Yakking & Camping & Fishing At Swr - My 4000Th Post Too!

[arpie]

Hi guys & gals

Better grab a beer ........ this is a biggie!!!

Well, it was a wild & wet week at SWR this year - we knew that we were going to get a 'bit of wet', being the backlash from the Darwin cyclone about 2 weeks ago, and we did get some - quite a lot, actually!! More than we wanted, to be sure!

Kim had arrived at Forster on the Wed afternoon, so we had a couple of days on the water chasing bream on the Thurs & Fri before heading up to SWR for some more fishing action!

In Forster, we tried Topwater mainly - hitting the Canals at the Keys first up. I was using my favourite Sammy & the first fish aboard was a nice whiting which really whacked the lure & fought hard!! Followed by a very small bream - not much bigger than the lure!

Kim had her favourite Rover 50 on & was rewarded with plenty of hits - Kim attacking a jetty!

We got heaps of hits from bream & landed quite a few, too!

Day 2 & we hit The Breck Channel, which wasn't firing as well as it had in the past few weeks, as it was very windy in the main lake. We tried around the front of the island & I found this dog, madly chasing the small fish in the water! It was so funny!

On the Sat, we headed up to SWR, arriving about lunch time & after setting up camp, we wandered around, seeing who was already there? Then started preparing our stuff for heading out for a fish in the Macleay River next morning at 'a reasonable hour', unlike the guys who went offshore chasing marlin at 4am or earlier!!!

Sunday morning & Kim & I head to the Macleay River for some topwater fishing! Straight up, I was into some small bream and a nice flattie. I kept the flattie as a dinner contribution.

Then I could see the water busting up as something (possibly tailor) was harassing the bait fish! I pulled out my rod with 20lb braid & line on with a sammy (in case it was BIG) and chucked it into the melee!! Almost instantly, i was on - the light rod was buckling under the weight of the fish as it darted left & right, then started going round in circles! Finally I brought it to the net & saw that it was a school of watsons leaping bonito in the river! A new species for me - beautiful colours! I thought they were mainly offshore predators! I was expecting frigate mackerel, but not bonito! Richard & his wife scored them for sashimi! (YUCK!)

Then Kim yells out that she thinks she's caught a jewie! I hoon over & sure enough, it is a small jewie!! Lots of excitement happening with fish being caught everywhere!

Another flattie comes on board & he goes into the net with the first one, to 'put on the table' that evening for dinner, as nothing much has been brought in from the offshore boys ..... yet!!

Back in camp, we learn that Louis has hooked & played a marlin that took him about 10km away from the point of hookup!!! Luckily one of the guys in an Adventure Island had stayed with him & was able to tow him back to SWR under sail! Much easier than pedalling!! Paulo was there to congratulate him on his capture!! Everyone was inspired to get out offshore, again now!

Louis fighting the Marlin

Louis' marlin jumping - apparantly it tailwalked away from the yak just before busting off - but no pics of this!

Paulo congratulating Louis on his first Aussie marlin in yak!

Some of us were having a more 'liquid' time of it - Danny showed off the latest in Rain Wear ........ little did we know that we were about to get about 3 days of it!!!

Dinner at the Camp Kitchen - Chef Paulo leading the way!!!

Most days, Lynette & Paulo headed out to sea in their yellow AI's - Lynette mixes it with the big boys & had one big hit on her fishing gear, only for the fish to drop the lure! She is one Gutsy kayakker!! 2 years ago she was out with Paul for the whole saga when he landed his first marlin!

Then it started raining ...... and raining ...... and raining ....... so not much happened for the next few days - eventually Rob & I hit the Back Creek to test his new found 'topwater' skills. We had been practising from land in between rain squalls & he was keen to try it on water in the yak as it is totally different from 'land fishing'! Almost on his first cast, he tightened up onto a very nice bream that was about 27cm to the fork. He was VERY happy!

Then, within minutes, he was onto a much bigger bruiser - this one going about 30cm to the fork!! Talk about Grinners Being Winners!!!! If this was a bream comp, he had 2 terrific fish within the first hour of fishing! Just needed one more for the 'bag'!!

I was feeling very left out at this point in time, getting hits but no hookups when finally, a nice whiting jumped onto my lure, giving me something to smile about! It was the only fish I caught that day!!

Kim couldn't find us & had headed to another creek that was 'on our list' and later that afternoon, I joined her in the creek - sadly Rob had left for home, so missed out on the next couple of days of top fishing!!

On the creek, I hadn't found Kim, but found a spot where I was getting huge hits & boofs on my sammy - but had difficulty hooking up! One fish was on momentarily but spat the hook! I wasn't sure if they were EPs or Bass or bream, so was interested when finally catching up with Kim, to hear of the quality bream that resided in the creek, but only small flatties! Kim had been catching terrific bream on surface lures all day into the low 40cms mark - and reckons it was her best ever bream session, even beating some of her favourite spots down the south coast!! We will definitely put that spot on the list again for next time!! Kim headed home the next morning, so I had the place to myself for the last couple of days!

We were hoping Wendy could join us on the water, as I'd loaned her my Perception Minnow before I'd left Forster but got a message that her Mum had taken a fall & she was returning to Forster to look after her. No major injuries, but very bruised & shaken.

On the Fri, I waited for the tide to change to high (as it was extremely shallow on the low the previous evening.) I headed upstream to where Kim had had such success the previous day, & hooked my first bream of the day - not a monster, but still legal! The wind was up something chronic & was sending my casts all over the place - the light braid billowing in the wind! Thank God for my Lure Retriever!!! Rob had found the 'upmarket model' (12ft) in his local Golf shop & had made his into a great retriever, as he had borrowed mine the day we spent on the Back Creek & reckons he had saved his main lure about 20 times! I thoroughly recommend everyone making one up!

Some fellow campers had put in a request for dinner, so I did my best to accomodate them!

Followed by another legal - but caught this time further downstream, where I'd had all the hits the day before!

I also was busted off by what I can only imagine was a Jewie on my light line & lost a chubby to it!! !! I got it to the surface fairly quickly as the water was shallow, but it only 'bulged' the water & then must have realised it was hooked & then bolted! My 6lb leader didn't have a chance ...... tho my knot must have held, as the leader broke further up! So, there is a jewie out there with a bit of decorative bling on his face! It fined up the next morning to go out & grab some more fish - most were not legal, but I had fun trying to entice that jewie back so I could retrieve my lure! It didn't happen! Got some flatties & bream tho!

I was coming back from the shower late in the afternoon when a BIG male kangaroo was feeding immediately behind my tent! If I got too close to him, he 'barked' at me as a warning! Later, I couldn't get into the camper as he was still too close, & once again 'barked' at me!! I tried tossing a wet towell at him (with me hiding behind the camper) to encourage him to move away, but he only 'shaped up' to fight & then resumed eating again! He had shoulder muscles on him that would make a Arnie jealous! He was BIG!

Next day, i couldn't believe that it was time to pack up & head back home again, where it hadn't rained at all the whole time I was away!! - where had the week gone?

Ah well, that's fishing!! I will just have to wait until next year until I get there again ...... or perhaps I will follow Kim up when she heads north again!

Thanks for reading

Cheerio

Roberta

[Hodgey]

What a terrific report.

That's a lot of surface action from an assortment of lures Roberta

Imagine the tallies you could have achieved if the rain had stayed away. Fantastic photos also. It sounds like you have found some new places to terrorise next time you visit.

Congratulations on your 4000th post too, Roberta. What an achievement

Cheers

Ian

[Guest]

One word Roberta.....AWESOME

[austral]

well done roberta..

[cut_loose]

Awesome report. .Great photos

When i first seen that jewie photo i thought the lady in the background was holding the jewie and i thought it was a 30 lb monster jewie Than i scolled down nd seen your hand haha. Thats cool tho .. How long was he ?

[james7]

I’ve been waiting for your annual SWR report Roberta … and it was definitely worth waiting for! Sensational! The photos are brilliant too!

Despite the rain you still managed to get some good fishing in. It didn’t seem to dampen your spirits. And I still can’t believe that they chase marlin in yaks!!! Amazing!

Thanks for the great post. (I’m just going to get myself another cup of coffee and read it again)

Cheers

Peter

[g.t.]

Another legendary post from a legendary member! Congrats on 4000 awesome posts

[arpie]

Thanks guys

Hi Browney1 - don't forget to cast it back towards the shore, to cover the shallow water too! Just keep it going faster for whiting!!

Hi Cut loose - I wasn't sure the pic would work out in focus!! So glad it did!! Hehe I don't think it was legal - or if it was, only just! I think they have to be 45cm to be legal?

Hi peter - hope it was worth the wait!! Can't wait til next year, already!

Yep - shame about the rain, Ian - but it gave us some important 'down time' to recover from the fishing we had already done!! Plus I'd already had 2 days fishing with Kim before we had even arrived!! Gluttons for punishment!!

Cheerio

Roberta

[Guest]

That Bonito you caught is actually a Watsons Leaping Bonito as the broken stripes give it away

Well done Roberta.

Cheers Stewy

[tan the fisherman]

Well done Roberta, a great read as always and a great holiday by the sounds of things.

Good to hear that you got amongst it!

Tan

[roosterman]

great stuff Roberta

sounds like a great trip even though the weather was very ordinary..

that guy getting dragged 10k by a beakie is amazing.10 outa 10 for even contemplating such a task ..

big congrats on ya 4k posts...

:yahoo:

cheers...steve.......

[slinkymalinky]

Wow.. fantastic report

It sounds like you had a fantastic time. You're photos are incredible as always. That Watson's Leaping Bonito is beeeewdifuuuul I've never seen one in the flesh. Their colour is amazing.

You're having a blinder of a year on surface lures. I think instead of a challenge, I might need a coaching clinic from you instead.

Congratulations again on the 4000th post. Hope we get to fish together again sometime this year.

Cheers, Slinky

[mako1]

Top report Roberta

Great pics of some really nice fish.

Congrats on the 4000th post

[Daniel Frost]

Well done , great pics and story Roberta . You must have a pretty good collection of surface lures from what I keep seeing in these posts . Sounds like you had a ball despite the weather being a bit average.

Congrats

[tide'n'knots]

great stuff as usual roberta! shame about the rain. it sounds like you had some awesome fishing when the wheather allowed it though. congrats on 4k posts also!

pete.

[Ray R]

Yeehaa finally finished your post Roberta, all I can say is thanks for sharing it with us, who cares about the rain anyway.

Top shelf Roberta..

[jenno64]

Roberta,

Your fishing experience grows exponentially! What a great report and its time Roberta had a TV program!!!