Off Evans.

[whykickacatalong]

Made an early start this morning to try for a Mackeral off Evans Head. Had a very hard time finding bait (3 small yakka's for 45mins ) so decided to try the troll and Pilly option down around south Evans. Apart from a couple of unwanted's and a small trag came up zip so bypassed Kaos and popped out to the Fad and was happy to find it where marked. Spent the next couple of hours pulling in Dolly after dolly which were in the 45-60cm size with a few bigger ones in the school. I recon there would have been 15 landed undersize to every legal with the lure very rarely coming back to the boat with out a fish on it. Not much of a challenge but fun on the sol2500 Tried to get a livey and jigs down deeper hoping for something a bit more substantial but unable to hook anything apart from the little Dolly's. I was surprised that nobody else was out there as reports in closer were fairly dismal.

Popped back in the bar while there was still some water over the growing sandbank at the mouth and home with a feed to justify the day to the wife . Beautiful day outside which I expect will turn to poo come the weekend

Alistair.

[Pete62]

Hey Alistair, the old man was going to go out today but said the Bar was a bit iffy, he has to be a bit careful as he has only recently has a back op.

Good u got a feed.

Pete.

[TonyM]

Sounds like a fun day out Al - glad you scored a few fish, you need all those brownie points! Make sure you build a pergola or something this weekend!

I'm glad you got to go for a fish, and I expect you're right about this weekend turning to poo weather wise

The boats all ready now, so when the weather does play fair we're all set to hit all points north I noticed I missed your call, was stuck under the console in the boat tidying up the wiring.

Cheers
Tony

[whykickacatalong]

G'day Pete, yep iffy is the word. The swell though is well spaced apart and on the top half of tide it was fine to pick the gap. Coming in though requires sitting on a wave to stay high enough. I hear the pro's aint oo happy having to dig a channel with their props After I cleaned and wash down went to the C-Guard to pay my fees and watched one guy in a small tinny try a number of times to get out (low tide) with the fella in the control room not overly impressed.

Tony, looks like the wind has dropped a bit more on the forcast but I assume things are off? I will give you a bell later or tomorrow unless things change quick and you need to tell me to pack and head northwards . I spoke to the big fellas today who was fishing our planned destination this week for a few days and they did very poorly on the reefs and only a bit better on the Macks (lots of tuna though) so maybe it is a good thing that it has blown out

[finga]

Thanks for the report matey.
We have not fished the fad yet...why I hear you say??
Bloody bar...someone should blow that bar up.
Seriously...someone should blow the crapper out of it.
The boat hasn't been over it for near two years. Either the bar goes or the boat goes.
Sadly, it'll probably take a death for the knobs in control to realise there's a problem.

[murf]

Thanks for the report matey.
We have not fished the fad yet...why I hear you say??
Bloody bar...someone should blow that bar up.
Seriously...someone should blow the crapper out of it.
The boat hasn't been over it for near two years. Either the bar goes or the boat goes.
Sadly, it'll probably take a death for the knobs in control to realise there's a problem.

would love to spend a couple of weeks there but the bar scares me in the 4.75 C/C ally

I have spent hours watching it on all tides and watching boats go through it

cheers Murf

[skipalong]

thanks for the report mate good to hear

justin

[whykickacatalong]

The Evans Bar deserves a thread dedicated just to it To be honest though I dont mind it too much as while it is shallow, choppy, waves stand up quick and break it is only short (100mts) and I can see what is coming and pick the time, and I can tell you I aint got big kahoonas to punch through waves like I see some do . The hardest thing is when you know the fish are biting and you have to turn back. No fish is worth me or the boat . Any ideas on how they could deepen the bar? Those T shaped bars I have seen in the US seem a great idea.

Ballina worries me more as it can be so bloody long to get out and you can be halfway out when things turn pearshaped. I only have a 4.8 cuddy so I am very careful. Places like Coffs, Sydney and further north make life so much easier for boaters heading out.

[The_Tub]

Hi fellas

I live in ballina,90% of the time i fish out of evans as i find the bar less daunting
ballina bar you have to go along way,and as has been said evans is a lot shorter
even though it's alot shallower aleast you know you don't have to go far and your out.I've been out at ballina lately but haven't bag a mackeral as yet,have
been slow trolling pike,bonito,slimies and yakkas but still can't manage to turn a
reel.I heard from a couple of mates that went to south reef wednesday they got
a few mackeral,as they rang gloating as i was at work,how far out have they put the FAD?

cheers mal

[whykickacatalong]

It's about 16-17km from the bar. To give you an idea on a round trip I travelled 59km going from Evans - south reef - FAD and back to Evans. The FAD is where fisheries have marked it still.

[stonecold]

Not gunna be much happen there this w.e Al. Swell was up Friday morning and conditions have deteriorated since then

[reel overtime]

I used to race standup jetskis and love the waves, i've taken my cruisecraft outsider over evans in breaking waves with no worry. it doesn't worry me. Its kind of fun, for me anyway, just learn to love the big splash.

I have been out the ballina bar with a mate in 6m plate boat, big swell and ended up getting 1m of air between the prop and the water, and that was hair raising, there was impressions left in the floor where we were standing from our feet landing so hard on the ally deck.

And I have ridden my superjet in front of the ballina bar in waves that would easily have 12 foot fronts and move almost as fast as my ski. I wish i had footage of them, they were incredible, adrenalin pumping trying to run down the face trying to out run them before they start breaking.

So I'd rather the predictable breaking waves and shallow bottom of evans.

Speaking of shallow evans bar, back about 2 years ago i was sitting on the north wall watching the trawlers go out and the smallest of the fleet (the little one with the round ass) took a slightly different path and ran aground on the sandbar, the waves knocked it sideways and kept hammering it, then it rocked over onto it's side and after about 10 mins washed it off the bar, he then went back into the river and turned around, again he got stuck on the sand bar beside the southern wall, talk about a having a bad run, then he got off and headed out to sea.

I went out with mick on the MV pirate, the evans charter boat, on its maiden voyage, on the way out it dragged its belly and he just powered through, burning the prop through the sand digging a channel, that was interesting.

[hakuna]

Many years ago if you wanted to cross the Evans bar at low tide, coming home, you brought it in to the bar, jumped out and pushed it across the sandbar, then jumped back in an go up the river. Interesting manouver of the night.
It changed at one stage you went through the bar, turned left into the north side rip beside the wall, then headed towards south reardons to get out.
It is an age old problem

cheers

Hakuna

[The_Tub]

Hi fellas

i think it was about 4 or 5 years ago they dredged the bar,the dredge headed northy to dump the sand,it would have been no more than 300 metres up the beach towards ballina i thought it didnt make that much difference as i was going out 2/3 times a week,it was pretty hairy with that dredge in the way sometimes,i'm pretty keen to get out as soon as possible but it does'nt look good for a while now,hope its not the last we'll see of the mackeral with this dirty water that will be coming out!!!!