Grand tour down south

No barramundi here. Just snapper, whiting, samson, kingies, tuna ...
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PeterT
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Grand tour down south

Post by PeterT »

Set off the week before xmas down the track towing the 5m GS. Did the trip to Albury in 2 and a half days. Was amazed at the huge amount of rubbish along the highway between Renmark and Mildura. They need the quad bike dudes we have patrolling up here on the h'ways. The drought affected country looks pretty sad, but was surprised to see huge tractor spray irrigators watering lucern in the middle of the day right along the Murray valley.

Broke a brake caliper on the trailer when reversing into driveway at journeys end. Managed to find a second hand one at $50. Next day launched in the Murray river and had a cruise of my favourite river. Could almost hear the Suzi 115 loving the run in fresh water for the first time in its life.

The river which is usually clear, is an army green colour and left a green scrum line alone the boat that lasted the whole trip away. You could taste the algae in the tap water. Not many natives being caught and it was impossible to head up into the mountains as I had planned, as the fires were raging.

Shivered through Xmas day wearing thermal pants and top. I think the temp managed to get to 16c, but great for roast pork, turkey and baked ham etc.

Next was a trip through the burning Alpine Park via Mount Hotham to the Gipps land coast at Mallacoota. First night got our proirities in order and went prawning. managed a couple of killos of good medium gippsland prawns for lunch the next day.

Spent mnay a session over the next week flicking softies for the huge Flatties that mall is famous for. Didn't snag any huge ones but managed a feed each trip, one of few boats who did in the adverse weather.

Outside was as rough as for most of the week, but managed 3 outside trips to Gabo island. We dived for abalone and had no trouble getting our bag each time. If you have never had Abalone you are missing out on a real treat and it is no wonder they sell for $100 a kg.

Speared a good quota of beautiful reef leather jackets, enough for an ab and leathery banquet each trip. Not much happening on the fishing scene outside as it was too rough and all we could do was scoot to the lee of Gabo and anchor up.

The gs performed well in the big swell and chop. Lost a $600 gortex raincoat on one trip. :cry: It just wasn't there anymore when we got home. Bummer. More trailer repairs; replaced a led light set on one side, you know, the ones that are guaranteed for life? Year the life of the light. $80 :banghead:

Next stop was Narooma - weather rough as, no fish getting caught in the estuary and the bar was a no go. Pulled the pin and headed to Port macqarie for a week. Worked hard in the estuaries at Laureton and camdenhaven for flatties, but managed a feed. No outside available as the wind was blowing like the proverbial.

From there to Buderim in QLD. Fished the Maroochydore, maloola and Noosa rivers. IMHO they have been flogged to death. Mooloola river upper reaches are pristine and extremely beatiful. However boats over 4.5 m are not allowed up there. Unfortunately I didn't see that sign. :angel:

If you love seeing jet skis you will love the sunshine coast :fubird:
I couldn't imagine a worse place to have a holiday than Noosa. Full of rich wankers and endless streams of traffic both on land and the water.

Off shore Mooloolabar was more like it with good numbers of pearlies and a few good King fish thrown in. The most amazing thing about the ocean there is the deep indigo blue of the water. Soon as you are on the blowies arrive and anchor right on top of you.

Visited the Solas guys at the Sunshine coast. Was amazed at the huge array of bright and shiny stainless props and fantastic electric light game reels, lure and jig rolls and sundry other toys that they had. I was truely aroused and managed to snag a demo ss prop for the 115 at a bargain price. Love those guys at solas.

Came home via Hervey Bay, 1770 and just missed the rain at Isa. 1770 will be worth a return visit. It was great to be back in Darwin in spite of the knee high lawn and several tons of palm leaves to be dispossed of.

Fishos in the top end should get down on their knees and give thanks every day for what we have. We should also make sure that we properly manage our fisheries so that the problems they have down south don't eventually destroy the environment up here.

Be particularly careful of Bill Heffernan's plan to 'utilise' the river runoff up here for irrigation. Or the problems of the south will be here before you can say 'cotton farm'.

pete


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jordan doevy
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Post by jordan doevy »

great report pete - sounds like you had a great time
schools what i do in between fishing ;)
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Matt Flynn
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trip

Post by Matt Flynn »

Awesome report PeterT - what a trip, a lot of ground covered, abalone and leatherjacket dinners, prawns, pearlies ... and you are still happy to be back in Darwin!
PeterT
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Post by PeterT »

Yep, I'm glad to be back. Don't get me wrong, I had a ball.

I spend weeks on end out bush in remote locations and sometimes find the hustle of Darwin a bit much. But the contrast between life in Darwin and down south is pretty amazing. Everyone breaking their necks to go nowhere and do FA, road rage, shopping rage, caravan park rage, ramp rage, boat rage, overfishing etc.

There are still blokes who turn up at cleaning tables with boxes of fish and are proud of it. In my naive imagination I thought catch and release had caught on pretty well . I don't mean release everything, sure keep a few flatties for the table, but I saw a lot of guys taking part in some big slaughters. Guys killing a 10lb dusky and bragging. I'd rather cook a turd than an old fish like that. And they will wonder why there are no fish next time they go there because they are killing the breeders. The ethic is still very much: 'kill it before some other bastard can.'

I see some of those blokes up here as well, just less population.

pete
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