Weather has improved, so out again for more snapper. This time with a dekky (Big Ben). Got up at a stupid hour and crossed the bay in darkness (don't like it). Due to low tide and inattention, I shined up the propeller on a sand bank (rouse channel, heading south before the final left turn) and we had to walk ourselves to deeper water and continue.
Crossed the bar at first light (and low tide). Went through the middle channel and didn't have any problems. On the way to the 33s I noticed that the tell tail on the engine wasn't working, and after a bit of a think, decided that the impeller must be working, but the tube to the tell tail must be blocked by sandIf the entire cooling was blocked then the engine would have overheated by now and it would be in limp mode. Decided to continue.
10 minutes more and we were fishing. First drop, a bite off on me and a fish from Ben (the smallest keeper of the day). 2nd drift, 2 fish, etc I lost good sized one due to being reefed, and we both lost 1 or 2 due to spitting hooks. We were bagged out by 7:30. Most were in the 40cm range with 2 50-55cm. I'm guessing these were from two different year groups (last trip, similarly 2 sizes of fish). 3 trips to the same spot, and they are still there.
Due to not being sure about the engine (and only seeing one other boat out there), we cancelled on my original plan of going out to square patch for a jig and we headed to the bar. Stopped at the rouse ledge and whilst trying to use up some pilchards collected a tailor (+ 1 undersized).
Stopped at Harries (again to try to use up some pilchards) and Ben hooked a flathead. He later had a double hookup on grinners (2 hook rig, 2 grinners). A squid was also kept. We ended up donating a dozen or so unused pilchards to the scavengers and headed back to Manley.
All up a good day.
The tell tail just needed a squirt of water and the tube to the outlet massaged a little and all was working again.
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Originally Posted by rosco1974
