Old mate arrived at 7.30am as arranged, right on the morning high tide peak. I was just finishing drying off the boat windows and clears from the heavy overnight dew that had settled. It only took a few minutes of loading the remaining gear and we were away into the still crisp morning air.
The bay was flat as the proverbial as I eased the boat onto the plane into Raby Bay. Hardly a boat to be seen in any direction. Quickly into the motor's sweet spot and we were cruising at 25 knots across a mirror-like bay. 15 minutes later and it was off the plane and onto the Amity Banks north of Peel.
The rods were already rigged (paternoster with 2 no. 6 gamakatsu worm hooks and a light sinker). The bait table was set up, the squid was skinned and cut into fine strips, a few of the peeled cooked prawns out of the esk, and I broke out the bag of bloodies.
Hardly a breathe of breeze as we set up the first drift. I was expecting whatever breeze there was to come from the N to NNW as per the forecasts, but was surprised to see the light whisper was actually coming from the south. I re-adjusted our position and we were into it.!
First drift saw a steady flow of winteries coming over the side. 23cm and over into the dinner bin and smaller ones into the bait bin for some prime snap baits. First drift ended with about 20 in the boat. Peak time was due about 9.30am according to Nugget's prediction charts and it seems to be holding true, although they were never more than steady on the bite. Not another boat in sight most of the time!, although one went past at a full cruise on the plane and straight through the go slow zone!.
By 11.00am the wind had dropped out completely and it was hard to get a drift in any direction. We had been joined by a couple of other boats on the drift. Two Dolphins surfaced near by and continued to feed around us for the next 30 minutes or so. They eventually disappeared and then a Turtle made a few noisy appearances for a while.
By midday a slight whiff of breeze had a nice drifting going for us again. The winteries continued at a steady pace, but were a bit more picky and generally preferring the bloodworms now.
We pulled the pin at 1.00pm and 15 minutes later we were back on the mooring.
Final tally was 45 in the fillet bin and 30 in the bait bin. A couple of feeds and now I am hopefully set for some winter bay Snaps in coming weeks.
It really was glorious out there!.
Cheers
Dave
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Originally Posted by hooknose
