Magic Light Show On The Water

[Mysterythecat]

Been a while since I posted so I'm overdue.

Went out on Friday night with a mate and headed out from Berowa Marina at about 5 pm Friday night. Yeah, it was a couple of days ago but it takes me that long to get around to posting so bear with me. For those of you with a long memory, you'll probably recall that Friday afternoon was stinking hot but there was a forecast of a possible storm. We weren't too concerned by that since we weren't heading outside and thought the possibility of a change might be quite refreshing.

We decided earlier in the week that we wanted to try Juno pt since neither of us had actually tried our luck there. Some time later we were happily anchored off there sitting back enjoying the evening. Al was trying all sorts of baits - he had squid on one rod, a peeled prawn on another and a piece of chicken soaked in Tuna on a third. Not to be outdone, I tried whole pillie on my first line and as I was baiting up with a prawn on the second, No. 1 starts bending.

It was probably the best fish we were to see - a pretty decent Bream from the flash I got as it came up to the boat - maybe 35cm. I say maybe because it took one look at us and broke off. Two things flashed through my mind at that point (after the swearing that is). One: what was a Bream doing taking on a whole pillie (maybe thats usual but I thought it was a bit big); and Two: what was I doing putting a bait that size on light tackle?! Anyway, encouraged somewhat, a pillie went on to line No. 3 straight away.

And that was it for next hour or so as we watched the storm gathering on the horizon. Something small had a go at the pillie but pretty much nothing was happening. I then decided to try some of the SP's I bought earlier that day to try out. I have to say now, that I've never caught anything on plastic before but now I'm a convert. I first tried Gulp prawn shaped thingy (getting technical now) and it went off before it even hit the bottom. Small flathead - probably about 30cm - released. Next cast it was a Garfish - 58cm. Al kept trying the baits but not even a nibble. His best catch all night was a toss-up between an own T-shirt or a massive clump of weed wrapped with about 4 different lines (other fisho's have obviously been lossing tackle as result of this thing so Al at least got some satisfaction of seeing it off). Oh, and he did land a yellow tail which then became the latest of the variety of baits he tried all night.

Then the light show started. Forked lightening peppered the southern horizon for the next couple of hours. At this point I was happy not to be catching anything as it would have just distracted me from the show. There we were in total calmness and we could see multiple lightening hits in a variety of colours gradually heading east. Pure magic. Then, at around 10 the rain hit us and the wind came up so we dicided we had had enough. Then as Al was pulling up the anchor, the wind changed to a very warm Noreaster (from the southerly we experienced when it hit) - quite bizarre. We headed off and moored up in America Bay for the evening. Finished off with a nice drop of Jamieson's 10 year old.

Next morning (Saturday), we had to try again at Juno. I tried a couple of other Gulp lures (blue minnows - one light blue the other a darker shade). Once again, multiple hook ups on the SP's and not much on the baits. In the end I had a couple of Tailor, another small flathead (again released) . Al did land an eel but didn't like the look of it and he put it back.

Of course, off to the distance we could see a lot of boats off Flint and Steel. I think thats where we should have been too in hindsight. Nevermind it had to be tried - and it has given me a lot more confidence in plastics.

cheers

Mysterythecat

[Mysterythecat]

a very amusing report and a pleasure to read

also id say your catch wasn't a garfish, at 58cms it would have probably been a longtom

CFD

You're probably right. I'd not seen one before anyway but it was long and thin. Could have been called Tom but we weren't formally introduced

cheers

Mysterythecat

[Flightmanager]