charleville
03-10-2006, 02:21 AM
I have to admit that I have never really been very fond of the smell of vomit. # # :(
I don’t suppose that I am unique in that regard and in truth, it would be handy at certain times to at least tolerate the smell. #After all, there are times in our lives when we become more familiar with the stuff than others. #;) Ask any young fella who drinks a little excessively from time to time – and I reckon that most of us do when we are testing all sorts of boundaries in our late teens. #;)
Then of course, some people do it voluntarily – for example, the people suffering from bulimia. #:( Even the ancient Romans institutionalised the practice with their Vomitoriums, which were designed to allow them to purge themselves to allow more room for more eating. #:o #Just my sort of guys – well except for the vomit bit, that is! # ;D #More recently, of course, there is the “Vomit Comet”, the training jet plane that NASA uses to fly in rapidly descending arcs to train people in experiencing weightlessness, but which has the side effect of…well you get the general idea… # ;D http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomit_Comet
My boat was a bit of a Vomit Comet yesterday morning. #:-[
Well, it wasn’t really vomit but it sure smelled like it! …and there was lots of it! # #:-[ I had better start at the beginning…
I often use an old blender at home to mash up old bait into a fine berley which I mix with a little water and freeze in two or three litre fruit juice plastic bottles – the idea being that when I need to berley, I just tie one of these bottles of frozen berley to a short rope and after cutting out a corner of the bottle, I just let it dangle in the water over the side of the boat and the berley slowly melts away and does its job. #8-)
My berley can be a potent old mixture – in fact the last bottle or two would have contained some pilchards, some old mullet gut, some squid, maybe some tired prawns and perhaps some chook pellets to give it a bit of texture. #:-/
Usually, I clean the outside of the bottles very well and put them in plastic bags and freeze them in our large freezer in the kitchen – on a low shelf where the cook won’t get too upset by its presence. Occasionally though, I will put a bottle in the freezer compartment of my bar fridge in my downstairs rumpus room. #Those bar fridge freezers don’t do a really great job but they will freeze things if given enough time. # #:-/
Unfortunately though, they are pretty small and several weeks ago, I did take out a bottle of frozen berley to make room for something else and I just placed the frozen berley on the top shelf in the bar fridge just below the freezer compartment. #I thought that it would take a while for the berley to thaw in that cold environment anyway so everything should be ok. #:-/
In hindsight, that would have been many, many weeks ago. #:-? #In fact, I have not used much berley at any time in the past six months as most of my fishing has been either by drifting or being anchored in fast flowing tidal runs where berley is not so effective.
So I suppose that bottle of berley had been sitting there on the top shelf of the fridge for six months or more. #:(
I was delighted to see that there was a nice window of opportunity in the weather to go fishing yesterday morning and with a high tide at 4.47am and sunrise at 5.26am, I thought that I would like to see the sun rise from Green Island in Moreton Bay. #8-)
I like fishing at Green Island in the mornings. #8-) 8-) #There is usually plenty of fish activity at dawn there and although most are babies, I have nonetheless caught some great fish there- predominantly squire and grassies but also the odd estuary cod, school mackeral, bream and even an occasional tuskie. # :)
The conditions were beautiful when I arrived at Green pretty well right on 5am. #:) #I anchored, set out the knives ad tools in their places on the boat, tossed out one line with a floating pilchard on it, and then set to setting up my berley trail. #8-)
I had thought that since it was a small high tide and a small current flow today that a berley trail might help so I took that bottle of old berley that had been sitting on the top shelf of my bar fridge for six months. # #:-/
So there I was at Green, all neatly set up. In fact, I was feeling rather pleased with how sweet the boat was smelling. #8-) #I had cleaned out some old bait out of the onboard esky a week earlier and after leaving it in the anchor well overnight one night, I had had some difficulty in getting rid of the putrid smell. # ::) A few buckets of water with automotive detergent in it on Saturday had fixed that problem so the boat was smelling very sweet again. # :)
I hooked up a rope to the handle on the bottle and tied off the other end to the side rail and then took a knife to cut the corner of the berley bottle.
Now I suppose, that had I been more observant, I might had noticed that the plastic berley bottle was quite full – in fact a little too firm given that it was obvious that at least some of the berley had by now melted in the bottle. #:-/
That is, I should have realised that after six months on the top shelf of my bar fridge, that the berley had fermented. #:-[
I have often regretted that I need to wear glasses. # It is such a damn nuisance when it is raining or when you first step outside of an air-conditioned car on a humid day and have the glasses fog up. #:'(
However, yesterday, I was sooooooo pleased that I was wearing glasses... and a long sleeved work shirt …. and a cap…. #Because when I put the knife into the corner of that bottle of fermented berley, it exploded! #:o :o :o
Right in my face! #:o :o :o
I was covered head to toe, but especially head and torso, in the foulest smelling concoction that man has known. # >:( So was the boat covered, my fishing rods and reels. And it went off with enough force to spray bits of “berley” on top of the canopy of the boat and over the bow… #>:( >:( >:(
…and it stank…. #>:(
Oh, how it stank! #>:( >:(
And by now, you know what it stank like! # >:( >:( >:(
Gosh, it stank! #>:( >:( >:( >:(
All over my face! #And shirt. #>:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
It stank! #>:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
Fortunately, I do carry hand towels, a spare shirt etc on the boat so I was able to clean myself up enough to continue fishing but I will still be cleaning the boat more thoroughly later this morning. # :-/ (Bugger the hosing restrictions!)
I threw the berley bottle did go into the water on the rope as planned if for no other reason than to get the smelly thing away from the boat and it was interesting to note that it did attract lots of small fish. # ;D So much for the advice often given that berley needs to be fresh. #;)
I continued fishing at Green until about 8.15am. #Lots and lots of undersized everything – squire, grassies, and one tuskie. #:) #One legal bream came aboard but certainly nothing that you would want to take a photograph of. #I was fishing most of the time in about 2 1/2m – 3 1/2 m of water. #
I did move to the deeper water at the edge of the reef towards the end of that time (past Finga in his giant #;) vessel, “Junior”, as I have since discovered) and caught a baby shovelnose and decided that since the day was just so beautiful, that I would give Mud Island a shot. #8-)
Went up to Mud and fished my favorite haunts in close and out wide on the eastern side, anchored and drifting, until 11am. #Once again, lots of small stuff, especially as the tidal flow slowed for the 10.33am turn of the tide but no keepers. #:(
The water was crystal clear #:). The seas were calm. #:) #The conditions – warm sun, cool breeze were magical. #8-) The smell was…er well…interesting. #:(
Nice to see lots of boats with kids in them yesterday, especially at Green. #It must be school holidays. :) :)
The picture below shows the offending berley bottle with the cut corner after it had done its job in the water. #:-[
I have never appreciated that shower that I built in the garage at home as much as I did yesterday. #:) :) :)
I don’t suppose that I am unique in that regard and in truth, it would be handy at certain times to at least tolerate the smell. #After all, there are times in our lives when we become more familiar with the stuff than others. #;) Ask any young fella who drinks a little excessively from time to time – and I reckon that most of us do when we are testing all sorts of boundaries in our late teens. #;)
Then of course, some people do it voluntarily – for example, the people suffering from bulimia. #:( Even the ancient Romans institutionalised the practice with their Vomitoriums, which were designed to allow them to purge themselves to allow more room for more eating. #:o #Just my sort of guys – well except for the vomit bit, that is! # ;D #More recently, of course, there is the “Vomit Comet”, the training jet plane that NASA uses to fly in rapidly descending arcs to train people in experiencing weightlessness, but which has the side effect of…well you get the general idea… # ;D http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vomit_Comet
My boat was a bit of a Vomit Comet yesterday morning. #:-[
Well, it wasn’t really vomit but it sure smelled like it! …and there was lots of it! # #:-[ I had better start at the beginning…
I often use an old blender at home to mash up old bait into a fine berley which I mix with a little water and freeze in two or three litre fruit juice plastic bottles – the idea being that when I need to berley, I just tie one of these bottles of frozen berley to a short rope and after cutting out a corner of the bottle, I just let it dangle in the water over the side of the boat and the berley slowly melts away and does its job. #8-)
My berley can be a potent old mixture – in fact the last bottle or two would have contained some pilchards, some old mullet gut, some squid, maybe some tired prawns and perhaps some chook pellets to give it a bit of texture. #:-/
Usually, I clean the outside of the bottles very well and put them in plastic bags and freeze them in our large freezer in the kitchen – on a low shelf where the cook won’t get too upset by its presence. Occasionally though, I will put a bottle in the freezer compartment of my bar fridge in my downstairs rumpus room. #Those bar fridge freezers don’t do a really great job but they will freeze things if given enough time. # #:-/
Unfortunately though, they are pretty small and several weeks ago, I did take out a bottle of frozen berley to make room for something else and I just placed the frozen berley on the top shelf in the bar fridge just below the freezer compartment. #I thought that it would take a while for the berley to thaw in that cold environment anyway so everything should be ok. #:-/
In hindsight, that would have been many, many weeks ago. #:-? #In fact, I have not used much berley at any time in the past six months as most of my fishing has been either by drifting or being anchored in fast flowing tidal runs where berley is not so effective.
So I suppose that bottle of berley had been sitting there on the top shelf of the fridge for six months or more. #:(
I was delighted to see that there was a nice window of opportunity in the weather to go fishing yesterday morning and with a high tide at 4.47am and sunrise at 5.26am, I thought that I would like to see the sun rise from Green Island in Moreton Bay. #8-)
I like fishing at Green Island in the mornings. #8-) 8-) #There is usually plenty of fish activity at dawn there and although most are babies, I have nonetheless caught some great fish there- predominantly squire and grassies but also the odd estuary cod, school mackeral, bream and even an occasional tuskie. # :)
The conditions were beautiful when I arrived at Green pretty well right on 5am. #:) #I anchored, set out the knives ad tools in their places on the boat, tossed out one line with a floating pilchard on it, and then set to setting up my berley trail. #8-)
I had thought that since it was a small high tide and a small current flow today that a berley trail might help so I took that bottle of old berley that had been sitting on the top shelf of my bar fridge for six months. # #:-/
So there I was at Green, all neatly set up. In fact, I was feeling rather pleased with how sweet the boat was smelling. #8-) #I had cleaned out some old bait out of the onboard esky a week earlier and after leaving it in the anchor well overnight one night, I had had some difficulty in getting rid of the putrid smell. # ::) A few buckets of water with automotive detergent in it on Saturday had fixed that problem so the boat was smelling very sweet again. # :)
I hooked up a rope to the handle on the bottle and tied off the other end to the side rail and then took a knife to cut the corner of the berley bottle.
Now I suppose, that had I been more observant, I might had noticed that the plastic berley bottle was quite full – in fact a little too firm given that it was obvious that at least some of the berley had by now melted in the bottle. #:-/
That is, I should have realised that after six months on the top shelf of my bar fridge, that the berley had fermented. #:-[
I have often regretted that I need to wear glasses. # It is such a damn nuisance when it is raining or when you first step outside of an air-conditioned car on a humid day and have the glasses fog up. #:'(
However, yesterday, I was sooooooo pleased that I was wearing glasses... and a long sleeved work shirt …. and a cap…. #Because when I put the knife into the corner of that bottle of fermented berley, it exploded! #:o :o :o
Right in my face! #:o :o :o
I was covered head to toe, but especially head and torso, in the foulest smelling concoction that man has known. # >:( So was the boat covered, my fishing rods and reels. And it went off with enough force to spray bits of “berley” on top of the canopy of the boat and over the bow… #>:( >:( >:(
…and it stank…. #>:(
Oh, how it stank! #>:( >:(
And by now, you know what it stank like! # >:( >:( >:(
Gosh, it stank! #>:( >:( >:( >:(
All over my face! #And shirt. #>:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
It stank! #>:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
Fortunately, I do carry hand towels, a spare shirt etc on the boat so I was able to clean myself up enough to continue fishing but I will still be cleaning the boat more thoroughly later this morning. # :-/ (Bugger the hosing restrictions!)
I threw the berley bottle did go into the water on the rope as planned if for no other reason than to get the smelly thing away from the boat and it was interesting to note that it did attract lots of small fish. # ;D So much for the advice often given that berley needs to be fresh. #;)
I continued fishing at Green until about 8.15am. #Lots and lots of undersized everything – squire, grassies, and one tuskie. #:) #One legal bream came aboard but certainly nothing that you would want to take a photograph of. #I was fishing most of the time in about 2 1/2m – 3 1/2 m of water. #
I did move to the deeper water at the edge of the reef towards the end of that time (past Finga in his giant #;) vessel, “Junior”, as I have since discovered) and caught a baby shovelnose and decided that since the day was just so beautiful, that I would give Mud Island a shot. #8-)
Went up to Mud and fished my favorite haunts in close and out wide on the eastern side, anchored and drifting, until 11am. #Once again, lots of small stuff, especially as the tidal flow slowed for the 10.33am turn of the tide but no keepers. #:(
The water was crystal clear #:). The seas were calm. #:) #The conditions – warm sun, cool breeze were magical. #8-) The smell was…er well…interesting. #:(
Nice to see lots of boats with kids in them yesterday, especially at Green. #It must be school holidays. :) :)
The picture below shows the offending berley bottle with the cut corner after it had done its job in the water. #:-[
I have never appreciated that shower that I built in the garage at home as much as I did yesterday. #:) :) :)