Spring cleaning

Well it's that time of the year when the garage needs a clean, so everything comes out, gets sorted through then the garage is swept out (Our garage isn't exactly what you'd call weatherproof) and put back in, hopefully neater and more accessible. This year when it call came out it was a nice day so I decided to wash the kayaks, with a little help from my son:


This is "Pops" kayak, and despite him not being the greatest squid angler of all time, somehow his Kingfisher was covered in ink so we scrubbed it clean. Ben also found that he fits neatly into the front hatch so is looking forward to his first trip.

I have also just ordered a couple of 300yd spools of Power Pro braid for the upcoming season - 3lb in white for the Stradic Ci4 1000FML and some 10lb yellow for the spare spool on the Stradic 2500FI so I can target snapper on it again. They are coming in from the USA (AUD$52.95 for both including postage) as one spool is close to $70 from Australian stores!

The garage is now clean, the lawn mowed and the deck has been stained so we just need a decent, wind-free day and it's back on the water!

The best snapper season ever?

As a precursor to snapper season some people like to look at weather patterns, some look for the blooming of the ti-tree, some look at water temperature and some even get out on the bay with a depth sounder and motor around for 5 hours at walking pace to sound up some schools of the red fish. My best indicator came yesterday when I arrived home from work to find this:



My wife had gotten sick of the "feral dog dropping his hair everywhere" so took to him with a brush outside. In the image you can clearly see massive clumps of hair all over the yard. Although this has only begun to scratch the surface of his moult, it is definitely an indicator that it's warming up and Big Red is just around the corner!

Handyman at work

As our son approaches moving into another room to accommodate child #2, I have been conscripted to get a bed, mattress and paint his new room. My wife came home the other day with 6 spice racks from Ikea that she decided could be mounted on the wall to use as bookshelves for him. Today I was sent to Bunnings to get some screws and wall anchors to put them up. Here is the result:



I may have "accidently" misunderstood her and now he has inherited the "best of the best" of my fishing magazine collection, just to make sure he is indoctrinated early!

I also managed to pick up about 1m length of 1" PVC, a joiner and some gaffer tape to knock up this for my kayak light:


I just had to fit the joiner to the bottom and used a hacksaw to cut out a groove at the top for the light to fit in. It stayed together well, but used some tape for added security. The reason I added the joiner at the bottom is that it now fits perfectly into a vertical rod holder that is located just behind where I sit in the yak. It has 4 LEDs and I think you'll be able to see me for miles this snapper season!

Kitted out and ready to go

Last Spring/Summer was a quite successful time in the kayak, however a few things were needed to make it a more comfortable and enjoyable experience. I noticed in snapper season that the "hot bite" started on dusk and as I didn't have a light this was always when I had to head in. Also, in Spring we tend to get a stiff westerly breeze that blows the 'yak along a bit too fast for throwing plastics. To this end I decided I needed a few things, and with my birthday it was the perfect time to get them!

I am now the proud owner of a drogue (sea anchor) to slow down my drifts, and also a tektite light which will be mounted behind me on top of about 1m of 1" PVC, and it battery operated and waterproof to 300m so I can fish after dark and get the big reds!


I was also lucky enough to get a Shimano Stradic Ci4 1000FML attached to a Shimano Jewel 2-4kg rod. A very nice combo which will be put to great use over the coming months, particularly when we hit the Glenelg river in mid November!

Mornington bait hunt

Getting out in the kayak 2 weekends in a row? It's unheard of! However recently we have had "Spring-like" conditions and the trees have been in bloom very early, plus I noticed this during the week:


With the water temps on the rise there have been a few reports of snapper filtering in, however Dad and I decided we need to get some bait so when they really start to fire we'll have a nice selection.

As we had a limited timeframe (3.30pm until dark) we headed to Mornington, and overlooked the spot we usually fish to see at calm as a mill pond and free of any boats. As we launched just after 4, 2 boats converged on the small reef we fish, which I have found often puts the squid off. Despite this, third cast I am on and bring up a squid with a very tentative candle attached to the jig, and it escapes about 2m from the yak.

About 15 minutes in I get another one, and Dad (Who is slow trolling 2 jigs past where I am casting them) hooks one as well. Next cast I manage another one, and 2 more quickly follow. Dad then snagged up his jig and it unfortunately broke off, so I was enlisted to tie his braid to a flurocarbon leader. This proved to be an excellent ploy, for as I was doing this for him Dad managed to snag another 1. I now had 4 and Dad 2, so we decided with 2 more each we'd have 10 and some nice bait for big red.

After a fruitless 15 minutes I managed 2 more in 3 casts, and Dad got 1 soon after. As dusk fell we had only managed 9 and on a "one more cast" on the inner edge of the reef as we headed in I managed one, which in jeiwe fisherman terms would have been described as a "million dollar bill" as it was tiny! We put them in a bucket with salt water to preserve them, and packed up and headed home.

Here is Dad with a selection of squid as we packed them up to freeze:


No whales this week, but we managed 10 squid (7 to me, 3 to Dad if you're keeping score!) and I tested my new anchor - After paying $50 for a sand anchor with 2m of 6mm chain and 50m of rope (Then getting annoyed at how much space it takes up so not bringing it anywhere!) the most effective method was 10m of cord and a brick!

A whale of a time at Black Rock

After a bit of an absence from the water, Dad and I were keen to get back out. We had heard a few reports from Port Phillip Bay so decided to head out from Half Moon Bay at Black Rock. Originally we were going out on Saturday afternoon but changed plans, which was lucky as it was freezing and hailing by about 2pm. Sunday greeted us with much better weather and we headed out about 2, our first cast being at 3pm after a lengthy set-up.
The low tide was about 2pm, so we didn't really have a tide to fish but we started casting squid jigs around the Cerberus and its associated structure. After about 20 minutes of no luck we headed out to flick some plastics. The sounder lit up with baitfish everywhere, alas there didn't seem to be any predators around. After about 45 minutes of drifting I finally had my first fish - A little minnow that was about half the size of my 4" nuclear chicken jerk shad. Unfortunately even with all of these baitfish around, birds diving etc we couldn't find the salmon.
A couple of casts later I was on, and pulled in a healthy 25cm pinkie. Just as I was releasing it I heard a "whoosh" sound and turned to look out about 200m away where a whale had breached the water, which was dead calm by now. It then came out vertically before splashing back down. After a couple of minutes of acrobatics it only seemed to come up for air intermittently, and even from that distance you could hear its distinctive "whoosh" every time it came up. Amazing stuff.
Then we started to get more hits, and I pulled in a 32cm model, which went into the bag to become baked snapper later in the week. Dad was missing a few hits, and it seemed to be contagious as I started to miss them too. It didn't help that the only plastics I had with me were 4" nuclear chicken jerk shads and the jighead was a 1/8oz with a 1/0 hook - Note to self: Pack smaller plastics next time!
Dad anchored and I was drifting about 6-8m away when a massive seal came up between us. After recently hearing about a vyakker knocked off his kayak by a seal I was a bit apprehensive, especially as this guy seemed quite curious. After circling us for a bit, he got bored and went off on his merry way, much to the disgust of the nearby boatie that he started to annoy who threw a few choice words his way.
Within half an hour of dusk we were getting hits every cast. Dad managed to land a couple of smaller models and I did as well, but I also got another 2 around the 32cm mark. We each had a couple of nice runs as dusk approached, and were hooking up or missing hits every single cast, with multiple hits on most casts. Most were about 25cm. We got a better hook-up rate when we really let the fish take it before loading up, which was hard when the first instinct is to strike.
Unfortunately we don't have lights on the kayaks, so had to head back as dusk fell, which was disappointing as we had started to have some good hits and there were sill fish everywhere. I have now ordered a light for the yak so in future I can stay out on hot bites like this!


A couple of lessons learned:

1. Take smaller plastics and jigheads for Winter pinkies
2. Make sure you take a scaler and knife so you don't have to clean them at home
3. Park somewhere else - Half Moon Bay is $12 with no fish cleaning facilities and no toilets
4. If you don't want to be harassed by whales and seals stick to the nice friendly mud of Westernport!
   

Bemm River - On fire!

Well, after reading reports of the great weather that people have been experiencing in Gippsland, with some missing out on the fish it was interesting that our experience was totally the opposite. We had gale force winds all week, however the fishing (Albeit from an unlikely source) was fantastic! Saying that, Bemm River this year was “on fire” for a totally different reason which will be explained later....

We arrived Sunday just after lunch to see Sydenham Inlet covered with whitecaps, a common occurrence for the week. We settled in, prepared some gear and relaxed a bit. Monday morning was the obligatory trip to Orbost to visit the craft shops for the girls, although we snuck to the Compleat Angler and snared some plastics, Dad getting some 140mm Squidgy Wrigglers in the “Slimey” colour. When we got back to Bemm it was still rough but we couldn’t go a day without fishing so took the boat over to the entrance, where the wind wasn’t as bad. I threw out a Devilfish vibe in the “Phantom” colour, which had worked well in the past and was on before it hit the bottom. When I pulled in a 35cm tailor, the vibe quickly came off and I grabbed some plastics – I’ve seen how quickly tailor can go through a tacklebox full of lures! Dad was throwing around his wrigglers and I was throwing Nuc Chook 4” jerk shads and I don’t think it really mattered – Every single cast was a hook-up on a salmon. If one got off another one was on straight away and the sounder was blacked out. We kept a couple of them for salmon patties (The only fish we kept for the week) and left them biting at dusk. All salmon for the week were quite large, most between 3-6lb.

Dad with one of many salmon, most actually bigger than this!

Tuesday morning we headed out early for the same spot, for the same results. At the end of the first drift Dad was up 10-5 and we stopped counting. I missed a few due to my 4lb leader trying to lift them into the boat (Had an environet that I use in my kayak with a short handle that was annoying in the wind). However, towards the end of the second drift (I had reduced the gap significantly by then) Dad hooked a nice estuary perch on a 4” berkley gulp minnow in “chartreuse”. We motored back around an anchored fishing towards where he hooked it, which was a bit of an inlet with a weed patch. We still hooked up every cast, however now every so often we managed a perch, and the rest were salmon. We experimented with all types of lures, and anything we threw still hooked salmon. The results of the morning session which lasted about 2 and a half hours were 4 EPs and 1.6 billion salmon.

Dad with a nice EP

That evening we did the same again for similar results, this time managing 3 perch in amongst innumerable salmon. Dad used a squidgy “stealth prawn” with success and I got them on an 80mm squidgy wriggler in the “evil minnow” colour – Any fish at Bemm loves a lure with purple in it! My best EP for the day was 42cm.

Me with one of the perch prior to release

Wednesday morning we decided to go hard at the perch. Just as we approached the entrance to the channel the warning sound beeped for the engine. I quickly turned it off and we anchored. Dad took the cover off and it was smoking. We decided that it was similar to the problem last time that it wasn’t pumping water through, so removed the thermostat so it flowed unhindered (As the mechanic instructed last time). We waited for it to cool down and started it up again. We were met with a dead battery (Which we thought was weird), so we changed to the spare (Which was charged for once) and tried again. The motor started with a bit of smoke and a small spark. This started a small fire that quickly became a large fire, something you don’t want to see with an almost full 60L petrol tank. Dad grabbed the fire extinguisher from up the front (I didn’t even know we had one...) and put it out. We waited about 15 minutes for someone to pass the other way and they kindly towed us back in (Still against the strong winds). We gave them the plastics and jigheads that we had been using and the tip on where to catch EPs with our eternal gratitude.

The motor, post fire extinguisher

Wednesday afternoon was almost a write off, but we did check out all the beaches, deciding that beach #1 (Ocean Beach?) had the best gutter. We went back to the house, packed the gear and hit the beach. The wind had increased and it was a struggle to walk the 50m along the beach to get to the gutter. As we cast out, with sand stinging our faces as it flew past on the breeze we decided for a change of tack, so packed up and headed to Py-yoot Bay, known for its lack of wind and fish. We stayed about an hour or so for no bites, then went home.

Thursday morning we took the kayaks out, finally! I started throwing the vibes around for no interest and Dad tried some prawns, also for nothing. We decided a trip to the entrance was in order. With the wind at our backs, about 25 minutes is all it took. First cast I hooked a salmon of 55cm, and second cast a 38cm EP – My first from a kayak! It was caught on an 80mm squidgy wriggler in the “lava” colour. I then drifted to where we got the perch a couple of days earlier and a boat was in our spot. I had a chat to him and he thanked me for letting them know where to fish as our previous success had been told to him – Last time I tell Mark at the general store anything! After about 6-8 salmon each we decided to get back to the house. To cut a long story short, through strong winds, rain and squalls it took an hour and a half to get back, some of the time spent being driven backwards!

Thursday evening we spent about half an hour on the pier soaking prawns hoping for one bream for the trip, for no bites. We talked to about 6 boaties coming in and none had caught a bream – One guy said he had been out with a mate every day for 5 days and managed a total of 3. This was the first trip we have ever had to Bemm without a bream, so all I can say is thank God for the salmon!

I had to have a suit fitting for a wedding this afternoon so we left this morning, as a high pressure system settled over Victoria, giving us a picturesque morning with full sunlight and no wind (Which is apparently going to continue for quite a few days!). It was very hard to leave after a week of wind and rain!