| Off The Rocks |
| Date: June 2004 |
| It was bloody cold when I got to the meeting place at Avoca ready for this outing. The sun was just starting to come up and the sky looked fantastic with it various shades of red and blue. The forecast was for howling westerly winds, but the spot we were to fish was reasonable well protected by it’s huge cliffs. The usual wait for the folks to turn up (isn’t it always the same people?) saw us depart the meeting place about 30 minutes later than planned, but it didn’t really matter that much as the fish didn’t know what time we were starting. We drove to the dirt track that lead down to the fishing spot and followed the track to the parking spot. Unloaded the vehicles and started making our way to the rocks to fish. We split up into smaller groups and looked for promising looking ledges and holes to throw our berley and our bread flies into in the hope of connecting with the biggest brute of the rocks… the drummer. I teamed up with Wilbur and Chris “the pig virgin” Bannerman and found a spot that had a deep channel running out from a reasonably flat rock. The hardest part was actually getting onto the flat rock with all the gear as there was a gap of about 2 -3 feet that you had to jump to get onto the rock. We all managed to do so without drama and proceeded to throw hand fulls of bread into the swirling whitewater to tempt the fish out of their lairs. Straight away Wilbur and I started getting hits but were unable to connect with the creature that was teasing us. It wasn’t too long before our first cale was hauled up onto the rocks and dispatched to the depths again. Wilbur hooked onto what looked like a decent drummer only to get well and truly reefed by the fish. That’ll happen when you are trying to pull the fish off the rocks and between boulders. Next up… The virgin himself yelled “I’m on” and his 10 weight buckled as he literally skull dragged the fish up out of the depths. I grabbed the landing net and guided Chris as to where to play the fish for an easier landing. The fish came awfully close the barnacle encrusted rocks a couple of time, but in the end the virgin was no more…. Chris had landed a beautiful drummer. The usual photo shoot ensued and you couldn’t wipe the smile of Chris’ face. We landed a few more fish including sweep and Chris’ luderick before the wind and the waves drove us off our little rock platform. Matt had asked Wilbur to come and photograph a bream that he had caught. It was an absolute thumper going 39cm to the fork and a good effort off the rocks given the structure it had to aim at in an attempt to gain freedom. We moved around the rock a little further to get out of the wind and joined up with Brownie and Hamish. It wasn’t long before Hamish’s usual woohoo could be heard as he hooked into another reasonable drummer, which was landed and released in record time. There was even a Port Jackson shark doing the rounds, but none of us could get him to take a fly…. And what would you do with it if you did? Anyway and good morning was had by all with quite a few fish hauled up onto the rocks, and it was time for lunch. Steve Tizard had organized a beautiful barbeque with sausage sandwiches laid on. We all enjoyed a few before we packed up and called it a day. Another great outing, great company and excellent tucker. Thanks to all that made the day so good. |