Off The Rocks - June 2008

Off The Rocks

Date: June 2008

People started to turn up at the Avoca car park just before dawn, an indication of how keenly anticipated this outing was. It was a good turn out with a dozen or so members moving off as soon as there was enough light to see. It was the usual trek in; part slippery, part life threatening, part strenuous, all scenic. The weather gods were smiling with blue skies and mild temperatures making for a very pleasant winter’s day. The swell wasn’t overly large but big enough to make the north facing ledges the safer to fish. The members split into 2 groups without any discussion. The newer members with some of the mature gentlemen took up possies on the quieter ledge with the young Turks heading off ‘round the bend. The main focus of the previous weeks fly tying had been directed towards this trip and multitudes of bread flies prepared. The target species was drummer but any thing is possible with lots of bread berly in the water so bream or black fish were not out of the question. So it was out with the large buckets and soon clouds of white berly mixed with the swell and drifted down. Any minute now! The minutes stretched out but for some the novelty of rock fishing with fly gear coupled with the sparkling morning made the time just slide by. The water was amazingly clear and it was easy to see Fairy Penguins hunting the small bait fish that had been attracted by our berly. The new guys found out how hard it was to get their flies down deep enough. The swell combined with floating lines kept everything almost on the surface. We now know what a sink tip is but at the time it was frustrating. Watching out for waves and dancing backwards are par for the course on the stones. Even so every one got wet, Ken and John more than most, with their impromptu wet tshirt contest judged to be a tie. As previously mentioned the day was almost perfect. If only some one had told the fish. ‘Round the bend the rest weren’t fairing much better. Much berly but no fish. Actually no fish except for Jim Hyatt, who picked “the” spot and found 5 drummer right at his feet. That we still spoke to him speaks volumes for our member’s character. Well done Jimmy. The decision was made to pull the pin towards mid day and we straggled back to the car park to dry off and enjoy good company and a great Barbie. Jim showed off his latest invention, a minimalist stripping “basket” made from of all things a garden hose holder and whipper snipper cord. Light, functional and cheap as chips! It made it a lot easier to forgive his poor form in hogging all the fish. The only sour note was when Pete Frere left his rod leaning up against his car while attending the Barbie from where it was stolen. May you only catch grief you thief. Apart from that it was another great day, shame about the fish.

Lake Liddell - May 2008

Lake Liddell

Date: May 2008

This time the club was off to Singleton and carp fishing at Lake Liddell. The lake was formed to service the massive coal fields and the nearby power stations. We met up at the Macca’s opposite Bertie the big bass. Mackaway’s has closed now and Bertie has moved on to greener pastures[?]. Anyway after a hasty tasty at Rotten Ronnies it was off to the lake. Angling appetites had been whetted after Damian Webber and Peter Frere had fished the lake a fortnight before and reported good water levels as well as good numbers of river rabbits. After arrival members meandered around and eventually two groups emerged, one mob following the bank around to the south east, the other headed towards the north west with most concentrating on the area near the rail viaduct. Bob Williams could only spend a limited time on this trip and so he brought his tinney which he shared with Jim Hollet. Dave Witham brought his “stealth” kayak and he and new guy Richard Hassall headed off in an easterly direction. The fishing started slowly with Ken Colmer bucking the trend and fishing blind. It worked, Ken catching and dropping several fish. Our new members also started to hit their straps and were pleased as punch with their efforts. The trusty egg sucking leech did about 90% of the damage with egg flies bringing up the rear. The higher the sun rose the more fish were sighted, cast to and played. Heavy leaders meant hook ups usually meant captures, these fish just don’t seem to care sometimes. The boaties did well, being able to target the bigger fish lurking off the deeper weed beds. Jim Hollet hooked one that towed the boat around for 5 minutes before a knot gave. Nobody seemed to want to stop for lunch but eventually they came back in 1s and 2s like brown’s cows around 2pm. Honours were shared between the northerners and the southerners, although those at the viaduct did reckon theirs was the better spot. Only 2 anglers failed to hook up and ironically it was Damian and Pete, the forward scouts. They were also the only ones with out waders or even gum boots for that matter. As always lunch was superb with people mucking in and getting it done in true club spirit. A head count revealed 16 made it on the day, one of our best efforts. Well done guys. It was almost time to go home when rather than go back for his ninth snag sanger Mac Lyall had a flick off the boat ramp and bagged yet another carp. Pete and Damo vowed to stay untill midnight if necessary but they would make it a clean sweep for the club. Jim Hollett stayed as well and threw himself into the task, literally. After they wrung him out and bade him good bye the scouts settled into the task and were finally rewarded; Damo 2, Pete 1. So that was it, but to misquote Big Arnie “ We’ll be back!“

The Entrance - February 2008

The Entrance

Date: February 2008

The first fish of the new year got of to a good start in that we weren’t washed away. The heavy rain and flooding of recent weeks showed in the heavily stained and murky waters of the Entrance. Still with the opening to the sea the biggest it’s been for quite some time expectations were slightly optimistic as now there was a great big hole surely that meant great big fish could fit up there. Also an out of town mug caught a 17kg Kingfish there recently [ don’t show your face around here again, boy!] so we reckoned we’d get some thing. Anyway it was good to be out in the sun with the boys.The northern car park was judged to be a good starting place and we spread out from there. We slowly began a leisurely game of leap frog whereby an angler would stop to flog a piece of water while there rest of us would dribble past. Then that person would overtake the mob and so it went untill we eventually reached the ocean. On the way Paul McGrath bagged a very small flathead. We all laughed, thinking if we couldn’t beat that we’d be a sorry bunch of fisherman. And would you like fries with your humble pie, gentlemen? Paul and Roy Brown waded into the surf when Brownie saw some pike in the waves. The pike is a curious fish as it’s mouth is located in various places on it’s body, like the back or the side, sometimes even a combination of the two resulting in some odd hook ups. Or so it was reported to your humble scribe. Of course the fact that no one else came close to catching anything with fins would have nothing to do with these scurrilous rumours. The closest our members come to sour grapes is when they have vinegar on their fish and chips. The outing ended as all good ones do with all concerned grouped around the Barbie enjoying good food and good company. A late piece of news from Mac Lyall: Apparently Jim Hyatt bagged and returned a 40cm + Flathead early in the day before he had to leave. Paul later figured out the ratio of man hours to fish caught, but I won’t depress you with the results. Needless to say it’s onwards and upwards from here as it just has to get better. Doesn’t it?

Lake St Clair - November 2007

Lake St Clair

Date: November 2007

With a very good turn out for the trip this month it was a shame to see the lake looking so poor. Our first view of the St Clair from the road winding up its eastern shore was one of very muddy-looking yellow water, but it wasn't long before we realised the yellow colouring was in fact an algal bloom of lake-wide proportions. Murray my co-fisher was hoping to bag his first fish on fly this trip, and with two days to do it we originally figured his chances were pretty good. However, now my confidence waned. We pulled into the camping ground mid afternoon with Dave Witham behind us. Ken, Pete Fere and Col Breese had arrived the day before and had set up camp down near the water's edge. With them were Stickerman and Rob Harwood who had arrived earlier and were now in the process of launching their boat. At least the water level was up enough to allow bank launching rather than using the boat ramp. Ken's report on fishing (with lures) the previous day was not encouraging at all and he warned we may not even catch a bass on fly this weekend. By the time the sun was nearing the horizon, we had finished dinner and prepared ourselves for a late fish. Five boats and one canoe set out (Browny and his son Jake, and Wozza and his son James had arrived not long after the rest of us) to try the upper reaches of the lake where the algae wasn't so bad. Murray and I headed straight across to the far side of the lake opposite the camp ground and thought we may as well start in one of the small bays to try our luck. Casting anything but a black fly seemed useless as they quickly disappeared into the murky water. Murray tied on a black and red yabby pattern while I tried a black and purple bass vampire with a little sparkle flash and a gold spinner blade. Within a few casts I knew I had made the right choice and we boated our first bass of about 20cm. Murray had a couple of possible hits on his, but nothing more. As we moved out of the bay and around the point towards the next one I picked up my second small bass. The sun was getting very low by now and as it sunk below the horizon I managed a third small bass. We continued to fish on until 9.30pm before heading back to camp where, over a glass of red we heard stories of a few more bass caught. An early start the next morning saw us slowly weaving our way between the sunken timber by spotlight. We chose a small bay to start in on the eastern side of the lake, which seemed a vast improvement on the previous evening's location in that the water was a bit clearer and there was no thick yellow scum on the surface. At the head of the bay was a narrow inlet with plenty of drowned thistles and weed. As we worked our way closer to this area Murray hooked up on his first fish ever on fly - a small bass. Exceedingly pleased with himself we took the obligatory photo and released the fish. Soon after, he was complaining of a few hits on his fly. I thought he was getting a bit over excited and was about to say so when he was on again. This time with his second species, a golden perch. The sinking black and red fly he was using seemed to be the right one and I contemplated changing mine to a similar pattern but decided to stick with the black muddler for a bit longer. As we moved towards the end of the inlet I cast the muddler up as far as it could go, hoping there might be a bass up there hungry enough to take it. Before I had a chance to strip it back there was a swirl and a splash and my line went tight - very tight. This was a decent fish and I quickly tried to keep if from the stand of thistles now drowned around the water's edge. It was having none of this and headed straight in changing directions several times. I could feel the line and leader dragging on the thistles as it went deeper into cover and I knew trying to drag it out would result in a lost fish. We motored in on the electric to see what we could do. Murray had the net ready but it felt as though the fish was gone. But as we got closer the fish tried to move and we spotted the monster amongst the weeds. After a few attempts and some heart stopping moments Murray netted the fish much to my delight and great relief. Placing the fish on our measuring mat showed it to be 49cm to the tail and after a few photos we thanked it and released it. By now the sun was touching the far hills and we had exhausted our possibilities in the bay, so we moved out and headed up towards the river mouth. We tried a few stands of timber on the way where fish were showing on the sounder but had little luck. Meeting up with Browny and his son we shared our morning's experience then headed off towards some steeper banks in search of deeper water. No sooner had we left Browny than a shout came out and it was Jake onto his first bass on fly. Unfortunately it all happened so fast and dad couldn't get to him in time to help and he was busted off. Still a hook-up is better than nothing - well done Jake. Along a steep bank on the far side of the lake we fished with deeper flies. The water was 12 feet deep right at the water's edge so we were letting the flies sink down for quite a while. Soon I was on again, this one was also a decent fish and I wrestled it to the surface, thankful there were no snags near by. Once boated we measured it to be 41cm - not a bad fish. The sun was getting quite high by now and time was heading on to 8am. We decided to make our way back towards the camp fishing a few steeper rocky banks on the way for another 30cm fish and a few hits. Back at camp people had started to roll in. A few bass had been caught and a big catfish by Peter Frere. All in all a tally of 17 fish for the trip. We packed up our camp and had an early lunch before heading south back home. Considering the water quality, it is amazing that this was one of our more successful trips to Lake St Clair.

Oberon - October 2007

Oberon

Date: October 2007

Oberon has proven to be a successful venue for our club trips over past years, so we headed through the outskirts of Sydney with much anticipation of a good weekend. A bad storm on the freeway (with hail encountered by those behind us) hadn't dampened our enthusiasm and after stopping near Katoomba for some lunch we wound our way down the western side of the Blue Mountains and along the Jenolan Caves road towards Oberon. Arriving around 2pm we found Col and Kerry Breese had already arrived and Rob Harwood and Stickerman weren't far behind. By the time we had settled in and prepared our gear, Murray Keating had also turned up and we headed off for an evening fish. Sticker and I headed out of town to Kelly's Lane, while Col, Rob and Murray went out to The Reef. With a stiff sou'wester breeze, fishing was hard over at The Reef and Col soon headed our way leaving the other two to persevere. But we weren't having much luck either, enduring the odd shower of sleet and gusts of wind. Fish were rising but none seemed close enough to cast at and by 7pm we decided to head back for dinner. By now Bob and Anne had arrived, and over a BBQ and red wine we recounted our lack of luck. Rising at 4.30am on Saturday morning we all headed down to The Reef for a fish before the wind got up. Conditions were cold (we had to scrape the ice off our windscreens before leaving) but otherwise perfect and we all headed off in different directions around the lake. I decided to head down to the right from the car park. A couple of bait and lure fishermen had headed off that way and I hurried to beat them to the water I wanted to fish. Making my way stealthily around the lake to a point looking out across a small bay I cast my Bushy's Horror onto the still water, let it sink a little then slowly stripped it back. A second cast a bit further around and still nothing. My third cast was short but I decided to retrieve it normally anyway and just was well I did. A nice 3.5lb brown took the fly and put up a decent fight before being landed. I dispatched the fish and put it in my backpack before prospecting further around the lake edge looking for another fish. By the time the sun hit the water the wind had picked up and was making casting tricky. I wandered over to see how the others were going and most were heading back with only Col reporting fish caught and sporting some new trout fishing bling. Col had managed to not only hook a nice rainbow, but also his nose. But in true fly rodders' style he didn't let this deter him and he fish on. Back at the vehicles some attempts were made to remove his new nose ring, but it was decided (by Col) to let a professional handle it, visiting the doctor in town after we returned to the cabins. While Col, Bob and I spent the day with our families, Rob and Murray went in search of a river somewhere, while Stickerman went off to sell his soul to the devil by bait and lure fishing. It didn't help him though, returning that afternoon with nothing to show for his day-long effort. Rob and Murray also found little to get excited about. In the mean time Steve Tizzard and Jimmy Hyatt had arrived and were keen to get on the water. Once again we headed down to the lake. Bob and I went to Kelly's Lane, this time heading around towards the dam wall. Bob fished to some timber and dropoffs along the way while I made my way right to the wall to fish deep. The wind had blown a lot of flotsam to the wall and amongst it were insects. I fished through the surface scum, letting my line sink down for some time before retrieving it. I had to clear the floating grass and weed from my fly between each cast, but in the end it paid off with a nice brown trout just on dark. With failing light I made my way back around towards Bob, who had been casting to numerous rising fish without luck. We fished our way back around to the bay where we met up with Murray and headed back up to the cars. Here we discovered that Col had come over this way to fish and had caught a huge brown going around 5-6lb. It was a monster of a fish. Back in town we cleaned up and headed up to the local Chinese restaurant for our traditional Saturday night dinner. Everyone enjoyed the meal while we talked about our afternoon's fishing and our plans for tomorrow. Up again early this morning, we were down on the lake by 4.30 this time and I headed down to where I'd caught my fish previously. I'd figured if I have had luck there before it may well happen again. I started at the bay again and worked my way around the lake. I was beginning to question my choice of location when a small rainbow of about 2lb took my fly and proceeded to do cartwheels through the air. I was waiting for the fly to come free, but it stayed and I eventually subdued the feisty little fish, and returned it to the water. I continued to fish until the sun and the breeze were both well up then called it quits and headed over to see how everyone had done. Unfortunately the others had feared no better so we all returned to the caravan park for a much deserved breakfast before we headed home. In all, five fish and one nose were caught. Some were returned to the water. The nose we kept.

Broken Bay - September 2007

Broken Bay

Date: September 2007

Conditions didn't look good as we all met at the boat ramp at Lintern Street. The sun was shining, there was only a slight breeze and the seas weren't too lumpy. As I said, not good . . . . no storm clouds, no howling gales, no 2 metre seas. Did we have the right day? With four boats assembled we headed out into Broken Bay. Dave and Max made a beeline for Pittwater, Stickerman and Roger took a look around Lion Island, and Ken (with decky Steve Tizzard) had disappeared by the time we had arrived. Rob and I stuck to our original plan and struck north, watching the sea and sounder as we wound our way along the cliffs toward Maitland bommy, looking for any signs of fish schools or baitfish. A few laps around the bommy with a teaser had produced similar results to our efforts so far - nothing, and a phone call from Dave and Stcikerman indicated that they were in the same boat (not literally of course). Time for Plan 'B'. Reports from previous days of salmon around Terrigal was tempting enough for us to continue north. And luckily we didn't have to go far. About a kilometre north of the bommy was a decent school of fish feeding on the surface, with Ken and Steve amongst them. Both rods were well and truly bent. We motored in closer, cut the engine and cast out. A few strips and a bump. Another cast and I was on. Rob wasn't far behind. The fish were big enough to keep us busy for several minutes as we wore them down, but they were eventually subdued and we bought them into the boat. A quick call to Dave and Stickerman and they were on their way. Then it was back into them. We spent the next two hours on the school boating ten fish, with a few lost due to pulled hooks and over zealous pressure on the tippet. The fish were all a good size of around the 50cm mark and were solid fighters. Ken and Steve boated around 14 fish, with both Dave's and Stickerman's boat landing several more fish. For Rob and Max it was their fist salmon on fly and their grins were evidence of this. By the end of the morning there were six lure chuckers' boats together with our four, so the fish became progressively harder to catch and much more easily spooked, with the whole school disappearing often. In the end it wasn't the fishermen who put and end to the school but a pod of dolphins who ripped through the feeding salmon, jumping clear of the water and slapping their tales on the surface to stun the fish. Quite an amazing spectacle. By now it was approaching noon so we all headed back to the ramp for our usual BBQ. In all we managed almost 30 fish with 3 of us landing 7 fish a piece. Let's hope we see more of these days this summer.

Hawkesbury River - July 2007

Broken Bay - Hawkesbury River

Date: July 2007

It was a cold and breezy 8:30am Winter's day start at Patonga boat ramp. We ended up, after sickness and maybe's, with 5 boats. For those members who were too crook to attend, you have our sympathy - you picked a good day to stay in bed. Dan and Pete were the first in the water and immediately headed seaward, while Jimmy (in his waders) helped the rest of us launch our boats. No sooner had I parked my car than Pete phoned to tell me that Dan's boat had broken down near Lion Island and they needed a tow. Stick and Rodger decided to head out and make sure they were okay and I followed to tow them back in while Max Gear joined Bob and headed off upstream to fish the rail bridge. Once we'd towed Dan back, Pete joined my boat while Dan stayed on dry ground and fished the beach with Rob Harwood who had turned up while we were away. Pete and I decided we'd try for Estuary Perch so like most of the others headed up river, followed by Stickerman and Rodger. Only Col Breese varied, opting to try Pittwater instead. And this payed off, hooking two salmon and landing one about 5lb. Out of the rest of us only Bob and Max caught fish, 2 bream to 36cm and a tailor (a new species for Max). One o'clock saw us all back at the ramp for the traditional barbeque lunch. By 2pm the WSW breeze had dropped, the temperature had risen 10° and the sees had backed off a bit. Once again trying contiions made things challenging but "that's fishin'".