Boys Road Trip To Forster

[Wammo]

Well the annual trip up the coast with 3 mates has now come and gone.

After many years the lads have settled into their routines. One buys the bait, one does the shop, one books the house up the coast and one is the master chef. Anyway, I left work at 5pm Thursday. Had the car packed in 5 minutes and was over to my mates place by 5:50pm and on the road by 6pm. Got up to Forster by 9pm - did a quick unpack of the car and by 9.20pm I was joining my other 2 mates who had left an hour earlier.

Nothing like blowing the worries of work away standing shoulder to shoulder with good mates fishing under a half moon for Bream and Tailor. The boys had managed to jag 2 good sized tailor and after some persuasion managed to convince him to donate one for fresh bream bait. After some reconnaissance i found a sensational hole with great foamy white water - perfect looking water for bream. Between us we managed to pull out about 25 good sized bream and called it a day at 1pm and by the time we had cleaned them hit the sack at 2pm.

ALARM 5:45!!!! Up again to a dead calm sea . Thinking that this was going to be hard work today we set off for a slightly different spot. Managed to pick up about 8 stupid tailor and a few more good bream but had to work pretty hard for them and swapped spots about 3 times in the hunt. The sea was so small it was just lapping on the beach and there was no wash in any of our favourite spots. Time for a seriously good feed - bacon and eggs and a good coffee.

The afternoon conditions we much the same - you could have water skiied easily on the sea it was that calm. Anyway made for great watching of a large humpback and his mate who put a show on for us. Hit all our favourite spots and worked hard again to pick up the odd bream. We found a good little hole which we fished for 2 hours between 8-10pm. Had a sandy bottom and was about 2-3 meters dead. Every now and then 2 big motherless sharks would come in and circle then head out again. Oddly enough didn't seem to scare the fish and we left with about 10 bream between 4 of us - respectable given the lack of sea.

On the way back to the car one of my mates decides to have a close inspection of the local geography of rock formation. 8 stiches, 5 hours and a trip to Taree hospital meant the early night was reduced to another 2pm finish. Driving home from Taree Hospital we did a detour to see if the seas had changed. Nope nothing.

ALARM 5:45!!!! Starting to struggle but out of bed again. Moving slower this time and by the time we get in the car we can see the size of the seas. Bloody huge. Got up from zip to 3-4 meters in a matter of hours. Driving rain, houling wind and big seas. This was going to be a challenge for a different reason. Whilst the bream love these conditions finding a safe place to stand on rocks to fish them was another story.

I had picked up some sensational wet weather gear at the fish markets - i think it was branded 'Stormline'. After the life jacket and the rock boots - best investment I ever made. Despite big splash and driving rain I was dry as toast.

The next 2 days was a battle as the seas picked up to 4-5 meters with a huge surge. We picked up 3-5 bream each session and the other boys cleaned up on some big salmon but I have yet to find a way to eat those useless of critters so happily passed on taking one of them back to the misses.

Given the lack of safe options we decided to call it quits early on Sunday and drove home at lunch time for some well earned R&R. Respectable results but hard work to raise a scale. (sorry boys no pictures)

End

p.s. I had my mecury tested recently and found it was highly elevated at 30 parts per million (i think!) Was told to stop eating fish for 2 months . Has anyone else had similar tests?

[humesy]

Nice work Rich,

Would love to join you on one of these missions. Seal rocks might have been a good option in that swell. (I bet the surf would have been pumping too). Lets hope that mercury isn't from all those fish we caught and ate as kids.

Cheers

[Wammo]

Nice work Rich,

Would love to join you on one of these missions. Seal rocks might have been a good option in that swell. (I bet the surf would have been pumping too). Lets hope that mercury isn't from all those fish we caught and ate as kids.

Cheers

Actually if i had to guess I would say it would have a big impact. Apparently Jewfish and Bream are two species of fish that have high mercury levels because they are both scavengers.

[saltrix]

Just some comments on mercury levels in fish.

It is expressed in Mg/Kg, ie Milligrams of mercury in Kilograms of fish.

Some results of published tests on Australian fish are

Whiting 0.08 Mg/Kg

Morwong 0.13

Flathead 0.14

Swordfish 1.98

Southern Bluefin tuna 1.00

Sharks, rays, Orange Roughy, Ling, and most large predatory fish or old fish are up there in the high range.

Generally the older or larger the fish the higher the mercury content.

Recommendations from health authorities recommend eating swordfish (1 serving) no more than once a fortnight.

As you can see from the above it is probably best to feed the kids from small fish as they are most susceptable to mercury poisoning.

[arpie]

Hi Wammo

Glad to hear you got into some good fishing before the weather went belly up - seas have been up again yesterday & today, too! Some nice blackies have come into the system to get away from it, I think!

CHeerio

Roberta

[Wammo]

Just some comments on mercury levels in fish.

It is expressed in Mg/Kg, ie Milligrams of mercury in Kilograms of fish.

Some results of published tests on Australian fish are

Whiting 0.08 Mg/Kg

Morwong 0.13

Flathead 0.14

Swordfish 1.98

Southern Bluefin tuna 1.00

Sharks, rays, Orange Roughy, Ling, and most large predatory fish or old fish are up there in the high range.

Generally the older or larger the fish the higher the mercury content.

Recommendations from health authorities recommend eating swordfish (1 serving) no more than once a fortnight.

As you can see from the above it is probably best to feed the kids from small fish as they are most susceptable to mercury poisoning.

Saltrix - do you have any similar information for Bream and Jewfish. Bream is a species I have targeted and specialise in - so catch and eat a great deal. Very interested in the results for them.