--------------------------
Hi everyone, have decided I have going to keep a log of my fishing trips. I want to take more photos and remember more of it, so I figure I might as well post it here. And I want to use my boat 2 of ever 3 weekends from April to Nov, and 1 of 3 from Dec to March.
Leaders Creek
July 19
Headed off to Leaders today, note that I should try to get there before sunrise, because the sun is exactly in your eyes, plus the dust of the road, was very difficult to drive.
Got:
Me: 45cm Queenfish, 2 bucks
mate: reasonable goldie, large cod 60+ cm
Story of the trip:
The largest crab was caught on fishing line! I thought I had a tree or something when I got a glimpse of the crab I slowly lowered him and got my mate to get the net... he plunged it in and I gave my best guess of placing him over it while we pulled it up... as soon as he saw daylight he dropped the bait but dropped right into the net! He was 19cm, but a bit empty.
Boat problems:
Boat was okay but some pinhead (me) forgot to put the clip down of the trailer... how I drove there and launched without it coming off is a mystery but it went bang taking the trailer in. Saftey chain to the rescue!!
Snap:
--------------------------
Bynoe Harbour
July 25 (show day)
Bynoe up at 4.15am, found some good marks, had a barra 80cm-100cm with a massive wound on his shoulder swim up to the boat and just chill, ran away when I tried to net him.
Got:
Me: 33cm goldie. Not much! No crabs either.
Story of the trip:
The fog!! Was the first ones to the ramp and it was so foggy we let the next 5 cars launch. Eventually we just went and went very very slowly. It cleared at 9am, but it meant we couldn't hit the rockbar on high
Saw some huge trevally near a rockbar but they weren't interested. Boat problems:
Oil light starting blinking. Caused me heartache until it was pointed out it was just to remind me it was due to be changed. Also about 20litres came out of the bung, but I told myself it was just because I heavily washed it last week and it didn't drain properly...
Snap:
--------------------------
Bynoe Harbour
July 26
A late start as I wasn't repeating the fog issue. Found heaps of good marks, could not stop catching fish, they were all tiny!! Even the lures pulled in two line cods & one star gazer (ugliest fish ever?)
Got:
Mate: 53cm golden trevally
Story of the trip:
After pulling in tiny sweet lip after tiny sweet lip I hooked a monster. After about 10 minutes and me letting him take a lot of line to tire himself out, expert angling, etc, I finally got him!!! A giant... BATFISH! I could have cried...
Boat problems:
Took the bung out and emptied 200 litres of water. Damn it!!!! I thought I fixed it, this didn't happen a week ago.
Snap:
--------------------------
Bynoe Harbour
August 9
After the long weekend without the car, did a Saturday trip to Bynoe
Got:
Me: lots of small fish
Parkotas (polyowners): lots of small fish
Mud (NFF): 93cm Brassy Trevally!
Story of the trip:
Got to be the Trevally. Mud was pretty familiar with the area but were weren't having luck on the barra. Went to a mark I found last time with massive Trevally all around and the next thing he had hooked up! It was a long fight, and the fish just did not want to quit at the end.
Boat problems:
Once again a huge amount of water leaked out of the boat... an ongoing problem I haven't figured out yet. So frustrating.
Snap:
--------------------------
Elizabeth
August 16
Was talked out of Leaders Creek trip due to distance. Apparently the Barra had been going off in the Elizabeth. The Elizabeth has always failed me, but it is about 20 mins (as opposed to 1 hour 20) each way and has an awesome floating jetty.
Got:
Me: Large shovelnose shark. It kept banging its head from side to side which make me think it was a snapper.
Mate: Smaller wobble shark
Mate's mate from Spain who had never fished before: 41cm Jack! On a small white plastic on a reel with 80lb mono as I didn't have a spare light one... haha
Zero crabs too. Am starting to think these home made stainless steel ones might be dodge... might get a collapseable one or two as a quality control.
Story of the trip:
The wind! The Elizabeth is quite sheltered yet it was still difficult to even made it out to a side creek. It dropped off in the arvo but was something fierce in the morning. I hate getting wet!
Boat problems:
ZERO WATER!!!
Looks like I have solved that one...
and...
- handle fell off the winch
- lost the ability to go left or right on my leckie
- noticed when I filled up my petrol tank that it now constantly drips due at the connection. (Unsure if connection or jerry)
*sigh* not having the best of luck
Snap:
--------------------------
Elizabeth
August 30
Tides were horrible for Bynoe & Leaders, thought I would give it a crack again
Got:
Me: Powertail & Stargazer... that bad I have to name these
jprbeard: Nothing
Story of the trip:
Probably the sounder but since I want to keep it positive I will say the crab pot. One of my pots went missing and I found it about 1km from where I put it in. Seems a lot of weed got stuck in it and caused it to get washed out.
Boat problems:
Zero water which was good, all the stuff I fixed last weekend worked, especially the strap for the fuel tank... but the sounder died 15 mins into the journey. Really getting frustrated with the boat. This is something that I can't fix so will have to take it in. A few of the other things like radio died as well, though the CBD which is on the same circuit was working. I was launching at high and retrieving at low so no sounder made it nearly impossible to fish, as I didnt know if I would get stuck somewhere or not.
Snap:
--------------------------
Bynoe Harbour
September 9
Had some mates up here from Queensland so took a day off work to take them out
Got:
Me: Small cod & bream
Mate: Nothing
Matess: Reasonable Queenie & bream
Story of the trip:
Driving to the ramp in the dark and this guy is coming the other way. I took probably a second too long to turn my overlights off. He starts flashing and flashing me. "Take it easy" I thought. We pass each other and in about 5 seconds I slam the brakes on. A tree has burnt out and has fallen across the road. I dropped it back to about 60km before impact. My side the trunk was up to my thigh, so I swerved onto the other lane and went over the smaller section. Bullbar broke a bit of the tree off. Got away with a punctured tyre. Pretty lucky really. I changed the tyre while mate cleared the road. A couple of chaps who came by pulled over and helped with the tree. Crazy.
Boat problems:
I thought I was in the clear... but when I got home the electric motor wont unplug. Not sure it really needs to. But weird. Plus the $250 for the tyre
Snap
Zero wind for most the day, the you could have skied across the harbour
--------------------------
Leader's Creek
September 21
Yeah cheers Mark, went out on a sunday so haven't had much of a chance to type it up. Went out to Leaders to go Jewfish chasing! Caught lots and lots of juvies out of the reef... goldies, sweet lip, blue bones, jewies, grunter, every species you can think of. Just tiny! Got some good blue salmon (which are delicious imo, most people don't like them unless they are fresh)
Got:
Me: One medium blue salmon
Mud: One large blue salmon and one small blue salmon
Mud's daughter: Massive (64cm) blue salmon
Story of the trip:
Watching her fight the salmon! They fish was giving it a red hot crack.
Boat problems:
Woke up and one tyre on the trailer was completely deflated. I couldn't change it to the spare as my spanner wouldn't grip it (as I found out) so I pumped it up and went off. Had to do it a couple of times on the way home. Bought a new tyre and put nuts on it so my suzuki tool can do the boat.
Snap
Large small and medium salmon, not pictured the biggest one.
--------------------------
Adelaide - Salty Arm
October 4
Wanted to go jewfish hunting at leaders but Mud suggested barra chasing. I never have much success but agreed to it. Not much success! The electric motor got fried a couple of hours in which hindered us. Was just getting out in the bluewater when the wind got picked up and had to come back. Put the pots in for nothing, again.
Got:
Me: One decent cod
Mud: 53cm barra & a large shark. Could stretch the barra to 54 lol but not 55.
Story of the trip:
Not sure really. Helped a guy with a large boat retrieve his as he had snapped his Achilles when he got off the boat. Fishing by yourself is scary. He still had to drive about 2 hours home.
Boat problems:
At first the electric motor wouldn't turn, but would go. Then power cut out all together. Hope I don't need a new one, I use it about every trip, hard to be without for the fishing I do.
Snap
53cm barra caught in morning... half assed photo as I was sure we'd get something better to photograph later in the day:
--------------------------
Leeder's Creek
October 18
Perfect tides. Great wind. Heaps of boats around. No one got anything! At least not in the creeks or the mouth, those that went out to the islands did well. I hate to admit, there is some comfort in the fact that no one got anything, it wasn't just us. I have been a bit unlucky lately, hope I didn't jinx an entire region!
Got:
Me: Two decent mud crabs, kept a large bream, mostly because the hook took his eye out I thought it was more humane to kill him.
Story of the trip:
Pretty quiet! Umm, I guess it was that my tarp & rope worked very well down the dirt road.
Boat problems:
Nearly has a clean report card, except the foot pedal of the lekkie couldn't get fixed, so I will have to get a new one. Am going to work on that.
Fuel stats
8 Litres
30km travelled
43km max speed
Snap
--------------------------
Corroboree Billabong
October 26
Had a lot of problems getting someone to go out with me this week, of all the problems I thought I might get in a boat, finding people to fish wasn't one I expected. Found someone willing to go on a Sunday, (hate fishing on a Sunday) but wanted to go to Corroboree. It is 90 mins from mine, freshwater, no bait allowed, and just a beautiful place. bl..dy hard to get a fish though. Known for being just about impossible. And so, we got nothing. I have to admit, when you are in freshwater and no bait, it makes "no fish" a bit more palatable when it is so easy to clean things.
Got:
Biggest p o w e r t a i l ever. Biggest tarpon ever. No barra of course.
Story of the trip:
Never seen the billabong like it, the lilies were so overgrown in areas. Very pretty, see pic.
Boat problems:
Gawd. Again.
This time I thought that I would certain it would be my first time without a new thing going wrong.
I had fixed the lekkie. Nothing had any signs of going wrong.
Drove and launched with no worries. Boated with no worries.
Lekkie was working great after I had taken the pedal apart and cleaned it.
Drove back and retrieved it.
Drove home.
Unloaded the first amount of gear and I thought to myself while grabbing a beer to sort the rest of the stuff out "this is it. This time. I am in clear water from here on out"
Came back downstairs and the trim was stuck upwards. No f-ng clue why. I can't sort it, gotta go back into the shop.
It is like the boat is taunting me... and I have a huge weekend planned next hope it is sorted by then.
Snap
--------------------------
Adelaide & Salt Water Arm
November 2
Broke the drought, sort of. Mate got a barra, I didn't. Great trip though, plenty of action in the morning. Bit quiet after the tide changed but got heaps of stuff on baits, all pretty small though. Got some great crabs. And no (new) problems with the boat! Pretty decent trip, given my recent form. Even the road had been graded, haha.
Got:
Me: Lots of small goldies. Two good bucks.
Mate from QLD: 58cm Barra, lost another over 80 easy, kept a 30cm goldie (mostly because it had killed itself swallowing the hook)
Story of the trip:
First thing I did was go to the same place we got that 53cm Barra a few weeks ago. I pointed the branch and said "that is where we got one last time". So my mate cast, first time, and hooked the 80cm+ fella. He spat the hook, but he looks at me like I a guru and says "well, you called it." Haha if only he knew what a hack I was
Boat problems:
Nothing new! The trim was being a bit of a pain, they had fixed it but it was taking a second or two to kick into gear. The lekkie didn't want to turn left (have nicknamed it Zoolander) but was easy enough to use with magic eye.
Fuel stats
20.5 litres, 74.6km. Max 46.4km
Snap
--------------------------
Darwin Harbour
November 8
Interesting day. Got some advice off a mate which didn't pan out that well. The first place we went too looked great and there was bait busting up everywhere... chased by trevelly as big as my hand. Got a few and gave up. Went to the next few places recommended, but they were all out of the water by a metre or two, just got the right tides for it. Boated around for ages before finding a few interesting drains. Very quiet until bang bang, 50cm & 61cm barra. Suddenly the wind kicked up like nothing else and we had to go home. Also saw two sharks fighting each other in the shallows... was pretty cool!
Got:
Me: Nothing of course.. but I am excellent guide!
GT: 50 & 61cm Barra.
Story of the trip:
Probably the boat ramp. The department of fisheries says you can use it on "most tides" what rubbish. I tried to take it out about 2.4m of water and had to wait 30mins. Even then it wasn't protected by the breakwall and the chop from the 8knot northerly was horrible. A very difficult retrieval.
Boat problems:
*sigh*
During the week when I was playing with my boat cover I noticed the retrieval winch wasn't working. Luckily my trailer guy (Michael from Promoter Trailers, great guy) was able to replace it entirely on Friday so I could still go. Which means last week wasn't problem free, must have happened on the drive home.
And when I was cleaning the boat I noticed the seal had come off the bung. I will need to sikaflex that again.
Snap
(The red on it is reflection from my esky)
--------------------------
Adelaide / Salty Arm
November 15
Well, well. A reasonable day fishing that will be remembered more for what we lost than what we caught. I had an approx 60cm barra inhale by hardbody lure with twin trebles on and spit it out like it was nothing, two minutes later Mud had an approx 80cm barra inhale a gold bomber (triple trebles) and spit it out. Twice in a row. Later we were bait fishing and I put the rod in the rod holder as the boat needed to be sured-up to stop it hitting the rocks.... BANG my line explodes. Wonder if that was the giant jewie we were chasing? 5 minutes later Mud hooks what was certainly a giant jew from the way it was fighting. Unfortunately during its third run it managed to break the line on something.
Got:
Me: Blue salmon
Mud: 57cm Barra, 2x Blue Salmon, medium cod
Story of the trip:
The missed jewie! Also I caught a puffer fish... nothing special there but this thing would have been 60cm. I have never seen anything like it. It was the size of a microwave.
Boat problems:
Transducer was smashed during last weeks retrieval. I thought it was working okay but it was not. I will need to get that replaced, or get a new one. Very annoying, something that could have been easily avoided. The department of fisheries said they would update their website after the email I wrote them, one week later this still has not happened. Just a matter of time before someone takes their advice like I did and has their boat damaged. I'm just glad I have a poly, the hull has lots of scratches after that, but no big deal I guess.
Fuel stats
11.5 litres, 38.2km. Max 41.2km
Snap
I guess it is hard to get a sense of scale....
--------------------------
Middle arm
November 22
Went on a trip to middle arm today, boat ramp so much better then Channel island. Started the day chasing what I though to be trevally, turned out to be milkfish. Went around the rockbar and picked up a small cod. The tide dropped a bit and I got a two barra. My drought was nearly broken... I dunno if getting undersized fish count, haha.
Got:
Me: 47 & 48cm Barra.
Marko: nothing
Story of the trip:
Probably the sheer volume of milkfish in the harbour, and me not realizing what they were and throwing metal slugs at them. Actually the real story of the trip is....
Boat problems:
NOTHING!!!!!!!!!
New sounder was great
First trip ever, hell yeah!!!
Snap
Thought this was funny, me forgetting to take my head sock off for the photo
Adelaide / Salty Arm
November 30
Got very luck with the weather, overcast without rain all day. Not much breeze. No luck with the Barra or the Jewfish we were chasing. Got some blue salmon on the lures. Tons of Powertail on bait. Mud also managed to get a pretty impressive Powertail.
Got:
Me: 3 blue salmon keepers
Mud: couple of tiny barra, very large Powertail
Story of the trip:
Loads of Powertail on the bait, frustrating we were literally getting nothing else. What is worse - getting nothing or getting Powertail?
Boat problems:
Practically nothing. I have lost the nozzle for the earphone/flushing mechanism for the motor. Was able to do it by holding the hose there. Will need to get a new one no big deal.
Very much hoping I am on a good streak here.
Snap
Powertail
