caravan Park into very calm waters and commenced a quick troll and scout of the area, Rob and Therese were running a little late so we headed around the headland and back followed by a run along the beach in search of positive soundings on the fish finder, wasn’t long before millions of fish started filling the screen to a point were it was filled with symbols from the FISH ID feature on the Pirahna Max10, A massive school of Slimey Mackerel were roaming the beach looking for a feed and were only identified as the mentioned species when Claire hooked a larger specimen caught on a piece of frozen Pilchard. Rob and Therese arrived and started hooking into them with their soft plastics with Therese scoring her first fish from the kayak before hooking many, many more…
Rob ventured in closer to the rocks and found a usually inaccessible patch full of just legal Flathead, this part of Casey’s is normally swelled up to the point of whitewater plaguing the zone but not today. Scoring plenty of Lizards with Therese ( She was on fire ) we moved in closer to the sandy section and landed a few undersized fish before I managed a 39cm Flathead which I kept in hope of a few more to grace a plate sometime in the near future ( Got to love Flathead fillets from the freezers ), the water was gin clear which made for some exciting takes in 3m of water with polarized sunglasses aiding in sighting fish and enjoying the take even more all whilst avoiding the small Stingrays moving in for the kill.
Rob took us to another spot some hundred meters away on the Ocean side of a rock platform mentioning the fact he had secured a Snapper and decent Flathead the previous days trip, on the way over we all trolled lures with Rob boating a toothy Pike and a few other species, sitting behind the rocks I changed baits and started using sections of the Slimey Mackerel with immediate effect as Claire and I got slammed by many BIG fish returning to their rocky lairs resulting in plenty of lost paternoster rigs.
Therese caught the first ‘Ooglie’ of the day before heading in to fetch the kids, Rob escorted her in to shore then returned to us for some more action, we ran out of bait after I caught my first Pike ( Smelly things aren’t they? ) so we switched to Slick Rigs much to Claire’s dismay ( She only likes using bait, guess who had to put it on her hook though? ), her facial expression changed when she was almost bricked by a BIG Rock Cod but her 20lb leader saved the day… Started telling Rob how much of an ‘Ooglie Whisperer’ I was when Claire hooked an even BIGGER Rock Cod followed by another one, then another one before I landed a few in quick succession ( All were just as big as my Barlings specimens ). Kept two ‘Ooglies’ and the Flathead and called it a day after 6 hours on the water, went back to the Hotel for a quick snooze before returning with Claire to meet our hosts for a nice BBQ evening in the grounds of the Caravan Park, Rob and I discussed many things throughout the night and decided on a small yak trip to Moruya River early Sunday morning before we had to check out of the Hotel.
Sunday 6th of May 2007
Woke early after a crap nights sleep ( Good TV and drunken neighbours ) and arrived at the launch site at 7:30am spying Rob on the water in the distance, rigged up quickly and headed over to say hello while trolling 2 SX40’s and opening various packets of Gulp in preparation for a feeding frenzy, Claire got some big hits early but dropped fish on her Lime Tiger 3” Gulp minnow so we went trolling upstream towards the culvert, no go zone in there today due to low water levels so headed back to Flathead spot #56892.
Didn’t have much luck here either so paddled down towards the bridge hugging the road side of the river trolling our Ecogear’s looking for snags, a few snags showed positive signs of life and I managed to hook a cute little Bream followed by a smaller one as I rounded the sunken timber… On the way back Claire had a good hit on the troll but once again failed to hook up for some unknown reason, running out of time we decided on one more quick bash at spot #56892 before departing the River system. Baitfish were getting smashed and large symbols started appearing on my sounder, Claire retrieved her Soft Plastic on one occasion so fast a big fish performed a surface strike next to the yak but missed the hook, the common consensus was these were big Tailor or Salmon bruising the population of Whitebait, Claire finally raised an undersized Flounder which self released while I was searching for the pliers.
Rob, myself and Claire pedaled to shore to pack our things before we dashed off quickly hoping to avoid any late fees incurred by our late checkout, I must say if anyone is heading down Bateman’s Bay way either solo or in a group I urge you to PM Bart 70 and check if he is down this way, most weekends he is available and around these locations and is always up for a fish ( Helps that he is one top bloke ).
Thanks again Rob and Therese for the company…
After missing out on the Congo trip due to some minor issues ( Adequate camping gear, personal organizational skills and possibly brain power ) Claire and I decided to venture to Bateman’s Bay for the weekend hoping for some decent fishing and a relaxing getaway, leaving straight after work on Friday we arrived at our Hotel around 8:30pm and headed straight to ‘Sam’s on the Water’, our favourite boring Pizza restaurant for a quick feed before raiding Woolworth’s and bunking down for the night.
Saturday 5th of May 2007
Bart 70 ( Rob to most people ) had sent me a few PM’s on the forum mentioning he and his wife Therese were up for a fish and had the same idea in mind, find somewhere calm to launch close or at Casey’s Beach allowing for kids to be ferried to a babysitter plus finding decent fishing grounds ( Followed by a quick snooze, actually that was my agenda ) before having a BBQ around 6pm, I must thank Rob once again for organising and inviting both Claire and I for an evening BBQ saving us from more Pizza and drunken neighbours in the Hotel room next to us.
Launched at Casey’s beach opposite the Caravan Park into very calm waters and commenced a quick troll and scout of the area, Rob and Therese were running a little late so we headed around the headland and back followed by a run along the beach in search of positive soundings on the fish finder, wasn’t long before millions of fish started filling the screen to a point were it was filled with symbols from the FISH ID feature on the Pirahna Max10, A massive school of Slimey Mackerel were roaming the beach looking for a feed and were only identified as the mentioned species when Claire hooked a larger specimen caught on a piece of frozen Pilchard. Rob and Therese arrived and started hooking into them with their soft plastics with Therese scoring her first fish from the kayak before hooking many, many more…
Rob ventured in closer to the rocks and found a usually inaccessible patch full of just legal Flathead, this part of Casey’s is normally swelled up to the point of whitewater plaguing the zone but not today. Scoring plenty of Lizards with Therese ( She was on fire ) we moved in closer to the sandy section and landed a few undersized fish before I managed a 39cm Flathead which I kept in hope of a few more to grace a plate sometime in the near future ( Got to love Flathead fillets from the freezers ), the water was gin clear which made for some exciting takes in 3m of water with polarized sunglasses aiding in sighting fish and enjoying the take even more all whilst avoiding the small Stingrays moving in for the kill.
Rob took us to another spot some hundred meters away on the Ocean side of a rock platform mentioning the fact he had secured a Snapper and decent Flathead the previous days trip, on the way over we all trolled lures with Rob boating a toothy Pike and a few other species, sitting behind the rocks I changed baits and started using sections of the Slimey Mackerel with immediate effect as Claire and I got slammed by many BIG fish returning to their rocky lairs resulting in plenty of lost paternoster rigs.
Therese caught the first ‘Ooglie’ of the day before heading in to fetch the kids, Rob escorted her in to shore then returned to us for some more action, we ran out of bait after I caught my first Pike ( Smelly things aren’t they? ) so we switched to Slick Rigs much to Claire’s dismay ( She only likes using bait, guess who had to put it on her hook though? ), her facial expression changed when she was almost bricked by a BIG Rock Cod but her 20lb leader saved the day… Started telling Rob how much of an ‘Ooglie Whisperer’ I was when Claire hooked an even BIGGER Rock Cod followed by another one, then another one before I landed a few in quick succession ( All were just as big as my Barlings specimens ). Kept two ‘Ooglies’ and the Flathead and called it a day after 6 hours on the water, went back to the Hotel for a quick snooze before returning with Claire to meet our hosts for a nice BBQ evening in the grounds of the Caravan Park, Rob and I discussed many things throughout the night and decided on a small yak trip to Moruya River early Sunday morning before we had to check out of the Hotel.
Sunday 6th of May 2007
Woke early after a crap nights sleep ( Good TV and drunken neighbours ) and arrived at the launch site at 7:30am spying Rob on the water in the distance, rigged up quickly and headed over to say hello while trolling 2 SX40’s and opening various packets of Gulp in preparation for a feeding frenzy, Claire got some big hits early but dropped fish on her Lime Tiger 3” Gulp minnow so we went trolling upstream towards the culvert, no go zone in there today due to low water levels so headed back to Flathead spot #56892.
Didn’t have much luck here either so paddled down towards the bridge hugging the road side of the river trolling our Ecogear’s looking for snags, a few snags showed positive signs of life and I managed to hook a cute little Bream followed by a smaller one as I rounded the sunken timber… On the way back Claire had a good hit on the troll but once again failed to hook up for some unknown reason, running out of time we decided on one more quick bash at spot #56892 before departing the River system. Baitfish were getting smashed and large symbols started appearing on my sounder, Claire retrieved her Soft Plastic on one occasion so fast a big fish performed a surface strike next to the yak but missed the hook, the common consensus was these were big Tailor or Salmon bruising the population of Whitebait, Claire finally raised an undersized Flounder which self released while I was searching for the pliers.
Rob, myself and Claire pedaled to shore to pack our things before we dashed off quickly hoping to avoid any late fees incurred by our late checkout, I must say if anyone is heading down Bateman’s Bay way either solo or in a group I urge you to PM Bart 70 and check if he is down this way, most weekends he is available and around these locations and is always up for a fish ( Helps that he is one top bloke ).
Thanks again Rob and Therese for the company…
