Harbour - 20/6/2015

[SgtBundy]

With the weekend mostly occupied with kids activities, I grabbed the window I had on Saturday arvo to duck out for a go - after a recent attempt with live bait nearly paying off I wanted to try that again and got to the spot around 4pm with the sun already below the nearby hills. I started burleying up for yakkas but none were to be found, trying multiple spots after about 20 minutes I finally got a few showing up in the first place I tried. Soon they were was a cloud of them going and were taking the jig fairly well. By the time I had about 8 or so it was getting darker and I thought if I was in the chance for some activity it was now.

Set one out under a float hoping for a king - a long shot given the tides though. Still the first one got harassed and went nuts dragging the float under repeatedly - no weight though but when I brought it in it looked like it had seen beyond. It was roughed up and practically dead. The second one I put out was the same - out for a while, bolted under for a bit and came back roughed up. Nothing obvious like a squid, just scratched at. I thought possibly a jewie but really had no idea. I tried another one for a while but as it got dark the activity dropped and I brought it back in and put it in the bucket while I tried for squid.

A few casts in I could actually see a calamari with the candles striking out at the jig but it missed multiple times. I let the jig sink and it came up tight near the bottom and I dragged in a fist sized cuttlefish. After it finished inking everywhere I put it out under the float but nothing took an interest - eventually losing it to a bad cast. By this time the tide had started to run again and I was weighing up digging in until the 11pm high tide. I figured I was out anyway, the wife was not worried about me missing dinner so I chose to stick it out. Some more prospecting for squid but nothing turned up.

I returned to live baiting yakkas and dangling some yakka pieces unweighted but nothing took an interest which was odd - usually it got hammered by yakkas. Around this time I got some fishing company with a group of 3 guys turning up mostly just making noise and doing their own thing, and another pair of guys who were quite friendly and made for pleasant and instructive company though the evening. The noisy guys left around 11 but their rubbish stayed behind - cleaned up though by one of the guys I was fishing with though before it went everywhere.

After some more float based live baiting it was apparent the current was too much and they were just running the line into stupid places. The guys suggested bottom rigging the livie for a jewie might be a better way to go - I switched rigs and set it out deep. But having run out of berley and live yakkas I decided to focus on squid again while I left the live rod secured. The guys with me were guns and had 3 or 4 decent live bait size squid in short order, but I only managed another cuttlefish. They also showed me how effective those UV jig glow lights are - went and bought one today after seeing how well they work. The two guys were using the squid baits live, well, sort of. As one of them was being cast out it went high and with a huge thud smacked into the ferry wharf roof - I looked up to see an ink splat sprayed across the roof, the squids head falling to the ground under that and what was left of the squid disappearing into the night. It was one way to make a squid tube I guess - worth a good laugh too.

The last live yakka didnt last long and I switched over to using the dead ones butterflied on the same rig. Right up on high tide we started getting some action - I got some hits that I missed while I was squiding, but the second bait went out and got scoffed but a 45cm tailor. The fight was a little odd. It had some go but not a lot - seemed to only pull intermittently so I wasn't sure I had anything solid but it was on heavy gear though. A nice size fish anyway and it was kept for Sunday dinner. A few more missed hits with the dead yakkas but no more hook ups.

The rain started up around then - drizzle but with the cold not pleasant. After the turn of the tide the yakkas came back and I put out a donated live one but it only got mauled like early in the session. The guys said it was small squid - no bites in the back though like I would expect with squid. As it was now 1am and I realised I had to be taking the kids to a party at 10am I called it a night and packed up. As I packed up the guys got an absolute horse of an arrow squid - it was so big they called it for a good calamari until they netted it, I think it was a 35cm hood - pretty impressive anyway. It looked like something that belonged in a sex shop as they described it...

An educational and enjoyable trip despite the cold of a winter night session and a lack of fish.

[SgtBundy]

The tailor.

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[General Zod]

Nice tailor, well done.