Excuses excuses. I've had more than I ever have in my boating life not to take the garden ornament out for a run. One by one I'm knocking them over. Work shifts starting at 4.30am was taking the shine off, I only ever did that to go fishing, not to work. Got that refined a little to 6.30am. Check. Birthday parties only get replies and my attendance if I've spoken or seen you in the last 12 months. Social media doesn't count. Check. Not that I am developing a social phobia but I get cranky if the weather turns to gold and I am locked into a commitment I made to be anywhere but in the boat enjoying what I love best. The truth is, my wife has not had a holiday since 12 months ago when we did the river Rhine and some of Europe, the UK and Ireland.
On Saturday all the planets aligned. No commitments and near perfect weather. We arrived at Redland bay ramp after a quick prep to do an overnighter . Never seen the tide so low at wyman creek before, I asked one skipper waiting to reverse his boat down what all the commotion was about, some guys were bashing the crap out of a trailer at the top of the ramp. Apparently the drop at the end of the ramp made for a broken trailer when he tried to pull his boat out against the steep edge at the end of the ramp. It surprised me too when I found the end while launching, I thought the boat was going to drag the car into the drink with it. I pushed the boat off without any drama and we were on our way.
Dropped 4 crab pots out the front of coochie for an overnight soak, which turned out a total waste of time. Only Jennies and one undersized buck. We didn't have a lot of sunlight left so decided to anchor near the wreck on the s/e side of peel. Out comes the gas cooker and we heat a vegetable soup ….. which I was enjoying, but I didn't see the wake a big cruiser threw up, knocked over the soup all over the dash. Only had enough for one cup too, not happy! I wasn't catching any fish, I had sausages for dinner and we bunkered down for the night at around 9.30pm with plans to move to spot X before sun up. There was no need to set any alarms, boats buzzing around woke us up. It's 5.30am, time to claim our spot and start fishing.
When my wife comes fishing, it's boots and all. More blankets, pillows, her flannelette pyjamas, tea, coffee, milk, bacon and eggs for breakfast, fried sausages for tea, even bought me a slice of cheesecake for dessert. Does it bother me that I give her the best rod and reel, bait her hook every time, acknowledge her with the biggest fish of the trip award? Hell no! We counted 30 fish caught before 10am, that's when we lost count because the snapper turned it up a notch. Double hookups on legal size fish, the wife found a couple of Russian subs that didn't want to stop, I wasn't alarmed at all, she did have the straddic after all, I tied perfect knots, the spool was full of line to begin with and the drag was singing away merrily. This fish had to pull up eventually. It spat the hook and I had a very disappointed little girl crying on my shoulder. She was making pathetic little whimpering sounds while I was still giggling like a girl. That's just how it goes I said. Not 10 minutes later it happened all over again. Same pathetic whimpering, same giggles coming from me during the fight. 3rd time lucky she pulls up a 48cm fish which she claimed easier than the two she lost. Followed that up with a 46cm fish. Between us we estimate 40 fish, around ⅓ were legal size. Because we kept 3 of the 1st legal fish to hit the deck for dinner, we said any more caught will be released. We stuck to our guns, we don't need any more than 3 for a feed. The best part was that no matter how many boats anchored beside us, dropped noisy anchor chains nearby, drove over the top of the area we fished, the fish stayed with us while others seemed bored with nothing happening for them What a sensational weekend away with my girl and best friend. What a legend!
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Originally Posted by Still_Dreamin
