The Christening 24-2-07

[Mik]

Woke up this morning with not much hope of any thing fishy happening, work commitments had me too busy to try the repaired motor & new trolling motor.

BUT then, I suddenly found myself ahead & a few sideways glances at the ol' "Fanta Pants" had me scurrying off to find my tackle & rods. A quick dash to the servo for some fuel & I was off to christen the old girls new lease of life. (Motor re-build after seizure!)

I have added a new 8hp Evinrude trolling / back-up motor after my last disaster with a seized motor & back-up failing too, so now I'm fully prepared & setup. Even have a steer attachement so I can steer trolling from the wheel.

So I threw a few essentials in the ute & got set for a trip I have been dying for since before xmas.

Drove the hour an 5 mins to Burrendong to find the water even lower than last week. (Last week was 3 1/2% today a reported 2%) After some preliminary surveying of the ramp at water level & the general depths I could see from up high I decided today was a non-boating day for this little black duck. Stricktly tinnies & shallow draft craft only. I measured the water at the ramp to find it was 1.5 metres from waters edge to ramps end. Then pretty large drop off. I certainly wasn't going to risk this on my own.

Absolutley crushed.

Oh well, bugga this I thought, I'm gonna throw in a line anyway after the trip. So I headed to my favorite LB haunt to see what was happening. No one there so I grabbed my new casting rig & set off for what I thought would be a bad case of sunburn & nothing else. My favorite spot has lost alot of water & revealled some old nemisis snags which was interesting albeit sad to see.

So I started to cast a bibless Jackal at the only structure I could see. A tree that by the looks of its branches has taken many a line & claimed it. After about 1/2hr I was starting to think my day was a complete bust when my next cast confirmed it, tangled in said lure thief tree. It wasn't too far from the opposing bank so I held my rod & walked around to see if I could retreive it from the other side. It was one of those things, you know, just out of reach with the nearest stick I could find. I waded in a little & realised the bank was very steep. So next step, take shorts off & wade deeper. Of course you know what happened, one step too far and flooosh, up to my bloody armpits!

Anyway, I managed to get her back (Thanks fish gods, I knerw you didn't hate me THAT much)

Well, what happened next turned my dismal day around. After seeing how close I was to this bit of structure I thought I might as well throw from here. I didn't hold much hope after all the noise I'd made swearing & splashing about, but hey, I'm here & it couldn't get any worse.

Three casts in & BANG, I'm on.

The new Chronarch reel whizzed at me & I suddenly realised this was the first "real" fish for this outfit.

Some quick manouvering around the tree & about 15 anxious seconds when I thought I'd blown it with the drag setting letting out more line than I'd like this close to certain doom (Tree branches & large rocks) I had her under control & enjoying the fight like it was my first ever fish. God its so good to feel that life or death struggle in your hands. I saw some colour & my excitement increased when I realised I had a decent sized Yella Belly engaged with me.

She took 2 good runs after I adjusted the drag & I was glad I'd kept moving along the bank to get away from the tree. Finally she was mine & I saw that golden form swimming on her side close to the bank. I have to admit this is by far the best fight I've had to date, with any combo. Oh yeah baby. (Anyone witnessing this might have thought I'd hooked the mother of all Murray Cod the way I was beaming. But who cares, I was happy to catch anything on this, the day I was meant to be re-christening my boat after so many hassles. In the end I managed to christen something at least. My new reel & rod gave me a great feel & I'm now chuffed to have her cherry broken on such a wonderful fish.

Ok, so she's not HUGE, but she was MINE!

Anyone heading to any impoundments soon might want to try the Jackals trolling. I know they aren't normally trolling lures but the reports from Burrendong lately are Jackals = Fish. (Particularly Yella Bellys - AKA Golden Perch)

Sorry for the novel, I am just delighted to have something to post after I thought my weekend was going to be all work & then to find my hopes of launching "Fanta" again dashed the fact I got to christen my new rod & reel was a saviour to my ego & my demeanor.

Cheers all & hope you have a great weekend.

Edited February 24, 2007 by Boofhead

[mrmoshe]

Nice report Mik and equally nice yella. isn't it funny how the worst day can turn out to be the best day.

Sorry you didn't get to re-christen the old girl but that fish must have more than made up for what was an ordinary day on the water.

Boy, that water level is getting worse by the day now. Let's hope some of this rain we are getting in Sydney manages to make it's way up your neck of the woods.

Congrats on a great capture.

Cheers,

Pete.

[Mik]

Hey Pete, thanks mate.

Coupla things you might be interested in from previous replies. On my way home today it POURED! On the trip to the dam it was dry & sunny, then about 3 1/2 hrs later I found this on my way back.

It was kind of a mixed blessing. As you can see a heavy down pur can cause damage as well as releif. I just hope all that run off goes where its needed & doesn't take valuable top soil with it. But hey, at least its wet.

Also, notice the worms in this fish. Once again I found them. Don't know what DPI would think of this?

I did try to get hold of the DPI office in the area but they seem to only be manned during weekdays. So I couldn't get this specimine to anyone alive as per my previous post on this subject. He went back to fight another day anyway I hope.

[johnno]

Good stuff Boof

i have always taken a liking to the mg50 but never bite the bullet

it,s a great feeling when you land that first fish on the new gear and a neat bit of gear at that.

Sounds like you had a great day

Went for a swim.

splashed around like a kid.

fishing with the new toy .

good fish pic to put in album .

cheers

Johnno

[mrmoshe]

Wow Mik...That flooding is something else eh? Good to see although I agree, it'll probably do more harm than good if it doesn't end up in the dam.

Those pesky worms are a worry again. Hope you can get another during the week to get to Fisheries inspectors.

With the end of El Nino now, it may be the saviour of the farmers and dam fishos alike...let's hope.

Pete.

[Mik]

With the end of El Nino now, it may be the saviour of the farmers and dam fishos alike...let's hope.

Amen!

[tomahawk1999]

Nice report Boof,

glad to see you turned a into a ,

hope the water levels only go up from now on!

cheers

Rod.

[Mik]

Hey guys, quick update on the rain / water issue. Went for a drive today. Drove to Mudgee via bathurst then back home to orange via wellington. Came across this deluge at Molong. If this keeps up I will be launching from my doorstep!

On the down side, this is some poor buggas topsoil washing down the road. PS The water is at least 4 feet deep in the vid.

Pissin' down today 25 Feb 07

[mako1]

Great report Mik.

Good to see you ended up with a really nice fish after a not so good start.

Well done

[Mik]

Thanks Mako.

I gotta say I do love the yellas. My first ever fish was a yellow belly from the Darling at a tiny place called Louth. Cught when I was about 6 with my Dad & great uncle. Every yella now brings me back to those days.

[Penguin]

Top little village that Louth,it used to get crowded during the annual

Louth races.

And dont the farmers need the rain,I lost my entire wheat crop at

my place in Coolabah last year thanks to not enough rain.Its good to

see it pouring down in some of them pics.

By the way u write a good report and thats a top Golden Perch

penguin