Off The Rocks - June 2004

Off The Rocks

Date: June 2004

It was bloody cold when I got to the meeting place at Avoca ready for this outing. The sun was just starting to come up and the sky looked fantastic with it various shades of red and blue. The forecast was for howling westerly winds, but the spot we were to fish was reasonable well protected by it’s huge cliffs. The usual wait for the folks to turn up (isn’t it always the same people?) saw us depart the meeting place about 30 minutes later than planned, but it didn’t really matter that much as the fish didn’t know what time we were starting. We drove to the dirt track that lead down to the fishing spot and followed the track to the parking spot. Unloaded the vehicles and started making our way to the rocks to fish. We split up into smaller groups and looked for promising looking ledges and holes to throw our berley and our bread flies into in the hope of connecting with the biggest brute of the rocks… the drummer. I teamed up with Wilbur and Chris “the pig virgin” Bannerman and found a spot that had a deep channel running out from a reasonably flat rock. The hardest part was actually getting onto the flat rock with all the gear as there was a gap of about 2 -3 feet that you had to jump to get onto the rock. We all managed to do so without drama and proceeded to throw hand fulls of bread into the swirling whitewater to tempt the fish out of their lairs. Straight away Wilbur and I started getting hits but were unable to connect with the creature that was teasing us. It wasn’t too long before our first cale was hauled up onto the rocks and dispatched to the depths again. Wilbur hooked onto what looked like a decent drummer only to get well and truly reefed by the fish. That’ll happen when you are trying to pull the fish off the rocks and between boulders. Next up… The virgin himself yelled “I’m on” and his 10 weight buckled as he literally skull dragged the fish up out of the depths. I grabbed the landing net and guided Chris as to where to play the fish for an easier landing. The fish came awfully close the barnacle encrusted rocks a couple of time, but in the end the virgin was no more…. Chris had landed a beautiful drummer. The usual photo shoot ensued and you couldn’t wipe the smile of Chris’ face. We landed a few more fish including sweep and Chris’ luderick before the wind and the waves drove us off our little rock platform. Matt had asked Wilbur to come and photograph a bream that he had caught. It was an absolute thumper going 39cm to the fork and a good effort off the rocks given the structure it had to aim at in an attempt to gain freedom. We moved around the rock a little further to get out of the wind and joined up with Brownie and Hamish. It wasn’t long before Hamish’s usual woohoo could be heard as he hooked into another reasonable drummer, which was landed and released in record time. There was even a Port Jackson shark doing the rounds, but none of us could get him to take a fly…. And what would you do with it if you did? Anyway and good morning was had by all with quite a few fish hauled up onto the rocks, and it was time for lunch. Steve Tizard had organized a beautiful barbeque with sausage sandwiches laid on. We all enjoyed a few before we packed up and called it a day. Another great outing, great company and excellent tucker. Thanks to all that made the day so good.

Brisbane Waters - May 2004

Brisbane Waters

Date: May 2004

It had been quite a few months since we last fished Brisbane Water on one of our outings so we thought we would get a few folks interested in attending. In the end we ended up with 13 starters at the boat ramp at Woy Woy. 6am saw us all launching boats and heading off into the early morning light in search of some piscatorial sport. I teamed up with Big Bob as for once we had more boats that we needed on the day. Bob and I started our sojourn around the racks near Paddy’s Channel, unfortunately the wind and the weed made it very difficult and we decided to try down near the Rip Bridge out of the wind. The plan was to anchor up and start a berley trail as one never knows what might be persuaded into the trail and potentially onto our flies. When we got to the bridge we noticed millions of small baitfish swimming in the shallows, but there was no sign of anything chasing them, so we threw the anchors and started with out plan. As is always the case the tide took the berley away from us faster than we anticipated and we could see fish coming up and hitting the floating bread well out of casting distance. We persevered for a little while and then decided to move closer to the bridge where the fish were hitting the surface…and this we did. O.k…. guess what happened…. We threw out more berley and the fish were nowhere to be seen. The water was extremely clear and I guess we must have spooked them. Anyway suffice to say that we soon gave that plan away and moved around to the back of St Huberts and tried some of the leases there. It was tough going with the water clarity giving the fish too much opportunity to scarper before we could even get a cast at them. The fish were there just damned hard to catch. A call from Chris Bannerman, who said they were having the same result up in Woy Woy Bay, and Bob and I headed up into Narara Creek where we hoped the water would be a bit murkier. It was, but not by much and we could see the berley on the bottom at 7 ft. We kept at it for a while and I managed a small tailor on one of my new flashy clousers (which I later donated to the bridge!) and then got a butterfish on a bread fly cast into the trail. It was getting close to BBQ time so Bob decided to start casting along the edges on our way back down the creek, hoping we’d pick up a bream or lizard waiting to ambush whatever passed by their noses. Not a touch to be had so we hauled our sorry backsides back to the ramp to meet the others for lunch. We got to the ramp at 11:30 and no-one else was back so a few calls to the others found Brownie out of breath and swearing after being bitten off by a good tailor. I wasn’t going to expect him back any time soon as there was a chance of more tailor being close by. Bob and I snuck around the corner and tried one more go at the racks whilst the others proceeded back to the ramp. A couple of shy hits and no fish meant we were back at the ramp at 12 and ready to start lunch. The story was much the same for everyone with the best fish of the day being a good bream caught by Matt. Lucky the sausage sandwiches were there or we’d have been pretty disheartened. Still that what keeps us coming back…… the challenge.

Nepean River - March 2004

Nepean River

Date: March 2004

After discussions with Brownie and reports from Dean Hayes it was decided to launch at Pittown and fish below the weed that was choking the Nepean River further upstream. We left the Central Coast at an ungodly hour that wasn't even worth remembering - or was it that I was still asleep - and travelled through the outskirts of Sydney, crossing the Nepean at Windsor then following it north through Pittown to the car ferry further north. It was still dark as we arrived and it was not until then that I realised the the keys to the padlock that chained my boat to the trailer were sitting safely at home so I wouldn't lose them. After posing for some photos with the aforementioned padlock we left it to our local expert to break the padlock thus allowing us to launch and proceed with the day's antics. Thanks Nick for the great pictures even though I accidently dropped your new digital camera in the water. I'm sure they would have come out fine. And thanks to Daniel, who's skills as a ... er ... locksmith, managed to save us the trip home to get the keys and further smart remarks at our intelligence. Having lauched with no further disasters we headed a short distance downstream to some fishy looking snags and banks to start our day. While I rigged up I maneuvered Ivan in towards a large tree that had fallen and on his first cast landed a very nice bass on a gurgler. A quick pic and back in the drink before we moved along fishing any likely looking structure. Working our way downstream for most of the morning produced nothing to write home about. A few more fish were caught, but as the sun rose higher the fishing got quieter and by late morning Ivan and I had anchored over a drop-off on a bend and were trying to fish it deep. The sounder showed fish holding at depth but we couldn't convice any to come up and take our flies, and the intermediate lines we had were not getting down deep enough. By now the others had joined us and were also trying to get down deep but soon we had all had enough and decided to head back. The morning was now very warm and sunny and even though we hadn't caught many fish it was still a pleasant time on the river. Crossing the bridge at Windsor on the way home illustrated how useless it would have been to fish this far up - the surface of the river was almost completely covered in weed and unfishable.

Sydney Harbour - February 2004

Sydney Harbour

Date: February 2004

The Sydney Harbour trip proved an interesting although ultimately unproductive trip for the club. We launched at Roseville bridge in the dark and travelled down through Middle Harbour to the heads by sunrise. Here we all split up and tried different locations around the harbour. Stickerman and myself tried some of the large markers, drifting past, casting a variety of sized baitfish patterns on full sink lines. We had no luck as we made our way from marker to marker down the harbour all the way to Point Piper, only spotting a single, very small school of pelagics a few times as they broke the surface feeding. We didn't even get time enough to identify them. After a mid-morning snack we phoned Big Bob and Dave to see if they were having any luck but no one reported any success. Bob was moored just inside North Head so we headed back to join him where he was berlying up. Again no luck so we moved yet again and followed Dave back up Middle Harbour towards the boat ramp. We stopped at Bantry Bay for a quick fish after Dave received a report from Justin that there had been Kingfish in there, but again not much luck. By lunch time we were back at the ramp and on our way home. It was a long trip for no fish, but I still found it an enjoyable morning and an interesting way to view a waterway that I had seen from many angles but never from the water.

The Entrance - January 2004

The Entrance at Night

Date: January 2004

This trip is becoming a favourite of mine. With balmy evenings this time of year it's hard not to enjoy an evening on the water, especially when there's some good fishing involved. Having met at the boat ramp at around 4pm and allocated non-boaters to their boats we all motored to various locations around The Entrance bridge and channel. Some members elected to wade the sand flats, casting over the drop-offs while the rest of us manouvered around the pylons and channel markers to fish the deeper holes. Daniel and I started in my favourite spot just next to the boat hire moorings and cast around the jetty and boats hoping to start the evening off with a bream or two. Using an intermediate line and a small crazy charlie I spent the next hour or so flicking my fly between, around and over the boats and ropes before deciding it may be time to try a new location. Having watched Dave and Bob head down the channel to anchor off one of the markers I decided to follow and see if they were having any luck. We found them berlying up with bread and casting to a school of mullet. We joined the caravan of boats, tied head to tail by ropes creating a wall of waving rods in the setting sun. By the time the berly had run out we were still without a fish so we headed back to the bridge to try again as the sun had set and the tide was starting to run out. We anchored under the bridge near the holes showing on the sounder and cast clousers into these hoping to tempt a lizard. As the night wore on we managed a slow trickle of flatties while we watched others in the club call it a night and head off back to the ramp. We perservered and by 10pm had moved out further into the channel near Brownie who was having variable success in the drop-offs nearby. We were about to finish up for the night when I decided to try a final few casts over towards the bridge and so began a string of hookups. In the next sixteen consecutive casts I let the fly drop to the bottom upon which a flathead would grab it and played to the surface before landing twelve of them up to about 40cm. Daniel, who was casting in the opposite direction, managed one bite. It was an amazing session, possibly my best. After sixteen fish I decided to let Daniel have a go (I'm a generous guy) only to find he had broken the tip on his rod and was now sitting back enjoying a cigarette. He was happy enough to call it quits so we headed back to the ramp with some of the others following and headed off home.

Christmas Outing - Dam Perch

Christmas Outing - Dam Perch

December 2003

We had to find somewhere “special” for out last outing of the year. Somewhere that would accommodate a large number of participants and allow us to have a Christmas BBQ. So we headed for our favourite private property complete with dam and beautiful golden and silver perch.

The date was set, 14 th December meeting at 6:15am at the carpark. Problem was someone forgot to unlock the gate for us! So we waited a little while until we decided to go in the back way. That done we were all eager to go and got a line in the water by about 7:30am.

There was a light SE wind blowing across the dam and it was rather overcast with a chance of a shower, but we fished on regardless. It wasn't long before the first of Matt's trademark Woohoo's was heard across the dam and Paul McGrath had hooked up to a nice Golden. 

The fish were quieter this time than the last time we fished here and it took a little while before Ken scored his first for the day. Big Bob then got a bend in his rod and another Golden was gently hoisted up onto the bank and the obligatory photo was taken.

I moved over towards Hamish and Brownie and they both hooked up at once. Brownie hooked a solid 4.1lb Golden and Hamishes was a bit on the smaller side. Matt started going nuts as he landed a 52cm Silver much to the delight of Wilbur who quickly took some shots of it before it was gently returned to the water.

Hamish was next and he managed to pull a 48cm Silver that tipped the scales at over 5lb.

A few more Goldens were caught by various folk, and then it went quiet. Not a hit for quite some time. As the grumbles in my stomach started, I declared it game over and we headed over to the BBQ to enjoy our Christmas feast. Many thanks to Hamish for supplying the meat and Andrew for the salads and cooking skills.

A most enjoyable morning full of good humour, fun and food. What more could you ask for. Thanks again to owners of the property for letting us utilize their facilities.

Neapean / Williams River / 4 knot creek

Neapean River / Williams River / Dora Creek

November 2003

This trip was to be a bass outing on the Hawkesbury/Nepean around Windsor. All the planning was going well for an early start on the Sunday. That was until Wozza found out that the Bridge to Bridge was on the day we intended to fish. Doh! O.k…. Saturday morning and a discussion between Brownie and Dave concluded that we would move venues to the Williams River at Clarence Town. So, meeting time was 03:30 hours at the Shell Servo at Kariong.

Sunday morning and I head up to the servo to meet Brownie and Matt and the progress to Morriset to meet up with Jimmy, Steve and to pick up Wilbur. A light drizzle was falling as we made our way up the freeway towards Hexham. The rain had stopped before we hit Raymond Terrace and our luck had appeared to change.

We got to Clarence Town just as the sun was starting to shed some light and the river looked calm although a little dirty. We all put the boats in and rigged up. We headed up the river and as we did we noticed that the river was so dirty you could have walked across the debris in some spots. They must have had a hell of a lot more rain than we did.

We persevered for an hour and half or so and the only hit any of us got was the water dragon that got quite aggressive with my deer hair blooper. Luckily I didn't set the hook or it would have been fun trying to get the lizard off.

We all had a mid river meeting and decided to pull out and try somewhere else. Brownie suggested we try below the weir and took the lead towards Seaham. Only problem was Brownie had no idea where the boat ramp was so we proceeded to Raymond Terrace for some breakfast. During our hash browns we decided to try Dora Creek. So off we headed back down the freeway to Dora Creek.

We put the boats in and changed gear to our bream fishing outfits and flies (how versatile are we!). We headed up the river and found the locals quite friendly as they waved at us. We stopped and started fishing and within 30 minutes Wilbur managed a nice bream on his 5 weight.

The wind started to get up and we moved up a little further but it was just starting to get too strong to fish so we headed back to the ramp and off onto the F3 home. A quiet outing fish wise, but it was fun and gave us plenty to talk about.