So we decided a couple months ago that we were going to head back into the BEAUTIFUL Arnhem land and try our luck in the crystal clear blue...
Nooblet and another one of the lads hit the road after hearing late that the 4th could not make it, meaning they were to arrive in Jabiru at 830pm. The boys arrived pale faced after a near miss with a scrub bull and his pal standing and just waiting for someone to bump into them
We had a quick check of the tides to get across Cahills and worked out we should be able to get over at around 9ish for a 11low I think it was.
By 8am on the Friday car was packed, boat was on and 'tutus' worn
.....(more to come)
So we hit the road shortly after making the crossing at 920, met some Victorian tourists in a xtrail wanting to know if they were able to cross, at the same time looking at the overturned 80 series 10mtrs on the downstream side. Level was around the 400mm mark, we got back in the car and made our way through.
Tyre pressures down and we were on our 2hr hike, found the road to be in 'excellent' condition all the way to '3ways' then turning into washout alley
Finally arriving to see the water looking like glass which was amazing seen it had been windy the whole week prior in Jabiru and reading the post by NT Wombat we were a bit unsure what to expect. All the gear was unloaded and the swags set so we could put the boat in the water ASAP.
Boat was in and on our way to a nice island just off the coast of Goulburn which we knew there were normally Mackies and GTs buzzing around.
Found some awesome bottom and some nice schools of bait but nothing to chase a lure except the odd Skinny.
After putting around for an hour or so, headed to another little spot where previously we named Mackie Mile, found some ground around to try out luck jigging for some reefies instead of chasing the silver rockets. Came up with the bad boy, and some nice little spanish flag which were a bit small to throw in the esky...
Day 1 was off top a cracker start, got to about 3pm and decided to head back, get some fire wood and chill with some coldies.
Was up early with a bit of a light head, nothing a Iced Coffee couldn't fix, a couple of panadol and a trip down to the beach with the shovel and paper. Hit the water again like glass, headed over to some nice rocks which have heard the coral trout love and have pulled heaps of GTs of them before but this time there was nothing!!!! So we scooted back towards our island and again put some trawlers on which again only pulled up the skinnies.
The Tutus.... well they started getting very annoying, an idea of someones which was only to remove them after a particular amount of points (diff species worth diff points). Nooblet manged to get his off with a GT and a queenie.
To get it out of the way, i didn't manage to get to take mine off... by the last day I was over it and it came off no matter what!
We ate well for the trip, Friday night came with steak and spuds, Saturday night we got some nice coals going and had some slow cooked shanks with veg whilst waiting introduced a mate to periwinkles and hand caught muddies! , sunday we enjoyed some fried rice.
A few more fish caught for the weekend, most being the bl..dy SKINNY variety! Everytime we have gone it has been a different species on the bite. First time GTs, then Mackies and this time Queenies!!!! A couple barracude enjoyed our lures, a few more GTs. Everyday we were granted the inquisitive dolphins next to the boat. Found a few birds diving, these schools of smallish queenies produced no fun!
Some more trawl runs, produced more bl..dy skinnies and the biggest i have seen, 95 to the fork! This got the poor blokes hopes up as after this fish he was allowed to take his TUTU off.....'im done' he says, rod went down....BUT, it got the better of him, he threw the lure back in and pulled up a Cuda....this means the tutu went back on.... that was it for him...
As the days went past we did notice the water getting clearer and clearer and seeing Tuna and Mackies jumping around but only the odd one and nothing to chase....
On the Sunday we were sitting back enjoying a cold bevvie when I could see someone walking around the bush, wondering when they rocked up as we hadnt seen any other cars. After another drink the decision to go for a drive through an alternate way home to get some wood we came across some boys from work, which apparently had been in the same spot for 2hrs, moving a couple meters at a time... LOL tyre pressures wernt down and the wrong information got them stuck whilst we were sipping on some coldies... After a snatch and a some information they followed us through with no problems up to the launch site.
Monday morning came, Nooblet and I decided to get a couple hours in before heading home, some more GTs and Queenies decided to have a snack on the slices and lures then it was called...
Ps, even though i continue to catch bugger all, i will continue to go back as everyone around me manages to get some.
More sounder porn for those interested....
