Sunday report 20150329

Finally got back on the water - after 13 plus weeks

Took out regular deckie, Canadian Pete,
Conditions were great, just enough breeze to ripple the surface and keep us cool
But I think the recent 130mm of water over the last couple of days put fish off
Cause the fishing was HARD!!!!!!

Started off trying to launch at Nightcliffe ramp but bottom half of it had a couple of feet of sand over it making it very very shallow for a long way out - the 2m+ low should have had plenty of water to launch - so we headed to Dinah beach ramp
The trip out to front  of harbour while not glass conditions was smooth

Hardly a fish seen at the first location  Lee Point - so after what seemed a thousand casts we came back into the harbour to check out a few rock bars for some scales or movement

We zoomed over to Mandorah T bar south of the wharf but again no sign of fish
By the time we got to Weed Reef it was almost covered with the rising tide but I have caught fish here in similar conditions tide wise
Still no fish

I heard about a land based angler on Friday seeing schools off swirling fish (goldens?) near the esplanade at the city so we head towards that side of the Harbour

Popping firstly into Kaitlyn Bay where I had previous caught many goldens
There was a couple of anglers and one Swoffer fishing from the shore
As we get there to the very first corner closest to the Naval base - a few fish could be seen swirling but were doing so inconsistently
Blind casting an area after the fish stopped showing on the surface - Peter, hooked one nice golden inside the first corner of the rocks that really took him in the backing fast. he was very impressed by the fighting strength of a golden when compared top the same sized GT.

This medium sized golden fought well above its weight class as it tried several times to wrap him around rocks and could be seen in the shallow water of the rocky area flash side to side - high sticking to rod high into the air minimize the damage to the leader on the rocks and allowed it to eventually swim away from rocks where we eventually netted it in deeper water.
(later a few nicks and abrasions were found on the running line section of the fly line)

Queenies, trevally and goldens - all eventually hit the net but it was still many casts between fish

After another few hundred casts later, we finally went to our last spot of Shelley Island near the shipping wharf and managed to get a double hook up on a momentarily swarming mass of attacking fish that disappeared as quickly as it started - minus the queenie and trevally of our double hook up - both fish intending to make macrame with our flylines as they fought around the boat and back and forth, but that was it not another sign of fish activity.

We hoped our day was only tough due to the recent freshwater deluge that might have changed the salinity of the harbour water
As we are planning another trip Easter Friday.
Always the optimists - are we Swoffers!!!!!
see you on the water