Out onto much kinder seas this morning. Swell wise anyhow. But visibility was still pretty poor, even quite a long way off. I ran a couple of long reefs, which did have pretty good viz, but other than a few mackerel, Martynas, Joe, Stuart and Adam were not having much joy at all. Lots of bait marking. Few predators, other than those mackerel.
We came to look inshore, but thick river water abounded. I didn't even stop the boat. We kept on hunting. And finally, with two of the three hours expiring, and my thoughts beginning to turn towards cancelling the 2nd sailing, we found some fish. And quality fish as well. We made the full 8 fish kill, with the first 8 fish. And we continued to return more, until the bugger off bugler made himself known just as the 12th fish was landed. From nothing, to actually quite an enjoyable session. Big smiles all around. That's the real reward in this gig.
Pit stop in the cafe, and then back to greet fellow members of a local estuary lure fishing group. Chris,.Jon and Lewis. And, good for them, with still some flood happening, it seemed like a no brainer. Except... Of course, the tide had eased back a real lot, with the ebb imminent. We managed just two in the first half an hour. But, the good thing about huge spring tides as we have at the moment, is that there isn't much hanging around. Pretty soon we were pushing 1.4 knots, with zero wind. That's pretty quick for the close stuff.
And with the tide, the fish began to feed. And quite well. We twice managed to get three rods doubled over, but failed to manage all four. Fish missed as well. Possible squid dropped. Lots of anticipation. Lots of laughs. Lots of fish.
I had suggested twenty fish might be on the cards, and we surpassed that. We also tried a spot I noticed two years ago, but didn't manage to really fish, and happily, we found bass there also. Not just bass either. BIG pouting. In my experience, where big pouting can be found, so can cod. More work to be done here. Twenty twp was the final score, and of those fish, just two were less than the 42cm legal size limit. Happily for the fish though, nobody aboard wanted bass for tea, with 100 percent released.
And another plus, already by mid ebb, I could see the viz had improved hugely. Looking good for the next seven days perhaps. And with some great fishing to go with it hopefully, as these monster tides peak tomorrow, and then quickly subside. Happy days. Feeling pretty upbeat as autumn, the time of plenty, takes hold.
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