Funchy
02-03-2015, 06:54 PM
A couple of mates and I had planned a middle creek trip for a fair while and as the day drew closer so too did the preparation and the anticipation, it almost led to desperation as Marcia smashed her way down the coast the weekend before. A few nervous night watching creeks crossing levels and the like and by Wednesday last week we made the call it was to go ahead. The weather looked fantastic with 5-10 knots predicted to be the worst of it. Perfect!
I worked from home from 4am Thursday until 9am then hit the road. The plan was for me to drive up to Agnes and pick up my mate John's tinny and join up with my other mate Brad and we would head in late afternoon to set up camp. The drive up was uneventful and I enjoyed Calamari and salad on the water at 1770 overlooking the water. I grabbed old mates tinny and a heap of ice and ff we went. The drive in to middle was very passable though lumpy in places with only a little water covering the road in places. We set up camp, got the gear ready for the morning, threw some grub and a few brews down the gullet then off to bed for a big 3 days fishing.
Friday morning we were all up around 4:30 and another quick bite to eat and off we went. Our plan was to work the creeks while the water allowed it and come out into the main channel as low tide rolled around. We trolled early on and I was rewarded with a 42cm jack within the first hour. Alas that was to be the only jack landed for the trip (there were oplenty of bust offs from bigger boys in the ensuing days). Plenty of little trevs and cod were landed before we headed out int the channel. We fished the deep holes as the tide bottomed out for all the usual suspects with only 1 flathead landed wothwhile keeping that joined the jack for dinner. We ran the pots and but didnt score any keepers. We headed in after a good day on the water but not a lot of table fish to show for it.
The next day we were up early again and we headed for Pancake. The trip from Middle to Pancake took about 40 mins and was very picturesque. As we came up towards the inlet the waterway opened up to a beautiful sight of rocky headland and sandy beaches. Well worth the trip. We fished and swam and ate oysters from the rocks yet no real table fish again despite a heap of cod and others landed. Brad dropped a nice coral trout at the boat..... we gave him heaps about that as we were hanging for a big feed yet only 2 fish meant we weren't loking good.
We headed back for camp in the early afternoon and stopped to check the pots, 2 nice bucks so thing were looking better. We grabbed some livies and had a short session in a deep hole as the tide came in. John landed an nice fingermark and that sealed the deal on a big fry up that night. We headed in and cleaned up, cooked and fed our faces with some great seafood. Brad made a great damper for dessert that we smothered in jam before we hit the hay fat dumb and happy after a top day.
Sunday saw us hanging around middle creek, Brad and I headed off chasing something on surface lures alas other than one brief hook up and a couple of big swipes we didnt do any good so we headed into the channel to fish up to lunch flicking plastics as the tide came topped out. Brad had to head home so we gave him a hand to pack up, grabbed a feed and netted some livies (Mullet, prawns and herring). John and I then had a live bait session in a hole. No monsters landed but a few good hooks ups and bust offs. We also scored another nice couple of muddies so dinner was sorted again.
Monday we ran the pots (6 keepers including 5 nice keepers in 1 pot) and fished till 8am before packing up and heading home. Great trip, great weather, great mates but the fish weren't of the quality we were hoping. I landed 51 fish for the trip but just couldn't get that barra!!!
Here's some pics in no particular order
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107738
107739
107730
107732
107733
107734
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107741
107735
I worked from home from 4am Thursday until 9am then hit the road. The plan was for me to drive up to Agnes and pick up my mate John's tinny and join up with my other mate Brad and we would head in late afternoon to set up camp. The drive up was uneventful and I enjoyed Calamari and salad on the water at 1770 overlooking the water. I grabbed old mates tinny and a heap of ice and ff we went. The drive in to middle was very passable though lumpy in places with only a little water covering the road in places. We set up camp, got the gear ready for the morning, threw some grub and a few brews down the gullet then off to bed for a big 3 days fishing.
Friday morning we were all up around 4:30 and another quick bite to eat and off we went. Our plan was to work the creeks while the water allowed it and come out into the main channel as low tide rolled around. We trolled early on and I was rewarded with a 42cm jack within the first hour. Alas that was to be the only jack landed for the trip (there were oplenty of bust offs from bigger boys in the ensuing days). Plenty of little trevs and cod were landed before we headed out int the channel. We fished the deep holes as the tide bottomed out for all the usual suspects with only 1 flathead landed wothwhile keeping that joined the jack for dinner. We ran the pots and but didnt score any keepers. We headed in after a good day on the water but not a lot of table fish to show for it.
The next day we were up early again and we headed for Pancake. The trip from Middle to Pancake took about 40 mins and was very picturesque. As we came up towards the inlet the waterway opened up to a beautiful sight of rocky headland and sandy beaches. Well worth the trip. We fished and swam and ate oysters from the rocks yet no real table fish again despite a heap of cod and others landed. Brad dropped a nice coral trout at the boat..... we gave him heaps about that as we were hanging for a big feed yet only 2 fish meant we weren't loking good.
We headed back for camp in the early afternoon and stopped to check the pots, 2 nice bucks so thing were looking better. We grabbed some livies and had a short session in a deep hole as the tide came in. John landed an nice fingermark and that sealed the deal on a big fry up that night. We headed in and cleaned up, cooked and fed our faces with some great seafood. Brad made a great damper for dessert that we smothered in jam before we hit the hay fat dumb and happy after a top day.
Sunday saw us hanging around middle creek, Brad and I headed off chasing something on surface lures alas other than one brief hook up and a couple of big swipes we didnt do any good so we headed into the channel to fish up to lunch flicking plastics as the tide came topped out. Brad had to head home so we gave him a hand to pack up, grabbed a feed and netted some livies (Mullet, prawns and herring). John and I then had a live bait session in a hole. No monsters landed but a few good hooks ups and bust offs. We also scored another nice couple of muddies so dinner was sorted again.
Monday we ran the pots (6 keepers including 5 nice keepers in 1 pot) and fished till 8am before packing up and heading home. Great trip, great weather, great mates but the fish weren't of the quality we were hoping. I landed 51 fish for the trip but just couldn't get that barra!!!
Here's some pics in no particular order
107731
107736
107737
107738
107739
107730
107732
107733
107734
107740
107741
107735