Ballina, the Bar Cod Agenda, 06.05.07

[onerabbit]

Hi all, pretty stuffed, so please forgive typos,

Today saw the not-very-often inter-club deep sea comp with Lismore deep sea fishing club.

Ok, 6 am start,
we crossed Ballina bar at nearly 40 knts, it was that good,
& held that speed to the 48s (13 miles, almost unheard of),

Plan A was in full swing.

A couple of miles past the 48 line we hit a wind line, which slowed us down.

10 miles past the 48s, finally there.

We arrived on the shelf to find plenty of (wind)current on top, there must have been some on the bottom as well, because a 3 knt drift was still quite ok.

My day started badly, first 2 drops in 240 mtrs, 2 green eyed sharks.......... to make it worse, the second fish hit me with his tail spike in the index finger middle knuckle, very swollen now.

Bugger me , my next 2 drops caught 2 fish undersize (club rules), while Ida & Neon ( my boy Charlie ) managed to catch nannys & job fish. mmmmmm.

Ida did managed to pull 1 good cod, but no more looks after that, time for a quick move.

Next mark, Ida canes another good cod, bigger than the last, I got a small one, I felt sad to take a cod of just 2kg, but it was blown,
then Charlie hooked his first decent one (ever), ol' mate & I have been waiting for this, we pulled our gear & offered words of encouragement, Charlie just swore ( allowable after we cross the bar, but not after we cross back ). He finally boated a nice cod of 6.something kg, his biggest fish yet.

Cant really remember the order from there, I finished up with another about 7.5, while Ida went on to score another 2 around the same, If you look in my thread fom 2 weeks ago, he said he would get me next time.................................

We really should have stayed where we were, but we moved back to the 48s when the wind picked up, to get a few more smaller fish, nothing flash.

In the end, a great day was had by all, it was really good to fish against another like-minded group, & we look forward to the next.

Final results,

Ballina retained the "Tooheys Shield".

Biggest fish of the day: Ida (cant remember )11-12 kg bar cod
Over-all winner of the day: Ida
Best boat on the day: Muzza 1


It is always a pleasure to fish with my mate, even better to be there on a day like today, cheers bloke.

Muzz

[onerabbit]

try photos again.

[onerabbit]

Hmmm, must be to tired, it usually works????

Photos tomorrow.

[onerabbit]

Try again, this is Ida's first cod of the day

[onerabbit]

Yay, it worked, try a couple more.

[onerabbit]

Ida & Charlie, & a pic of "the 3 amigos"

[Tony_N]

Great days fishing Muzz. Long way to go for a feed, but well worth it, hey.
Saw the fleet head out. I was fishing from a mates jetty near the RSL club. Because it was so flat I took my 4.1 poly over the bar later in the morning. went to black head and then down to pippies. Didn't quite make it to the shelf

I'd heard that there were bar cod and pearlies caught. Those I spoke to in close had (like me) a pretty sketchy catch. I'd heard that there were some tuna about in close so i ended up doing a bit of trolling - but no luck.

cheers and congrats on taking out the meet with your boat and crew.

Tony

[kingtin]

Nice report Muzz and good on yer for persevering with the pics.

kev

[stonecold]

Ahh mate how long have you been waiting for that! 2 trips to the shelf in the space of 2 weeks whats going on...?
Had a pretty ordinary day, see video of sadistic little bugger! Father in law wasnt happy but Jhy thought it was the funniest thing he has ever seen as you can tell by his uncontrollable laughter in the background.
Managed 4 good pearlies to 3kg but little else. In the end it was a short notice trip and as with most short notice trips with little planning it was a bit scratchy.

Tony whats with the slimies at Evans they are bigger than the spotties! I'm positve I saw a spottie come hurtling in to snatch my live slimie only to turn away at the last minute and run with the slimie in hot pursuit sizing the spottie up for a feed

[onerabbit]

Must have looked great from where you were Tony, when the horn went off boats took off from everywhere. You may have noticed the friendly race between the white & blue glass boat & the big wind-raider, hehehehehe, he never stood a chance, we were sitting at 45knts still with 5knts up our sleeve.

Certainly is a long way to go out there, so we are pretty choosey about when we go, but when it all comes togeather like Sunday, it's well worth the effort.

Yeah, I did see the video, couldn't believe the laughter, might be different one day if he gets hit.
Even better was your slimey, now that's a fish with balls.

Forgot to put up a pic of Charlie's fish,

Muzz

[finding_time]

You NTH NSW guys are spoilt 23 miles is not a long way , were just about at cape moreton after 23 miles then theres another 23 miles from there to the shelf!! 150 miles of more in a day is pretty standard up this way for a shelf trolling trip.

good stuff by the way, are you marking your fish on the sounder or fishing blind?
Ian

[onerabbit]

150 MILES !!!!!!!!!!

We are lucky that the shelf is so close, but we get the sea/weather to match also, it's a case of making hay while the sun shines,'cos often we cant get out there for months at a time when it goes sour.

To be honest, it's not the relaxing day's fishing that we often go out there for, it's bloody hard work, your arms ache for days after, ( but it's great fun ).

I'm still not good enough with the new Furuno to just step up to it & make big adjustments, just not enough practice, so not looking for fish, just structure, & we DO fish very "special" marks.

Did send you a PM.

Muzz

[banshee]

Nice fish Muzz but next time you'll have to go a bit easier on the 'more lads......they've been doing some major sooking........I think the town's going to run out of tissues.

[onerabbit]

hehehe, poor old Chris, he couldn't even win the race to the bar.

Muzz

[Wayne_Red]

Top catch there fellas.
Gotta love the photo of the fag in the mouth and the hat. Straight out of the Paul Hogan show.
Great stuff.
Wayne