Shady Saturday
Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 8:34 am
Went out to Shady Saturday for the neaps. I never do much good at the mouth on the run out so my plan was to have a quick look at the mouth, check for bait, barra and if other boats were hooking up and if it didnt look much good rip out to some jewie marks a mate gave me. Got to the mouth at about 7 and no bait, very few fish on the sounder and no one hooking up so headed out to the furthest mark I had. Found a good looking lump with good fish showing from half way down right to the bottom. First drop produced a 60cm cod, followed by 3 or 4 meter long sharks. I said last drop on this spot then we move somewhere else to get away from the sharks. No sooner had my bait hit the bottom when something with more weight and less speed grabbed it and headed off. I knew it was serious when I could see the spool on my saragosa through the braid but luckily it pulled up before I ran out of line and I spent the next 10 minutes getting my new PB Jewie to the boat. At 131cm I was stoked. By now the low had bottomed out and the bite stopped. Couldn't even catch another shark so we motored back to the sampan mouth. We trolled in from about 2km out looking for signs of bait and fish but nothing. Heaps of Jellyfish which were a pain. My mate Dave hooked one and pulled in a big chunk of it on one of his trebles. After removing it he needed to pee. A quick word of advice. If you have just removed jellyfish from your hook wash your hands before handling sensitive body parts!! 
He was in quite a bit of pain for a while and none of us were offering any assistance. Anyhow once we got in closer to the mouth we found about an acre of schooling mullet moving into the river on the first push in with a few boofs and sprays of nervous fish. Most boats were fruitlessly trolling the opposite bank so we had a prime looking spot all to ourselves. After a couple of trolls for no result with the usual B52's, bombers and stradas I thought i'd try something different and tied on a small homemade shallow runner. It lasted 50 meters and was nailed by an 80cm fish which gave a good account of itself before finding the net. Unfortunately my tupperware bib wasn't up to the task and that was the lure one and only fish for the day. Easy job to replace it so no dramas. The other two fellas switched to smaller lures as well, a just under and a 9cm Rapala and next troll Dave was onto a similar sized fish that spat the lure halfway to the boat. By then the tide had risen and the bait had dispersed into the river and the bite window slammed shut. We made our way back up the river to chase Rats. Every little barrage had a mountain of 30-40cm fish and we kept ourselves busy for an hour or so catching and releasing a heap of them before pulling the pin and heading home. It had been a pretty slow day with only the two decent fish but i'd upgraded my PB jewfish and caught a good barra on a homemade lure so I was happy as.
He was in quite a bit of pain for a while and none of us were offering any assistance. Anyhow once we got in closer to the mouth we found about an acre of schooling mullet moving into the river on the first push in with a few boofs and sprays of nervous fish. Most boats were fruitlessly trolling the opposite bank so we had a prime looking spot all to ourselves. After a couple of trolls for no result with the usual B52's, bombers and stradas I thought i'd try something different and tied on a small homemade shallow runner. It lasted 50 meters and was nailed by an 80cm fish which gave a good account of itself before finding the net. Unfortunately my tupperware bib wasn't up to the task and that was the lure one and only fish for the day. Easy job to replace it so no dramas. The other two fellas switched to smaller lures as well, a just under and a 9cm Rapala and next troll Dave was onto a similar sized fish that spat the lure halfway to the boat. By then the tide had risen and the bait had dispersed into the river and the bite window slammed shut. We made our way back up the river to chase Rats. Every little barrage had a mountain of 30-40cm fish and we kept ourselves busy for an hour or so catching and releasing a heap of them before pulling the pin and heading home. It had been a pretty slow day with only the two decent fish but i'd upgraded my PB jewfish and caught a good barra on a homemade lure so I was happy as.
