First outing from Swansea

[NaClH2OK9]

If you don’t like long stories, please look away..


Sorry this is a little late, but I’m still commuting between the city and the Lake. (Last Week of it).
Took a non-fishing work colleague out on my first trip out of the lake Macquarie Last Saturday.
I’ve been promising him for ages and as a leaving work gift he bought me some Joe Yee pattern lures. J

Just as a little background, I’ve only put in at the lake once last weekend for a family trip to warners for fish and chips (yes I pulled a couple of small lures ). Anyway onto the learning curve.
Launched at Belmont south ramp for the second time without issue at 7am , though found the water around the holiday park shallower than last time at .7m
With the intention of making the most of the great conditions and the temp charts showing a good warm water close in.

Knowing there is lots of shallow water I was so concentrated on this looking at the navionics that I actually missed the entrance to the channel (from the middle of the lake its not as obvious as you would think for someone having never done it. Anyway after a couple of K realisation dawns and we rounding into the main inlet…

Challenge 2 bloody big (or not so big) bridge… anyway its up and I race to the back of the queue. All good until the light goes red on my go. Ok I’ll see what happens…..
2 mins later a boat comes from the other side and I get ready for my turn again… only to watch the bridge drop ! ??
Now I know the cars can’t wait forever.. AND I can see a phone number that I haven’t rung, But… Bugger.

OK, can I fit under ?? its not that big a boat.. I inch forward to within a couple of feet and decide if I take the VHF and FM antenna down I should be ok.
All prepped we head through and all is good J
Into the main channel and prep for the bar crossing (I’ve sat and watched a couple of times for an hour and it seems all the action is Blacksmiths side so
After a check in with marine rescue we head to open water with barely a ripple on the water.
Oh…. Open Water.. this is what I’ve been missing.. 25 knots to moon island took seconds and I feel like I’m home J

Ok.. id left the plan pretty open its 9am so decide to hit the FAD and see what’s happening. A comfortable 20kts sees us there in 25 mins (much closer than the hacking FAD I’m used to). 5 mins before hitting I put 3 lures out , Temp is 21.7 but the sounder is showing nothing 2 laps and only 1 tinny (tied up to the FAD and skipper staring into the water), makes me decide to early here and time to head east…

Over the next couple of hours trolling I see the water SLOWLY rise to 23.5 but the is no action, birds, bait, current, nothing…..
Finaly I hit some ripples in the water and .2 deg drop and get a hit on the shotgun (only running g 2 corners and shot) which is a blazer lure chain. But its dropped after a few seconds L
Circled and headed wider to find the temp dropping more. I searched around for a couple of hours and found patches of surface clutter but no decent lines to follow. It seemed the further I went the cooler it got. And hoping for a dollie in warmer water but anticipating a stripe decided to slow zig zag back and found the water getting warmer all the time.
By 12.30 we were back at the FAD in 24 deg. Again with only one boat . and the sounder still showing zilch and the current running hard.

I start feeling for my mate at this point (I could have done 48 hrs trolling, but… I think the search for that big fish is something you acquire after a few trips).
In vein I started cubing and on the 3^rd drift he pulls a baby king running perhaps 45cm (at least he’s on the board)..
A few more drifts produced nothing. And as 1pm hits so the wind starts picking up. I’d noticed 2pm starts getting a little gusty so this was no surprise.
We sacked the FAD and headed best part in for a flatty drift only to discover that in my excitement to go out trolling I dint have any reasonable sinkers.
One baby flatty later I give it up as a bad job and head into the channel…

Soo. A great day on the water only marred by a lack of pelagic ( if I wanted small quick fixes I’d throw SP from the rocks ! (I’m stepping back , due to the lit fuse)..).
Its time to negotiate my way back. Getting to the bridge I naturally reach forward and drop the ariels and head in… FECK …. Half way under the bridge (there is a gap between the 2 road lanes )is no time to realise the rods are in the launchers. !! after a bit of SH0ut!ng, the only option is push through before we hit the sides of the bridge… fortunately no damage done but it’s a lesson I won’t need teaching twice.

The run back is pretty easy noting the track from the way out and 3pm sees us back at the ramp..

It was an educational and great first outing. Hopefully trips to come can produce some bigger fish.

Thanks for getting this far
Steve

[Scent Blazer Lures]

hey that's fishing for you, at least you got a hit and some small kings, its still a bit early for the swarms of dollies, but it's always worth trying and there are some bigger dollies out there, just gotta get out there and hopefully you will come across one

I spoke a few people who went out off Sydney on the weekend and they didn't turn a reel, so you did better than they did

looks like better conditions are on the way

Edited December 7, 2015 by Scent Blazer Lures

[Scratchie]

Good write up Steve. It must have been "take a work colleague fishing" weekend. I did the same.

Unlucky on the fish front but it sounds like a few lessons were learnt. Good to see you settling in at Lake Mac as well. Only an hours drive from port mate, with no bridge to contend with!

Look forward to your next report!

Cheers scratchie!!!

[big Neil]

Good report Steve. I could feel your anguish as you encountered each problem, but you resolved them and (no doubt) learned a few lessons along the way. Only one way you can go from here...on to bigger and better days on the water. Good luck. Will look forward to reading your next reports. Big Neil.

[Camo1808]

Great report steve. I am very much looking forward to catching up with you. That bridge is a pain. For anyway that doesnt know swansea bridge. I can go under it on my jet ski. Stand up and touch it wjth my hand. Its ridiculously low. Anyway glad you at least hooked onto somethung. As mentioned people missed out but thats what makes us keep going back for more hey

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

[Guest 4myson]

Great read Steve & thanks for the heads up about the bridge . I'll be out your way between the the 3rd & 10th of January & will be looking into getting out of Swansea channel ( there's a Lot of fishing I gotta catch up on ) 7 Days STRIAGHT !!!

[NaClH2OK9]

Great read Steve & thanks for the heads up about the bridge . I'll be out your way between the the 3rd & 10th of January & will be looking into getting out of Swansea channel ( there's a Lot of fishing I gotta catch up on ) 7 Days STRIAGHT !!!

Next outing I'll go from blacksmiths.

I've heard it gets busy. But there's plenty of room there for parking and a good warf.

Water is still cold deeper down so not many reports around here.

Throw me a pm when your up perhaps we can throw a line together.