Xmas Day at Green Point - picnic by the lake

[arpie]

Hi guys

I hope you all had a great Xmas day - we had a lovely day up here, so to continue our tradition of Xmas by the lake, we travelled to Green point, as the tide would be high there, whilst low in the main lake where we normally fish! Xmas Day is pretty well the only day that Keith will grab a yak & line & put in too, so I was hoping that he would catch something!

Even tho the predicted weather for Xmas was overcast & wet, we started with a glorious sunny day, that turned cloudy, a bit of light drizzle and then sun again - so I guess they almost got it right!!

The area that I chose was fairly shallow, so expected to get into some bream and/or flatties, chasing along the sand holes in amongst the copious weedbeds ..... but the fish were few & far between!

When chasing bream, this is the signal for me that they SHOULD be around!! Cockle growth! Even it you are in less than 1m of water - you WILL get terrific sized bream in there, as they hide in amongst the weeds & cockle growth, to ambush passing prey! Not today tho!

I had one 'heavy fish' on for a few seconds, but it dropped the hooks, so no idea what it was! I had a few follows & splashes on an OSP Bent Minnow (and now can keep them 'sub water' ) and had hits on Sammy 65s as well (my fav colour of course! ) but remained fishless on the first outing!! Keith was out as well, in my Perception Minnow (but I was VERY remiss in not getting any pics of him other than gathering oysters!)

We've had some great oyster hauls there before!

We had our picnic lunch, with that magnificent view, right next to our ute, and then whilst Keith had a nap, I took off again, to try & land SOMETHING on Xmas Day!!

Almost on my first cast with my fav Sammy, I had my first fish for the day - it was really a strong fighter & I initially called it a bream - then closer to the yak, found it was a totally different species - a very nice 36cm whiting! It pulled so hard, I was really hoping it was a bream!

This was followed by some more whiting, but not as large

another one - all on my fav lure

I ended up with 4 Nice Whiting - my new Tonic sunnies (both chromatic ie gets darker when the sun is brightest AND polarized) made it really easy to spot the sand patches from a distance - not always easy when sittling low in the water in a yak! I took the fish home & gave them to our neighbour who is ill, but who love fish!

All up, a great day on the water, tho I probably would have preferred bream and/or flatties ....... next time, eh? I'll be back!!! A VERY nice spot!

Sadly, all that pedaling aggravated the sore hip I received from slipping in the mud whilst wading Eucumbene last weekend, so I was in a fair bit of pain last night & less so today, thankfully! I may just have to back off the Hobie for a little while!! THat's OK - it just means that I may have to take the Perception Minnow out instead

Cheerio for now - with family arriving on today, this may have been the last outing for the year - we'll see about that!!

Tight lines

Roberta

[james7]

Great Christmas Day Roberta. Some quality whiting even if the bream didn't come out to play. Wish I was there to try a few of the oysters!

Hope the hips improves quickly.

Great report.

Cheers

Peter

[PRED-ATOR]

Great report, sounds like an awesome day.

By the way your kayak has more gear than a flybridge cruiser LOL

how do you still stay afloat haha

Cheers, Stan

[jenno64]

You are tenacious Roberta and well done on persevering for the whiting! I hope you are feeling better soon and fishing hard once again!

[arpie]

Thanks guys

Unfortunately the hip strain has become more painful since Xmas Day & I've had Xrays & CT scan that can't pinpoint why, so next step is an ortho Specialist - but they will all be on hols still! Seriously sick of being housebound! Even had a trip to Taree Hospital when in excruciating pain between Xmas & New Year! They had a 'hospital public holiday' so their MRI?CT/Ultrasound stuff wasn't available - so had to wait til Tues to get it seen to! Looks like I'll be going to Sydney for a specialist appointment sometime soon!

TOTALLY SICK of it all - plus not able to get out there & fish & yak, of course! Obviously the Xmas Day fish aggravated it as does walking! Can't drive either as the manual shift aggravates it as well!

Ah well - they've discounted anything wrong internally, so that is good & now I have a full scan to refer to in the years to come with any other issues that may occur!

I've even been watching the cricket and at least that has been more exciting than usual - often it is about as exciting as watching the grass grow - but not this time! Go the Aussies!!

There is an ABT Bream Comp up here this weekend for boats & yaks (personally I think it is a DUMB time to have it as the lake is full of holidayers in fizz boats & has been well & truly flogged so most bream will be hiding I reckon!) but worse - I won't be able to get out & watch them fish! Michelle & her son Scott will be staying with us as accommodation is pretty well impossible to find this time of year or if found, incredibly expensive!

enough whinging from me!!

Just Get out there & catch some fish on my behalf!

cheerio

Roberta

[rsm150d]

NICE pic Roberta.... hope all is well with ur hip.. keep up the yak fishing..

[arpie]

.... hope all is well with ur hip.. keep up the yak fishing.. ...

Thanks mate - haven't wet a line at all since!! Unfortunately, the hip is still stuffed - saw a spinal specialist (GP thought it was referred pain from the spine) who has confirmed it is the hip - so now will be seeing a hip specialist in early March!!

I am going STIR CRAZY with no fishing due to the pain, which has only been relieved in the last couple of days with new meds - so I don't want to aggravate it again by yakking before I get the OK! Had Hip & Spine MRIs as well now, which shows a big pool of liquid around the left hip socket & one inflamed disc - but the disc isn't the problem, the hip is!

At least I am walking a bit more naturally now that the pain has reduced greatly - I'd been favouring that leg for so long, I'd forgotten how to walk properly!

I was down in Tassie for a week to attend my nephew's wedding & only saw 1 bream the whole time! None around Constitution Dock, even chucking hot chips in to tempt them! NOTHING! I couldn't believe it! Finally found a jetty along the foreshore of the Hwy & pulled in - saw a bloke casting out to the middle, who was amazed as I told him to turn around & check out this big bream just sitting in the current!! He couldn't believe it!

Fingers crossed I will be back on the water within the month. I even feel up to just fishing from a jetty or wharf now too, so that is an improvement!!

cheerio

Roberta

[bassboy888]

Hope your hip gets better roberta, nothing worse than being laid up from fishing for so long! hope you can at least have a flick from the bank and satisfy some of those fishing cravings!

[paul.kenny]

Hi Roberta, not good to hear that your Hip is still causing you problems and precluding you from fishing , although I reckon the Bream and Whiting around Forster are probably somewhat relieved . Hope you get a positive diagnosis soon.

PS - only a true bream nut would throw chips into the water to see if there are any decent fish about whilst at a wedding.

[jenno64]

Go Roberta! I can just see those oysters as an entree before the whiting fillets!

[arpie]

Many thanks guys! I am now on some new meds from Monday, and they are really helping with the pain now - a bit p*ssed off I wasn't given them 7 weeks ago, really!

Since then, the pain has lessened, & it has sparked my interest in fishy things again .......have a flick from the bank..... great minds think alike, my friends!!

Our system is still chocolate brown tho and it is still raining!

he, he, .... only a true bream nut would throw chips into the water to see if there are any decent fish about whilst at a wedding....seeing some Tassie Bream was supposed to be the OTHER highlight ........ instead, it was the Wooden Boat Centre near Huonville - where Huon Pine sailing dinghys & up to 40ft luxury private boat/cruiser/yachts built as well - at bargain prices, as the 'builders' PAY to build the boat & the 'sponsor' (who is often one of the builders) who pays for the timber ends up owning it!! Top Chef Tetsuya sponsored one last year! Solid, hand built Huon Pine!

Keith & Judy & I spent about 2hrs there taking a tour of the workshop & checking out the current 'build' & I could have stayed all day! If you are ever in Hobart, it is only an hour or so out of town & well worth visiting (and it is free!)

http://www.woodenboatcentre.com/

Tassie boaters have a sense of humour!

The only bream I saw ....... look for it!!

I saw a bunch of these fluorescent 'things' in the water around some yachts - differing lengths ....... swimming up & down & looks like they 're-grow' if they get busted or de-segmented!

No wonder the bream grow big down there!! THey feed them WALLABIES!!

Cam bought a ukulele whilst in Tassie & sister Sue took hers for Keith to play!

All up, a great week in Tassie. Except I couldn't dance at the wedding! Country Square Dancing! It was a hoot!!

Next time, we'll be there for a month, in the camper & I won't have a damaged hip - and I'll have my yak & fishing rods!

Cheerio

Roberta