Boofhead & Mcgoose

[Mik]

Boofhead & McGoose Easter weekend.

Hi All, As some of you know I headed to the big smoke this Easter and caught up with my Brother-In-Law to check out the action in Sydney.

First off I wanna say that during my stay in Sydney I tried to log onto Raiders several times but with no joy. I had forgotten my rego name & password. After about 400 attempts at what I might have used as a rego name I gave up. Several days have passed since some of this action took place & several whiskeys & Guinness have also been consumed, so I apologise if some of the info is a bit amiss, I have old-timers ya know! I also want to thank Ross, Brett, Sean, Tony from Fishfinders & everyone else who has offered advice, given help or just plain supported us two Boofheads in our trip. Thank you one & all. We have had offers of trips, places to be shown & general hospitality that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Thank you Raiders, you legends.

Wednesday - My Easter break this year was a ripper, starting on Wednesday with our arrival at Watto’s to see just how much I could spend before the little woman took my Credit Card off me. Seems she’s pretty generous these days & I made the most of it. Scored the bargain of the century from Sean, he really set us up with some great bargains & excellent advice. I think he had me sussed after about 10 mins and didn’t take advantage of the fact that I’m a fishing-gear-a-holic! Thanks mate, I coulda broke the bank easily in your great shop, it was great to put a face to the name.

Also met up with Ross (Flightmanager) for the first time at Watto’s and arranged a morning boat ramp rendezvous at Rose Bay for Friday with Ross & Brett.

Thursday – We did some ramp recon & eventually launched at Rose bay around mid-morning with a few funny moments & a general “getting to know the area” cruise around between Rose Bay & Watson’s Bay. It was a bit rougher than I’m used to on Burrendong Dam but us two novices handled it ok. One funny event that happened, whilst trying to get back to Rose Bay the swell had come up a bit & there was a fair amount of wind & chop. I had previously opened the front window to access the anchor & the window remained ajar one the trip back. With the wind & chop everything was getting a good drenching in the cabin so I told McGoose to take the helm & I’d shut the window. Well McGoose took the wheel & decided to immediately run parallel to the swell. This gave an anxious moment or two until I explained that we needed to go across the waves not with the troughs. That under control McGoose upped the revs & thought he was capt’n McDaredevil while I tried to secure the front window.

Bow crashing, wind blowing & my head banging nicely on the cabin ceiling I grabbed the window, we hit a hard speed bump & before I knew it the window had been grabbed by the wind, ripped from its hinges & thrown clean over McGooses’ head and into the drink. I then copped a full face of Rose Bay & swallowed about half the Harbour. We saw the funny side of it & laughed back to the ramp.

A quick evening dash to Bunnings, grabbed some Perspex (Tinted of course) some self tappers, some Silastic & whalla!, Pimp My Fanta!. A few comments like “It looks like a huge flat screen TV & “My God, the windows worth more than the boat!

I think it come up a treat anyway, At least the cabin was dry for the rest of Easter.

Pimp My Fanta

Friday – We met Ross & Brett at the ramp and headed into unchartered waters (Well, for us they were anyway) Took a spin around Elizabeth Bay & threw a few among the moorings. Ross & Brett saw a Kingie & spent ages chasing it around the bay, we were much more dignified & sat quietly drifting, starting the motor to avoid hitting moored boats & brought several undersized snapper aboard as well as a very fast octopus! Man those things are freaky. McGoose thought it was hilarious watching me try & coax the thing out from the battery bay & back into the water. We headed to Wedding Cakes for about 2 minutes. The weather closed in fast & by the time McGoose & I figured out how to anchor without a front hatch to access the anchor it was time to pull it back in & head to Ross’s “Spot X”

Spot X turned out to be a winner & I can’t thank Ross enough for graciously showing us what is obviously a great little spot that seems to be virtually deserted by the throngs of fishing elite. Great news for us as we caught a nice little Trev, One 34cm Snapper & a nice 39cm flattie. We caught a few more snapper & flatties but all the rest we undersized. So with our egos inflated we headed back to the ramp & prepared for another crack at them Saturday. No pics Friday sorry, too excited about getting on the water to remember the camera.

Saturday – Met Ross & Brett again & we headed back to “Spot X”. This was our best day by far & after a very slow start we landed a few undersized snapper & some small flatties. We also got a nice trev & a grinner that looked like it could eat a small house with those teeth! Then all hell broke loose aboard “Fanta Pants” as McGoose started to drag up, and I mean Drag up, a very nice flattie. He called it for a snag at first, then a discarded V8 motor then a possible shark. Meanwhile I was untangling the net from our mess of a stowage system & turned just in time to see an absolutely fantastic croc accompanied by a smaller male. The male was obviously not hook but had followed the larger fish to the surface during her rather dull fight. The “Dead weight” was attached to the line but the little fella was free swimming. Don’t ask me how but I managed to net the free swimmer like a pro and then squeezed the biggun into the net, struggled for a brief moment & thought I’d lost them both, then ripped the net aboard to find ourselves in a very cramped little boat with two large fish & bugger all room to move. It would have been hilarious to be watching us (Eh Ross) as we danced around, hi-5ing each other & squealing like little school girls at our great catch. Half the harbour would have heard us. I could barely fit the biggun into the esky & then it was time for home not long after. The trip back was a very happy one indeed.

The Haul

McGoose with his Pride & Joy!

I know they ain’t huge by any stretch but to us they were the highlight of a great weekend & the most delicious beer battered meal I’ve had in a long long time.

The only down side is that I now have to endure the raptures of McGoose as he re-tells the story of his amazing and desperate fight to bring the “Monster from the deep” aboard. At least at this stage he still has the good sense to mention my netting skills but I’m sure they will be forgotten eventually & the story will become “The Legend Of The Lone Fisherman & His Croc” Oh well, I guess I can always insist on a “No Flattie Stories” rule on any future adventures aboard Fanta.

Sunday – We were let down by the outboard & some electrical problems. But undaunted we decided to give Rose Bay moorings a shot on the auxiliary motor & left Ross & Brett to their favourite Spot X. We managed a lone blue swimmer which was brought aboard due to his tenacity & unwillingness to let go of the leader. He might have been stupid but he still tasted great!

Back home now & we are recovering from a great weekend.

Thank you again to Sean of Wattos for an amazing “Raiders Deal” and some fine tackle, reels & rods. They will get plenty of use in the future.

Ross & Brett – A special thank you fellas for a fantastic show of Raiders hospitality. You have done this site proud in you willingness to show two complete hacks a great time. We didn’t sink, we didn’t have to swim back to shore and we caught some great fish. Most of all we had a brilliant time & met two great Aussies. Thank you.

[james1990]

Hey boof

Sounds like you had a good trip, nice sized flatty

The new window looks like a big@$$ solar panel.

Bugga about the motor brakeing down on sunday.

Get my pm mate before you left?

cheers james

[Davemmm]

Great report!

Couple of nice fish too

Dave

[Penguin]

A couple of good fish and laughs in that report Boofhead

Good to see ur trip to the Big smog will be a memorable one.

penguin

[Sammy0884]

Great report, sounds like a fantastic easter!

[Mik]

Thanks guys, yeah the fish were great! Yummy too.

Hey boof

Sounds like you had a good trip, nice sized flatty

The new window looks like a big@$$ solar panel.

Bugga about the motor brakeing down on sunday.

Get my pm mate before you left?

cheers james

James, I only got your pm today. Would have loved to catch up with you. Oh well, there's always next time.

[bastik]

Boofhead

After a shit day at the office, your story telling skills have made my day.

Well done mate. You sound like you would be good value to have a beer with.

You should of kept the the octopus, great on the bbq.

Love your improvisation skills. Pimp my fanta!!!

cheers

bill

[SUBLiME]

NICE FLATTIE! ohhh how I envy you guys lol... sure could go for some flatties right now! congrats..

shant

[Flightmanager]

Glad you made it back home OK Mik , boy , didnt we have a fun few days ot on the Harbour ?

Only fished for about 5 hours on the Friday , we werent really prepared for the amount of rain that dumped over us. All 4 of us were pretty well soaked , so we decided to pull the pin , and have another go at it on Saturday.

Saturday started out brilliantly weather wise , dead calm water , no wind , and if there was a little cloud around , at last it wasnt raining!! Started our adventure as usual with a drift around Elizabeth Bay. Few small fish landed , just enough to keep us interested . Figured while the conditions were so good , we would try the wedding cake , met up with Stumpy and Family , took a few minutes to catch up and then anchored up to try for a Kingy , or some 'Jackets . About this time I looked back towards the city , only problem was , I couldnt see it !!! A huge rain storm was heading our way , so we high tailed it for the relative calm of Watsons Bay . Just made it to Spot X , and down she came. It was so heavy , we could not see the wedding cakes from Watsons Bay , then , as quickly as it arrived , it stopped. This was to happen several times during the next 9 hours , but as we were catching fish , and having a good time , we persevered!!

Our final haul for the weekend was 6 Flathead , 3 snapper , a wrasse , a trev and an eel .

Had a great time meeting and talking to Mik and Gordon ( Mcgoose) , any time you are down here fellas , give us a yell and we'll do it all again !!!

Ross

[Mik]

Thanks Ross

After Brett named Gordon McGoose we did sign him up as exactly that. So look out for a few posts from a Scottish Goose in the future.

We certainly had a great time & it was made all the better being shown the ropes & taken to areas we could catch a few!

Next time I'll leave the rain out west ok.

Go the Evinrudes! - well, go until they stop anyway

[bolan]

Glad you made it back home OK Mik , boy , didnt we have a fun few days ot on the Harbour ?

Only fished for about 5 hours on the Friday , we werent really prepared for the amount of rain that dumped over us. All 4 of us were pretty well soaked , so we decided to pull the pin , and have another go at it on Saturday.

Saturday started out brilliantly weather wise , dead calm water , no wind , and if there was a little cloud around , at last it wasnt raining!! Started our adventure as usual with a drift around Elizabeth Bay. Few small fish landed , just enough to keep us interested . Figured while the conditions were so good , we would try the wedding cake , met up with Stumpy and Family , took a few minutes to catch up and then anchored up to try for a Kingy , or some 'Jackets . About this time I looked back towards the city , only problem was , I couldnt see it !!! A huge rain storm was heading our way , so we high tailed it for the relative calm of Watsons Bay . Just made it to Spot X , and down she came. It was so heavy , we could not see the wedding cakes from Watsons Bay , then , as quickly as it arrived , it stopped. This was to happen several times during the next 9 hours , but as we were catching fish , and having a good time , we persevered!!

Our final haul for the weekend was 6 Flathead , 3 snapper , a wrasse , a trev and an eel .

Had a great time meeting and talking to Mik and Gordon ( Mcgoose) , any time you are down here fellas , give us a yell and we'll do it all again !!!

Ross

I knew I should have followed you! You went to bloody spot X without me , didn't you.???

And to think that you would have never recognised my rather anonamous boat slinking quietly behind you

Mate, that was a top report

Its nice to think us city slickers can turn on a good experience for our country cousins.!

Generally the only thing on offer up here is a mugging and lots of parking tickets

[Mondo Rock]

Great report Boof!!

[Mik]

Sean

Thanks again mate. Loved those circle hooks BTW, much easier to dislodge than conventional hooks I reckon.

Hope to give those bibbed hardbodies you gave me a try at some Goodoo soon. Trying my best to find an excuse to visit our work site at Lake Cargelligo. Had a few bust me off up there a little while ago, we'll see how they like these new lures very soon I hope.

[Chris 55]

Great read of your Easter odessey there Boof

sounds like you'll be back

Fanta looks flash with the new window mate

you may have to look at hinging it to make

it permenent

Good to hear you guys enjoyed your trip

Chris