Fishing Report for September 2020

 

We were expecting much better month weather wise, but it didn’t really turn out so well. We seemed to have a lot of windy days and our attempts to fish the beach were often thwarted by big swells, a lot of current and winds that would blow a dog off a chain.

Fortunately the blackfish in the river kept our interest up and we managed to get a few bream and flathead off the beach at Flat Rock towards the end of the month.

 Ken (Missem) Jones went down to Patch’s with Col and Co for his first real crack at beach fishing. The story is told that he managed to land a rather big flathead which threw the hook just as got it to the shore. 

Now Ken wasn’t too sure what to do at this stage and all he could think of was to do the “flathead waltz” around the now released fish and call frantically for help. Apparently the Patch’s crew took no notice of him whatsoever and a wave came up and the flathead was last seen headed for New Zealand.  As a result we decided to nickname him “Missem” and I’ve since had it on good authority from his fellow golfers that the name is appropriate as that is what happens to most of his putts.

Hammerhead and I went along to the sand spit near the waterslide with Commodore Barry (of our Palm Lake Rescue Vessel) to pump some yabbies for bait. We did quite well and soon had plenty of bait for the next day’s fishing so we decided to give it away. 

Just as we began to walk along the beach to retrieve the Commodore’s shoes a playful Labrador decided to run off with one of his shoes. It was quite funny to see the chagrin of Barry and the consternation of its owners all in hot pursuit. Seemed like everyone was chasing the dog around the beach but now-one except another playful lab could catch him. Next thing you know the two dogs are playing tug-of-war with the Commodore’s best shoe.

 Report on the Sinkers

 We went down to Flat Rock one morning to fish the beach. It wasn’t long before John had a nice flathead and I had a bream. As there was a lot of current we were drifting north and finished up some 100 yards along the beach. The ever helpful Hammerhead Ian decided to move the gear along to where we were fishing and being fearful of the tide coming in he put the gear above a fairly sizeable bank in the sand that had been created by the sea. 

Soon after I had a good bream but when I went to take it to our gear I was confronted by this 2-3 foot bank. I stood there for some time with the fish in one hand and my rod in the other trying to work out how to get up the bank. The sinkers twigged to what was happening so they broke into laughter and watched as I tried to negotiate the hill. 

Now how am I supposed to get up there?

I placed my rod on the bank with the reel over the edge as I didn’t want to get sand in the reel and then I had to lie over the bank and roll myself up keeping the fish securely in my grasp. As you can imagine this provided wonderful entertainment to the sinkers and as we didn’t get any photos I was forced to return the next day for a re-enactment with a little bream Anchors Away had caught.

We still haven’t taken the SS Vaucluse or the Tiny Tinnie out due to the consistent winds but hopefully we will get a chance this month to drift for some flathead and try for some crabs as they should be coming on soon.

I had an interesting catch off Sharpe’s Beach one afternoon so I thought I might share it with you.

How is this for a pretty Catty?