Been trying to get out on the water a bit more lately. 

Had a good time with Terry and Bob pulling pots this season, and although we didn’t do spectacularly it was fairly solid with each cray costing $4.92 (including fuel, bait and ramp fees, but excluding labour).  Terry and Bob’s pots came out on 20 December, but I decided to keep mine out there in the shallows to hunt some reds and scout some likely spots for next season – I’m still a bit of a rookie.  Generally only pulled them when the weather was good, and added another 20 odd crays to the season bag.

Headed out one day when I probably shouldn’t have.  The SW wind was much stronger than forecast, and made for quite an uncomfortable time.  Pulled the pots for a few but made the mistake of just chucking one over on the reef because the sea conditions were so nasty.  Had the rods on board that day so came in a bit closer for a fish on some of my snapper ground (have always caught my best pinkies in nasty conditions) so decided to give it a quick go while I was out there.  What do you know, the floating mullet fillet and burley had barely hit the water when the baitrunner started screaming.  You could tell it was a nice pinkie by the runs and shakes and after a good fight the 78cm model was landed.  Not sure of the weight but probably 6.5-7kg as it was a fat one, and a nice mid-summer fish from the shallows.

The next trip out, that bloody pot that was just chucked over was stuck.  Nothing I could really do as I used the boat and tried to pull it from every angle without success, and in the end had to give up.  No choice but to contact some diver mates and arrange for a trip to get it off.  I was very fortunate that Leigh agreed to come out and free it, and he wanted to have a dive to hunt for some crays at the same time – happy to oblige and provide the boat.

The release went smoothly as Leigh just pulled on the floats when it was free.  It was reported to be wedged between three boulders rope down so couldn’t have been retrieved without the help of a diver, and even though it had been out there a fair while there was still had a size cray in it.  I spent the next 45 minutes watching the bubbles and keeping the boat close which was quite relaxing and I did notice that Leigh spent quite a bit of time on the few marks I had sounded up for the pots.  When he surfaced, the catch bag looked healthy but was dominated by an absolute beast.  3.5kg and one of the biggest crays I have seen.

Leigh is a keen tailor fisherman so we decided to head out again to the inshore reefs and try our luck when conditions allowed again.  At the ramp for 4.30am, and a slow trip out so there was enough light to see the reef structure and get in close to it.  The highlight of the trip out, although I didn’t see it, was a big mackerel leaping high out of the water just outside the marina.  Another highlight was my eldest boy, who has never really fished with me, agreeing to come along and have a go.

The fish were there and we landed half a dozen in about 20 minutes before 5.30am, including one for the young fella.  Then, in an instant, they were gone but you can’t complain about the “mayhem” in the first light period.  We released the fish, other than the two that were too damaged and cooked up that night - the photo is not the biggest one we got, but was still a nice fish.  We spent the next hour or so checking out some more likely ground for future trips. 

I’m still amazed by the quality of inshore fishing on our doorstep.  It’s nice that you don’t have to go very far to land some quality specimens.

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