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.

Off The Rocks - June 2012

Trip Reports

Off The Rocks by Chris Bannerman

Date: 17 June 2012

With cold clear skies 12 fly fishermen met in the dark at Elizabeth Bay shops. There were no hushed tones. If we had to be up at this ungodly hour then why shouldn't everyone else? It was decided - half to Frazers Beach to cover the north side of The Bung and half (the crazy half) to head down into no-man's land below the ladders. I nominated for the sane half having never tried being sane before. After much driving to and fro, stopping, looking at the sun rising, trying to climb down a cliff with Bob hobbling behind we finally ended up at Frazers Beach with Sticker and Bunny. We being Steve Tizard, myself, Big Bob, John the vet, Craig and Terry Whitter.

With a casual stroll along the beach and around the rocks we soon found Sticker and Bunny. They had been there about 20 minutes before us (we spent a bit of time watching the sunrise - very romantic) but hadn't started fishing. Why? Well the ocean had something to do with it. It was big. A bit too big. But the good news was it was dropping as we rigged up and soon we were out spewing berley into the water (no Ivan wasn't with us) followed by our best bread imitations. It was time for some piscatorial action. Shame the fish weren't let in on that bit of information.

We fished for a bit. I watched the rocks a bit further around and gave the vet a nod. Off we headed with our rods, buckets, bread and berley chuckers to deposit ourselves on a nice little ledge with plenty of white water at our feet. Chuck in a bit of berley and now it was time for some piscatorial action . . . . . . or maybe not. But, as they say, perserverance pays off and finally John hooked into a fish and landed his first trevally on fly. And it was a thumper too, measuring in around 50cm. And it wasn't long before I managed a similar sized blurter. Mine took me into the weed and I thought I'd lost him. But I gave him some slack and he just swam straight out and he was up on the surface before he knew it. All this fish catching attracted a bit of attention and some blow flies soon hung around. We didn't mind, we had runs on the board and could afford to relax a little. But it wasn't to be as my line tightened and I was into a second blurter which was soon landed and returned to the briny.

By now the sea had become a little angrier and we were copping a few waves across the ledge which were starting to cause some concern. Finally John, Craig and I decided we'd had enough and headed back around to the rest of the guys. No one else had even had a nibble and watching the sea rise it wasn't long before everyone had decided it was becoming unsafe and time to head for the safety of the Club BBQ. As we trudged back across the rocks to the beach we were joined by a helicopter. Flying low it gave us a close inspection before heading off. Odd, that's never happened before. We continued on, back to the car park and up to the nearby BBQ and tables. Soon another chopper appeared, and another. We were starting to get a little concerned. Somebody was obviously in trouble. It wasn't long before the Westpac chopper landed in a grassly clearing not far away, so in my official capacity as club sticky beak . . . er secretary I checked with the official-looking officials to let them know where we'd been and that no one was in trouble down that way. At this stage we were told that 3 people had gone in and a full blow search was in progress.

Once the insane group turned up we had a leisurely lunch and watched the rescue efforts. It wasn't until we returned home that we learned of the full extent of the tragedy.

Patonga - May 2012

Patonga - Broken Bay by David Witham

Date: 20 May 2012

The lead up to this outing was the usual intense set up of people, boats etc etc, but this time we were thrown a curly one at the last minute. The ramp we usually utilise for these outing on the harbour was out of action until June. This meant we either had to find another suitable ramp or change the location of the outing. Given the original ramp was out of action as was the ramp at Rose Bay we decided that the best move was to try somewhere else as the other ramps on the harbour were going to be rather busy. Chris and I discussed the options which were Swansea or Patonga. Given the June or July outting and the outing in September are likely to be at Swansea we settled on the Patonga option. That meant it was closer to home and there had been reports of fish in Brokan Bay and Pittwater so we were hopeful of a good day. Much tooing and froing in terms of boaters and non-boaters and the day had arrived. Meeting time at the ramp was 06:30 and I arrived to find Garry Kent and Steve Tizard preparing their boat and gear and Scott Chaney and Mal Holden awaiting their vessels. Richard Hassal and John Roberts along with Mac and Peter Frere had already launched and were well on their way to their fishing destinations. I was next to drop the boat in, followed by Garry and Steve and Len, Jimmy and Scott. Mal and I settled down to face the cold trip across Broken Bay and into Pittwater.

The water was calm, not too big a swell rolling through and a light southerly wind blowing, but it was cold! We didn't see any surface action the whole way down to Scottland Island and stopped from time to time to have a cast at some deep fish that were showing on the sounder, but a nil result. We tried all the usual haunts in Pittwater for naught and decided to go and try around West Head as the wind started to pick up. We had a few casts at the headland and I managed a small yakka but that was all the action we saw. We headed back out to Broken Bay and we did the pass of Lion Island and then back down towards Patonga. Again not a thing to be seen. As we headed towards Patonga we noticed some birds working the water, but very intermittent. We motored closer and just sat to watch for a while. We eventually saw a few splashes and got a little closer to them. Frigates was the call. They would come up for a few seconds and then move off and then come up again 300 metres away. It was going to be impossible to follow them so we sat and drifted and let them come to us. It wasn't long before that happened and Mal had managed to hook one which gave a solid tussle and was landed just as Steve and Garry had pulled up to us and Richard and John joined in too. The fish were hard and that was the only frigate we managed to actually hook. We continued to move around and headed to the bays opposite Patonga. Garry and Steve had been working one bay and Garry had managed to land a small salmon.

We put in a few casts there just to see if anything was lurking and after a while I managed to hook up and the fish took off quite quickly.... love that rooster tail that you get when your line screams through the water. After a short tussle we had a fish circling around the boat down deep. A bit more pressure applied and the fish was hoisted into the boat. A nice little Mac Tuna which was photographed and returned to fight another day. A few more casts along that shore also produced a small pike before it was time to pull up stumps and head back to the ramp for the BBQ. On the way back we threw a few clousers around in serach of any flathead along the beach at Patonga, but came up empty. Everyone was back by 12:30 and ready for the usual club BBQ and to exchange some stories. There were a number of fish caught and the species list covered frigates, pike, silver trevally, mac tuna, tailor and yakkas. Not a bad day given the conditions with that southerly wind and the threat of rain. Thanks to all the guys for making it an enjoyable day.

Peter Morse Casting Days - April 2012

Casting Class

Date: 28/29 April 2012

DAY 1

The much anticipated casting days finally arrived and quite a number of keen Central Coast Fly Rodders plus a couple of people who are now CCFR members were poised to take part in the first ever Peter Morse Casting days for the club. The first day, Saturday the 28th was dedicated to basic casting techniques and breaking down the basics of what makes a good cast. We started about 9am and the 12 anglers were rigged up and ready to go. Peter started by explaining the 5 key elements of a cast. No matter what type of cast you do you need all 5 elements to have the best possible cast. The 5 we covered were: • Straight Line Path – Peter explained what happens if the rod tip takes other than a straight line path. • Stroke length – ensuring that the length of the stroke you make varies on how much line you have out. Many of us have very fixed stroke lengths that vary little when we cast. • Slack Line – basically a slack line = no tension which = a poor cast with no distance or tight loops. • Acceleration – Provides the tip speed you need to shoot the line – the acceleration must be smooth and not jerking just like when you accelerate in the car. • Pause – another area many of us forget. You need to pause on the back cast and the forward cast.

After the discussion on the top 5 elements and a demonstration on the right way to use them vs the wrong way by Peter, it was time for each of us to come forward and demonstrate our normal casting style (or lack of). I was first up and it was amazing to see Peter analyse a cast and come up with corrections so quickly. Like many of us I tended to over power the cast and therefore end up with tailing loops on the final cast. Peter showed me how to let the rod do the work and use those pauses in the right place to generate the power. We one by one went through this process and Peter gave constructive feedback and areas to focus on to each of us. We had a quick break for morning tea and then headed out onto the field for some practice of the points Peter had shared with us. Peter walked around to each of us to see how we were progressing and gave advice on tweaks such as wrist position, acceleration and managing the line. By the end of day 1 we were all much improved on where we started and not only that were all feeling pretty good about the fact that our effort level had dropped and we were probably casting better than we were with far less effort which in turn equates to a much more pleasant casting experience without throwing a shoulder. Lunchtime was upon us so we headed to the corner shop for a quick bite to eat and then across to Little Mooney Creek to put into practice what we had learnt that morning. We met up with Chris, Rob, Col, Jeff, Brooke and Abby and set things up for the BBQ that night and then headed to the dam to have a fish. Chris had been there for a little while casting furiously for a nil result, so I sidled up beside him and started casting my little black bead headed bugger and before long had landed a beautiful bass and all I could hear were a few expletives to my left 8^).

It was pretty quiet though for quite a while so I joined Brownie down at the Silver pond and Peter joined us shortly after. Again the fish were quiet, but Peter had changed flies to one of his secret (or not so now) flies and had managed to hook a nice little silver perch. It again went quiet and at the 4pm mark approached we all went back to the main dam in the hope that as the sun started to fall the fish would start to feed. We weren't disappointed and sure enough Col could be heard telling folk that he was on.... he landed quite a few fish on a Tom Jone and then a vampire pattern. Mal was also having some luck and landed a number of bass and a golden perch all of which are new species for him. Peter managed to get the trifecta and for the day had managed at least one of each species available. He was a happy man!

Brownie managed a nice little bass on a skull head vampire and I landed another couple on the woolly bugger before we decided to berley up for the last 30 mins before dinner. Once the berley hit the water it didn't take long for the big swirls and bloops to start as the fish came up to hammer the bread floating on the surface. It also didn't take long to see rods bending all around as people hooked up on these feeding fish.

Brooke hooked up but soon lost the fish as the fly had come off...... there were a few more hits on the surface for her but they just didn't hook up. We stopped for dinner which was beautifully prepared by our master chef Rob Harwood and consisted of snag, steak, corn, salad and bread. A great dinner and some great conversations. After dinner a few of the guys left to get home at a reasonable hour, and those that remained had a quick fish before packing up. I hooked another nice bass, but the fish of the day went to Brooke, who's persistence paid up with a very fine silver perch, a first for Brooke and she also made sure to mention that she had caught a silver before Joel.

We then went and packed up headed up to the shed for a cuppa and some carrot cake, thanks to Chris before all heading home for some sleep before day 2.

DAY 2

Day 2 saw us arrive at about 8am for an 8:30 start. It was a cool morning with a light breeze, but that was going to change!! The object of today was to learn some advanced casting techniques, taking the basics that we learnt the day before and then adding to them. We covered, roll casts, Oval Casts which everyone found extremely useful, casting into the wind or with the wind coming across your shoulder. We then took on mends of varying types. Again many of these ends will have a great bearing on our fishing and I am sure will get used a lot especially in flowing water or tidal creeks. The morning was littered with sharp showers of rain and a strong southerly breeze. Luckily we had a good spot that wasn't overly affected by the wind and we had Brownie who happens to have an RV Shade on his Patrol, so we had both things covered. Everyone that attended either or both days went away extremely happy with what they had learnt. It was great to see so much improvement in everyone's casting and some valuable new techniques to apply to running water, avoiding casting over fish, fishing in the wind and also shooting heads. My thanks to everyone that attended – Mal Holden, Rob Harwood, Roy Browne, Dave De Luca, Ivan Malby, Garry Kent, Ian Keuning, Mac Lyell, Aaron Fielder, Barry Bradfield, Scott Chaney, Joel Norman and Mick Dillon. A special thanks of course to Peter Morse for travelling up to run these sessions and doing a masterful job despite having a good dose of the flu. If you get the chance to do one of these tuition sessions with Peter I strongly recommend you take it. Peter is more than happy to come again next year for a refresher.

Lake Liddell Family Weekend - April 2012

Trip Reports

Lake Liddell by Chris Bannerman

Date: 15 April 2012

With the trip being a family weekend we tried to get away on the Saturday and join Dave, Joel & Brooke, Col, Paul, Len and Trent up at Liddell but life got in the way and we had to settle for an early departure on Sunday morning. So at 5.15am the Bannerman family headed up the freeway to Singleton. It looked like it was going to be a great day with a pink morning sky but clear to the northwest where we were heading.

Arriving at the golden arches just before seven we were soon joined by Bob and Dave De Luca and Murray and his son Josh who had camped at Lake St Clair the night before. Over breakfast Murray related Josh's fishing adventures the previous evening with a big bass lost being the main feature. With no one else arriving we all set off up the New England Highway turning off to Liddell about 20 minutes later. Pulling up at one of the picnic tables we found Sticker had arrived a little earlier (forgoing MacDonalds - he's watching his figure these days) and was rigging up along with Col who was still cooking brekky. Brooke and Joel were also there with their little one, Abby. The rest were already out on the water chasing the carp from their boats. Bob and Dave D, and Col soon joined them while Sticker headed around to the bay near the road.

Catherine was keen to get started so I rigged her rod with a corn fly and armed with a tin of corn we headed off to the boat ramp where it was easy to fish. We were soon joined by Murray and Josh as well as Brooke, Abby and Joel. I threw a few handfuls of corn out while Catherine practised her casting then helped her cast a bit further out where we'd seen a fish swirl. No sooner had I turned my back than I heard a "Dad, I think I have a fish" and sure enough she was on, rod bent over. Her first fish hooked on a fly (on anything in fact). Luckily it wasn't a monster and we soon had it beached on the boat ramp. Needless to say I was a pretty proud dad at that moment.

We continued there for a little while but nothing seemed to be around so we headed over in Sticker's direction to my favourite haunts - the small bay near the road and beyond. Sticker was busily casting to fish he had sighted in the shallows at the head of the bay while we fished half way down, Catherine with her corn fly and me with the traditional egg-sucking leech. It was blind casting as the water was quite murky and grey clouds prevented decent sight fishing. Luckily for me though I hooked a reasonable fish before we again chose to move on.

Crossing the fence and heading around to the next couple of bays we soon spotted fish in the shallows. I fired out a quick cast near them and was met with a tight line on the second strip. Bow waves went everywhere as the fish panicked and spooked others but I eventually landed it after much slipping around in the mud. Soon we spotted a school of fish 50m further on. They seemed to be chasing shrimp as we could see something jumping out of the water ahead of them. We quickly moved to casting distance (which involved wading out knee deep in water - knew I should have brought waders) and put in a cast to see if we could hook one. No sooner had I started stripping than I was on and another solid carp was landed. Next it was Catherine's turn. We changed flies to a red and yellow chenille woolly bugger and helping her to cast she also hooked up on a solid fish and backed out of the water to land it a few minutes later. She was pretty pleased with herself as this was a decent sized fish.

Sticker soon joined us and we were both casting to schooling fish with many swimming around us before being spooked by our movements. The fish were eager to take the fly and we enjoyed a good session there with two more each taken by Catherine, Sticker and myself before heading back to set up for lunch. On our way back the Bunneys arrived and headed out for a quick fish before returning for our BBQ lunch with everyone else. All reports were that just about everyone caught fish including the kids. We departed about 3pm leaving Col, the Bunneys and Stickerman to continue on while we took a leisurely drive back through the Hunter wineries.

As usual with this trip, a fantastic day with plenty of fish and fun. I look forward to next time.

Little Moonee Creek Working Bee - March 2012

Little Moonee Creek Working Bee by Chris Bannerman

Date: 18 March 2012

With only 10 members out of 40 turning up to the working bee at noon on Sunday we were always going to have our work cut out for us. The grounds required a lot of attention and the facilitites also needed work. After a quick tour of the grounds by Rob Harwood we split into groups and took on different tasks around the park. John Robertson, Jim Hollett and Richard Hassall went to work with the chainsaw clearing the casting platforms of shrubbery while Dave Witham and Rob took an early dip to clean the fish tank.

Trent Morson and Mick Dillon took to the grassed areas with brush cutters and Stickerman attacked the casting practice area and the walking track around the main dam with his trusty mower. Meanwhile Col Breese cleaned up around the main biuldings and weeded the top pond while yours truly got sutck into removing the blackberry that had started to take hold around the main dam.

By 2pm we had made some good inroads to the main dam but Rob and Dave were struggling with the fish tank. The cleaning tools weren't really doing the job and Dave had sprung a leak (in his waders). Not to mention he had lost the BBQ scaper which had been pressed into service as an improvised glass cleaner.

We all adjourned for lunch, enjoying a sausage sizzle and a drink before heading down to the main dam for a fish. Dave had thrown a few pieces of bread in to see if there was any activity and was met with massive swirls and chomps as fish eagerly took the offerings. We had soon rigged up and first casts were all that was required to hook a fish. I landed the first bass quickly followed by Dave with another and then a silver perch. All were taken on bread flies.

Richard was next onto fish with a good-sized silver. Fish were busting up where there was bread but they soon became wary and the catch-rate slowed. Those who weren't fishing bread flies were having no luck at all. With members spread around the lake it became apparent that the end nearest the buildings was holding the majority of the fish. This may have had something to do with the fact that the owner of the park comes down regularly to feed the fish at this end. No prizes for guessing what he fed them.

The fishing at this end continued all afternoon. The fish still eagerly took the bread but they became increasingly harder to catch, often refusing a floating bread fly but taking all bread off the surface around it. A few fish were caught on the odd nymph and woolly bugger but the majority were taken on bread flies. Luckily we had a supply of bread left over from lunch to get them berlied up. Dave, Col and I managed a fish each from the silver perch pond but once again after the fist few catches the fish became very wary and no more were caught.

By 5.30pm we had all congregated to the active end of the main dam, each one of us eagerly casting our bread fly to the dozens of surface splashes. Every now and then a cheer could be heard as someone hooked another fish. I gave it away a 6.30 with the fish still smashing the berly - I had a dinner to attend. Three species were caught on the day - bass, silver perch and golden perch. The bass averaged about 20cm in length with the odd larger specimen to about 35cm while the silver perch were all about 30-35cm. All pulled well on our light gear and everyone caught fish. Ample reward for the hard work put in earlier.