On The Rocks
The July outing saw us once again venture onto the rocks for a fish. The trip was supposed to be a blackfish in the estuaries outing, but as they weren’t firing it was decided to go with plan B.
We all met at 1pm, and the weather looked good. A nice sunny day of about 19 degrees, a light North Westerly breeze. The only concern was that the swell was up a bit, at around 1m. This could make fishing interesting, but as the tide was running out we decided to send Chris Bannerman, Bob Williams, Wozza and Roy Browne in to do a recce and report back to Mark Williams, Jimmy Hyatt, Bratt Aley and myself, before we headed into the National Park.
The report was that the swell was up but it was marginal in terms of fishability on the platform we had chosen. We decided to proceed and met up with the forward party in the carpark in the National Park. We readied our gear, put on our rock boots and started the 1km walk down to the rocks.
Once we arrived on the platform we got the berley mix ready, rigged up with our flies and proceeded to the holes along the edges of the platform. The berley trail had barely got started when on my second cast there was a quick take and the Struddie was bent under the load of an average drummer. It was a short but hard fight and the fish was soon safely in the landing net courtesy of Bob, and the day was off to a good start.
Bites came thick and fast, but many were missed over the next 45 minutes or so. Brownie got a couple of Wirra and a drummer. Bob caught a rock cod. Wozza got a bout 4 hits but no hook ups, and then suddenly – all quiet. The tide had just about bottomed out and that brought the bites to an end for a while. We soldiered on and if nothing else we got some good casting practice into a stiff North Easterly.
Wozza spotted a large grouper in one of the holes and Bob was seen scurrying across the rocks in search of his crab flies. He donned one of the said flies and was soon trying to tempt the grouper into a quick crab dinner. Unfortunately there were problems getting the fly down to where the fish was seen so no actions was had on that front.
As the tide started to turn, and the sun dipped behind the headland, the bites started. Mark was the first to get his rod bent. Another pig we all thought, only to see a big silver streak get hauled delicately onto the rocks. A nice silver trevally had come into the mix and took a liking to Mark’s bread fly. A few photos and the fish was sent back to do some more growing, ready for our next visit!
Just when we thought it was time to pull up stumps, Brett got into the action and hooked up on a decent fish. After a good tussle and a skillful landing another excellent drummer found itself posing for the camera with a very happy Brett in control.
There were a few firsts on this outing. Both Roy and Brett got their first Drummer on fly. Mark’s trevally was his first Silver on fly, and Brownie’s Wirra was a first also.
