The eagle has landed!

Got out for the first real crack this season over last weekend (Cup weekend). Fished hard in Mosquito Channel and surrounding areas and there were quite a few fish about. We arrived friday night ready for a session but it was blowing a gale and lightning was lighting up the skies. Dad was still keen to go out! We held off until saturday morning and arrived at Corinella ramp at 3.30am to find a sunken boat. A guy had tied his boat up to the ramp (Too tightly, and with the stern facing all of the incoming waves mind you) and it had been swamped. He probably would have been able to rescue it had he not been sleeping in his car at the time! There was a big groupd of guys milling around, all concerned from the massive storm and wind that had hit about 30 minutes prior to our arrival. Nothing would stop Dad from getting out on the reds so we launched on the one remaining ramp (The other was blocked by the now half submerged boat!). Conditions that greeted us were calm, in contrast to the storm that had hit earlier. We sat in our 'Mosquito channel calm' spot and didn't turn a reel until daybreak. I hooked a reasonable gummy then Dad's rods went nuts. In the next hour he boated 3 nice pinkies, missing many more. My rods were oddly quiet, apart from 3 nice size salmon that were kept for bait.


We decided to hit the water saturday night to upgrade to a bigger model and we went out just before dark, and were passed but 15-20 boats all coming in. Turns out there had been a storm warning that we hadn't heard. We went across increasingly choppy conditions to as close to French Island as possible (To get out of the wind and chop!), but couldn't hold anchor in those conditions. We finally found a spot in 6m of water and tried to sit it out. Lightning then lit up the sky, then came the torrential rain. We decided it would be too dangerous to cross back to Corinella so stayed at anchor. 15 minutes later the anchor failed to hold and we were slowly being dragged towards French Island, so were forced to motor back. It was a rough trip, very wet but we finally made it back. After this we had a sleep in sunday morning, which looked like pristine conditions again!

Sunday afternoon came and we launched about 12. Very busy, a lot of boat traffic and the fishing was queit. At 1pm my rod went off in our spot next to Snapper Rock and I pulled in an unexpected 1m gummy. It did not really fight at all until it was thrashing around the bottom of the boat. Stayed without a bite for the next 2 and a half hours then headed to a 10m reef where we made use of the salmon fillets for bait. Every half hour or so we had a run or two (Obviously the fish were schooling), and we pulled in mumerous pinkies. Then came the big run and after a very nervous (He was very worried about losing it!), a 52cm, 1.75kg red was brought aboard. Finally has caught one! We kept fishing for an hour or so but much of the same followed.


Monday morning we went out at 4.30 and had the port almost to ourselves. We burleyed hard in our 10m reef and just before the sun came up the action started. All before 7am and we had 7 pinkies to 51cm, 3 trevally to 44cm and a few salmon. We headed to Mosquito Channel and used the salmon for bait again, and it was slow. Dad pulled in a massive skate (Pictured) and we both got bitten off, which I think was by a 7 gill. I almost got it to the boat once before it turned and bit me off. Came home monday afternoon after a fun, successful trip on Westernport.

Parksy's 50th birthday Barra Safari

From Monday 5th to Wednesday 8th of April Parksy, Trav and Glen hit the top end for some serious big fish action. It started monday morning with a fish on a high tide in a canal near Shady camp and first cast Glen was into a nice barra on a plastic. The action was non-stop for an hour or two with Parksy landing a nice 75cm model - See pic.

Next we went travelled to the river mouth which was about 54km away and fished the high tide trolling for the big barra. Saw numerous boats hook up to some serious fish but we only managed a few catfish and blue salmon.

Then it was off to the mothership (Our accommodation for the next couple of nights) that was based in Sampan creek to put our gear away, then up the river to fish a delta on the high tide. Trav hooked up first cast and Parksy chimed in with numerous barra and after an hour we all had some fish on the scoreboard, and they became dinner.

Tuesday saw us go offshore for some jewie action and Glen was into it first cast with an absolute monster. He followed it up an hour later with another and by that stage he was almost thrown overboard. Finally towards the end Parksy and Trav got one each but the day belonged to Glen. The amazing thing was that all four jewies caught were about the same size as the one Glen is displaying in the picture. Due to Parksy and Trav's inability to land one sooner we missed the high tide to fish for the big barra in the river mouth. Back to the mothership for some jewie for dinner!

Wednesday was our final day and it started trolling around the river mouth for big barra. After 45 minutes of trolling Trav hooked up on a 'green bomber' (His first hit trolling for the 3 days!) and after a tough fight, an 88cm barra was brought to the boat. It weight about 20lbs and was released to be caught next time when it's a metre!

After anouther hour of fruitless trolling we headed back, packed our gear and went back up towards Shady Camp. Just before our last stop we passed a dead cow floating down the river with numerous crocs attacking it which was quite a sight. We then went up into a freshwater billabong for one last crack. Trav missed an early hit then Glen cast a 'centimetre perfect' cast next to a lily pad and pulled a healthy little barra from it, which was to be the last fish of the trip.

Overall it was a great trip with Parsky celebrating his birthday in style and even Glen enjoyed himself!

The coldest AND the wettest!

Wow. Earlier in the year, Dad and I headed out Friday night after work to catch some gummy sharks. Whilst we were successful, it was freezing and we later found out that it was the coldest night of the year. Fishing last saturday for some reds, we also have now fished on the wettest day of the year. It rained, was windy and there was a substantial swell but we thought 'anyone who fishes in these conditions deserves a snapper'. We boated 5 to 42cm (Dad caught the first one @ 30cm and went quiet after that, despite having bite after bite!) but nothing decent. We also fished sunday morning where Dad resumed showing off his cod-catching prowess and I got a small gummy and a banjo. Nothing much for the weekend, the season is running out, let's start to pray!

The boys are back in town

'The boys' hit Coronet Bay last weekend. It was a fun-filled weekend tha included some bocce tournaments, wii golf games, cards and of course some fishing.

Quite windy for most of the weekend but managed a few hours on the water saturday morning. 4 in the boat for the first time ever, and apart from driving soooooo slow it was still quite comfortable and handled the conditions well. Naim, Tim, Brad and myself hit the water at a chilly 4am. The fish didn't play the game until about 6am when Tim pulled in a pinkie. In the following hour we missed many bites (Smaller pinkies I think) and kept 4 between 35-40cm.

A move as the outgoing tide slowed to 14m just off French Island saw some great gummy action. Naim scored 2 (See pic) and I scored 1. Naim's best was about 6-7kg. We also pulled in port jackson sharks, banjo sharks, cod and leopard sharks. All on board probably caught between 10-15 fish each (Including the undesirables) except poor old Brad, who didn't trouble the scorers.

Baits used were pilchards and squid, with almost all fish caught on pilchards.

The fish are on but the poll is closed

Went out for a solo session by myself last Tuesday. Hit the water at 6.30pm, off by 8.30pm with a bag-out catch. Only pinkies from 38-49cm (38, 38, 42, 44, 49) but they fed the in-laws who are now happy after 2 years of promising them some fish! Also a few banjoes and port jackson sharks, and had I stayed out after dark I'm sure there were some bigger ones around.
The action was so hot I only sat down once in the 2 hours!
As for the poll, it looks like 'By December' was the main choice, but unfortunately Parksy doesn't have any scheduled trips in the next week so that option is out.
Heading to Sandy Point mid December so might be lucky and hook a red there in amongst the whiting and gummies!

If at first you don't succeed....

The second session of the season today, this time out on Westernport. Hit the water at about 5.15 and headed over to a reef in about 11m of water near snapper rock (Sounded promising!). First run at 6am. By 7am, I had 4 reds, 38cm, 42cm, 44cm and 55cm (About 2kg - See pic) so the first official snapper for the season! It all went a bit quiet after that so we moved the other side of the rock, but nothing for 45 minutes. Headed into Mosquito Channel where the tide was heading out pretty strongly, so we upsized our lead and waited. After a few tentative bites, Dad hooked up solidly to what was a good red - Would Parksy finally land a snapper?????

This questions was answered quite quickly when it went for a head shaking run and snapped his line, just as I was getting the video camera to film it for historical purposes.. Might be time to change the mono after numerous years of wear and tear! Not much after that except 3 15kg Port Jackson Sharks (See pic) and about midday Dad landed a solid 3 foot gummy shark. Rumour has it Glen and Dad launched a couple of hours ago (Keen to get back out there) and have already hooked into some nice pinkies.

Hopefully it will be third time lucky!

C'mon Parksy

Just a little sample of what is out there!

I think your biggest problem is your fishing partner. You never going to break your duck if keep fishing with Trav... a nice new colour sounder might help too!