Bugger… One of my fishing partners landed a 59cm silver fish about 2 minutes later and we thought we had found a patch. He landed one more rat shortly after that and then all went quite. The wind was a pain, blowing hard and across the channels making casting a trick. We checked out a second creek further up stream with no further luck. We called it a day just before dark.Day2
I headed back up the next day, I hand my brother in law (hereafter referred to as ”BIL”) with me this time. We tried the same junction as the day before, again no signs of fish, still strong winds but this time plenty of rain as well. We moved back down the creek to try a couple of different junctions. None had any signs of fish. We sat out a heavy shower, sitting under trees to give us some protection from the wind. After this passed the wind died so we decided to have a troll. We were about one metres into the fist run and “bump”, the line came tight and drag was pulled.’ Yes I’m on. The fish jumped and revealed itself as a silver fish of 80-85cm range. With thoughts of the day before flashing through my mind I took it a little easier. After a couple of jumps and some powerful runs we had it at the boat. The net was ready and the fish led to it but a late surge seen it dive one more time. Gently I guided it back to the boat. What a sight, laying in the water a nice slim silver barra, estimated in the low 80cms, ready to be “netted, measured and photographed”. What happen next has been “debated” over and over but lets just say that the fish went in the net and then out again. On the way out the lure pulled
. While the words used in the next 30 secs are not printable here we had some fun digging each other about it for the next few hours and probably will again on many more fishing trips.We headed home just before dark wet and wondering. Two legal fish lost in two days.
Day 3
I picked “BIL” up at about 6:30 the next morning (Friday 6th Feb) He was ready with his gear and “his landing net” and we headed down to the Elizabeth River ramp. We started to fish at the bottom of Pikey Creek. There were large groups of salmon rounding up balls of jelly prawns but they showed no interest in anything we threw at them. After about 45mins I threw the net and landed a dozen or so baits as backup and then head further up into the creek. The further we went up the quieter the fish activity seemed. Close to low tied we soaked a couple of live baits and I landed a 50cm barra. Not a legal but at least “BIL” got one in the net. The tide was starting to run back in and we had no more fish so we moved back down to where all the salmon were earlier. Baits went in and we probed around with lures. The salmon were still there but again we couldn’t get one to take a bait or lure. After a short shower “BIL” had a bait taken and a 59cm Barra was in the boat. No mistakes with the net on this one…
The water was pushing back up well by now so we moved up to a creek to an inlet that often has a lot of activity on the incoming tides. We got there just as the heavens opened up. Half an hour of heavy rain dirtied the water. We still couldn’t get a touch from the salmon but “BIL” did manage a nice flathead on a prawn imitation.
The tided had come in by about ¾ mtr and more rain was coming so the thoughts of going home started to creep in. At about the same time a couple of tell tale boofs suggested barra were also hiding in the dirty water. I had just finished a retrieve when a barra smashed the surface just inside the mouth of the creek. A quick shot seen the little red and white Lucifer land about 18 inches from the mark. A swirl and the line went tight on impact. A nice fish erupted in the shallows and the fight was on. After a few instructions on how the use the net the fish was landed and I had my Feb barra.
It measured 71cm and “BIL” has been forgiven, although he doesn’t own a landing net any more…
