tide'n'knots Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Hi guys, got back today from a week of fishing wisemans ferry and I have spent most of the day packing stuff away cleaning down the gear and boat etc PHEW i am knackered! managed a few quality fish over the course of the week but not as many as I would have hoped for though. The water was still chocolate colour from rain that we had weeks ago, and it definately is affecting the fishing in that, by half way through the run out tide, a heap of weed floats downstream and snags all over the lines making fishing very difficult, also about that stage of the tide the fish shut down completely and the eels and catties come out to play - yuk! had some great fishing company with twin 1 (marcel) and roberta and her brother cam (sails) meeting up with me at the camp ground, unfortunately I was unable to get a decent jew for roberta or marcel but cam did manage a 6lb fish and roberta unfortunately lost a good fish around my line as I was fighting an 8lber, I feel pretty sure that hers was of similar size - oh well thats fishing. I jotted down some notes each day to refresh my memory of the weeks fishing so I will share my experience with you. DAY1.sunday 26th Arrived at the campsite around 6.30pm and set up camp. Had a quick cuppa then headed off for a fish with marcel. The wind was blowing about 15 knots and gusting up to 25 knots at times making fishing very uncomfortable. After putting up with about 4 hours of howling wind and the boat slewing 180 degrees constantly even with the use of 2 anchors we decide to give it away as a bad joke and arrived back at cqamp some time after midnight and went to bed. DAY 2 monday 27th The Alarm went off at 5.15am and the wind had dropped to a soft breeze so after some brekky and a cuppa we headed out fishing again. Arrived at our spot around 6.30am and managed a few small soapies then around 7.30am the tide turned and right on slack water I had a small bite so I picked the rod up from the rod holder and waited for the fish to take the bait but nothing happened so I decided to check and see if i had been baited and when i started to wind a 7 1/2 lb jew smashed it and did every thing in its power to run me around every rod plus the anchor rope but fortunately I was able to knit 1 pearl1 and not drop a stitch and soon had him in the boat. Not long after that the wind started again so we pulled the pin. Marcel had to leave at this stage and I stayed on by myself until wednesday when Roberta arrived for a fish from forster and then cam on thursday. I spent the rest of the day lazing around and making some yummy curried sausages. Around 3pm the wind eased off again so after a big feed of curried sausages I packed the boat for the evening assult. caught a 50cm jew and threw back several others including the usual quota of eels and catfish! By 9.00pm the tide had turned and the light breeze was blowing directly against the current and straight into my face and there was no escaping its cold nip and it was absolutely freezing so I gave it away and had a relatively early night. 7 1/2 lb jew 50cm jew day 3 tuesday28th The alarm went off at5.15am and instead of getting out of bed I decided to roll over and go back to sleep- I am not a morning person! When I finally rolled out of bed at 8am the wind had died overnight and it looked like a nice day but alas I was wrong, by 8.30 the wind sprung up again so I then decided that there was no rush to get out on the water for another battle with the elements but i finally got out and started fishing around 11am. By this time the wind was gusting at around 20knots in the opposite direction to the current making life very difficult but I decided to tough it out and wait for the tide to turn around 1pm so at least the tide and wind were in the same direction. Finally by about 2pm the water was flowing just nicely in the opposite direction and the wind was at my back and the fish came on the bite right on queue.In the next 2hrsI threw back around a dozen undersize soapies and caught 4 keepers between 50 -55cm and a nice 55cm flathead. headed back to camp around 4pmto clean the fish and restock on bait and tucker, then back and at em again just on dark hoping for a bigger jew. Fished till about 10pm and only managed 1/2 dozen small soapies. day 4 wednesday 29th Crawled out of bed around 8am and didnt have a real lot of fuel left in the boat so i decided tonot venture far from camp until the local servo opened so I mucked about pumping some squirt worms and exploring a lttle bit up the mcdonald river, managed some worms near the ferry on a sandy beach and fished along the shoreline near the campp ground hoping for a bream or 2 but they didnt want to playso I headed back for a feed and refuel. Roberta arrived and after a quick cuppa we headed out for a fish ( after she landed on her bum on the boat ramp and had to change out of her muddy clothes ) DOH! Nothing was happening on the run in tide but when the tide turned to run out like the previous day they came on the bite. Unfortunately Roberta lost a good fish around my line while I was fighting another one - her line snapped and I stayed connected to an 8lber. I am sure Robertas fish was similar size - Oh well . We ended up with 4 good jew around 50-55cm plus an 8lber and 3 flathead of good size also. 8lb jew Day 5 thursday 30th up and on the water at daylight with high expectations. Fished the last of the run out for a couple of small fish and nothing much happening, when the tide turned to run in the fish came on again - ended up with 3 nice flathead and 1 just legal jew of 46cm and threw back about 10 or a dozen soapies again. when the tide picked up pace the fish went off and the eels came on so we headed back to camp for some lunch. Cam arrived while we were back at camp so after a cuppa and a chat we set of for an afternnoon/ night fish. Back on the water about 4pm and fished till about 9.15m and caught 1 flathead. our camp - I wonder what the poor people are doing? Day 6 friday 1st Had an early morning fish for about 3hrs for only a couple of undersize jew the tide was getting near low and like the day before and the day before that, heaps of weed was coming down stream and fouling our lines so we decided to have a flick with some soft plastics but did no good probably due to the choclatey water. headed back to camp for an afternoon "poppy" nap while Roberta packed up to head back to forster. No big jew for Roberta but she did lose one around my line and managed a couple of keepers. Cam and I were back on the spot at 5pm and fished the begining of the run out tide where Roberta and I had success on wednesday. we ended up with 2 jew and 2 flathead including a 6lb jew that Cam caught and he was stoked! When the tide dropped about 1/2 way out the weed started to foul on our lines again so we pulled the pin. saturday 2nd - the last day! made an early start at 4am and couldnt raise a scale! so 9amwe headed back for brekky and a rethink! Decided to fish the begining of the run out as that had consistantly produced all week and it worked again. started to fish the last of the run out and cam got 2 keeper jew around 46 - 47cm and I got 1 nice flattie then around5pm I dropped cam back at the road so he could head off home with the freshly caught fish and some frozen fillets and I fished the begining of the run out by myself. I caught a keeper jew around 47cm and two thumper flathead one 57cm anfd the other 61cm. The total tally for the week was 14 jew averaging 50 - 55cm includung a 7 1/2 lber, an 8lber and a 6lber and 12 flathead several which were over 50cm including the best 2 of the trip on the last night. All in all we didnt set the world on fire but we did manage a few quality fish in very muddy,w weedy and at times very unsuitable conditions, as well as lots of just undersize fish that were fun to catch on light gear. Cant wait till next year when I do it all again! Pete. 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Ray R Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 G'day Mate, yeah sounds you all had a great time, some nice fish captured and a great bunch of mates enjoying each others company. Love the campout, great shots too.. Cheers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahajo Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 What a top report tide and knots Well done on catching all those jewies and flathead Cheers hazza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpie Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Well done Pete - I don't know how you maintained the pace for the whole week ..... you deserved your couple of sleep ins ...... little did you know that the 'fishaholics' (Cam & I) were joining you & would keep you on your toes for the rest of the week!! Those flatties you got towards the end were terrific! You still got so many great fish during the week, that you must be able to call the week of fishing a real success. Many thanks for allowing us to be part of the fun - can't wait till next year, already!! Cheerio Roberta Hey - that fish that got off will be all the bigger next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tide'n'knots Posted May 3, 2009 Author Share Posted May 3, 2009 Well done Pete - I don't know how you maintained the pace for the whole week ..... you deserved your couple of sleep ins ...... little did you know that the 'fishaholics' (Cam & I) were joining you & would keep you on your toes for the rest of the week!! Those flatties you got towards the end were terrific! You still got so many great fish during the week, that you must be able to call the week of fishing a real success. Many thanks for allowing us to be part of the fun - can't wait till next year, already!! Cheerio Roberta Hey - that fish that got off will be all the bigger next year! unfortunately I didnt have enough space left on the report for the photos of the flatties - Maureen ( bruces wife) took the photo - here they are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen801 Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Hi Pete, Mate sounds like a great couple of days with a few good fish thrown in to sweeten the deal. Where are the bigger ones mate? MH doesnt even have many schoolies around ATM and seems to be shutting down pretty quick. At least your spot is producing good fish with bigger models coming if at all over the next few weeks. I have no work ATM so just seem to be hanging around fishing. So bored i went and bought an XBOX to replace fishing over winter. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plankton Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Good stuff Pete. The Jewies are there, you've proved that. Some quality fish. Well done! All of them on prawns as usual or did you throw a variety of baits around finding that they were generally taking anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glennmreid Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Great report Pete. Sounds like you had a great week. Caught some great fish in trying conditions at times. Also fishing with great company as well. Sounds like a very successful week of fishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Warren Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Some good fish there. You seem to have the area pretty well worked out. Congratulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tide'n'knots Posted May 3, 2009 Author Share Posted May 3, 2009 (edited) Good stuff Pete. The Jewies are there, you've proved that. Some quality fish. Well done! All of them on prawns as usual or did you throw a variety of baits around finding that they were generally taking anything? hows it goin mate? all the fish were caught on prawns however i did put jewgaffers theory to the test at one stage and tried a big mullet fillet and it sat there for about 3 hours without getting touched. I would have loved to try some fresh tailor fillets or live poddy mullet however the water colour made it vertually impossible to get any. We did notice that some of the fish had what looked like whitebait in their gut along with the usual prawns so it could be worth taking a packet of whitebait as well. If nothing else the flathead love them! Pete. Edited May 3, 2009 by tide'n'knots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fibbo Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Great report and some nice fish there. You are a dedicated fisho getting up so early every day hehe Cheers, fibbo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sails Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 Hi Pete, you certainly put in the time for the results, and many thanks for putting us onto the fish. I hope the freezer was OK!! I needed a big rest on Sunday, didnt even go for my surf! cheers Cam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewieslayer Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 hi mate what a top week with some nice fish Cheers Jewieslayer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnv Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 wow sounds like u all had a smashing time with all those fish well done to u all cheers john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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