Xmas Day At Coomba Park

[arpie]

Hi all

Keith & I gathered a picnic lunch & headed over to Coomba Park with the kayaks ........ hoping to catch up with Slinky & family, who are here on a Houseboat for about a week!! As we drove, the overcast sky donated some drizzle that became steady rain ...... and we were hoping that it would 'burn off' so that we would enjoy our picnic lunch & yak time!

Luckily, we found a covered bench for our lunch & spent an hour or so chatting with some Dutch tourists who happened by. Very pleasant!! Then THE CALL came thru - the Slinkys were on the move & heading our way, to make it easier for us to paddle out & find them! I'd thought the 3-4km paddle to Regatta Island might be a bit tough, specially if the wind came up like it had the day before!!! It can get dangerous in small craft on a choppy lake!

YAY!! The houseboat is in view!! We paddle over towards it & see Captain Slinky at the helm with Sharon & the kids out the front!

Sharon & the kids were below deck, boiling the billy

Santa had been kind to the girls, tho the gremlins had left some of the presents at home!

We settled in for a quick cuppa & piccie opportunity, whilst Slinky & I compared 'tackle'!!

Our yaks were safely secured at the rear of the houseboat

Quickly, we are out on the water, Slinky in the tinny with Gemma, Keith & I in our yaks. The tide was gong out, so we headed to the shallows

Slinky is on the board first with a small breambo - those sammys really ARE good!!

Then it is my turn - would you believe ....... a garfish attacked my lure quite aggressively!!!?

Then a small bream - shame the bigger hits didn't convert to hookups!!

Keith had gone along the edge of the island & had some hits, but no hookups.

We hope to do better (possibly today) when we attack the rising tide!! Can't wait!!!

I think I've got the fishing bug back!! :yahoo:

It was a very relaxing way to spend Xmas Day - when we are home, we always do it that way! Way to go!!

I hope you had a pleasant Xmas Day with family & loved ones too.

Cheerio for now

Roberta

[Jewhunter]

Great to see you caught up with the Slinky family Roberta.

It's so good to see Keith out & about having a paddle after the year he's had.

Looks like you had a very relaxing Xmas day. No better way to spend it I reckon.

Thanks for my pressie. Those smaller shadalicious look the goods for jacks.

Cheers,

Grant.

[james7]

Looked like a nice relaxed day Roberta. Good to see you caught up with that fishing pirate Captain Slinky and his motley crew.

Great to see Keith out in the yak too.

I love the gar you caught on the lure. Amazing!

Good luck if you get out today, and make sure that migrating flock of "Slinkies" don't clean out all the bream in the area!

Cheers

Peter

[Brooker435]

Sounds Like a nice relaxing day,

I'm also looking forward to meeting up with slinky once I am settled in QLD,

Looking forward to seeing some more of those Monster Bream you get Stuck into Roberta!!!!

Continue Enjoying your holidays and Have a Happy New Year!!!!

Regards,

Nathan

[Hodgey]

What a great way to spend a holiday. Looks like the Slinky Family had a terrific setup, with some aquatic travellers visiting as well. Hopefully the better fish put in an appearance for you today!

Cheers

Hodgey

[arpie]

Thanks guys - I headed out again today, thinking I'd be fishing the top of the tide, but it was even lower than when I left yesterday!!!

As I pulled up to the Houseboat, Jessie obviously had something quite big on her line - using the final bit of worm that I'd given the Slinkys after putting my mate Kevin onto some worms on Xmas Eve!!! They were kept in fresh sand (in good plastic bags ..... note PLURAL for bags) in the fridge, so they lasted longer than usual!!

As Jessie brought the fish closer, it turned out to be a HUGE generic type of TOADFISH!! It had fully blown up & swallowed HEAPS of water, so Sharon's knot held really well, considering it was pulling in about 3kg actual weight (full of water!!) It went close to 42cm & really was HUGE!! (and ugly!)

Slinky had taken off in the tinny for 'whereabouts unknown', so I headed over to where we'd had the bream hits yesterday!! I targeted the structure & was rewarded with a 27cm breambo on my yellow sammy! I was feeling confident of getting a 'biggie'!! I had lots of 'little' hits & missed the occasonal 'bigger hit' with no success.

I continued fishing, then as I chucked my yellow sammy towards yet some MORE structure, I could see a good 'smack' at the lure, then, I'm on!! I was right up against a nasty oyster encrusted structure, so was pleased when the 'assumed' bream headed away from the structure & into the open water. It was a REALLY NICE bream & I reckon around 40cm, given the power or it. I really thought I 'had it in the bag' and relaxed ....... then it spat the hook! Some weeks ago, I'd changed from trebles to 'doubles' to prevent hookup of weed ...... I just hope it wasn't the lack of that 'treble' that lost it!!!

Slinky reappeared on the horizon with tales of BIG FLATTIES missed, alas, because of the lack of a net!!!

Shortly after, I found a nice yabby patch & swapped over to a gulp 3" grub & had some hits, then WHACK!!! Ooooh, this feels nice ........ lots of power - could be a very nice bream ..... saw a flash of silver ...... it went under the yak & around, missing the rudder (thank God!) ....... then I had the net out, ready to slide it in & it turned into a HUGE WHITING!!!! I couldn't believe it! The power of it had me assuming it was a bream! I can understand how big Bonefish fight so hard, now!! It went 37.5cm - a real elbow slapper!!! Pretty sure that is a PB for me!!

In the mean time, the sky towards Coomba village had turned absolutely BLACK, with heavy rain being deposited in the ranges!!! I really should head back in to shore! I'd promised my fish to the family, for dinner ....... but if I go 'via the houseboat' I may be in the middle of a large electrical storm .......

I wave to Slinky, indicating that I am heading straight for shore!! Really heavy rain is falling along a huge line of black cloud - it is BUCKETTING somewhere between Coomba & Forster ........

Driving home, I am assaulted by torrential rain, putting the windscreen wipers on double speed & pulling over for the worst of it! The road to Coomba is quite winding, & difficult to see in the blinding rain! Safe again, I head off. It is about a 1/2hr drive from Forster to Coomba ..... and Forster wasn't even wet!!!! We did get some later on, about 5pm tho.

We have family from NZ arriving tomorrow for a couple of days ...... tho the weather from the Northern Rivers area could affect their journey south! Feeling really sorry for you guys up there!!

Dribs & drabs of family will be moving thru over the next 10-14 days, we'll just have to see who turns up when!!

I really enjoyed my time on the water today, over at Coomba - I'd been meaning to do it for the last few years, but just couldn't justify driving all that way!!!

Hope to get out & about soon!!! My body is telling me that it has been pedalling hard & seen a bit of the sun (even tho sunscreen was used ....)

I still hope to get Slinky onto the beach, for a worming exercise!!!1 How much fun would THAT be???

Cheerio

Roberta

[Jewhunter]

Hi Roberta.

Try to catch up with Bubba for a fish on the Skeeter while he's up there.

He's been ringing me every day & has been smashing them.

If Slinky turns his phone on then he'll be fishing with Bubba tommorow.

The big dope left his phone charger at home with some of the kids pressies apparently!

Cheers,

Grant.

[cut_loose]

Lucky, i have been running around getting in contact helping my girlfriend as she has been pretty sick the last 2 days with some stomach infection, got onto the water for a few hours with blades, got nothing but a baby bream !

Been fishing the Forster channel

Edited December 26, 2010 by cut_loose