It'll never be beaten!

I couldn't make the trip yesterday, but Dad and a mate went out from Coronet Bay.They fished most of the day, landing about a dozen nice whiting and a large calamari during the day, As dusk was settling, they threw some fresh calamari strips out in 6.5m just out from Coronet Bay.

Dad had an almighty run and was nearly spooled. A short time later this absolute beast came to the side of the boat:

94cm, estimated weight of just over 9kg. They managed a few more nice pan sized reds and a keeper gummy, but this was the story of the night.Oh - And despite the fresh calamari strips wafting seductively in the current, it was caught on a dirty old servo pilchard!

I don't think we'll ever get one bigger so I'm back to the jewie quest!
 

Cup day trifecta

Although it has a happy ending, to fully tell the story I should start by saying that we had the family at the Coronet Bay house on the weekend, and in between playing cricket, wimming, weeding, painting  and mowing we managed a couple of trips. Once again, it was in the boat as we had a bit of a full house a few times - You can't fit 5 kids in my poor kayak!

I was under the strict "You're on kid duty until they go to bed", and my children have never had an earlier bed time than the past 4 days! We arrived saturday afternoon (03/11) to beautiful glassed out conditions - Conditions that would stay with us for basically the whole of Cup Weekend. I checked the records and we haven't had a wind-free Cup weekend since 1837!

After putting the kids in bed at  about 7.30, Dad and I were at the Corinella ramp at about 8, and in a channel near Freeman's Point at about 8.30. We sounded a few promising arches in bout 7m of water and dropped the pick. Then we waited. And waited. Weed, weed and more weed - It was terrible! Dad managed a small port jackson and I managed an even smaller westernport cod for the night - From our only bites. We dejectedly headed in at 1am.

The next day I had a troop of kids down at the beach around midday for the low tide pumping bass yabbies. We got quite a few and launched the boat at Coronet Bay around 4pm. We anchored in about 3m of water and I baited up and cast out Ben, my 2 1/2 year old. As I was baiting mine up his rod buckled over and I pulled it out of the rod holder and gave it to him, assisting him to pull in a 36.5cm whiting. I told him it was a "horse" whiting and he repeated the phrase ad nauseum to my Dad who was fishless for a lot of the session, and he wasn't overly impressed with this. My first cast I hooked another one and gave it to one of my nephews (We had 2 nephews, my son and my Dad on the boat!) and he expertly pulled in another whiting of similar size. We did miss a lot of bites and lose a few mid fight, but the kids had a ball and Dad even managed a couple of whiting soon after. As I was winding in at one stage the biggest pike I have ever seen grabbed my bass yabbie and I got him to the surface before he bit through the 10lb flurocarbon leader. We also got a small banjo shark, but ended up keeping the 4 whiting.

On Monday Dad had to work and I was again followed around by 5 kids. By the time he got back about 7pm I was ready to hit the water, and he had brought Graham, a mate of his along with us. We launched just after 7 and hit the whiting mark armed with the day before's bass yabbies, looking a little worse for wear as the aerator battery had died some time during the day. Nonetheless, we started well and managed 8 or so really good whiting, a few pinkies and one lonesome yakka before dark. When dusk came, we headed out into about 7m of water where we immediately sounded up a solid arch. We threw the rods out with an assortment of yakka fillet, pilchards and whiting heads and sat back. We didn't have to wait long as my rod baited with yakka fillet started bouncing in a fashion that was definitely a gummy shark. I waited for it to load up fully and set the hook. After a very lively fight I brought aboard a nice gummy of approximately 1m in length. It was good to have the relatively tide free (And therefore weed free!) conditions of Coronet Bay back again!

 Although not our quarry in the first snapper trip of the season, it was a very welcome bycatch. I re-baited and threw it out again. About 2 minutes later my other rod, baited with a pilchard screamed off. I picked it up and the fish had spat the bait, but this was unmistakable: I had just missed a red. Again I re-baited with a pilchard and threw it back out. Ten minutes went by and the same thing happened, however this time I struck and was rewarded with some solid head thumps. After a tense fight I brought aboard a very plump 68cm snapper - Not huge, but our first for the season.

It went a bit quiet, then Dad had a nice bite that turned out to be a port jackson shark. He had been getting very excited for a little while! My rod baited with yakka went off again and there was a sense of mutiny on the boat as so far I had had all the luck. Luckily (for me) the culprit turned out to be a massive skate, that took a lot of coercion to get off the bottom and to the boat, where he was cut off and released. We waited a little longer, and at 11.30 we headed for home.

Only then Dad reminded me that I had done what we call the "Westernport trifecta", which is a snapper, gummy shark and whiting in the same trip. I wasn't quite as lucky in the Melbourne Cup the next day!

Day 4 - Sunday 30/09

As we had to be off the water at 10am today, we thought we might launch at the Nelson boat ramp in the hope of getting out to "The Poles" for a final crack at the mulloway. As we launched, we knew this was hopeless as the wind had not abated so we went back opposite the ramp and anchored up (As we were drifting too fast). First cast I hooked what felt to be a nice EP, however the hooks pulled. This was a good sign, however after another hour of fruitless casting it may have been a fluke!

A few moves, and all I had was one small bream so we headed upriver, trying to sound up some fish. We found a few solitary fish, but none of the schools of EP's that we had located further up near Donovans/Dry Creek so we tried to head out near The Poles. It was very choppy, windy and intermittently raining so we called it a morning and headed back to the shack. 

Below are the final results:

Despite me managing about 25-30 EP's for the week, Dad struggled and didn't get one. We decided that they seem to like it if the vibe is left on the bottom for longer periods then worked slower. The other boys were fishing bait and got one size bream between them for the week, however they were in an open boat and didn't get out as much due to the inclement weather. This meant that I actually came out on top for once (78cm), Dad second (33cm) and Mauro third (With a 32cm bream he caught off the landing at the shack!).

I have to say that bait is no longer going to make it into the kayak/boat for any future bream fishing trips, as we had too much fun flicking vibes at the fish!
 

Day 3 - Saturday 29/09

Another start about 6 this morning, and again it was very windy. We started fishing opposite the ramp at Donovans and almost immediately I got onto a couple of EP’s around 30-32cm. Dad managed a small bream, then I caught a healthy 32cm bream as well.

The wind got up and intermittent rain was coming through and we headed south from Donovans against the bank. I cast the cyber vibe out towards a snag and on about the third lift it was absolutely smashed. We were drifting into the bank and things got a bit hairy, but I managed to get the fish’s head up and a lovely 38cm bream hit the net, making it the biggest for the trip. 

Just after I released the bream, Dad hooked up to what seemed to be a very big EP, and it would have been his first for the trip. However it headed for an underwater snag and the line came up tight, then to add insult to injury Dad had to break the line, losing his second vibe of the day.

We kept heading south and sounded up a nice school of fish. The wind was right up by this stage so we anchored and cast at the school rather than drift at over 2km/h which was making casting difficult. I missed a hit on my first cast and my second and third casts were rewarded with a pigeon pair of 32cm EPs. A few casts later I hooked another EP which gave a far better account of itself, and it came up to the surface – All 34cm of it. Although we were yet to get any big EP’s, this was so far the biggest of the trip.

Another move, another half an hour of casting and the wind was really roaring and the rain was horizontal so we went back to the shack for some bacon and egg sandwiches and to view a bit of the AFL Grand Final preview. As it turns out, this was a good move because the rain set in and didn’t let up until during the last quarter.

After seeing the Swans win, we pulled out the boat at Donovans and re-launched at Nelson. We went straight across from the boat ramp where Dad had a hit almost immediately. I cast near where he had the hit (Much to his displeasure) and was soon into a nice EP (Which added to his displeasure) which went spot on 40cm. 

 Fifteen minutes later Dad had a hit and missed it. Then the fish hit again and he missed it, then a third time and he hooked up. It turned out to be a bream of 33cm and the last fish of the night, as dusk was approaching so we called it a night.

Day 2 - Friday 28/09

Another night with no mulloway, and another early start in wet and windy conditions. Dad and I went out and headed down towards Taylor’s Straight. Quite quickly, I managed a tiny bream and then 2 very small EP’s. It’s good to see so many juvenile fish around – Surely this is a good sign for the system! We went back to the car that was parked at Donovan’s Landing, and drove to Nelson where we re-launched. Dad hit the scoreboard with a 32cm bream, an upgrade for him. 

I followed this with a couple of EP’s at 34cm each and we headed to the mouth. As the tide was incoming some really nice blue water was coming upstream, but it was way too exposed with frequent squalls and driving rain. We went back around the corner to opposite the ramp and I snagged a nice 32cm perch. 

We went back in when Paul arrived and had a coffee and got some bigger plastics from the shop, however the owner warned us that there was a lot of water between mulloway at the moment. Back out there the fishing was slow, and despite a lot of casts we only got some small bream.

When another storm hit we went back to the ramp. Then we drove the boat up to Dry Creek to check it out, and we launched the boat to moor it at the shack. After the storm had passed we went out again for the afternoon session, however not only was the fishing incredibly slow (Dad got a tiny bream and that was it for a couple of hours) it was also very windy and every few minutes driving rain would pour in. We decided this was a sign and called it a day to head to the pub for dinner, where we found that even they couldn't get any mulloway so it was off the menu!

Day 1 - Thursday 27/09

After the rest of the night went by without further incident, Dad woke me up just before 6am and we launched the boat and headed upstream. About half an hour later, Dad hooked up on a Berkley Gulp 3” fry in banana prawn. He lost it near the boat and it was about another half an hour until I hooked up on my Strike Pro Cyber vibe, and I landed an estuary perch of about 30cm. 

We covered a lot of ground, and after another quiet half an hour I caught a small bream, my first in many months, and as you can see I am highly excited by 15cm bream!

After moving further upstream I managed another nice EP of 33.5cm, which unfortunately had swallowed the lure and was bleeding profusely so he made the trip back with us for dinner. Then we decided it was time for breakfast so headed back to the shack for some bacon and eggs. Below is the view from the shack where we are staying, and as you can see my swag is set up in prime position!

In the afternoon, we launched again just after 1pm. We stopped about 500m upstream from Donovans and immediately I was into a nice EP of 34cm. About half an hour went past and I had 2 more, however they were both incredibly small!

At this stage Dad was getting despondent, as he hadn’t troubled the scorers for the day. He put on a black strike pro cyber vibe and first cast was onto a nice bream, that went 28cm. As he was unhooking it he somehow managed to not only keep the fish hooked but also embed the back treble in his hand. This took quite a while to extricate, and we were almost considering a visit to the hospital to get it out!

 We then motored right upstream about 10km to find the other boys tied up to the side. After hassling them a bit we moved about 100m away and first cast I managed a 31cm bream on a black ecogear ZX35. The disappointing thing for this was that at $24.99 the first fish I hooked ripped off one of the back hooks, and it wasn’t even big!

We went back towards the shack and couldn’t sound up a fish for basically the entire length of the river, so went back to the shack and threw around a few unweighted cubes. 10 minutes in I had about 5-6 undersize bream and I hooked a nice one, but trying to lift it up to the top deck it fell off. This inspired Dad who also started fishing. I then hooked another good one who was running a fair bit, so I sent Dad to the bottom landing. A few minutes later he netted a 37cm bream.

At the end of the first full day this bream gave me a total of 71cm (37cm bream, 34cm EP) and Dad and Mauro were each on 28cm (A bream each). Paul was yet to trouble the scorers….

Glenelg begins - Wednesday 26/09

After spending the morning packing the boat, we headed towards Nelson, the venue of the next fishing challenge about 3pm and arrived after an eventful trip (Most of Australia’s coat of arms are now closer to extinction) at 10pm. We immediately deployed some rods off the balcony and started to set up. The target fish for this trip were bream, estuary perch and mulloway. The totals would be the combined length of the biggest that we caught of each species. 

When we arrived, I set up my swag on the deck as the alarms weren’t working (We usually have some rods out for mulloway and they have an alarm system for when you get a bite, but it seemed to have rusted over). We started having some bites, but nothing of major significance. A couple of decent takes on some half pilchards, but that was it so we completed the set up. 

At about 1am Thursday morning when I was heading into the swag to sleep my rod, baited with a whole squid took off. I could hear the ratchet of the charter special screaming and then it stopped. I got to the rod and the line was slack but I saw the line swimming steadily upstream. I waited until the line loaded up and struck, and missed! My first mulloway bite and I missed it. I brought the bait back in and the squid was perfectly intact, however had been moved up the line about a foot. The mulloway had spat it out with some aggression it seemed. I think if I have another chance I’ll let it fully take it, as the theory that generally works on gummies of waiting for it to load up didn’t seem to work.