Except for some
continuing success with the blackfish August has been a very quiet month. No
reports of anyone going out in the boats, and the beaches have given us little
opportunities.
It has been a very
quiet year for the tailor and the weather on the beaches has been against us
most of the time. Even the dynamic Patches Duo has had little to report this
month.
Report on the Sinkers
The Sinkers and I
went down to Flat Rock one afternoon to fish the beach and gather some cabbage
for bait for the blackfish. We managed to get the cabbage okay but the wind
would blow a dog off a chain on the beach and the fishing was both
uncomfortable and unproductive.
We returned to
Nugget GT as it was getting dark and we were both cold and thirsty. You
wouldn’t want to know but the new you beaut Nugget GT Fishing Wagon wouldn’t
start for us. As the darkness fell on the Flat Rock Car Park we tried
everything we could think of but the dam thing just wasn’t going to start.
Eventually we gave up and rang Patches (our resident mechanic) to come down and
get us out of trouble.
Unfortunately Patches
was in the middle of a session with the Runway Crew which had put him over the
limit so he was unable to drive down to save us. Thankfully Hammerhead rang his
wonderful wife Joy who went around and picked up Patches and took him away from
his boozie mates to Flat Rock to save us from a very cold night in the Car
Park. The only thing they didn’t think of was to bring us down some coldies to
quench our thirst (it was Friday night after all).
Anyway Patches
being the master mechanic that he is was quick to diagnose the problem and
pretty soon we were on our way back to Douggies Den for a well-earned coldie.
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Nugget GT on Patch's Beach before the closure
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Four Wheel Drive Access to Patches Beach.
Further to my
report last month that the Ballina Council planned to close the four wheel
drive access to Patches Beach in September I was invited to attend a meeting of
the local Fishing Clubs concerned at this decision. A letter was drafted during
the meeting requesting the Council to make arrangements for authorised Fishing
Club members (including Palm Lake) to gain continuing access. The letter was
signed by the representatives of all six Clubs in attendance and the following
is an extract from the Council’s reply.
“Council staff have
implemented the resolution and closed the Patchs Beach access. We have also
written to the State Government providing details of the Council resolution.
The Council resolution asking that 4WD access be closed did also ask for
exemptions for approved users, albeit that the resolution did not define who
should be included in that definition.
As the beaches at
South Ballina are not under the control of Council, any decision to further
restrict 4WD access must be made by the State Government through the NSW
Department of Planning Industry and Environment (DPIE) – Crown Lands.
Based on the
concerns expressed in your correspondence, for South Ballina, I would make sure
you are conveying your views to the State Government through Tamara Smith MP as
the State Member for Ballina and Mr Silas Sutherland from DPIE.”
It seems we are
into the hurdy- gurdy of getting various agencies to agree at the same time.
Patches will be meeting with Tamara Smith shortly as a start so we’ll see how
that goes.
Carp Report
You may recall that
I mentioned the problem of Carp in Emigrant Creek and local waterways. We planned
to take a team along opposite the Church Restaurant at Tintenbar and catch some
of the blighters. It promised to be an enjoyable outing for the sports fishos
amongst us. Well Patches took along a few of his team to give it a go but they
never got a bite so we need to do a bit more research before we try it again.
That’s all I have
to report on for August so hopefully I can provide a more encouraging report on
September as the weather warms up.
Cheers till next
Month
Tight Lines Douggie
