Mud Island - Sunday night 26 February

[charleville]

I remember being very disappointed by a teacher’s remark when I was a kid on the day when I first tried out for the schools cricket teams. On discovering that I had the dual qualities of being both a pathetic bowler and a pathetic batsman, the teacher very haughtily and cruelly said, “Well why would you want to be on a cricket team?!” My simple unassuming but embarrassed answer was, “Well sir, I like cricket.”

So I ended up in the lowest grade cricket team in the school – you know the one with all the rejects and usually so many of them that you only got to play about one week in four. However, to this day, one of my greatest sporting memories is the day that I top scored for the team with six runs. What a legend! I have always loved cricket.

I have very similar prowess in my fishing skills as I did at playing cricket but the undeniable truth remains that I just love fishing. I go out fishing at every opportunity that I can and I eagerly soak up all of the wisdom from countess fishing magazines, fishing expos at boat shows, and by hanging onto every word written in these pages by real experts like Webby, who knows more about the topic that most others ever will and whose generosity in giving really helpful advice, maps, GPS marks etc to blokes who he has never met places him as one of nature’s truest and most genuine gentlemen.

So when Webby gave me some advice a couple of weeks ago that Mud Island can fish well on a rising evening tide, I just had to give it a go at the first opportunity that the weather allowed. Yippee!! A window of opportunity opened up amongst a fortnight of big winds last night and I was in like Flynn!

Alas, I was about a half hour later in launching than I had intended so instead of being anchored in place before the sun set, I found myself arriving at Mud a little after 7pm on a very dark night. Being unsure of how to navigate my way around Mud on a very dark night, I decided to go where at least I knew I could safely find my way, a spot close to the shoreline on the eastern side.

That was not the greatest idea as the wind was from the east and although it was only about 12 knots or so, I was still bounced around in my tinnie a fair bit. I like night fishing but it is easy to become a bit disoriented in a small boat as the boat bounces around in the dark. The anchor light gets in the eyes at the wrong time, and you trip and drop stuff and hit other rods when casting and so it goes.

But there are compensations – the night air last night coming off the sea was so warm, the stars so bright, the wind took away all of the mozzies – and before I knew it, it was 11pm and time to come home. And the trip home to Manly at 11.30pm with the whole city ablaze with lights, on a warm night with a lighter wind than earlier and with gentle seas was worth the whole excursion.

So did I catch any fish? Well, I am pretty sure that there are now no catfish around Mud Island that have not seen the inside of my boat and there were a few barely legal bream that I let go to grow a bit bigger but as the picture shows, I did get at least get the proverbial feed as can be seen below. The cod was caught on an unweighted pillie on ganged hooks.

My cricket teacher may have considered it not worth the effort – but then again, I always did consider him to be a boofhead.

[Archer]

Nice mate, Its all about getting out there and having some relaxing fishing time.
Catching some fish is just a bonus!
Looks like a lovely feed you got yourself there good work.

[Lone_Wolf]

Charleville,

Great read mate,thanks for the photos. I guess it's about how many hours you put in and learning what you can along the way in terms of tides, moons and the mysteries of "where to go" . It's even better when you enjoy it as much as you do. All the best for future expeditions.

[skins4]

Great story,

And I agree, that if you take home any catch it is a bonus. I only took one chopper taylor home last weekend, giving the few other bream to my mate to take home. Whilst my wife commented on my poor fishing skills, I smoked that little taylor and produced a quality meal. What could be better.


Steve0

[SeaHunt]

Nice,
Thats better than I usually do.
I am probably better than you at cricket though.

Then again I probably suck at that too now.

[Glen.m]

Charleville,

A thumping good read mate.

Glen

[2iar]

I reckon I enjoyed the report as much as you do your trips. [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

Yer out there fishing, and that's 90% of the fun, IMO.

Good luck,
Mike

[grant6336]

It's all about getting out there and having ago. You go fishing for the enjoyment of it.
Otherwise you could go the fish shop and buy it, it would be alot cheaper But where would the fun be in that?

[webby]

It takes time to learn any place you fish mate, but with the amount of time up your seleve this holiday year you should no the place backwards.
Dark nights in the bay can give you that eerie feeling, and navigating at night is a whole new ball game, but after the first trip you find the next and next a lot easier.
Still a feed mate, catch up soon.
regards

[charleville]

Thanks guys.

Dark nights in the bay can give you that eerie feeling, and navigating at night is a whole new ball game

Yeah - going out into the dark when there are a few waves around is a bit of a challenge but coming back with the city lights, and especially the big Port of Brisbane lights, lighting up the whole sea in front of you is glorious.

I am getting reasonably OK around parts of Mud but there was no light on the south cardinal last night and the trawlers were working in the space between Mud and St Helena so I wanted to keep well away from them plus I am not so sure about the western side of Mud - you know, all of those orange buoys around the oysters and the bits of bank that entend out at sharp points etc. I shall have to plot a few GPS points there in the day time.

By comparison, I have been able to find my way around the "Pin" on really dark rainy nights by looking for contours on the sounder. Not up to that in the Bay yet. So I take the caution of wearing a life jacket whilst I am travelling. Of course, I am out there on my own (which I really like) so I am extra cautious - my swimming prowess is ranked well below my cricket playing prowess unfortunately.

[2DKnBJ]

I dont say i am going fishing anymore I call it boating these days that way when i come home empty handed i don't feel so bad.
Atleast you picked up a feed.
Keep working those spots and have a look around during the day so you can become confident with night navigation.
Cheers Dazza

[Touchy - R.I.P.]

Good read there Charleville,reminds me a lot about my early ventures to Peel,much the same results then too , as the Spiderman says the results will come with the trips & with the winter approaching I'd be doing a few day trips checking the north side ready for those big breambos of a night on the rising tides (eh Cheech , Seeya over there. Touchy.><>

[charleville]

reminds me a lot about my early ventures to Peel,much the same results then too ><>

Thanks Touchy. Yes, Peel is on my list of places to explore. Have never fished there yet but I shall give it a go soon.

[tazza_505]

Not worth the effort my a$$! thats a ripping cod! it dosnt matter if they think your cr@p because thats the main thing about cricket... fun
good stuff mate

[sunny]

Charleville that's a ripping good yarn [smiley=tekst-toppie.gif]

Gee that brings back memories. Being sent to play cricket and ending up in the "special" team. I don't think we ever won a match. I think the whole team was what you might call, hand - eye challenged

As for fishing. Yep, if you can't play cricket, I'm pretty sure fishing is going to be tough. Don't ask me why. It just seems to work that way. I've been fishing the bay area for about a year now and I can honestly say you've seriously outfished me with that effort.

If it wasn't for the mates, the beautiful days on the water and the thrill of losing something big every now and then, I don't know if I'd bother.