Well, due to all the chaos lately I’ve found myself with a fair bit of spare time on my hands, which can only mean one thing really... more fishing!.
I set out from Cleveland point at around 5:15am the other day, and made a beeline straight for the promise land, halfway there I was starting to curse Seabreeze for giving a dodgy forecast, it wasn’t quite the 3kts predicted, but still quite manageable in my 4.2 tinny.
Upon arriving at my destination I was beginning to have second thoughts, the minn kota was having trouble staying in the choppy water and the sun was just starting to creep up. I decided to persist and rigged up a 9” Z Man curl tail, I began flicking my offering around in hope of attracting the attention of a snapper, and low and behold, it didn’t take too long at all, the plastic got nailed after the 3rd cast, and I found myself connected to a substantial fish, a short battle later and I had him in the net.
Feeling a little chuffed, and after a quick photo shoot, I sent him back on his way to fight another day, and then thought to myself, job done, now what?, keep fishing of course!.
I changed sides in the tinny and began peppering casts off the portside bow, and once again my offering got devoured!, this was indeed something different, it had quite a lot weight and began pulling like a tractor!, hmmm, this is definitely not a snapper I thought, as I’m hanging over the gunwhales with the rod butt jammed in my gut, and after a few good runs I managed to gain the upper hand, it came to the surface and I couldn’t believe my luck, a decent Jew!, this was going to be fun trying to coax him into my little net, but I succeeded.
I don’t know his exact size as my esky is only 820mm overall, needless to say he was hanging over both ends.
After a questionable photo shoot with size 11 hoof in shot, he was happily returned to make someone else’s day, this was fast becoming a very memorable day on the water, the chop that had hampered the minn kota had all but sudued, and the conditions were as good as it gets.
Well and truly on cloud 9 now, I kept flicking, and in less then 10 minutes was connected to another beauty!
This fella was quite well behaved and didn’t mind laying on the esky to have his photo taken, he too was in good shape and went straight back in the drink, this was getting a bit ridiculous I thought, but I persevered and kept at it, only to be rewarded yet again
this guy didn’t fare so well during the battle, so he ended up inside the esky. At this point, I needed a breather, I sat down and sucked on an ice coffee and just savoured the moment. After my spell I thought, I’d better keep going, and in no time at all, had another one in the boat!, by this stage it seems I had aroused the attention of a few nearby boats, I held up my quarry to show one of the approaching fisherman, and then speared him back in the water, only then to realise, I didn’t get a photo, bugger!, now now people, I’m familiar with the rules, if there’s no pic, it didn’t happen, but rest assured, the crayola have not made an appearance in this recollection.
So the tally was a respectable 1 snapper, and 4 Jew all before 7:30am.
It became apparent I was on fire, and couldn’t believe how the morning was unfolding, a quick trim up of the leader was required and I was straight back into flicking, and they just kept coming!, the school must have been huge!, and ripe for the picking.
This fella was a little unruly, and didn’t want his photo taken on top of the esky, he much rathered the carpet as a back drop, after the shoot he too was sent back on his way.
One of the boats that came over during all the commotion had a couple of old boys on it, and they asked me what bait I was using, I replied, no bait, just plastics, I hadn’t even gotten a chance to rig a floating pilly, as the action was just too hot, they were quite shocked as I proceeded to do battle with yet another monster.
I held this one up to show the old boys who were fishing next to me, and in a friendly gesture, asked them if they wanted it, well bugger me, I’ve never seen someone pull an anchor up so quick in my life, and in no time flat they came alongside me with a landing net hanging over the edge to accept my gift. They were very grateful, and I was just as happy.
I continued flicking and managed another hook up, only to have the leader snap down near the jig head, I then realised in my haste to keep going I neglected to check the state of the leader, and it cost me Jew number 7, mind you, I wasn’t really that phased, just a little disappointed about losing the plastic I’d already boated 7 fish with.
As with all good things, it eventually comes to an end, and by 9:15am I made my way back to Cleveland point in some of the best conditions one could ask for, with a smile, and a feeling of accomplishment that will be hard to top for, for a very long time.
