Axl
16-03-2014, 10:01 PM
I don’t often post reports in this section but I had a really good day on the Bay yesterday and I thought I’d put a post up, as many of you know the fishing/boating on Moreton bay has been very minor of late thanks to the winds, unless you are lucky enough to have a nice big rig that can handle the ugliness of the bay when it is windy. As I work A FIFO job I am lucky enough (weather permitting) to be able to fish during the week when the crowds are low however this trip home like the last three months the wind has not played the game and the only time the boat has been wet in recent months is when it has rained. So when Saturday 15.03.14 was approaching with sea breeze predicting winds under 10 knots I started to get the boat ready for a day on the water.
I loaded the boat with 4 crab pots and floats, tackle box, buckets, my fishing bag which holds my cutting boards, knifes, spare line, scaler, soft plastics etc. Re rigged two of my rods (which had very rusty hooks on them) went and got bait for the run. I brought some hole Mullet which I planned to take the fillets off for fish bait so I had some fresh stuff to add to what I was going to take out of the bait freezer prior to putting the frames in the pots. Of course whilst I was out I got the all important fuel, spare tally ho’s, ice, water, cherryripe's and coke;).
While I was loading the boat my dad turned up and I asked him if he would like to join me to which he said you betcha, as I was all but finished loading the boat and about to head down to the club for a beer he asked if I needed anything else for the run. I asked him if he would grab some more whole Mullet, as I could now take eight pots out seen as though there would be two of us on board and the extra fillets would be needed also too which he replied no worries I’ll see you in the morning at 03:30.
03:30 was soon upon me and dad was at the gate with all his gear and the extra bait, so with the boat loaded for the run we headed for the Manly harbour boat ramps. The ramps are being upgraded at the moment and the one I usually use was closed so I headed for the ramp near the coast guard. Now this day was the best weather prediction for the bay we had seen for months so with one of the two main ramps closed you didn’t have to be Einstein to work out that it was going to get very busy at the open one very quickly. Thankfully we got the boat off the trailer and the car parked before the line-up started so we had just beaten the rush and it was time to get out of there as it was becoming a mad house;D.
Ok motor started and warmed up lights on and the all round white light wouldn't work s%!t, a quick look with a torch showed me that the earth wire had broken off and it was not going to be an easy fix bobbing around in the harbor with 400 other boats being launched at the same time. So I headed out the leads and ducked behind one of the dredge support barges that are out there at the moment knowing that we would be out of the way of the amassing flotilla whilst we tried to see if I could fix the light>:(.
Now don’t get me wrong I love my old man dearly but geeeees…..:-? he can be hard work at times, and whilst trying to fix the light issue It soon became apparent that I would not be able to do this without a soldering iron and solder despite dad telling me how I should do it and what I was doing wrong, With 400 boats screaming out of the leads (plenty of them without an all round white light on) I gave him ago at fixing the problem only to have him give up quicker than I did whilst giving me a mouth full for not being prepared properly geeeees…..:-? Soon enough I say bugger it we are going if I get caught prior to sun up then I will plead the 5th:-X.
So out we head to one of my spot X’s for sandies, after ripping the fillets of the Mullet baiting eight pots and getting them into the water the sun is up enough now for the lights not to be an issue and off we head to Mud Island. There were already plenty of the 400 boats around the SE side of Mud and around the Grazier so I decided to head to the NE side where I have a mark for some nice reef, albeit small it is good ground and we have done ok there before you just need to be the first to get there.
Of course thanks to the light issue we weren't the first there was a boat right on top of this little patch of reef but as luck would have it he moved on soon enough and I had it all to myself. Now as I said earlier I love my dad dearly but for the next few hours drove me insane, I nearly through him over the side of the boat on several occasions. Between the 40 year old Alvey’s playing up that he has on his 10 foot 40 year old surf rods (surf rods in a 5m C/C) geeeees…..:-? the rotten line breaking constantly on those 40 year old Alvey’s, him trying to fish with three rods at a time instead of concentrating on one and the constant I need a coffee but I can’t pour one because I am to busy I was ready to jump over and swim for it when the fish started to bite.
The pic’s bellow tell the rest of the story we got a nice mixed bag for our mornings effort with some good quality fish and crabs making for a top feed for mum and my wife and kids as well as plenty of action from throw back fish of all varieties in between the keepers. Although the old boy wasn't able to land a keeper (don’t know why maybe because he should use one rod instead of three, and let me take him shopping for some new gear) he had I top morning out any way encouraging me on/shouting advice as I went.
Was nice to run into Scalem out there I hope you did alright mate……
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I loaded the boat with 4 crab pots and floats, tackle box, buckets, my fishing bag which holds my cutting boards, knifes, spare line, scaler, soft plastics etc. Re rigged two of my rods (which had very rusty hooks on them) went and got bait for the run. I brought some hole Mullet which I planned to take the fillets off for fish bait so I had some fresh stuff to add to what I was going to take out of the bait freezer prior to putting the frames in the pots. Of course whilst I was out I got the all important fuel, spare tally ho’s, ice, water, cherryripe's and coke;).
While I was loading the boat my dad turned up and I asked him if he would like to join me to which he said you betcha, as I was all but finished loading the boat and about to head down to the club for a beer he asked if I needed anything else for the run. I asked him if he would grab some more whole Mullet, as I could now take eight pots out seen as though there would be two of us on board and the extra fillets would be needed also too which he replied no worries I’ll see you in the morning at 03:30.
03:30 was soon upon me and dad was at the gate with all his gear and the extra bait, so with the boat loaded for the run we headed for the Manly harbour boat ramps. The ramps are being upgraded at the moment and the one I usually use was closed so I headed for the ramp near the coast guard. Now this day was the best weather prediction for the bay we had seen for months so with one of the two main ramps closed you didn’t have to be Einstein to work out that it was going to get very busy at the open one very quickly. Thankfully we got the boat off the trailer and the car parked before the line-up started so we had just beaten the rush and it was time to get out of there as it was becoming a mad house;D.
Ok motor started and warmed up lights on and the all round white light wouldn't work s%!t, a quick look with a torch showed me that the earth wire had broken off and it was not going to be an easy fix bobbing around in the harbor with 400 other boats being launched at the same time. So I headed out the leads and ducked behind one of the dredge support barges that are out there at the moment knowing that we would be out of the way of the amassing flotilla whilst we tried to see if I could fix the light>:(.
Now don’t get me wrong I love my old man dearly but geeeees…..:-? he can be hard work at times, and whilst trying to fix the light issue It soon became apparent that I would not be able to do this without a soldering iron and solder despite dad telling me how I should do it and what I was doing wrong, With 400 boats screaming out of the leads (plenty of them without an all round white light on) I gave him ago at fixing the problem only to have him give up quicker than I did whilst giving me a mouth full for not being prepared properly geeeees…..:-? Soon enough I say bugger it we are going if I get caught prior to sun up then I will plead the 5th:-X.
So out we head to one of my spot X’s for sandies, after ripping the fillets of the Mullet baiting eight pots and getting them into the water the sun is up enough now for the lights not to be an issue and off we head to Mud Island. There were already plenty of the 400 boats around the SE side of Mud and around the Grazier so I decided to head to the NE side where I have a mark for some nice reef, albeit small it is good ground and we have done ok there before you just need to be the first to get there.
Of course thanks to the light issue we weren't the first there was a boat right on top of this little patch of reef but as luck would have it he moved on soon enough and I had it all to myself. Now as I said earlier I love my dad dearly but for the next few hours drove me insane, I nearly through him over the side of the boat on several occasions. Between the 40 year old Alvey’s playing up that he has on his 10 foot 40 year old surf rods (surf rods in a 5m C/C) geeeees…..:-? the rotten line breaking constantly on those 40 year old Alvey’s, him trying to fish with three rods at a time instead of concentrating on one and the constant I need a coffee but I can’t pour one because I am to busy I was ready to jump over and swim for it when the fish started to bite.
The pic’s bellow tell the rest of the story we got a nice mixed bag for our mornings effort with some good quality fish and crabs making for a top feed for mum and my wife and kids as well as plenty of action from throw back fish of all varieties in between the keepers. Although the old boy wasn't able to land a keeper (don’t know why maybe because he should use one rod instead of three, and let me take him shopping for some new gear) he had I top morning out any way encouraging me on/shouting advice as I went.
Was nice to run into Scalem out there I hope you did alright mate……
101612101611