Harry Atkinson Reef - Monday 27 November 2008

[charleville]

Last week the Federal Government published the Switkowski report on the viability of nuclear power for Australia...

...which reminds me of the old joke...How many nuclear engineers does it take to change a light bulb? Seven. One to install the new bulb and six to figure out what to do with the old one.


Old fishing line is a bit like that. # I could easily consult with six other people to work out what you should do when the line on your reel gets down to say the halfway mark on the reel. # # Until this year, I have usually discarded the old line in total and re-spooled with new line but I invariably then have a bunch of left-over new spools of line with maybe 80-100m remaining on on each one lying around my garage. #


I have never thought it to be sensible to tie a new piece of line on to the old one on the reel and fill up the reel because I know that any knot, no matter how good it is , will introduce a point of stress into the line and become a weak point which at best might only have less that 70% of line strength. # # Thus a 30 lb line effectively becomes a 20 lb line. #


However, I have noted that lots of people on this website do tie lines together, especially mono backing to braid or leader to a main line so who am I to doubt the real experts? # So, #a few months ago I tied on a fresh piece of 30 lb Platypus Super 100 line to what was left on a reel of the same line. #I cannot remember what knots I used but I assume that I did all the right things because I have the Geoff Wilson book and DVD on tying knots and so I am sure that I would have tied the knot exactly as Geoff would have explained, complete with lubrication. #

Not that it would have matter on most occasions because in most cases, it is really only the top few layers of line that gets used anyway and by filling the reel to the top, it is better for casting. #

All year long such arrangements have suited me perfectly # ...until today...

Now that all of you weekend fishos have finished for the week, it was time for me this morning to have my go at ‘em again. #

And being the persistent bugger that I am, I went to the Harry Atkinson Artificial Reef this morning - fifth time in five consecutive fishing trips since last Tuesday - I am gonna crack the secret to that place yet! . # #

Low tide was at 7.16 am and I arrived about 7.30 am at the reef - a bit later than I had intended but the weather beacons were showing that the overnight winds were taking a bit longer to settle down than expected - they were still at 23 knots at the Inner Beacon at 4 am - so I held off going until I knew that the winds were no more than a manageable 15 knots. #

On arriving, I anchored just off the edge of the northern reef and loaded up a pillie floater on a bait-runner and also a pillie well weighted on a basic Shimano 6000 size reel and tossed both out the back of the boat whilst I did a bit of housekeeping. (Having been fishing on six out of the last eight days, the boat was a bit grubby and in need of a good clean so I set about doing a little tidy-up whilst the boat stabilised itself on the anchor and with the two lines in the water meaning that at least I had an ‘investment’ in play whilst I did some housework.) #

Time to get the landing net ready just in case - dammit! #>- it is caught up on the boat hook - I shall just lean over and untangle that - whoops - ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ . Off goes a ratchet. #


Normally I expect that to be the bait-runner but this time it was the other reel bent like an inverse “U” with line peeling off. #

You little ripper!!!!! #

...and so I fought a monstrous fish for 15 minutes or so, all the while watching that knot in the line come and go on and off the reel. # #The fish took line and I won it back. #Back and forth we went. #Over and over and over. #

Of course, I have no idea what sort of a #fish it was - I never saw it - but it did all of the usual fish things like swimming in circles around and around and then diving deep then taking off before relaxing enough for me to reclaim some line. # #No head shaking so that rules that out. # #The rod doubled over nearly all of the time # - gosh! I was excited! #

...and all the time, I am worrying about the strength of that knot. # It was like a tennis match, the knot was wound onto the reel and then it was peeled off then backon #again for a few seconds then off again - back and forth for fifteen minutes. # #All the time, I am worrying about that knot. # I am worrying about that knot. #

I have explained in these pages previously that I am indeed a persistent person but I have no patience at all. #

I could not stand thinking about that knot any more. # #I just reasoned to myself that all I had to do was to get that knotted piece of line back on the reel and then hold the fish on the fresh line and all would be well... #

So I tightened up the drag just a #little bit more # to give me more purchase the next time that I wound in...

Well - you know the rest. # > > > Snap!!! # #Bugger it!! # Dammit!!! # Blast it! # Goodness golly gosh!! and all sorts of other descriptive words. #> > >

Yep - broken off at that knot. #

I had one other good freight train run for the day but once again a knot let me down. # Actually it was my fault because I had become a bit lazy yesterday afternoon when I was watching the cricket and rigging my gear at the same time and I had knew that I had not quite done the last Palomar knot correctly but what the heck, it ‘ll be alright. # #Ah well, it wasn’t. #

I started this year having all sorts of knot problems on terminal gear until I discovered the Palomar knot and have not had a failure since then - #provided that the knots are done correctly. # My second freight-train loss today was on a knot that I know that I was a bit clumsy in finishing off. #

The end result was for the day was less than spectacular as shown below but at least I shall have fish for dinner. #

I caught probably about a dozen grinners, two undersized schoolies and the modestly sized schoolie shown which I kept. #

I saw no bird/surface activity although I was looking for it intently as I took a slow trip from across Green Island to Harry’s. #

The conditions were a bit lumpy when I first arrived at Harry’s but settled down very quickly. # #A 15 - 20 Knot SE change was forecast mid morning and soon after 9 am, the wind did pick up quite a lot #from the south east to cool things down a bit and stir up some waves but it died down a half hour later. # #It was pretty comfortable trip home to Manly at 11.15 am. #


I had Harry’s to myself for a little while this morning until another couple of boats came a long and did multiple drifts past me on either side and then anchoring for a while later. #One other tinnie showed up but was some distance away from me. #I did not see significant catches being made by the other boats.

It was a nice morning on the bay though, and even more so listening to the radio to hear Australia play out the tail-enders to win the first test at the Gabba. # #

Also, today, I changed from using Mustad Ganging hooks to Gamakatsu Gansters. #A bit dearer and new to me but they are beauties! # They are thinner than the equivalent Mustads and very smooth which makes them a lot easier to move through the eyes and to penetrate the bait, and fish, I guess.

Ah well, let's see what tomorrow's weather holds in store for us... #

[finga64]

live and learn Charlie, live and learn

[Slient]

Great report and you probably spent too much time on researching and nothing wrong to stop you till your expertise will pay off...
Nice doggie has saved your day...

[ssab1]

top report I will finish reading it tomorrow

[dogsbody]

Charlie you should change your chant from "I am worried about that knot" to " Don't touch that drag" next trip mate. Cheers

Dave.

[chief]

G/day charlie , bummer about the freight trains . Mate i tried floating pillies and slightly waited but they just wouldn;t touch them. All fish were on prickley pete slugs or raiders. Did miss a couple of fish that seemed to have a bit of size to them.

[aquarius]

Nice read Charlie, you are persistant i will give you that.
You sure there's fish over at Harry's?
I have tried there a few times and never caught a thing but like you said in past reports fish do get caught there.
There's always a next time.
At least you will dine on mackerel fillets tonight.
Cheers Brent

[bidkev]

Now then Bruce...you impatient bugger 30lb mono knot at 70% gives you 20lb....you said it yourself ............How many fish pushing double that are caught by blokes with 20lb line or less?............They're patient

Not that I have any room to talk..............I'd sooner respool anyday rather than have a knot in me line

Nice report, yet again mate.

kev

[dogsbody]

Ah remember the days of reports like this. I still get a chuckle.

How bout it Bruce,,,,,,,, time for another report.

Dave

[charleville]

Ok.

Writing one now....

[Captain Jack Zero]

Good report mate.i dont have the patience to write for that long.have you tried uni to uni knot ?seems to work for me.