I'm sitting at work dreaming about a day on the bay with snapper for dinner at the end of it. But alas I know with our new addition to the family there is little hope of a day on the water this weekend. Not such a bad thing - a weekend with my beautiful girl and wife is always a winner.
The phone rings. Its the Boss. The real Boss. You know, she-who-must-be-obeyed. A good friend wants to catch up with her for lunch this wknd.
Right, I say probably can accomodate that.Bub and I can chill at home if you want to catch up for lunch on Sat. Take your time. Enjoy the day. I'll pick you up if you want to have a few wines. AND......, How about I drop the boat in on Sunday and head out to Mud for a fish?.....
A resounding yes hits me and I think right that dreaming of snapper is on....
So, the alarm goes at 2:00 am sunday morning. Check.
Jump on Seabreeze and BOM and check the wind observations. 5-10's. Check
Forecast 5-10's for the rest of the morning.Check
Hit the boat ramp. Run across the bay is pretty good. Anchored on the East side of mud at about 3:50. The only boat.
Met with my first problem. Run out tide so current is running against the N/NEly blowing. So the boat is swinging around (I like to fish bait so anchoring makes sense. Maybe a drift like the SP boys do might have made more sense?)
Anyway, all sorts of difficulties holding tension on my lines with the boat swinging around between the wind and the tide. After a few bites I finally get a decent run on the bait runner. Lock it in and it feels solid. Pilly on a gang hook no sinker. Starts to perform and get it to the boat. A healthy 45cm squire/snapper. Just right eating size. Its 430 and I'm happy.
Now a bit of a gap to about 7:00. Heaps of bites and plenty of burley later I throw out a livey (silver biddy) not expecting much. Five minutes later and the reel screams off. Lock it in expect alot from the way the baitrunner ran and delivered a much smaller than expected squire at 38cm. Well, its legal, and the freezer is bare so I keep it. Besides also a good size for eating. Throw out another livey. Have enough time to set the rod and turn to check another rod and its on again.
Right, this one seems a bit better. A 42cm hits the deck, again surprising the size given the fight. I'm happy - three qood eating size squire/snapper in the ice box, its 7:15 and I can be home before the heat hits. Fish for another hour for a moses perch (just legal) and a small grassie (also just legal). Look around and being the only boat is now changed - there's a whole armada around the east side. It is school holidays I guess.
Head home happy, and back in harbour by 9:00. Wife is happy she caught up with friends. I'm happy cos I got a few fish. Bubs happy (she just seems to be lately). And snapper for dinner. How good is that?
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