queensland Toothless fisher rounds up River Reds!!!!

[zan0_15]

Wellll……after putting in many MANY hours on the river over the last couple of months for nothing worth reporting on I finally have something to give back to the site!!……

The day had everything….mechanical issues at the ramp………no fish…..THEN FISH…….no fish again…….couple more fish………mechanical issues of the reel variety!!! Then it happened…….a tooth……lost at sea…….

It all started 3.30am this morning……mate from work rocks up at mine right on time as usual…….boat loaded all ready to go with ice coffees tucked under our arms for brekky…off we go bar some fuel and ice on the way…….with the weather set to come to the party our hopes were high as today was a new day and a chance to put all our recent (nonfishy) trips behind us!!! Arrive at fishos ramp at a touch after 4.15……boat in the water, park the car and were off…….no were not….turn the key…nothing….turn the key again…an array of sparks from the battery! After a quick investigation battery terminals had worked there way loose ….easy fix!

So away we go under the bridge and towards the mouth…..arrive at the mouth to find it blowing a gale somewhat, defineately more than was predicted….so we decided to seek shelter back up the river…the unfavourable early wind turned out to be a blessing in disguise! We anchor up at “spot x†and set out 2 rods each with paternoster rigs and ganged pilchards…..fishing was slow early on…..made much harder by the fact that the windchill factor was horrible but was made worse as the tide and wind were working against us and holding us 50/50 to each leaving us well open to the conditions….after about 20 minutes one of my rod tips decides to take a dip….pick it up….strike and up comes the first snap at 38cm……was pleasantly surprised with the early success and didn’t have to wait long before my mate hooked onto a 36 cm model in much the same fashion……they were biting eagerly and did not require much from us besides reeling them in! so I reset my rod and sent it out again….bait hits the bottom, start to wind up a couple of metres when I realise my bail arm has disconnected itself from its anchorage! Frantic couple of minutes were spent trying to fix the issue but I was not quick enough…….tappp…tappppppp…..tapppppppppppp……â€ohhhhh bull%#$*….im getting a bite……..dont do it to me……..IM ON!!!!!!!!†line started ripping off the open spooled reel and through my fingers and she was off….nothing I could ddo about it but wait…..applied as much pressure to the line as I could before she ground out to a crawl…..i then started the long process of getting the culprit up…and I did…the hard way! 46cm snap is what come aboard…….

one rod out of action I continued an managed to boat one more at 40 before it shutdown……there were bait fish everywhere and I told my mate to be patient as they are still down there!!!

As it turned out when the sun came up from behind the building opposite us, the bites came on again….but a lot more timid….no more snappss but mate managed a 50cm flatty….. By this stage the wind had died down so the decision was made to poke our nose out the front and see what the trip to mud island looked like…..twas good…motored over but did no good with the sun well up by now…..then tried the second tripod beacon out from the mouth on our way back to the ramp also to no avail although a flounder was boated but neither of us were much interested in it!!

With the fishing slow I decided id crank up the radio forr some eentertainment……bad decision….turned it on….only one speaker working…..decided to go down and investigate the wiring……. when it happened!!….smashed my tooth in the sweet spot on the steering wheel and away she crumbled!!!! Up my head comes and out my tooth goes…..airborne until water entry about 5 metres from the boat!!!

Not quite the ending I had imagined to the trip but hey we got amongst some fish….!!!!! Still went home a happy man eagerly awaiting my dental appointment first thing tomorrow morning!!!!

Sorry if I dribbled on a bit but its been a while since reports!!! And im missing a tooth!

Sure to be a hit with the ladies!

i dont thinks so missy

Sprung cleaning the bait up for me!

[Old Scaley]

Bad luck on the tooth, mate, but a few good fish would soften the blow! The snaps must be everywhere this year. We got a couple of good keepers this morning around the port area as well.

[jon]

top report good to see your persistance has paid off, teeth are over rated any way lol

[ellicat]

Hahaha.....Funny report. Good to hear you got a nice feed....ironic that you'll be missing a tooth for it though :laugh:

[Scope]

Wow - sounds like an interesting trip. Shame about the tooth but good to hear you're onto some quality fish!

[bootyinblue]

Ellicat beat me too it.... Should we make fishcakes with your feed so they are soft and go down without a chew.

Well done on it all anyway....