Itching for a fish all weekend, I ummed and ahhh'd about heading out today to have another go. With the forecast for 15kn+ but seabreeze showing lower numbers, a peek at the beach cams showed not much surf so thought I would give it a crack. It is about 40 mins from my place to the marina so I try to be sure it is workable for making the trip. I arrived about 2:20 and started getting the fishing machine ready as the conditions looked great. As stated before, the boat isn't a glamour at the moment, but it floats and carries my rods!

Once underway the conditions were excellent with a variable NE to NNE wind around 10 knots and dropping so the cruise out was uneventful and I headed for the spot I found last time. I didn't try anything new today as I had limited time to make sure I was back and tied up before dark. With the cloud cover it was already looking pretty dark as it was! Still no sounder fitted yet either. In case you're wondering, yes that is the anchor rope. After once having to traverse to the bow to free a stuck rope, I now feed the rope out through the cabin so I can keep it from bunching up when the winch is pulling it up. I can also help pull it up if it is a bit snagged. The anchor locker is a joke for a boat this size, but that's a project for another day.

Today was a day to try the soft plastic everyone said I should throw out while bait fishing. I rigged up a 5" Nuclear Chicken on a 5/0 Owner jig head. I think the 5/0 would have been better with the 7" as it seemed a bit big for the 5". Anyway, I rigged an octopus skirt to the top to try and hide the hook a bit as well. So with the anchor set, the berley pot soaking here goes nothing - first drop, nibble nibble and I think I'm a genius (well, your ideas and methods from this site made me a genius)! Up pops a small Dhu but it seemed the method got the result. I was stoked. Measure (I remembered this time), photo and back in the drink to grow up a bit. 

A couple of small pinks on the bait also made for entertainment (I know I should post photos of bigger fish but this was the best I could do today!! ha ha). They all swam away well which is a benefit of fishing the shallow water I guess.

On the way back in the starboard engine suffered some pretty bad cavitation. Hopefully just a product of the dirty hull that is in desperate need of some antifoul. The boat will come out of the water soon for some rebuilt stern drives and transom assemblies and some rework of a few things with the layout. I need a bit more fishing space! Hope you don't mind my blathering with a report about small fish - I just thought it right to report back and hopefully someone else can try what I have learned. Hopefully the beginners luck hasn't run out completely with just a few small fish today.

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