charleville
23-05-2006, 08:01 PM
I remember going to a workplace reunion five or six years ago and listening to a colleague who was full of beer and bad manners berate me about what an excessively ambitious so-and-so I was when we were both young engineers many years ago. :( Of course, in my view he was just a lazy good-for-nothing at the time. ;D
However, I don't know that my ambition was really that excessive. :-/ It is true that I always wanted to get ahead a bit because I never wanted to die dead broke like I saw my old man do 35 years ago after he had started life in a very comfortably well off family - but that fear also stopped me from taking some enticing risks that hindsight tells me might have rewarded me well. :-/
I was prompted to mull over these thoughts about ambition as I was having breakfast on my boat at 7.30am this morning at Green Island and watching a couple of ambitious sea birds repeatedly dive bomb a flesh bait that I had floating out the back on ganged hooks and 50 lb line. They would dive down, pick up the bait, realize that it was tethered, drop it and then do a big circle around in a big loop and do the same again over and over again. Amazing persistance really, and all for nought. :-? 'Twas a great bit of entertainment as I munched through my pizza rolls, sweet big black grapes and sipped my hot coffee. ;D Though, I did feel a bit guilty about the 'petrol' that they were using up in vain chasing their ambition. :-[
I suppose that I have always been a bit ambitious though. Like this morning...
I had a very satisfying fishing trip to the Green Island reef yesterday morning catching a nice feed of bream and have been keen to repeat, and indeed improve on, the experience, firstly last night which, although giving me the first time experience of catching a species new to me, yielded only one keeper bream, and then again this morning, for the second successive day going out into the dark bay after just three hours sleep in search of a ripper catch of bream to put yesterday's effort to shame.
...and nothing was going to stop me - certainly not lack of bait - I had plenty of that; certainly not the cold morning - five layers of clothing would fix that ::); certainly not the materials for the job - nice fresh juicy berley, fishing lines all pre-rigged and ready ::); certainly not that the boat seats and my onboard rugs that I put on the seats to take away the chill were all a bit wet from last night's rain :(; and most certainly not the lack of excited enthusiasm for the challenge. :D
What did stop me though was a lack of fish. :(
I hit the water at 5am to fish through the dawn, the 5.49am high tide, and today's solunar peak at 7am (so much for that theory! ;D).
Used prawns, pilchards and beef heart (which has given me success with bream in the past).
Caught undersized grassies, squire, one toad, one pike, a couple of grinners, but alas nothing worthwhile. Gave the reef away at around 9 am and drifted around the Lockyer beacon hoping to at least pick up a flattie. Nope - nothing there except baby grassies and squire. :-[
So, my fishing ambitions for the morning came to nought. :(
Nice morning on the water though, even if if was a bit overcast. 8-) Saw another couple of tinnies drifting and trolling around the reef but they di dnot seem to be having any success either. :(
Have been fascinated to notice that squire will take the beef heart baits. They were also pretty aggressive on mullet gut when I fished Mud at night a couple of weeks ago. Interesting. :)
So after all three trips to Green in the past day and a half, what I have to show is a nice feed from yesterday morning, a new species caught last night, and the makings of a cold from this morning. :(
...but I did have a ripper of a snooze this afternoon to catch up on the past couple of nights. ;D ;D ;D.
Will give the fishing a rest for the next couple of days. Hey! Wait a minute! - the 40Knot forecast that Seabreeze.com was making a couple of days ago for tomorrow is now down to under 15 knots! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) ......
However, I don't know that my ambition was really that excessive. :-/ It is true that I always wanted to get ahead a bit because I never wanted to die dead broke like I saw my old man do 35 years ago after he had started life in a very comfortably well off family - but that fear also stopped me from taking some enticing risks that hindsight tells me might have rewarded me well. :-/
I was prompted to mull over these thoughts about ambition as I was having breakfast on my boat at 7.30am this morning at Green Island and watching a couple of ambitious sea birds repeatedly dive bomb a flesh bait that I had floating out the back on ganged hooks and 50 lb line. They would dive down, pick up the bait, realize that it was tethered, drop it and then do a big circle around in a big loop and do the same again over and over again. Amazing persistance really, and all for nought. :-? 'Twas a great bit of entertainment as I munched through my pizza rolls, sweet big black grapes and sipped my hot coffee. ;D Though, I did feel a bit guilty about the 'petrol' that they were using up in vain chasing their ambition. :-[
I suppose that I have always been a bit ambitious though. Like this morning...
I had a very satisfying fishing trip to the Green Island reef yesterday morning catching a nice feed of bream and have been keen to repeat, and indeed improve on, the experience, firstly last night which, although giving me the first time experience of catching a species new to me, yielded only one keeper bream, and then again this morning, for the second successive day going out into the dark bay after just three hours sleep in search of a ripper catch of bream to put yesterday's effort to shame.
...and nothing was going to stop me - certainly not lack of bait - I had plenty of that; certainly not the cold morning - five layers of clothing would fix that ::); certainly not the materials for the job - nice fresh juicy berley, fishing lines all pre-rigged and ready ::); certainly not that the boat seats and my onboard rugs that I put on the seats to take away the chill were all a bit wet from last night's rain :(; and most certainly not the lack of excited enthusiasm for the challenge. :D
What did stop me though was a lack of fish. :(
I hit the water at 5am to fish through the dawn, the 5.49am high tide, and today's solunar peak at 7am (so much for that theory! ;D).
Used prawns, pilchards and beef heart (which has given me success with bream in the past).
Caught undersized grassies, squire, one toad, one pike, a couple of grinners, but alas nothing worthwhile. Gave the reef away at around 9 am and drifted around the Lockyer beacon hoping to at least pick up a flattie. Nope - nothing there except baby grassies and squire. :-[
So, my fishing ambitions for the morning came to nought. :(
Nice morning on the water though, even if if was a bit overcast. 8-) Saw another couple of tinnies drifting and trolling around the reef but they di dnot seem to be having any success either. :(
Have been fascinated to notice that squire will take the beef heart baits. They were also pretty aggressive on mullet gut when I fished Mud at night a couple of weeks ago. Interesting. :)
So after all three trips to Green in the past day and a half, what I have to show is a nice feed from yesterday morning, a new species caught last night, and the makings of a cold from this morning. :(
...but I did have a ripper of a snooze this afternoon to catch up on the past couple of nights. ;D ;D ;D.
Will give the fishing a rest for the next couple of days. Hey! Wait a minute! - the 40Knot forecast that Seabreeze.com was making a couple of days ago for tomorrow is now down to under 15 knots! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) ......