Fish Tales - Chapter 7 - 5 April 2022

Participants

Me – nicknamed – the Skipper

Peter Miles – nicknamed – Pete

Target Species

Snapper, Pear Perch, Dolphin Fish, Bonito

Co-ordinates

Marks ex Forster – The Step, Pinnacle South, The FAD, the Ballast

Methods Employed

Trolling lures and bottom dropping boasted (pilchards and bonito stripes)

The Tally

Fish #1 Bonito Score Pete Nil – Skipper 1

Fish #2 Snapper Score Pete 1 – Skipper 1

Fish #3 Snapper Score Pete 1 – Skipper 2

Fish #4 Pearl Perch Score Pete 1 – Skipper 3

Fish #5 Pearl Perch Score Pete 2 – Skipper 3

Fish #6 Snapper Score Pete 3 – Skipper 3

Fish #7 Snapper Score Pete 3 – Skipper 4

Fish #8 Morwong Score Pete 3 – Skipper 5

Fish #9 Snapper Score Pete 4 – Skipper 5

Fish #10 Flathead Score Pete 4 – Skipper 6

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The Story of the Day

There were lots of motivations for getting out today. 

The weather over the past weeks since we have returned from our latest round Australia jaunt has been less than inviting for blue ocean fishing. Rain and wind of horrific levels have lashed our coast for most of March. Since we have been back it seems, other than a couple of forays into the lakes we have been so busy, what with trips to Sydney, Condobolin and Midura, there has not been any “time” to get outside. 

A long time friend of mine Pete was not well when we left, a virus was eating away his muscle tissue and I was keen, given his propensity be there when needed, to see how he is really going. When last we fished, twelve months ago, just before we left, even getting into the boat was a major effort, and he had to sit the entire time because his legs were not working properly. During the trip around Australia, he had kept us abreast of his progress, but like all good fishermen there is always the inkling the truth is being stretched (did I say that!!) and I wanted to be sure.

The greatest motivation though was the celebration of 15 years since the passing of my best friend from brain cancer. Richard, or Repeller if ever we were fishing, was an enigma. Everyone could be in the boat catching fish after fish and he would not even lose a bait. It was not that he was inept or ungainly, he was a world champion, he just couldn’t fish to save himself.

Even 15 years later I still miss him.

We had, until the start of Covid had an annual fishing competition centered around our house in Smiths Lake named after him, where efforts like “Species Unknown” could win the trophy just for the sheer spectacle rather than a strict adherence to the rules of play.

But enough about that, lets be present. Its 7.30am and we are on the boat ramp. Pete has been sledging me during the previous evening about the Carp exploits and how he intends to put me in my place when it comes to “real” fish. A quick check of the motor before we put her in and nothing, the battery does not want to kick the engine into gear. Thankfully we have a backup battery in the boat, so we switch to using both and the engine fired into life. Perhaps a significant amount of trolling will restore the main battery to full power

First there is the bar crossing. Today the bar is like a mill pond, calm and benign. A few short days ago it was a turgid mass of white water and debris with opeaks fo four metres or more standing across the entrance and down towards the bridge. Safety gear checked, life jackets on we point the noise of the boat towards the open ocean.

A small commercial fishing boat cuts the corner from the south around that side of the entrance forcing us to take evasive action but with the flat ocean there is no worries. 

We are soon out far enough to set the lures and off we go in search of bonito for strip baits. Word has it they are plentiful at the moment and hopes are high. Cruising along the rocky outcrops south of the bar I join a meeting via Zoom and participate, no action to the rear just yet.

The meeting lasts for 30 minutes and by the end of it there is still no action on the lures. We check them to find both have reed debris attached. They are soon back in the water and it is not long before one is screaming. Success, for if nothing else we have some fresh bait in the boniato we land. I had removed the back seat in the boat many years ago and replaced it with an elongated esky which serves as the back seat but also a repository for our captures. It presently contains several blocks of ice to keep the earliest caught fish as fresh as possible. The bonito and a couple of buckets of water now enter the receptacle.

Continuing the troll we past a group of boats fishing a small reef near what is known as Latitude Rock. We continue on along the rocky shoreline before turning east towards our first spot. This will take us along the edge of a marine park and as we skirt it, the water appears to erupt with dolphins chasing their breakfast.

We hook up on a fish but it is lost during the fight, either to simply pulling the hook or taken by a hungry dolphin. In any event no score in the book 🙂

As we approach the Step, to the south, a boat or boats seem to be fishing another of our potential spots. The view seems out of place, as one of the “boats” has a shape akin to a fire fighting vessel with water spurting in a perfect arc along its length. As these boats get closer it is more apparent as to what we are viewing. A tug is dragging what appears to be a floating stage north. Their passage hinders ur fist drift across the spot as I give them a wide berth.

Soon enough though, Pete is on. I sledge him mercilessly on video, as he monsters the fish to the boat. A good snapper and it is always good to get the first fish into the boat. I too have bites and a hook up, but mine is undersize and returns to the briny depths with a message from Pete to tell his parents and grandparents about the lovely baits we have.

Well we have a block of pilchards, maybe not as fresh as they could be and apparently frozen more than once as they tend to decay quicker than they should during the day.

They apparently got the message as I am soon onto a much bigger fish, putting up quite the fight. A 45cm snapper ends up in the boat. I text my wife, we will be dining on fish tonight.

With the tug well past us, I manoeuver the boat up wind of the spot and we drift again. The wind is pushing us quicker than we would like so we deploy the sea anchor and double up on weight to get to the bottom. As we come to the back edge of the spot I am struck again. This is different to the snapper and much more difficult to get off the bottom.

Pete sledges me about the fight, suggesting I am being a wooz and it better be a monster. What arrives shuts him up somewhat. A Pearl Perch, noted for their hard fighting abilities is now in the boat. Pete has never caught one although in his many long years of fishing both recreationally and commercially he has certainly targeted them.

Before I can detach it from my line and take the obligatory photos, Pete too is on, wondering if he has a snag. The obligatory sledge from my side of the boat, expecting full well he has a Pearl Perch, is of little comfort. A 24kg rod, holding 40kg line and he is not even making an impression at the start. Finally he gets the fish off the bottom and starts the grind to get the fish to the boat.

What comes into view makes me dive for the net. The fish continues the fight all the way to it and when finally in the boat, Pete declares he has captured his first ever Pearl Perch. A 45cm monster, some 5cm longer than the one I had just caught and excellent additions to the esky.

We are now well off the mark, so I reposition the boat for another drift. Pete manages to catch a Red Rock Cod or Flowerpot or Poor Man’s Lobster. Ugly fish with huge mouths and lots of spikes, which if you get one big enough are actually really good eating, with the Poor Man’s Lobster tag actually not far from the truth in my opinion. But this one is all mouth and is carefully unhooked and returned.

A couple more drifts for some more very healthy snapper and a Morwong. The wind is strengthening and the fishing a little more difficult, so the call is to try Pinnacle South before the weather makes it impossible.

Its significantly deeper here. Not the spot I thought it was where recently a friend nicknamed the Missing Link caught some nice Traralgon in about the same depth as the Step. We give it a couple of drifts for another nice Snapper – how’s that score going Pete?? – before we head off towards the FAD, lures trailing, looking for the last of our targeted species.

We have fished the FAD previously and at certain times of the year it has produced some remarkable fish. Today we are trolling up and back then drifting past with unweighted baits in search of our quarry, but they are not coming to the party. We give it several passes before calling it and heading back towards the boat ramp but not before one last spot in search of the obligatory Flathead.

The Ballast is not far from the bar and normally produces a Flathead or two. Today the wind is definitely our enemy and holding the bottom means an extravagant use of weight. One pass and nothing. The second pass, additional weight and at least I can feel it bouncing on the bottom.

Pete is willing to call it a day, but just as he finishes his sentence I get one bite, then another, until I have a fish on. With the extra weight used to hold the bottom the rod bends as if the fish is a monster. What comes to the surface is not insignificant but not in the monster class and our last fish enters the esky.

The esky is large and although there are only 9 fish in it (the bonito ended up being used as bait), it is well and truly showing the results of a good day out. Every fish we have kept today is “decent”. Nothing even looking like requiring measuring. 

All the spare bait is jettisoned over the side as the pilchards will not survive another freezing, not even if as is the normal course, they are rinsed in the seawater to toughen them up.

Everything stowed and the safety jackets back on, its back over the bar and back to the ramp. Its 3.00pm and the ramp is a buzz with boats coming in and out. With the electric crank on the boat trailer working, retrieval is done efficiently and it is not long before we have tied the boat down and are on our way. 

Of course there is still much to do in the day. The boat has to be cleaned, the fish scaled and gutted, neighbours called for distribution etc. Its been a great day out. All but one of the targeted species caught and the larger of the Pearl Perch to make a very pleasant evening repast.

The local Kookaburras are fed with some of the fish innards – everyone is happy.