Hello everyone,
yesterday i thought id go for a float around the ocean and wet a line .
Bur after the last trip and nothing electronicly working of my two gps units with nothing mucking up ,
the big one went completely dark , and I didn’t know how to rebrighten it so it was out , then the small unit turned its itself off and on and it wiped all of my waypoints , about 8 years worth of flattie holes out the front were all instantly gone so i wasn’t impressed at all.
So Yesterday morning i got in the boat with the manual and brightened up the screen on the Lawrence and I then went to the part of pairing it to my I phone , it connected up but i didn’t know the password.
I found a official looking number scribbled in the front cover of the manual , but i entered that but it was incorrect.
I eventually saw that the password was written on the screen but by this time it was locked down . So i turned it off and thought forget it .
So then i stuck up an add on facebook for a fishing partner for the day ,
i scored randy Andy ,
he is a local boy at Kilcunda , i call him randy Andy as he is a little flamboyant when drinking and he always seems to want to cuddle up to me.
This isnt his first trip out on Tiger Ben and the first time he came i gave him a friendly warning not to touch me as i will throw him straight overboard.
We had a great day fishing and chatting that day , and also yesterday the trip out was prety rough we were smashing it most of the way ,
the wind was blowing, stiff South Easterly , there was big sloppy chop and fortunately not that big a swell, but i had checked willy weather first so i knew it doesn’t get any worse for the day .
The thing that amazed me was when i turned my small gos on my marks were all back on the screen but it was completely upside down , but no fidgeting with it so i left upside down .
At least i had them .
The other gps was on but no sounder and depth indicator were working on it .
So out fishing in Bass straight its a fairly shallow waterway thats why its so treacherous.
I generally fond that im fishing on my marks thst are at a depth of between 38 and 55 metres depending where i find the fish .
Winding in from those sort of depths is quite a physical challenge especially if you have heavy sinkers on and maybe a fish as well,
after a while your arms ache, but the adrenaline of fishing keeps you going past the pain barrier,
I exclusively use braid line outside as there is no stretch, you can use mono but by the time a bite registers the fish is long gone do you strike at absolutely nothing.
I think before bag limits were introduced that me and a mate caught 187 fish , which was our personal record, bit i think it was a four and s half hour fish cleaning exercise.
Like i said sore arms dmd back by then .
The current bag limit on flathead is 20 each at a minimum size limit of 27 cm .
So me and Andy hit the first fishing mark in what could only be described as terrible conditions , the video i took doesnt do it justice ,
There was heaps of wind , chop and we were completely surrounded by white caps , so its definitely no place out there yesterday for the faint hearted.
We were also drifting too fast so then even with braid and a heavy dinker we couldn’t hold bottom and if you arnt on the bottom you are out of the hunt and will catch absolutely nothing.
So out with my secret weapon a parachute drone or otherwise called a sea anchor.
These things work like a funnel parachute with a hole in it to funnel the water through and its acts just like a hand break .
They work extremely well well and come in different sizes for the length and weight of your boat .
In an emergency you can make a makeshift one out of an ordinary bucket by attaching a rope to the handle.
They are more effective if they are set further away from the boat as they then get down deeper into the water column.
So we slowed ourselves down and tried for a fish snd in our first drift we got a couple of fish a few undersize.
This is where a gps is a vital piece of equipment as you can set whats called a trail line on the screen that plots your actual course in real time.
So if that drift is successful ,
you just drive back to the start and do it again .
So my gps is so weird and upside down so we did our best ,
We had a few drifts catching the odd fish Then Andy caught and landed the fish of the day a nice big flattie .
The weather got calmer ad the afternoon approached us so we were able to then reduce our sinker size from a 5 oz to a 3oz , it’s easier to fell the bites and retrieve your line with the lighter weight.
We use hard baits out there like squid and flathead, yes they are cannibals . We use hard baid so you font have to wind up all the time to check your bait .
We went for a fish over at the Punchbowl and it had calmed so much we fid no longer need the drone we admired the big houses built up on the cliffs .
But no fish there .
All day long with the waves and chop hitting the well and transom i still haven’t actually replaced the rubber grommet around the enging cables where they go through the side of the well , and water poared in there all day .
I first noticed when my feet got wet , so i turned on the big bilge pump how impressive that is , two second pump out till its sucking air.
So now its whiting fishing time , we hit up Wollami moorings first but no fish , so up the bay to Andrrson peg for s few then bssd landing fir none then Dickies bay for s few nice fish and the most awesome sunset over the San Remo bridge,
Then came a miracle , the HDS came to life and the sounder fired up , I couldn’t believe it it the first time it gas worked for such s long time ,
hmm
Maybe i left it connected to my phone I’m not sure .
But I’m happy about that.
We played great tunes all day snd we were pumping on my playlist ,
couple of quiet beers and then we head home back to the boat ramp, Andy said turn on your spotlight Curl ,
i said theres no point as its dark and all you see is black , he looked at me really quite puzzled , I explained there nothing out there to reflect back until when we get near a marker with a reflector on it then we will see , so i turned on my spotlight to show him its just dark lol.
Good retrieve cruise home around midnight.
I love the freedom of fishing its pretty good
Clean up later today .
Cheers xxx
Curlyg