Around Oz the First Time - Chapter 58 - 80 Mile Beach Day 4

The call of the ablutions block gets me early, but as I am wandering around in the early morning I notice the sunrise is about to commence. Returning to the van I grab my phone and head to the viewing platform to see what if any snaps of the morning I can get. Given there is no compulsion to do anything today, this is a big effort, and I am not disappointed.

The sun might be coming up over the land but only just. There are palm trees at the end of the van park and the sun is splitting them as it rises. I take a myriad of shots, particularly panoramas of the sunrise, incorporating the beach, which because it is low tide has significantly exposed mudflats. On returning to the van I see the setting of some still great shots down the road towards the sun and grab some of the them as well.

I crawl back into bed and before I know it, I can smell bacon and eggs. More than three hours have passed, and Robyn is up, showered and cooking us breakfast. Half dazed I arise and join her, well I think I have, my bacon is cold. I suspect she has had hers some time ago.

I check my clock and high tide is almost upon us. I need to re-rig, as the set up I had yesterday was not quite working. I opt for lighter configurations and expect them to work with better efficiency, but I will be taking the old ones just in case.

I walk to the other vans to see if they are coming, they are, but not just yet. In Forbsy’s case its because he is still in bed, and Silver Leader has to also re-rig. I head over to the beach and the spot we have been fishing the last two days is full of a family swimming. I walk down to them and tell them of the 2 metre shark we had seen the last two days and to be careful. They acknowledge the danger and thank me for pointing it out. I move a little down the beach, not far from them, but far enough away as to not be an annoyance.

My first cast is successful, and I have a decent fish. Today we were only going for trophy fish and this one fits the bill. Silver Leader and Forbsy join me shortly after and Forbsy is almost immediately into a big fish. Almost to the breakers he is bitten off and he walks back to the gear to re-rig. Silver Leader seems only to be catching small fish, which expect for the odd one we can use for strip baits, he returns to the sea.

I am using my very light gear today and when I get a big hit, I am fearful of either the same outcome as Forbsy or not being able to play the fish like occurred on the first day. I settle into the fight, not touching the drag for fear of putting too much load on it. At the edge of the breakers, the fish decides its time to head south. It peels off several metres of line, but I won’t touch the drag. I can win this fight with patience. Suddenly, a large set of waves comes in and the fish is washed off the top of one and in front, where I now have my first sight of him and I feel I am more in control.

In the past I have lost fish at this point, like the big carp in the Murray in January where, attempting to lift the fish from the water the line would snap under the sheer weight of the fish. Here I have the same issue, although I have a much stronger line. I use the waves to wash him up where I can grab him and the fight is over. Success on a very decent fish, and on my light gear, a turn up for a skull dragging novice, used to catching coral trout in reefy situations, where with 50kg breaking strain line you heave before you get snagged.

Robyn joins me looking for my phone, she wants to record a video for her business and the beach is a good vista. I hand her the rod while I go and retrieve my phone from my bag. When I get back to her she is fighting a fish. She is having success so it seems and when finally she gets the fish to the shore, it’s a big hunk of seaweed.

Day 1 it was a sea gull, today it’s a clump of seaweed. She comments she seems to be only able to catch things starting with “sea”. She records a number of takes, but thinks the audio is not good enough and heads back to the van for the microphone to enhance the sound.

While she is away Forbsy is back to his piscatorial exploits. His rod is bending significantly, and he is into a fight. But when the fish emerges from the water, there is much laughter as the monster he has caught is a small trevally, known for their fighting ability. A short time later he is onto another one. The result is the same, a small different type but still a trevally, but this one has yellow fins.

Just as Robyn returns, Silver Leader is into a large fish. He is using light gear as well and is playing the fish in the surf, much like I had to with mine. When he lands his fish, it is the biggest of the day so far. While he is cleaning it for storage, he notices a fish in its stomach much like a juvenile jewfish. We had caught these on the other days, but now this one is going on a gang hook to see if he can entice another “monster” to the hook.

The fish seem to go off very quickly as Robyn returns. She is trying to capture the view as part of a marketing push for a new product we are launching. She has several goes, fumbling through what she want to say until she has one which is acceptable. There are a number of videos she want to shoot in her pursuit to promote her business and this is the third she has shot since we have been here. We are unable to upload the raw material here because internet service is poor, so we continue to make content while we can.

Walking back to the van there is a sign saying there will be wood fired pizzas available tonight. It also suggests pre-ordering would be preferable. Hmmm fish for the last two nights, perhaps pizza might be a good choice for tonight. For now though the fish need to be cleaned and filleted, so Forbsy and I head to the cleaning tables and deal with them.

I will take all the fish we have at the present and portion them into meals for 5 and Cryovac them for freezing, except that we have no space in our freezer. Forbsy has enough for the fish and that’s where they end up.

Back in the van, the idea of pizza now manifests itself into action. Robyn and I wander up to the pizza maker and order ours for the evening, with Robyn lashing out and ordering a choc top. We order for 6.15pm and retire to the van to watch the Australian women continue to give it to the Sri Lankan cricket team.

Australian women win easily, not so the Wallabies who lose to the Welsh in the world cup rugby. By this time, it time to go and retrieve dinner from the pizza makers. At the appointed time the ordered pizza is ready to take, which we do and wander back to the Silver Leader Beer Garden to dine with the others.

Everyone has ordered and obtained their pizzas, but unlike Robyn, who has her choc top for dessert, they all have cheesecakes from the reception. Robyn and I retire for an early bed, its been a long day, although frustrating because we are stuck here presently, and the internet is so sketchy Robyn can’t do any real work, the fact we need to be back at a certain date means now we will be needing to cut days from places we really wanted to get a handle on this time.

Yes there will be next time but as we have seen, you never know what could happen to change your abilities or even curtail them.