Met Up With New Fishraider!

[arpie]

Hi guys

Got a call yesterday morning from Gdcalmer - a newly registered Fishraider member from Forster!! Watch out - we have another Female Fishing Fanatic here!!!! And she has a lovely Quinne boat to boot!! ...... however, I am in the process of getting her interested in a Hobie as well ........ for that extra Stealth factor!! Even if we tow them to spots further away & launch from there, especially some of the creeks etc!!!

I met up with Wendy over Easter, when I put my hobie in up at Barclays - she was fishing from shore & was impressed with the way I was going up & down the leases, casting poppers & having total control of where I was going & what I was doing! Add to that, I was a girl & we got chatting! She lives very close to Barclays & wanders down there any time (often at night) to target the big Blue Nosed bream that frequent the oyster leases there!!

We headed out at about 10am - towards bottom of the tide, & took out sps, poppers, blackie & bait gear! We tried some flats near Barclays with poppers, but I seriously think the fish are more active on a rising tide than falling - what do you reckon? I got one pike which was released unharmed .... had thought about chopping him up for bait, but Wendy had enough already.

Then we went over to an oyster lease washboard & I fished into the lease between the tram tracks (racks without oyster trays on them) - you can do this on a boat with a long rod, but not really from the yak, so it was all very new to me!!! Wendy was fishing the estuary side using bait & got a few smaller bream. I had a lot of fun, - must have caught 10 or more blackies to just legal & 2 that straightened my hooks & got off (obviously better than legal!) As soon as they hit, you know when they are good sizes!! I even caught a bream on weed! He took me into the racks & I thought I may have lost my float, so we were in the process of working our way down to the float with the bail open when I noticed line peeling off - he had extracted himself from the snag & taken off again! Got the bream out & the float!

Wendy with one of the better blackies - released

Headed to the next spot - it was a very low high yesterday, so I hardly noticed that the tide had changed!! We went around to one of Wendy's spots & we both snagged & busted off on the first toss (brand new Squidgie!) :( and then caught small bream (I succumbed to the bait theory at this point in time ...)

Went over to one of my favourite blackie spots & saw 2 absolute monster blackies patrolling & fighting over the best submerged pole - they would have been more than 50cm each, easy!! I settled in trying to hook them, but they were very wary! There were mullet everywhere, but I couldn't get them to rise to the bait either ..... Wendy was on the bait again & hooked what she thought was an occy .... noooo! It was a lovely little squid!! As we got it closer to the boat, it let go of the bait & we tossed the bait in again & once again, it grabbed it. I got the net behind it, (there was only the one hook in the bait) but as I went to net it, those big eyes saw it coming & it did a Houdini & escaped!! Darn it!!

Heading towards home, we stopped in another deeper part of the channel & Wendy was finally able to land a nice keeper bream & a throwback flattie. The bream will be dinner for her Dad!

Back home, clean up the boat .... we had been out from 10am till nearly 6pm :) Told you Wendy was a fishing Fanatic!! Keith picked me up & we got dinner on the way home & settled in to watch the swimming!

Terrific day on the water with very few other boats out & really tremendous to have a new fishing friend in Wendy! Next trip will be in the yaks to give her a taste of real stealth fishin ...... in the leases!!

Cheerio

Roberta

[arpie]

Look forward to it Esky!

Yay!! Go Girls!!

Were those monsters Blackies or Jewies???

They've finally been getting into some Jews off the breakwall again, after a very lean time of it ....... the bigger blackies haven't turned up in numbers yet .... can't wait till they do!

Wendy's Dad used to fish for blackies, so she has the gear - I will get her onto the breakwall & give her some tips, so she gets out of the bait habit :) Will just have to find some fresh weed!! It is very scarce up here just now!! hope to get some in Sydney mid April when down!

Cheerio

Roberta

[Hodgey]

Hi Roberta

Sounds like you have found someone to keep you company on your regular 'yak adventures'

The luderick are starting to move down here at the moment. We saw a lot of VERY good fish lurking around the fallen timber on the weekend. Motivation enough to consider leaving the poppers home in the future and targetting those bruisers!

Hodgey

[jewgaffer]

Hi Roberta I think it's great you met a lady fisho as enthusiastic as yourself. Wendy will have the incentive to take the Quintrex out more often and together you will be able to diversify your fishing maybe spend a day here and there only using live baits ay.

I'll bet there'll be better results come out of Forster from now on!

Cheers

jewgaffer

[arpie]

Hi Hodgey & Jewgaffer

Look forward to boat & yak outings with Wendy - a buddy dropped off some nice Avoca weed today, so no excuse for not going out & targetting the bruisers!! I went out in the yak today & saw some huge ones, but they weren't taking anything!! Had a couple of small ones hit, but no big ones! Can't wait for the biggies to come out to play!!

The ribbon weed is a pain just now with the poppers too, Hodgey - every cast you get hooked on weed! Seems to be stacks of weed around, floating.

CHeerio for now

Roberta

[slinkymalinky]

Hi Roberta,

Fantastic report as always.

Hi Wendy,

Nice to see Roberta has someone to keep her honest out on the water... I was starting to worry she might be getting lonely on her Yak (as if!)

Lovely photos too.

Cheers, Slinky

[gretsch]

Always good to have a mate with a boat!!!

Sounds like a good session!!

[gdcalmer]

Hi all,

Thanks Roberta for the intro,its great to finally catch up with some obsessed fisho's.

Moved to Forster 14 months ago from Macksvills to look after my elderly parents, and its been hard to find anyone around my age who loves this wonderful world of fishing as much as I do.

There is so much I want to learn about the different styles of fishing and as Roberta would have already noticed I'm pretty set in my ways with the strip or mullet on a hook.

Don't worry Roberta I will convert. Its just that there is nothing better than feeling that tap, tap, tap and the the line spooling off and gauging when to set the hook then off we go , the fight is on!!!!!

Must admit ,the yak must be great for sneeking up on those big blue nose bream among the racks.Carn't waite to try it.

I have spent hours and hours reading everyones postings with such excitement, this is such a great site , I'm learning so much and enjoying hearing about your fishing adventures!!!

Even though I've fished for over fifty years (from the bank) I have only been boating a short time.

I started with a little Quinny 315 tinni, with a 5 hp Yamaha but soon realised I need a real boat. So when I moved to Forster I bit the bullet and found my dream boat. A Quinni 435 Coastrunner.She was 3 yr old with all the extras and only 39 hrs on the clock.

I have to admit its taken me a while to get my confidence up but I do beleive I finally getting the hang of things now.

So, I hope my new raider friends don't mind but I will be asking a few silly questions from time to time to improve my knowledge...

No 1.....I noticed one of the wheel bearings was warming up on my last trip back to Forster from Macksville .Around 250 k's.Would that be a lack of grease? and what is the consenses on bearing buddies?

By for now.

Wendy.

[sydharbourfisho]

shame on the lost squidgy Roberta, alas sounds like you both had a great time fishing.

its always great when you meet someone new and figure you can spend doing what you love with someone you like rather than alone

regards

sean

[arpie]

Yay Wendy!! An official Fishraider aboard!!

We will have fun times ahead .... starting on Thurs when we go out together .... Wendy will be yakking for the first time!!!

Hmmm - I am not up on Bearings, but get it checked out sooner than later! Don't want a mishap Maybe ring the mob you bought it from?

Hii Esky

Aha! Travelling to the dark side .... To be totally honest, if you want to do lots of fishing from a kayak, you can't go past the Hobie Mirage (pedal system!)! Total fishing machine, hands free. I rarely anchor up as you can just manouvre around with the pedals & rudder. If you are in a paddling yak, you spend most time paddling & setting up the anchor & only a little time fishing. You also get blown around with the wind & currents and/or blown off course. Hobies enable you to stay in the zone for as long as you like!

I know they are 'expensive' but they come with everything you need! The seat, paddle, rod holder, wheels is all included as well as the 'pedal system'. Most new yaks, you have to buy those all separate. Check out the normal online trading post etc to look for 2nd hand ones (I bought mine thru Fishraider buy & sell!!) I have the small one (SPORT) and it came with fishfinder including all the bits (the above Plus anchor, cool bag etc) for $1500. The next size up is the Outback, then the Revolution (the one that caught the marlin (see gamefishing reports!!) and the biggest is the Adventure.

Remember, with the yak, you don't need a trailer, motor, registration, boat licence (...yet...) - so all those things are 'savings'!~ Best of all, you can have it on your ute in 5mins & be on the water asap upon arriving. No major decision making! I get into the leases (away from the wash of boats) & into all sorts of sneaky spots - you just have to beware of really fast flowing water around structure .... it can be a bit unsettling! Practise in regular conditions before going out in testing ones & always tie EVERYTHING ON & wear a pfd! Perfect for dams & lakes or rivers (not fast flowing ones tho & offshore in the bigger ones!)

If you come up this way, you can test drive mine :) My 10 year old niece fell in love with it & drives it like a pro! Hehehehehe - You can see mine on one of Donna's Youtube vids at the Entrance last year! You can even hear my fishfinder going off in the shallow water (I have it set at .4m so I don't damage the fins!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi1c4Fcvicw

Cheerio for now