South West Rocks

[arpie]

Hi guys

Just had a few days at SWR - was hoping to get into some blackies in the back creek (the bridge) but the tide was way out & nothing doing! Bugger! Had to head off early the next morning to the Gaol campsite, so didn't get to try it again. Maybe next year! I can definitely recommend the pub opposite the Half Moon Bay Caravan Park for a meal tho! Great meal at great prices!

Saw 3 Marlin carcasses and 2 cobia plus the odd shark & mack tuna in the back creek boat ramp. Plenty of boats off the Gaol trying for them!

Was hoping to get into some frigate mackerel along the beach over the few days we were there - but no-one told the weather! It bucketed on Fri, Sat & Sun morning & I climbed both rock walls to see what was happening. Don't like their rocks (on the big breakwall at the Gaol, anyhow) - Sydney Sandstone ..... algae growing on them & very slippery - unlike our Forster rocks!

Saw a solitary mack tuna trying to rejoin his mates, also lots of 'rock fish' off the gaol breakwall, but I couldn't get down close enough to toss out a float. Bit of a swell & very slippery.

Chatted to a kayaker who had been out on his Hobie - he had hooked and landed a marlin on Australia Day. He got towed by it for 12km & luckily met up with a boatie who brought him back again! He was interviewed by the local paper & Phil Bennet also got some pics of him landing the marlin & said it would appear as an article in his fishing mag - look forward to reading it!

Saw a couple of bunches (I say bunches instead of schools, as there was only about 5 of them in the school!) zoom past me, but before they came around again, a bunch of kids had started swimming right where I wanted to cast! Bummer! That happens on South West Rocks Triathlon weekend .... you get over-run with ankle biters!

We were packing up this morning (no rain, for the first time) & my other half (who won his age group in the triathlon yesterday!) came back from a run saying "Get down to the beach, they are catching fish!" He knows what is important! What he didn't say was that they were netting the fish!

Seems there are only 2 lots of netters on the NSW coast that target frigate mackerel. The SWR guys were one of them! The Vietnamese community in particular are keen on them as a fish meal.

Apparantly they had caught more than a tonne last week - up near the 4 knot sign - towards the gaol. This morning, however, they were right in front of the campsite. There was only a small school of frigates - about 4 bins full. Hardly seemed worth the 5 utes, 3 boats & 6 fishermen targetting them! They had run a net out & surrounded the initial school - there was one bloke spinning for them, within the net! I walked up to him & asked if it was a private party, or could anyone join in?? Seems he was there before the netters & was digging his toes in! He landed 3 & put back 3. Nice size, too. He was one of the anglers that had been there last year when they had been 'on'! This year, the shape of the beach had changed & it was much more shallow around the small breakwall than it had been, so not so many fish - make that none! Then again, it could also have been because the main school had all been caught the week or days before! I suppressed the urge to go & grab my rod & have a go in the net .... they then ran a net around the original one to get the rest of the school that was outside it! I didn't bother.

So, not a really successful weekend - but a break, anyway! Hey - there is always next year .....

Cheerio

Roberta

Edited February 19, 2007 by Roberta