Sunday, October 24, 2010

The hunt for Red in October

Now that we had decided to do a dedicated weekend for snapper early in the season, having fresh squid and salmon gave us some confidence for the weekend. Friday night and saturday's weather did not fill us with the same confidence. Friday afternoon saw me running around getting food, packing the car and getting Dad's dog so we could take him with us. I also managed to get both of the kayaks on the roof of my x-trail, layered one on top of the other. A fair effort, although I had to make sure I didn't go above 90km/h on the way down because I didn't trust them! As it was, they were very solid.

We arrived and unpacked. It was blowing a gale, a fair swell, raining and the sky was lit up with lightning. Not the best night to go out, so we stayed in and rigged up all of our rods for the weekend, packed the boat and watched a movie.

Saturday morning was slightly better and we launched about 5am in the boat. Headed to Snapper Rock where we sounded up some fish. Chucked out 4 rods, all baited with fresh squid. Barely anything at all except for one tentative touch I had definitely from a snapper and quite a few flatties. We moved around a fair bit but the wind against tide made it uncomfortable and we were back in by 11.30. At the ramp one of the guys had some snapper and I had a chat to him - After I spent all week catching fresh squid and salmon he had caught them on servo pilchards! A good lesson though, not to have just one bait on offer, particularly early in the season.

After mowing the lawns and a bit of a rest, we launched again at 6pm and headed up towards the top of Mosquito Channel. We sounded some up again and chucked an array of baits out - Pilchards, squid and salmon fillets. Dad had a few good bites on the salmon fillets and even hooked up once, albeit briefly. The snapper are still very timid, particularly in the 15 degree water. Finally Dad had a good run and hooked up, although after 5 minutes it was obvious this was a flat fish. Finally a monster skate came to the side of the boat and in an effort to keep it there he had his silstar rod almost vertical and then SNAP - The rod was broken. Oops! Just after dark I had a fish pick up and run slowly with a pilchard and I left it with almost no drag on however when I reeled it in the head was gone (Pilchard bitten in half) and the hook was clean - How did it not hook up?

A sleep in on sunday then a rethink and launch of the kayaks at Reef Island. A great morning to be on the water with very calm conditions and light winds. I was up for an explore so chucked a 4" nuclear chicken out on the paddle over, to no avail. We did spook many fish in the shallows on the way out (Flathead???) as there were puffs of sand everywhere. When we arrived I chucked a squid jig around and went to the island itself for an explore. A little while later I came over to Dad who had thrown out some bait and already had a health 34cm whiting in his keep net. This was enough to make me pull up next to him and do a re-rig and chase sone 'ting. About an hour later and 3 or 4 moves we had not added to his tally. The wind was up a bit, making it coolish (t-shirts and shorts on) so we headed in. As we only had the one whiting, we felt sorry for him and let him go. It's the first time for the season I have "kayakers legs" with them very red and a bit sore today. It must be Spring! To top off the trip, on the way back Dad didn't tie his anchor on and when a wave hit him on the way back in it fell overboard, never to be seen again. Then we packed up and as I was finishing up upstairs Dad said "The dog might enjoy a run around". I told him to leave my dog in the backyard because I don't trust him not to run away. Turns out Dad should have done the same thing. 2 hours later and multiple trips along the beach, up towards Corinella and even to Grantville for lunch we finally found his dog running along the beach having a great time.

I might give the snapper another week or two to start feeding vigorously then get amongst them, hopefully with more success than that trip!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Mornington again

Another day, another trip to Mornington. Got there yesterday arvo at about 4pm and straight on the water. A really nice day with light winds. Unfortunately half of Melbourne had the same idea (Don't people work anymore?) and there were a few other kayaks out, but heaps of boats launching and retrieving from the nearby ramp.

I thought all of this extra traffic and noise would put the squid off but in my first 10 casts or so I hooked 3 squid. Due to my lack of a net (Left at Coronet Bay) I had to attempt to lift them in to the kayak. All 3 got off at the kayak. A very disappointing start.

A half an hour later I finally hooked another one and it stayed hooked, so I brought it into the kayak and finally had one on board.

A boat came over and started a drift next to me. It was all fine except that every time they returned to the top of their drift they would drive straight back over the reef! Also they were smoking and then throwing their butts in the water, which is a very disappointing sight with all of the groups around at the moment trying to ban fishing in these areas.

I had a black yamashita in as a "sleeper" jig while I drifted and cast my favourite natural yamashita, and just as I was about to finish a drift it hooked up. As I had it near the kayak I noticed (As is often the case) another squid following it. I left the rod in the holder and dropped my other jig behind it. Bingo! Now I pulled in my first squid and then got the second one aswell.

About another hour later with no luck and heaps of boat traffic I left at about 6.30. It probably would have been much better fishing as the light started dropping but I was hungry and now I have 5 fresh squid and 2 salmon for bait for the weekend's Big Red hunt!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Snapper season begins

For Dad and myself, snapper season usually begins with a trip mid-October with some pilchards and californian squid, a random spot and a lot of hope! This year we thought we'd change things, particularly after the successes we've had over the past 10 months or so using fresh bait.
As we're heading out over the weekend, we decided to hit Mornington this afternoon for some bait. Dad was to pick me up at 5pm, and true to form he rocked up about 6.15. His rods were also still at the holiday house, so I gave him one of my pre-rigged rods to use so we had one each. This didn't leave us heaps of time so we quickly chucked the yaks onto the roof and away we went, launching about 7.
It was very slow and I picked up a nice squid about 7.30 on a yamashita 2.0 natural.
About 7.45 I had a massive screaming run on my jig and then it jumped! A very nice salmon had taken my squid jig ad was obviously stuck! Shortly after the jump he spat it. Just after 8 I landed another squid. Dad was now trolling his jig around and I changed to a plastic after seeing the salmon and a fair bit of surface activity. I had a few casts but it was getting pretty dark. As we turned to head in Dad finally hooked a squid. He got it to the boat and without a net was trying to grab it for quite some time before it pulled free and into the depths. That gives him 3 trips in a row without landing a good fish - I bet he'll use some of my nice squid on the weekend and pull in an 8kg snapper!
I threw out my plastic to troll in and it was hit within 5 seconds. After a fun fight I pulled in a fiesty little salmon, destined to become bait for Big Red. I threw it out again and got another one after about 30 seconds. It was quite dark by then so we headed in, with the total being 2 squid, 2 salmon.
I'll have to go back on thursday evening to try and make sure we have enough bait for the weekend!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Bushy's Stiffy Devilfish vibe - Major Issue!

During the trip to Bemm (See previous post), there were some great fish caught. My #1 lure by an absolute mile was the Bushy's Stiffy Devilfish vibe in the "Phantom" colour. It caught many bream, and even had the big EP up to the boat (Dad's netting skills notwithstanding) during our trip.

On the last day though, after a fruitless hour or so of casting I had a really good bream on. After a tense struggle, I finally got it near the boat. It did the last gasp lunge for freedom, as all fish do and then was gone. I couldn't believe that the hooks had pulled! When I reeled it in, turns out the hooks hadn't pulled - The vibe had snapped!


This is most disappointing for a number of reasons:

1) It was a great bream and would have capped off an even better trip.
2) They're not cheap - Have paid anywhere from $12.95 to $16.50 for them.

Mark at the General Store where I bought it was nice enough to replace it free of charge, however I am now not 100% using them anymore - They hook lots of fish but can you trust them with a fish of a lifetime? I have since heard of a number of them snapping in half or even having hooks rip out of them.

Bemm River

We headed down to "The Bemm" on saturday 25th September, that fateful day when the Saints came perilously close to their first premiership in 44 years. Despite this, we left early and took advantage of the calm conditions and hit Sydenham inlet on Rowan's boat with some vibes. The fishing was very slow and we only managed a couple of fish - Dad got a smallish tailor and Rowan struck a small bream plus a few missed hits. When we went back to shore I was still fishless for the trip!

Sunday morning we launched in our boat (Rowan had a few others in his) and got off to a very slow start. Rowan headed off up towards the entrance and we drifted between The Mahoganys and Siberia. After an hour or so of fruitless casting Dad hit a purple patch, catching 3 quick fish. As I was still fishless I cast towards his side of the drift and after a couple of raises of the Bushy's Stiffy Devilfish Vibe I was on! The fish went 38.5cm to the fork, making him about 42cm overall. This was all the action for the day as we headed in. Rowan's boat didn't trouble the scorers. Dad and I took the kayaks out on the afternoon for a couple of hours, however the only bit of excitement was when I hooked a good fish that took my lure - It broke at the knot, probably due to the release of the last bream I caught that morning where the lure was stuck and I had been anxious to get the fish back in the water.



Dad headed off to work on monday/tuesday so Rowan and I had an early start. We had no hits and after an hour or so of fishing packed it in for some bacon and eggs. Unfortunately the wind got up a bit so we didn't get out again monday, then on tuesday with only Mum, my wife and son there I had to play taxi driver and take them to Orbost for some craft shopping.

Dad returned tuesday night so wednesday morning we went out in some very windy conditions. The lake was unfishable so we headed up the river. We packed it in shortly afterwards when it started hailing!

That afternoon we still had to go fishing so we headed to the (relatively) calm waters of Bemm river itself, launching at the bridge. We went upstream to the rapids, then downstream as far as Dolly's Garden. I started with an SX40 until I decided to do some trolling and lost it on an underwater snag, then tried a strike pro galaxia in the tiger minnow colour. We must have flicked our lures at every snag in the river for no result.


This was a bit disheartening so we resorted to bait on the thursday. Dad started strongly as he got the first couple on the board. I then chimed in with a few more and by the end of the session we had 10 fish - Myself 7 and Dad 3. Later in the afternoon we returned and I picked up another 3, with Dad starting to go downhill and not getting a sniff.

Friday we were back on the lures, and I had purchased another Stiffy Vibe in the Phantom colour. First cast of the day I had a hit and missed it, which got me thinking that it may not be my day. After about half an hour of fruitless casting I hit a good fish right near the boat, and pulled in a decent bream. 2 casts later again right near the boat my line was stopped dead. This time the fish stayed really deep and I was thinking maybe trevally, however as it came near the boat it was a big estuary perch. It was on top of the water by the time Dad went to get the net, and he couldn't find it immediately (I had put it in the rocket launchers) and the hook pulled. I would have released it anyway, but a photo would have been nice! The following 2 casts produced 2 more bream and Dad came in from the front of the boat and took my spot saying there were no fish up the front. I took the front, cast out, gave the vibe a few hops and a bream was on again! Dad was nearly pulling his hair out at this stage. Another bream or two and it was time to head in.


That afternoon it was a bit windy, but we went out regardless for a quick drift. I put a bucket out the back in an attempt to slow it, however we were still drifting at 1.5km/h most of the time. No hits for a good hour then I hooked a really good bream. I finally got it near the boat and it took a dive. I thought the hook pulled, however when I retrieved the vibe it had actually snapped in half (More on this later). Very poor and disappointing after all of the fruitless casting. I borrowed one of Dad's vibes in the same colour and style and on the last cast of the day hooked, caught and released a really nice bream. What a great trip, only marred by the Pies smashing the Saints on the afternoon that we returned home.