The April outing was looking good mid week. Calm seas and fine weather forecast and, by all accounts, lots of fish being caught. What could possibly go wrong?
As often happens, much can change in a couple of days. When more than a dozen members assembled at the Woy Woy Lions Park boat ramps early Sunday morning the weather had taken a turn for the worse. As well as being windy it was also cool and we later experienced frequent rain showers.
A coastal wind warning of strong northerly winds with seas to 2 Metres and a 1.5 metre swell saw most choose to fish the sheltered waters of Brisbane Water. Although Richard braved the conditions in Broken Bay, out as far as Box Head, as did Mal and Len, if only briefly before deciding not to continue on across to Pitt Water.
Despite the difficult conditions some fish were caught. Big Bob fishing from his boat caught a longtom, which was well netted by Terry, who maintained his consistent outing catch record.
I fished with Garry in his boat and, while our initial high tide fishing efforts around mangroves were unproductive, fishing got better when we moved further down towards the Rip Bridge and fished near Len and Mal around the wharves at Dalys Point.
Garry was rewarded with a very nice bream that fought strongly until brought to net after taking a prawn fly. I had several swirls around my fly, which could have been small tailor but more likely were mullet as none connected, Only small tugs on the line for my efforts allowed me to maintain my outing catch record. As the tide fell current increased so we moved down towards Ettalong. The flats looked promising for flathead and while nearby some were being caught by other anglers on lures none could be caught on flies.
We encountered Richard returning from Broken Bay. He had been rewarded with at least three small mac tuna for braving the sea and wind conditions, although he said the fish were not taking flies willingly and he had to work hard for his catch. Mal and Len later reported they had caught a small tailer before also returning to the more sheltered waters of Brisbane Water.
Most of us then moved back towards Woy Woy to be close to the midday barbecue lunch at Lions Park, Fishing efforts in Woy Woy Bay and Paddys Channel on a falling tide and in extremely strong wind were unproductive.
The barbecue was of the usual high standard due to the efforts of Mal, well assisted by Len and Col. There was plenty of good natured banter and ribbing about fish netting attempts and someone having to hitch a ride to recover their boat because they ran out of fuel. All in all a good outing despite the weather and sea conditions. There were even a few fish caught.
