charleville
03-07-2006, 03:25 AM
I remember a mate once telling me how frightening his first sexual experience was. After all, it was very dark that night and he was all alone and... ;D ;D ;D
Now, that could never have been said about me. ;) As long as I can remember I have loved the dark. Give me the dead of night any time instead of the glare of the middle of the day. When I was a young technician, I always volunteered for the night shift; and when I drove a taxi for three years I always much preferred the night shifts - quieter, less traffic, cooler, longer fares, etc; when I was a student, I loved nothing better than studying well into the night when no one else was around to distract me. When I was a kid, I remember reading an adventure story where one of the characters said that in the dark most people want to stand under a light where they feel safe but in fact are sitting targets for the bad guys - much better to be in the dark, unseen and safe. :)
And so it is with fishing, I love night fishing. :) :) :) Sure, it can be disorientating at times as you stumble around twisting lines and getting hooks caught in all manner of things on the boat and sitting on your bait but I have learnt to minimise the clumsiness – I have learnt to leave the 10 1/2 foot Live Fibre bream rod at home and just use 7 1/2 ft gear; even the 8ft Live fibre stays at home these nights in preference for a 7 1/2 ft $35 rod that is just that little bit more manageable in the confines of my runabout. And I think that after a succession of various onboard lighting options on the boat, I have that settled also, choosing to use my Catseyes cap mounted LED torch in preference to the array of mini-fluoros, Everyready Dolphins etc that I have played with in the past. Sure I always take my 1 million candle power spottie but have not used it for so long that when I did plug it is earlier tonight to help me find a crab pot, I found that the plug had rusted solid. :-/
… and if you ever doubted me just look at the time that I am writing this. ;D
Fishing on the Bay at night on your own is one of life’s most surreal experiences. :) It has driven me to write poetry about he experience several times with titles like “A Night at the ‘Pin” , “The Road to the Pin”, “The Beacons of Manly” etc. Every thing about night time on the water oozes captivating magic to me – seeing the Milky Way, the reflection of the moon over the water, seeing shooting stars, the stillness, the unknown sounds, the smells, the coolness – even the beacons of the Manly leads…
Their strobic flash makes no sound at all
Each side in unison at each few seconds’ recall
In hypnotic harmony my thoughts they do haul
To a perpetual, pulsating, primeval call.
:)
So it was with my usual boyish excitement, that I set out yesterday afternoon to fish the evening and into the night at Mud Island… 8-)
I arrived in my spot and anchored at about a quarter to five and as is my habit, set out all of my knives, tackle and tools in their places around the boat just where I know they will be when I put my hand down in the dark of the night to get them. I then followed my usual practice of telephoning my wife to tell her that I was anchored in place for the night. She understands my love of the solitude of a night on the water but nonetheless worries about me (so my daughter tells me) so I always call her to know that I am settled for the night. She knows that coming back with the Port of Brisbane lights illuminating the Bay is a much safer trip than going out into the darkness with the lights behind me.
Whilst on the call, I saw a bit of surface activity nearby that that excited me. :) :) Might be tailor and on this night I was hoping to catch some tailor. I like a nice fresh feed of tailor – so juicy and tasty. “Gotta go, Love. Have to cast out a Pillie. Call you later when I am back on dry land.” :) :) :)
And so at 4.50pm I cast out my first unweighted pillie on a gang of three 4/0 Kirby hooks on my new Shimano 6500B baitrunner on 30lb Platypus Super 100 line with a 40Lb leader. Bang! A small tailor. Great! He is legal but a bit small but I shall use him for bait. :)
Next cast. Bang! A nice squire. :) Then disappointment! :( It was all over in 25 minutes. :( I had bagged out on Squire even before the sun had sunk out of view. Bugger! There goes my lovely night fishing outing. :( :( :(
Cast out a few more times hoping to catch more tailor but almost every time I caught more squire which I had to release since I had put all of my catch into iced saltwater and their swimming days were over. Caught just one more tailor good enough to be called “breakfast” before I concluded that I had better give it away and go and pick up my crab pots and go home. Best fish was 58cm – not giants but a good feed nonetheless. :) :) :)
Some nights, you can fish hard all night to catch anything and other nights, it is all over Red Rover before you even get settled…… and I was so not settled that I was still using old pillies that had been in the boat’s esky since my daytime exploratory trip around the Bay on Friday. :-? I had not even opened the fresh bait that I had just bought on the way to the ramp that afternoon. Some of those pillies were looking distinctly tired also – so much so that I had even missed a few hits when the fish just pulled the tired old pillies off the hooks cleanly. :o I took two rods - one was to carry the unweighted pillies out the back on the baitrunner to catch tailor, the other was to do some bottom bashing for snapper. Did not even get to cast out the bottom bash outfit, Did not have time.
Sigh! Ah well, maybe I can catch a nice feed of tailor next time… ;D ;D ;D
Now, that could never have been said about me. ;) As long as I can remember I have loved the dark. Give me the dead of night any time instead of the glare of the middle of the day. When I was a young technician, I always volunteered for the night shift; and when I drove a taxi for three years I always much preferred the night shifts - quieter, less traffic, cooler, longer fares, etc; when I was a student, I loved nothing better than studying well into the night when no one else was around to distract me. When I was a kid, I remember reading an adventure story where one of the characters said that in the dark most people want to stand under a light where they feel safe but in fact are sitting targets for the bad guys - much better to be in the dark, unseen and safe. :)
And so it is with fishing, I love night fishing. :) :) :) Sure, it can be disorientating at times as you stumble around twisting lines and getting hooks caught in all manner of things on the boat and sitting on your bait but I have learnt to minimise the clumsiness – I have learnt to leave the 10 1/2 foot Live Fibre bream rod at home and just use 7 1/2 ft gear; even the 8ft Live fibre stays at home these nights in preference for a 7 1/2 ft $35 rod that is just that little bit more manageable in the confines of my runabout. And I think that after a succession of various onboard lighting options on the boat, I have that settled also, choosing to use my Catseyes cap mounted LED torch in preference to the array of mini-fluoros, Everyready Dolphins etc that I have played with in the past. Sure I always take my 1 million candle power spottie but have not used it for so long that when I did plug it is earlier tonight to help me find a crab pot, I found that the plug had rusted solid. :-/
… and if you ever doubted me just look at the time that I am writing this. ;D
Fishing on the Bay at night on your own is one of life’s most surreal experiences. :) It has driven me to write poetry about he experience several times with titles like “A Night at the ‘Pin” , “The Road to the Pin”, “The Beacons of Manly” etc. Every thing about night time on the water oozes captivating magic to me – seeing the Milky Way, the reflection of the moon over the water, seeing shooting stars, the stillness, the unknown sounds, the smells, the coolness – even the beacons of the Manly leads…
Their strobic flash makes no sound at all
Each side in unison at each few seconds’ recall
In hypnotic harmony my thoughts they do haul
To a perpetual, pulsating, primeval call.
:)
So it was with my usual boyish excitement, that I set out yesterday afternoon to fish the evening and into the night at Mud Island… 8-)
I arrived in my spot and anchored at about a quarter to five and as is my habit, set out all of my knives, tackle and tools in their places around the boat just where I know they will be when I put my hand down in the dark of the night to get them. I then followed my usual practice of telephoning my wife to tell her that I was anchored in place for the night. She understands my love of the solitude of a night on the water but nonetheless worries about me (so my daughter tells me) so I always call her to know that I am settled for the night. She knows that coming back with the Port of Brisbane lights illuminating the Bay is a much safer trip than going out into the darkness with the lights behind me.
Whilst on the call, I saw a bit of surface activity nearby that that excited me. :) :) Might be tailor and on this night I was hoping to catch some tailor. I like a nice fresh feed of tailor – so juicy and tasty. “Gotta go, Love. Have to cast out a Pillie. Call you later when I am back on dry land.” :) :) :)
And so at 4.50pm I cast out my first unweighted pillie on a gang of three 4/0 Kirby hooks on my new Shimano 6500B baitrunner on 30lb Platypus Super 100 line with a 40Lb leader. Bang! A small tailor. Great! He is legal but a bit small but I shall use him for bait. :)
Next cast. Bang! A nice squire. :) Then disappointment! :( It was all over in 25 minutes. :( I had bagged out on Squire even before the sun had sunk out of view. Bugger! There goes my lovely night fishing outing. :( :( :(
Cast out a few more times hoping to catch more tailor but almost every time I caught more squire which I had to release since I had put all of my catch into iced saltwater and their swimming days were over. Caught just one more tailor good enough to be called “breakfast” before I concluded that I had better give it away and go and pick up my crab pots and go home. Best fish was 58cm – not giants but a good feed nonetheless. :) :) :)
Some nights, you can fish hard all night to catch anything and other nights, it is all over Red Rover before you even get settled…… and I was so not settled that I was still using old pillies that had been in the boat’s esky since my daytime exploratory trip around the Bay on Friday. :-? I had not even opened the fresh bait that I had just bought on the way to the ramp that afternoon. Some of those pillies were looking distinctly tired also – so much so that I had even missed a few hits when the fish just pulled the tired old pillies off the hooks cleanly. :o I took two rods - one was to carry the unweighted pillies out the back on the baitrunner to catch tailor, the other was to do some bottom bashing for snapper. Did not even get to cast out the bottom bash outfit, Did not have time.
Sigh! Ah well, maybe I can catch a nice feed of tailor next time… ;D ;D ;D