My folks had driven nearly 2000kms to be here over Christmas and New Year, so I wanted to take my father and younger brother on a few worthwhile fishing trips. And today's did not disappoint.
Forget celebrating New Year's Eve. We packed our gear and got some sleep for an early start thismorning. I wanted to be certain of catching some Sooty Grunter so it was over the range to 'spot X' for us where the Sooties were a sure bet. I was a little concerned about the amount of water which could possibly be flowing through the gorge due to the recent rains, however on arrival, my fears of seeing a torrent of whitewater was swiftly replaced with an eagerness to climb down there and waste no more time- the waterlevel only slightly higher than that which I'd normally expect.
Our lines were wet before 0600 and after an anxious slow start the catches started coming in. My brother landed the first fish- a healthy Star River Sooty. Mine soon followed and then it was the 'old man's turn, getting on the board in the form of a Spangled Perch- the biggest I've seen caught in this particular river.
From then on, for the next five hours, the fun continued as we followed the course of the river, landing fish as each "fishy looking" stretch of boulder strewn Sooty Paradise presented itself. Even though no such words had been spoken, each of us knew the competition was on and proved our growing tallys with shouts the like of "I'm on!'' and "Oh yeh, this one's a good fish!".
Come 1100 at our turnaround point and the 'old fella was in front with 19 fish, I trailed with 14 and my brother with 7. ( I should note but, the 'old man was claiming EVERY fish with the quote "if it comes out, it counts!"- even the tiddlers! While my modest figure only included bigger than palmed size.)
After a refreshing dip in a cool, bottomless hole, it was back upstream to continue the challenge. Boulders were being leaped at a quicker pace than was safe as prime casting positions were at a premium in an all out effort to reach the magic number of 30 fish. Towards the end the 'one cast per spot' rule had been enforced, otherwise we would never make the Rollingstone Pub for lunch! The young bro had run out of gas and finished with 8, unable to keep up and fish at the same time. Dad, true to form, was counting specimens the size of goldfish in an attempt to crack 30 but fell short at 28, while I walked away at 18.
All fish were released, hopefully to be caught again by us in the future.
Reply With Quote
