Swansea - April 2013

Swansea by Len Verrenkamp

Date: 21 April 2013

The pre dawn light, the stiff sou west breeze, the pounding of the surf, the grey skies, the 10 blokes standing around shivering with hands in pockets kicking the loose gravel around the car park; yep sounds like CCFR has an outing on today! Departing Bateau Bay with Scott Chaney at 5.00 am for a 6.00am tee time at Swansea we headed up the Old Pacific Hwy anxiously watching the sky as dawn ever so slowly bought the day to life. To our surprise we were heading towards clear skies and a somewhat calmer day than the rubbish that Huey had dished us up the day before with some 90mm of rain at home and 30 knot winds. Arriving earlier than expected at 5.40am we found Bob and Dave already there which from what I have heard was a little unusual to say the least. Mick from Cessnock was the next to arrive along with Mac which completed the flotilla for the day. After much discussion and the wind abating as the sun rose we launched at about 6.30am and headed west, no one was going east today! Scotty and I headed straight to Wangi and working on the theory there should be some shelter in the lee of the hill and the rain from the Saturday should have muddied the water a little, we should be hooked up in no time. Ha, so much for that idea, although we had protection, the water was crystal clear and all we could see were razor clams and an occie! We spent about an hour flogging a dead horse and high tailed it back into the channel to do a few drifts over the sand flats. This time we sighted fish in a couple of deep holes hard in against a grassy bank and proceeded to throw everything we had at them and all to no avail. It was shaping up as a day that was not going to provide much in the line of fish and after a couple of hours drifting and casting the sand banks and drop offs for only a couple of half hearted taps and a few silver flashes as fish sped across the sand bars, we headed back under the bridge and into Half Moon Bay to find both Bob and Dave, Cessnock Mick and Steve Bunney also trying their luck around the moored boats. After half an hour or so getting in each other’s way we called it quits and headed for the ramp and the lunch time BBQ to find a few others had arrived over the course of the morning and had about as much success as Scott and I! So the only fish caught for the day was a tailor by Bob, at least is was of legal size, the rest of us just ended up being cold and hungry. Thankfully the BBQ and post mortem chat is always a highlight and makes the early morning start worth it. I just keep telling myself it’s good for the character and catching fish is a bonus! No photos sorry, it was one of those days!!!

The Entrance at Night - February 2013

The Entrance at Night by Chris Bannerman

Date: 16 February 2013

Well our traditional evening fish at The Entrance was on again. A few of the usual suspects were missing, preferring the cooler waters of the Snowies to the warm brine offered at this month's club outing. Still, we ended up with plenty of starters - myself and John Roberts, Ken and Mac, Richard and Murray, Stickerman, and Bob and Dave De Luca (otherwise know as "The Caterers"). With threatening rain (like that's something new) we headed out from the boat ramp and up towards the bridge. John and I started in the usual position just west of the bridge on the edge of the channel and with the water murky and still running out, decided to berly bread and have some sport with the local mullet population. Sticker was closer to the bridge and already having fun with the mullet. After putting out a nice trail of bread in the water and plenty of surface activity we cast out bread flies with expectations of quick takes and great fun. But the takes were there but not the hookups and we wiled away the afternoon in mild frustration. Occaisionally we'd hook a small bream, and John managed a whiting and one mullet but nothing spectacular. That was until John hooked a decent bream and we both rejoiced in the fact that was more down there than little buggers. It wasn't long after that I managed one of a similar size. John didn't want to stop at just one decent fish, so while the caterers arrived with boatside dinner he continued to cast while I berlied with chicken skin and bone. But the larger fish were still elusive and we managed nothing more than tiddlers. A change of tact was required once the sun disappered in a spectaular sunset. We changed to intermediate lines and attached clousers for some flathead action. After watching Sticker land a nice lizard we were keen but the flatties weren't so we moved over to the pylons and tried our luck there. Meanwhile we could hear cheers as Mac and Ken were amongst the EPs on the other side of the channel. Mac managed 8 EPs - a new species for him and done in style. Good on ya mate. The pylons provided some activity with an EP and a few other nibbles but far from the usual activity and by 10pm we joined the others in departing for the boat ramp. With an outgoing tide in full swing and dirty water, I'm not suprised that the fishing was mediocre, but the company and view more than made up for the lack of fish. Many thanks to the caterers for a scrumptious dinner, it also made the evening a great success.

Christmas Outing - December 2012

Trip Reports

Christmas Outing by Len Verrenkamp

Date: 16 December 2012

Brisbane Water, the last hurrah for 2012 As my first year as a fly fisherman and club member draws to a close I can attest to the steep learning curve required to attempt to conquer the arts of casting, presentation, tying etc. My progress along this curve has been a series of challenges that are still presenting themselves, often at times when I think just maybe I am beginning to acquire a small part of the skill set required to actually look like a Fly Rodder it all falls apart and a favourite quote often springs to mind that applies just as much to fly fishing as it does to life in general, being; All movement is not progress, just as all progress is not forward! (Anon). Anyway, with this trip being the last for 2012 and my first in a couple of months due to another project that was occupying large chunks of my spare time meant I was as keen for a fish as can possibly be. Arriving at the Koolewong ramp I met up with Chris, Rodger, John, Bob and Dave with Trent, Sticker and Sebastian due, just not there as yet (seems to be a familiar theme Sticker).

Needing a crew and with John Roberts happy to provide his services and both of us keen to get a line wet we absconded from the ramp post haste and headed straight for Box Head and started looking for signs of fish in conditions that were near perfect for humans with a clear sky, no breeze and a lazy swell. With nothing obvious happening on the surface we harled across Broken Bay along with a pod of dolphins following some well defined tide lines all to no avail. With a change of spot, change your luck agreed upon we headed into the "general vicinity" of Pitt Water to find a small patch of fish working the surface with some birds picking up the leftovers. Within a few casts I was onto a nice fish, John said make the call, Tailor I guessed which proved to be correct as the first time I sighted the fish it buggered off with my fly in it's gob and left me with a shredded leader! I must say at this point the profound and sincere heartfelt symapthy that John showed after I lost my first tailor on fly was totally non bloody existent, all I received was a "gee that was a shame and you lost a great looking fly!".

After the school sounded and surfaced a few more times and we had had numerous follows John switched to a surface popper and was immediately hammered by a nice salmon. A shortish fight on his 9# soon had a 45cm salmon in the net, photographed and released in quick time. Obviously I was full of praise for John's effort! Bob and Dave then cruised up in their boat, said G'day and parked right between us and the school of fish and started casting. This little move has been stored in the memory bank gentlemen and just let me say notice has been given!!!! I did see Bob catch a chopper Tailor and I heard a small kingy was caught earlier also. After another hour chasing this school of fish and having numerous follows and a few hits without hooking up we left them to their own devices.

By now it was around 10am, the sun was making its presence felt and along with the calm conditions it was nice to be motoring along and have some air flow past the face as we headed back into BW to chase some Flathead. We did a few drifts over the sand flats around Brooker Bay for nil result and then headed into Woy Woy Bay to find Chris (viper tongue) Bannerman, Rodger and Sebastian baking in the sun high up in the bay and Chris having some success with a few bream. With time rolling on and a Xmas party to organize Chris and Rodger headed back to the park after a mid water transfer of Sebastion to my boat who unfortunately broke the tip off his rod before making another cast. John and I then proceeded to have a clouser v vampire competition for the next 45 minutes or so before we called it a day and headed for home. Back in the park quite a few other members had arrived with families in tow for a chat and a feed of fish and chips after another enjoyable morning on the water, although only a few fish were caught the chance to get out there, try a few new or different things and enjoy the company of like minded people is a great incentive to come along to as many club days as you can. Happy New Year to all and here's to an ever increasing species list in 2013.

Lake St Clair - November 2012

Lake St Clair by Chris Bannnerman

Date: 18-19 November 2012

Having not been to St Clair for a few seasons now I was happy to accept El Presidente's offer to tag along with him for the weekend. With fishing and camping gear packed into the Royal Kluger we headed up the freeway just after midday. Our first destination was Lake Liddell to test some new rods and reels Dave had recently received. The conditions weren't the best with a brisk breeze making all but the eastern shore fishable so that's where we headed - beggars can't be choosers. Drifting along the shoreline we saw a few fish but only one seemed to like Dav's fly and it behaved more like a pelagic than a carp. The 5wt line nearly sung through the water as the fish headed deeper then taking a sharp left turn headed parallel to the bank. Dave was down to the backing in no time and a desire not to break the 5 weight meant that he had to let the fish have its head for the time being. Eventually he worked it back to the boat with care and we netted a nice (roughly) 10lb fish.

With our time up at Liddell we headed back to the ramp, trailered the boat and headed down the highway to SIngleton and up to St Clair. The guys had avoided the madness at the camp ground and pitched their camp up the road in a council culvert. After setting up Dave and I headed back down to the camp ground to launch the boat while the rest of the group headed off on foot to fish the banks. With the boat launched Dave bought it around to the camp while I returned with car and joined him. A few minutes later we were at the mouth of the river checking with the guys on the bank as to their succes and casting amongst the snags. It was a popular location with a number of trollers, lure and bait chuckers. The odd thing was that no one was having much success, but in true Fly Rodders fashion we persevered and just on dusk Dave felt a solid weight on his line. It wasn't the usual mad dash for cover of a bass but it was heavy. Eventually we got some colour and the fish revealed itself as a silver perch - and a big one at that. Boated it measured in at 54cm. Needless to say, Dave was pretty pleased with himself.

We fished on into dark amongst the drowned trees along the river's edge. Suddenly Dave's line went tight and his rod bent over. With a grunt he put some quick pressure on the fish but it had already reached the safety of the snags and the line came up slack minus his fly. A cast or two later and I felt a similar weight on my line but I managed to keep this one out of the snags and we soon boated a nice bass around th 30cm mark. A few casts later and another hit then a hookup and I landed my second fish for the evening. By the time we had landed the second fish it was nearing 8pm and after a half hour or so of unremarkable fishing we decided to call it a night and head back to camp for dinner. Mooring the boat below the camp site we clambered up the rocky hillside to find everyone else back at camp and preparing for dinner. With dinner taken care of we settled back around the camp fire for a chat and a laugh before retiring for the evening around midnight.

After a restless night's sleep I awoke to the sound of rain drops on the tent. Poking my head out I could see storm clouds to north and decided it was time to pack up before things got any wetter. Luckily the storms didn't eventuate and after a cuppa and a quick breakfast we headed out again to see what we could tempt out of the depths of the lake. Drifting along some likely looking egdes we felt some small taps on the lines but nothing hooked up and we soon moved onto another fishy looking location. By now the sun was appearing and we were greeted with a magnificent looking morning.

Following not far behind us along a bank of drowned trees we soon heard a cheer of success as Brook lifted into a nice bass. We tried all sorts of flies with little success and soon decided to pull the pin as we both had to be back on the Coast by lunch. Back at the camp we picked up the car and headed back to the camp grounds to retrieve the boat before heading back down the freeway to the Central Coast. We all had an enjoyable weekend even though the bass weren't as cooperative as we'd hoped. But that's fishing and there's always next time.

Swansea - September 2012

Trip Reports

Swansea Salmon by Len Verrenkamp

Date: 16 September 2012

“Swansea here we come” was the cry as a darkish Bateau Bay was departed at 5.00am last Sunday morning. Why 5.00am when it’s only 40 min to Swansea for a 6.30am start? Well someone who shall remain unnamed decided keeping the boat at work (Wyong) would free up some space in our ever increasing car park of a driveway (kids and cars) which is just fine until I forget to take the boat home when a fishing trip is imminent, thankfully this time it’s on the way and a slight detour to grab the boat, pack, check fuel, oil etc was not too dramatic. Arriving at the ramp the sun had risen on a near perfect day with little breeze and a relatively calm but rolling ocean, the line up at the ramp confirming sun shine and boats go hand in hand. Who was it said? There is NOTHING--absolutely nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats! A quick chat with the boys (I am not naming people as there were so many, you know if you were there or not) had the non boater allocations sorted, launching commenced and Stickerman wandered in late as usual without his boat, immediately picked on the new guys Luke and Lachlan and said in his usual diplomatic way “I’m with #@$% you”!!! With everyone launched and Richard the seal catcher (I will elaborate later) on board with me we met up with a mate of mine Brett on his Jet ski who has just caught the fly fishing bug and headed out to Moon island to terrorise the local Salmon population.

Now, Salmon fishing at Swansea consists of two approaches: The theory of the first one is to watch for birds working the surface, try and gauge the direction the school is heading, possibly what they are feeding on, match the hatch so to speak and motor over in the boat in stealth mode so as not to send the school down deep and fire off some casts in the general salmon direction. Reality tends to be very different!!!! The second approach which is for the less faint hearted amongst us is to motor in as close to the rocks and breaking bommies as you dare, present your fly into the zone and strip like hell, for the skipper all the time whilst watching the swells, the rocks, the boat position, your mate, casting and trying to catch fish. You may have noticed I was quite a distance out from the rocks because I am no hero, the benefit I guess is it also encourages learning to cast a respectable distance. Richard and I chose the get close to the rocks option and within a few casts he was onto a nice fish, at least a 10 minuter was the call as the fight progressed and being the first fish of the day the decks were cleared and net readied as we were both keen to get the boat off the mark, at about the 11min 23 sec mark a 55 cm fish was netted and happy snaps taken before releasing the fish and back into the rocks we went.

At this point I admit I was struggling with the close in option we had chosen, however as the morning progressed and with Richards encouragement and the fact just about everyone else was catching fish I got a good feel for how and where the waves would form and break and ventured closer in with each drift. On about the sixth drift I watched four hungry salmon break from the pack and chase my fly, thankfully the one that won the race latched onto my fly and stayed there for a good 15 minutes until skilfully netted by Richard with a borrowed net (mine broke on Richards third fish). The fish was a ripper, measured in at 69cm, was my first Salmon on fly and I was stoked to say the least.

Almost on the next drift Richard hooked up on another fish and after some aerobatics it headed deep, quite deep actually and quite fast by the way Richard was losing line, we would have called it for a kingie had we not already seen it on the surface and next thing it was heading for the surface again, however this time the struggling salmon had caught the attention of a good sized seal and both came out of the water, the salmon in the seal’s mouth and Richards fly line flailing in the air. For a moment I think Richard thought he was in with a chance of landing the seal then reality kicked in, the line went slack, the seal smiled wryly as it removed the body of the salmon with one bite and left Richard to wind the head back to the boat. A funnier sight I have not seen in a while!

After that sort of excitement the next couple of fish were relatively pedestrian, the seal had had his fill and buggered off and as things quietened down a bit more we motored around fishing and watching to see who was hooking up regularly, Bob and Dave seemed to have the bommie drift nailed with a few double hook-ups, Mal had installed his Zimmer frame in Chris’s boat and was doing his best to keep Chris out of it, Geoff hit the lake instead and nailed a trevally or two, however the whiting and bream were not so obliging and we did see Sticker very generously instructing Luke and young Lochie on the fine art of losing fish, I guess that was the least he could do as he was in their boat! So another great morning came to a close with the much anticipated BBQ after the early start, a soft drink and information sharing on what worked and what didn’t, the clubs compulsory rule of life jackets for all was well received and from what I saw had 100% participation so well done to all.

Lake St Clair - August 2012

Lake St Clair by Len Verrenkamp

Date: 18-19 August 2012

A most anticipated trip for the club members, Lake St Claire and it's trophy bass are just far enough away to warrant an overnight stay if your not a morning person. For me staying overnight was an easy decision to make, cruise up Saturday afternoon, have a quiet fish for a couple of hours and then sit around the bush tele and spin a few yarns in preparation for Sundays club outing. Saturday morning dawned clear and cold, a quick look at the weather map confirmed the one thing that is still reliable as far as the weather is concerned - Westerlies still blow in August - and today looked like it would be a howler. With the ute packed the night before and the kids sport over, the desired 2pm departure was a piece of cake and I hit the F3 by 2.15 pm. 'Bloody ute needs a wheel alignment' were my first thoughts, then the penny dropped, the wind outside would blow a brown dog off a chain. Virtually the whole trip was spent steering into the wind and turning right just past Singleton for the final leg out to St Clair only exacerbated the problem. A message on the way from Mac that the main camping area was too exposed to camp due to the wind reaffirmed my decision to set up bed in the back of the ute was a good one, no flapping tent to keep me awake all night! The fist glimpse of St Clair as you crest the first real hill on the drive out is always an eye opener. Today was no different, the lake was a silver shimmering mass of wind waves and not a boat to be seen. A quick lap of the main camp ground confirmed it was still blowing like buggery from the West and the few hardy campers there did not look at all comfortable.

Travelling along a few more kays I found the guys set up on the side of the road in a smallish level area that at least had some trees to offer a wind break, and room for at least another car and boat. Already set up in a variety of positions were Col, Dave, Richard, Murray, Greg , Mick, Brownie and Mr Trips (Mac). There were tents and swags tied to boats, cars and the fence and anything else that might provide an anchor point as the chosen spot was not conducive to driving tent pegs into the concrete like surface, sleeping in the back of the ute is looking really good now! A few of the guys were heading down for a fish so due to the light on shore breeze I left the long wand in the ute and took a walk down with Col to try and gleen a few tips on casting into the wind and generally catching Bass. ( I may have mentioned I caught an EP on my first outing, however no Bass as yet). A most informative hour was spent watching and listening to Col, however no fish were forthcoming and as I was the only clown with shorts on I headed back to camp to warm up a bit. Slowly the guys filtered back with most reporting a fish or three, with Richard and Murray cleaning up so to speak, (since writing Murray has fessed up to the fact he possibly caught the same fish 11 times!!!!). With camp fires lit and chairs positioned we settled in for a few drinks, a lot of laughs and some of Brownies gems on life in general made for an entertaining evening.

Sunday dawned bright and almost calm conditions compared to the previous day, a few more guys arrived and after a quick brekkie and we all hit the water, some in boats and some on foot. Trent and I decided on the boat and hit the water heading towards the dam wall to find some structure and shelter from the now abating wind. Fishing the eastern shore we motored through some of the fishiest looking water I have seen, casting into the bank (working on yesterday's theory the fish would be in close) and stripping back to the boat, after a couple of hours, a few fly changes and no results we found a likely looking piece of bank and parked the boat to walk and cast for a while. An eel tailed cattie cruising around a partly submerged log caught my eye and provided some excitement and the loss of a couple of flies (to the log), but no fish. I guess we walked and cast for about an hour for no result and as it was getting close to lunch we headed back stopping at another couple of likely looking spots for a cast, again drawing a blank. Arriving back at camp lunch was well underway and most of the guys had returned, with the weather almost perfect by now and very few fish caught for the morning it was a classic case of nice weather does not equal good catches especially when compared to the previous day. After a couple of bacon and egg rolls and a drink most of us called it a day, packed up and headed home whilst a few others went out for an afternoon session. Thanks again to Mac for organizing the trip and considering the late camp venue change it all went pretty smoothly, I guess with the club in it's 11th year there is not much that crops up that causes any real hassles which is a credit to all involved.

Off The Rocks - July 2012

Off The Rocks II by Chris Bannerman

Date: 15 July 2012

Another cold clear morning greeted us as we assembled at the Lizzie Bay shops. This time we had Mal Holden, Big Bob, Mac Lyall, Uncle Ken, John the vet, Col Breese, Richard Hassall and Jimmy Hyatt. And as per the last episode we split up and headed to the fishing spots. I decided to do the beach walk again - I had success last time, why mess with the formula? Once again Stickerman joined us out on the rocks. The sea was decidely less angry this morning and we hadn't fished long before Mal had a bream on. The rest of us fished in eager anticipation of the tight line . . . . but nothing happened.

We all shifted around a bit further, Mal and I deciding to go right around to the Bung where there appeared to be some suitable wash. In the mean time the vet had nailed his first fish - a scoffell. Below the Bung we tried various washes without success. The sea seemed to be dropping and a big school of salmon teased us just offshore. On numerous occaisions we removed our sink tip and changed fly only to re-rig with a bread fly when the school moved further away.

By late morning we had little to show for our efforts so we headed back to see how the rest had faired. John had managed another scoffel and a small drummer so he was happy as we had a last few casts and finished off the berley before heading back to the car park. With extra crowds at the picnic tables and BBQ this time, we met the guys who had fished the ladders back where they parked and headed back to Elizabeth Bay shops for the club barby in the nearby park. The wind had risen during the morning and most of us huddled behind Kens Cruiser as we exchanged fishing reports. The boys at the ladders had had more success than us this time with a number of fish being caught by everyone.

All in all a pleasant morning in good company even if the fishing wasn't hot. But it is good to get back into the rock fishing - it's been too long between drinks.