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After last week's disappointing result in the Gamakatsu Hobie GTS Round at the Clyde River Batemans Bay I was in no hurry to put this report up. It was one of those days for me the moment I arrived in the car park, things just didn't go well from the get go. That's not to say it wasn't a good day on the water, more like a few things happened that decided my fate early on in the piece...
By the time I pulled up in the car park I had enough time to park, then repark, then crush my second new trailer box and twist my back. Accompany that with the nasty effects of a Peri Peri chicken Pizza the night before and I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. The car park toilets were locked (Oh dear) so I unhitched the trailer and drove off to McDonalds, only to return minus my deceased pops cigar case (lost).
To make matters worse I had no real idea on where I was going to fish and how long my body would let me. This is one round where fishing close to the launch is optimal so after the boats snuck off I followed local Craig Coughlan to his favourite racks and went about attempting to extract my limit. Craig was nice enough to point out what racks held the biggest fish and urged me to enter the realm while he played second fiddle on some smaller Bream.
A great gesture but unfortunately these fish weren't in the mood for committing just yet, they would follow, short strike, stare in amazement and mainly laugh at the plastics and hardbodies I offered them. Making sure there was enough room I spied Craig powering in a decent fish on a flat behind some racks and journeyed over. He pointed out a suspect looking area and my shallow crank and surface tools didn't leave the water under load.
He showed me round while I shadowed behind, again failing to locate fish in other rock piles and structure. I watched him secure another good fish and decided I needed to venture out of his comfort zone. As the tide sucked dry I managed a 24cm and 25cm Bream in quick succession, also spying schools of monsters ebbing it out close to shore. My last two options were to hit a big flat around Budd Island and then run back along the opposite shoreline in deeper water, at this stage just one fish would do.
Sounding out some good schools my second cast into deeper water was snaffled by a decent Bream, unfortunately I was busted off after the first spirited run. Something really gut wrenching about 8lb leader snapping straight through in featureless water. I could smell fish and chips in close proximity, maybe I could emulate a Chip fashioning some matter of Gulp into the occasion?
I arrived back at the start line with my tail between my legs and packed up quickly, bumping into a smiling Craig and a few likely cohorts. It was great to see Craig take out his local round, all the pressure was definitely on him but he handled it well. Something about the Clyde will keep me wanting to return but I just need space at the moment, it kicked my arse and then some. Some silver lining was found when I located my pops case wedged between my crushed trailer box, but then I focused on the box... And well, you know.
Good luck to all in the next few rounds, see you at the Georges River in a month or so...
