Halifax bay dreamin'

[Mozza]

Hi all,

For starters, apologies for no pics because Curmudgeon's camera decided not to store any of them.

Here's a quick summary:

24:00hrs - the dog wakes me up
00:30hrs - I get up because that close to a fishing trip, I've got buckleys of more shut-eye
01:30 - After checking the boat, I discover loose wiring to the sounder and finish the repairs just as the alarm goes... yay, its 'wake up' time!
02:00 - Mudge arrives
02:10 - Off we go!
02:30 - Arrive at the boat ramp to be greeted with perfect conditions
02:45 - We hit some slop coming in on a Northerly from around West Pt
03:30 - Idling up to the mark and Mudge says: "Moz, have ya got the anchor back there?"
03:30.02 - "Oh tarnation take it!"; "Gosh, it appears I've left it behind."



03:45 - Back at the boat ramp again
03:46 - Doing a burnout on my way out of the carpark
03:47 - Back at the boat ramp after picking up the pick - its amazing how distances seem to shorten at 3:00 a.m. in the morning.



04:20 - We're fishing... finally.

This trip started forming in the grey matter after going out with ronnien a week ago and the difficulty we were having in attracting squid to the light because of the choppy water. So, with that in mind, I started looking for a night when the moon was setting early (1st quarter) so I could get out when my chances of calmer waters coincided with no moonlight.

The bay was much calmer than the previous trip and the tide was gentle to boot so conditions for squidding were ideal. Our first mark didn't produce so we moved quickly to a 2nd mark where I was more confident of hooking up other species in the event the squid or fingermark decided not to come to the party. Well, the light was in the water for no more than 10min before it was clouded by marine bugs and soon after we could see gar darting through. Then the herring turned up and it wasn't long before our first livies were pinned and sent back down.

The dead bait from Mudge's hook was flung back over and bugger me if we didn't see it float past with a nice 12cm squid chewing on it. I practically destroyed the internals of the boat trying to net it but I got and immediately pinned it and sent it over. 'This is it' I was thinking, 'the weather's perfect, the water's clear, the squid have arrived - it's all good'. Sure enough, there's another squid under the light. I slam the net over it and call out to Mudge to get his line in. But, when I go to get the squid out, its not there - I MISSED IT. Arrgh!

5min later, first light hits the horizon and that my friends, is the end of the squid party.

I get a few taps on my squid and wind it in to discover the tax man has paid a visit. Fortunately, the water under the light is infested with herring so I manage to keep a steady stream of livies going into the well, nothing spectacular but, enough. A grunt from Mudge indicates he's onto something and shortly after a nice grunter hits the deck. After manning the net, I have a go and within a minute or 2 pull in you guessed it; a fingermark around the 45cm mark. Suddenly the bite's on and the livey bucket is emptying rather quickly as we get numerous hits for no hookups.

I go biblical and drop one over the other side of the boat and after keeping a close eye on my rod while continuing the bait jigging duties, I notice a light tap and suck and pick up the rod. It takes a bit of line and "yup, I'm on". This one's bigger - good head shakes and plenty of grunt has us guessing what it might be. Some colour, silver, you ripper! It's a stonker of a grunter (62cm). A PB and on the new reel.

After that things got surreal: it went something like plink, plink, plink etc as, time after time, we got busted up and/or bricked maybe 6/7 times in a row. And that included a good 20cm yakka and a small GT as livies as well. As the sun rose, the fish went off the boil and we decided to sit back, have some brekkie and head in.

A great morning despite the major F.UP. I wobbled off to work and a pressing deadline for 5p.m.

It was worth every minute.

Hope you all enjoy the story.

Mozza

[Cobia Kid]

Great sesh mate, good to hear u got ur wiring fixed b4 the trip to,
any pics of the stonker of a grunter??
cheers,
jamie

[levinge]

Good Report Mozza, were u fishing West Point or around further toward Liver Point???

Talking Fingermark, Scott, Ron and I are early stages of planning a Finger session later in the month. Got to get Ron to show me how he does it!!!!

[Scott nthQld]

Sounds like a fun Trip Mozz....and I must say, your story telling skills are coming along nicely...lol

Seriously thouhg, thats a stonker grunter, and the good thing is, I think they eat better, the bigger they are too.

Now you've got me thinking of a very early morning trip myself through the week....I've got all next week off and want to put in a decent effort on the water or a midweek fish, but not liking the look of this bloody wind atm.

[Mozza]

Jamie,

No pics - Mudge's camera sh!t itself.

Levinge, I'm very keen - we were fishing near Burdekin Rock. Its a good time to be fishing at night - no sun, no sunburn, no heat exhaustion etc. And it gives us something exciting to do while the barra season's closed.

Mozza

[reel screamer]

Hey Mozza

I was wondering what had appened on your trip!? It sounds like it was well worth it and your analytical skills paid off.

That is a big Grunter. I got one of 54cms and I thought that was a bus.....well!

Sounds like really good fun and a great read for those of us who have not experienced this type of fishing before.

Keep em coming!