Peel island, tuesday, 14-04-2015

[CHEE-FEE]

At long last, and after much consternation and work on the new boat, it was time for a little fish. All the ducks lined up with time off, weather, tides, a few sheckles in the sky rocket and Ministerial approval; not one to let such an opportunity pass, the boat was packed and the kids were in the car and off we went. The plan was to fish the high tide at the Houseboat just after dark, and a bit after, with the Minister no doubt revelling in the thought of a night sans husband AND children. I went fishing with my boys in my boat and she went out for tea with her mate; every child wins a prize!
Anyway, we hit the ramp at Cleveland with a bit of SSE wind on with the predication of it dropping of after dark, but with the wind against the incoming tide, it was a tad bumpy, but not overly bad. My boys had never been down that way in a boat and I was keen to see how the new Horizon would handle the Bay chop, and, with stacks of time up our sleeve, we went for a little boat ride first. We went over to the Houseboat first, then up to the Hanlon Light, and all around in between, then back to the Houseboat, and hit the chop from all different angles, and the boat ate it up without the slapping and banging and bashing that tin boats usually suffer, so I think I'm on a winner.
we eventually anchored up near the Houseboat and started fishing. I just baited and sorted gear for the boys for the best part of the first hour while the current was roaring. I baited them up with Mullet flesh, and they were getting plenty of bites, which only excited them even more. They haven't fished that much and they're really keen to get into it, particularly now we have the boat. We were fishing away, then my young bloke, Sam, was huffing and puffing and carrying on like Steve Kerigan from the Castle with his little rod trying to get out of his hand. After some words of encouragement, he followed instructions perfectly and landed his first fish, a little Squire somewhere between 23 and 25cm. Not a big fish by any stretch of the imagination, but his first real fish, and he did it all on his own. To say he was excited would be something of an understatement, but the look on his face and the story he has since told everyone who will listen made it worth the admission price alone. I have no doubt that will be etched in his memory forever. Unfortunately the anchor kepped dragging and my big bloke didn't trouble the scorers and all I could manage were a couple of little sharks, which gave the boys a little bit of a thrill, and a skanky little Catfish. We pulled the pin about 1920, and had a good trip home, as the wind had dropped right out and any breeze was with the tide. I don't think I'll have too much trouble finding a fishing partner now.

Cheers,
NICK.

[Moonlighter]

Hey Nick

Good work and great story!

Just a suggestion. I never anchor up at the houseboat. Always drift.

On an incoming tide, start a hundred meters north of the mark, and if you position the drift so you pass within 30 meters of the mark you will be fine. Keep drifting at least 300 and up to 500 meters past the mark and towards the South Wast rocks end, there is rubble all along there and I have caught some of my best snapper well away from the wreck itself. That is probably at least partly due to being well away from other boats.

You can do the opposite drift on an outgoing tide.

When you get to the end of the drift, don't go back up the drift line to the top again, go well wide of the mark in a big arc and come into the starting position from the side.

At SW Rocks, I start up close towards the beacon in about 5-6m of water, and on an outgoing tide, drift along staying in at least 4m and out to 8 m of water.

Last tip - they love nothing more than a nice big squid head! Use a smallish running sinker right to the hook, just big enough to waft gently to the bottom as you release line off the reel. Sometimes you need to keep releasing line every 30 seconds as the tide lifts it up. Hang on, as they will often smash it on the drop.

[scottar]

I have dived the houseboat. The bottom around that area is made up of crushed bits of coral. Drifting as Moonlighter has mentioned is a good way to go if you have a standard anchor set up as neither a sand or reef pick will hold easily if the current is streaming or there is any sort of wave action. If they do hold it is usually when they hit the wreck which is exceptionally good at not giving them back. The entire deck of the boat is gone leaving the horizontal beams for anchors to hook up on. Last time we got ten anchors off it.

The only way I have ever been able to get anchors to reliably hold in the area was to use a reef pick and six metres of chain attached to the top of my sand pick with another six metres of chain - for only a 4.5 metre tinnie. It was a mongrel to retrieve but we never drifted.