Fish Tales - Chapter 2 - 19 February 2022

Participants

Me – nicknamed – the Skipper

Julian Banks – nicknamed – the Hooligan

Target Species

Flathead

Co-ordinates

Wallis Lake – the Camp Elim Drifts

Methods Employed

Boat drifting flicking soft plastics (pumpkinseed and nuclear chicken formats) and hard bodied lures

The Tally

Fish #1 – Flathead Score Hooligan 1 – Skipper Nil

Fish #2 – Flathead Score Hooligan 2 – Skipper Nil

Fish #3 – Whiting Score Hooligan 2 – Skipper 1

Fish #4 – Bream Score Hooligan 2 – Skipper 2

Fish #5 – Bream Score Hooligan 2 – Skipper 3

Only one problem the Skipper never saw a target species

.

The Story of the Day

Hooligan has come up for the weekend. When he arrives on Friday night the world in Smiths Lake is calm. The ocean is like glass and there is little or no swell. Hooligan suffers from vertigo and seasickness and unless the sea is very calm or he has several days to recover from a fish in the depths we rarely head “outside”.

The weather turns nasty overnight. The rain comes and belts down and with it a southerly buster. At 5.00am the ground is wet and the wind howling. By 7.00am at least the rain has stopped and after a sleep in we look to decide on what we can do today.

We could head down to Smiths Lake and look to fish the opening, but with the wind direction we would be casting directly into the gale. There is the rock pool at the other end of the beach which has been known to deliver good luderick and black drummer but only after a big sea and yesterday was calm, besides we have no bait for that type of foray.

As the morning settles, so does the wind (a little). Discretion being the better part of valour we attach the boat and head to the Rec Club Boat Ramp. Protected a little from the wind we decide to give it a go and launch the boat. We are soon screaming along in the recently serviced boat towards our intended destination. 

Personally I have not fished this particular area before, and as a venue, I have never had what I would call great results from Wallis Lake but a another fishing mate – Dodger – has been fishing these drifts while we have been away on our extended trip around Oz and achieving some good fish results, worthy of sledging about..

Like most fishos the instructions for the spot are a little vague, probably in an attempt to mask the best parts as much as possible. The wind is not going to be our saviour today. It’s still blowing a good 20 knots from the south. Apparently all the times Dodger fishes this drift he has done so in calm or slight north easterly conditions. He talks about water depths of 1 – 2 metres, and we are soon in 400ml and the engine bottoms in the mud/sand.

Unperturbed we seem to be in the right place so we give it a go, flicking our plastics away from the boat and retrieving, flicking the bait up from the bottom and letting it settle again, much like the movement of a prawn or a fish in distress. As suggested by Dodger we also deploy a hard bodied lure at the rear of the boat and with the wind pushing us along there will be plenty of action on it.

Hooligan is one for sledging about the lies of the fisherman. He has just renewed his fishing licence and is keen to get value for money. Whilst we are picking up weed with our fishing, there are times when the deadening of the line to the weed feels like something more.

Suddenly the weed does more than deadened the line. Hooligan exclaims he “is on” and his rod and the line are heading in directions the wind and the movement of the boat belie. I quickly put down my rod and reach for the net. Hooligan with the drag set very lightly is having “fun” with the fight.

Soon enough the fish is in sight. A good size flathead, darkly disguised to camouflage in the weed. He brings it to the boat and I net it – success. There is pandemonium in the boat as the hook falls from the mouth of the fish and it begins flapping round the bottom of the boat past unshod feet.Soon enough Hooligan gets my personalised fish grippers from the bag and has the fish on the esky where we the obligatory measuring and photographing can be done.

Maybe the lies and bullshit of the fisherman are not as bad as he thought?

Safely disposed in the elongated esky I use in the back of the boat for such a purpose as well as a back seat, along with a couple of buckets of water, we are back seeking our prey. Very quickly Hooligan sprouts the score is 1 – Nil.

Soon enough he is back at it again and with renewed success. Drifting across the edge of a weed line another flathead attacks and Hooligan doubles up.

Things go quiet after that for a while. I change the lure from a pumpkinseed minnow soft plastic to a nuclear chicken profile with almost immediate success, but not what I expected or am targeting. Many casts are met with “hits”. Thinking we must be near a school of tailor I slow the retrieve a little with success. A whiting has managed to get his gob around the hook meant for a flathead.

I am on the board. Not with the target species but I will take anything I can get for now and the wife does love a whiting fillet.

Things go quiet again so I change from soft plastics to hard body lures. 

A bream decides this is lunch and gives me a great battle before becoming the tying fish in the esk. Two all, who will break the deadlock. The score would be much different if the weed fish were counted.

Its getting towards the time we should call it quits as I get another hit on the hard body. A smaller but legal bream makes it to the boat and into the esky. Although in number I am in the lead the Hooligan is quick to note the target species score.

We head back to the ramp well satisfied with the day. One which started out as if we might get the morning in which turned into a full day of relaxation, albeit testing in the wind. Hooligan is very keen in the aftermath pictures to show which of the fish are his and which, although I may have caught more, are much larger in size.

The fish cleaned, scaled and guts deposited in the garden for fertilizer and the boat cleaned and returned to its parking place under cover, its time for afternoon refreshments moving into the evening repast.

Hooligan has never liked eating fish, so my wife has prepared a nice steak for him. She is attacking whiting filets and I, a flathead.

Everyone is happy