Swr For 8 Days

[arpie]

Hi all

Just back from basically 2 weeks away - 8 days up at SWR before heading to Sydney immediately after returning to Forster, for the weekend just gone, for Keith to compete in a tri at Cronulla! We stayed at a B&B at Sylvania Waters & I tossed some lures into the canals there for for a small tailor & just legal bream. I missed a few hits too!

At the end of Feb, I arrived at SWR, to hear of marvellous stories of cobia & tuna being caught by yak fishos and had my first ever meal of cobia that night - Cobia Laksa - and it was absolutely delightful!!!

Virtually every night, it was fish for dinner, as someone had either caught a big cobia or tuna which was fed to the troops, however, I snuck some steak in there too! I am now very fond of Cobia, tho - a lovely eating fish that pan fries up well, as well as in a laksa!

On my first night there, we had just finished dinner & headed to our camps when we meet the Southerly of all southerlies ...... one guy's tent was flattened & numerous awnings & tarps went flying ..... I hadn't pegged the awning from the van down, so flew out of the van to pack it up ..... well 'flew' wouldn't be the right word here ..... more 'clambered out',from under the yak, feet first, as it was, once again, my 'strange bedfellow' and was blocking the doorway to the awning!! ) My tenting neighbour (furiously tightening all his tarp straps) got the shock of his life when I materialised from under the yak!! The Southerly was short & sharp but strong!!

On Thurs, given my history of throwing up or flipping when going offshore, I stuck to my game plan by fishing the Back Creek for ZIPPO!!! Shocking - couldn't even catch a cold!! However, I did manage to catch the odd tree, & in an effort to save my $4 popper ..... I dropped my Straddie into the drink! Bugger!! Luckily, I was able to Drop it off to a bloke in the caravan park on the river, who did a service on it on the same day!

On Fri, I headed to the Macleay River & it was 'white caps' everywhere, so just fished from shore to start off with, hooking a flattie on each of my first 3 casts! Things were looking good! The first 2 got off & the 3rd busted the hook as I clambered down the rocks to try & land him as I didn't have a net handy. Then my lure got caught on a pole in the water, so I had to get the yak out to retrieve it .... and am soooo glad I did! I ended up with about 15 flatties in the area and didn't need to work up a sweat to get them! The biggest was 65cm & I put them all back.

On Sat I was out again at the river with Gdcalmer/Wendy and Glenbawn buddy, Rod and his wife Lorraine - I think I'd given all the flatties a bit of a scare the day before, as they were much more scarce on the Sat, so, being a much calmer day, most of us paddled across to the other side to fish the 'breakwall' & beachy area (where we found lots of nice flatties, too!) whilst Wendy hugged the shore near the boat ramp & caught 2 very nice flatties to 60cm & a lovely bream.

Over near the power lines, I hooked onto some nice flatties to 60cm with my favourite Squidgy & then found the only blade that I had with me ...... cast it out & .... it caught a yacht!! Luckily no-one was on board, so I clambered on, with a buddy 'hanging off' just in case I needed assistance! No alarms went off as I 'breached the perimeter' so that was good! I returned to blade fishing & got a couple of small bream. Then I caught the Coastal Patrol boat ....... luckily I got my lure back there, using my trusty 'lure retriever' ......Thank God it is 9ft long!! I think I need more casting practise!! I ended up back where I was fishing the day before & started hooking flatties again! Grand total was about 8 flatties to 60cm & kept 3 (to 45cm) alive, sms'd the camp to see if they were needed for dinner, but after hearing that another cobia had been landed, I put them back, except for the one that looked a bit crook, which I took back to camp & combined with Wendy's fish, we gave them to other campers for dinner the following night.

I tried my home made 'whiting fly' and managed to catch a bream!!

Then I saw a prawn skimming across the surface, being chased by a bream, which peeled off when it saw my yak. I tossed my pencil lure at it & actually caught it!!! What a laugh! I left it on the hook & tossed it out again & caught a very small bream!

After this, I forgot to take any more pics!! But kept fishing anyway......

Wendy 'stayed over' on the Sat night & on Sunday, we headed up to Stuarts Point to check out the waterway that Wendy has had great success in, with flatties & bream. Unfortunately when we got there, the tide was really, really low and the water was filthy & we didn't put the yaks in, so walked across the footbridge to fish the other side. Wendy caught a nice flattie (on my favourite squidgy ..... now her favourite as well! ) which was released & I got none! I went back to Wendy's place (she is 'farm sitting' at the moment) and had a cuppa. Lovely spot up there. She is in her element & within spitting distance of Stuarts Point, SWR, Nambucca & other terrific waterways, including good bass waters! I'll be going back, for sure!

Back at camp, it was a smaller group that had dinner on the Sunday night ....... most yakkers had already left on the Sun with the rest heading off on Mon ...... and me leaving on Thurs!

I was hoping to meet up with a friend of Slinky's to have a go at top water lure fishing in Warrell Creek, but alas, it was not to be. Illness in the family & then in his cattle scuttled any plans we had to hit the water together ....... but hope to catch up with him for a fish when he is in Forster next!

Monday, I headed back out to the river and played around with blades! I caught a couple of small bream & a trevally before one really big flattie took a liking to it! Unfortunately, I'd tightened the drag to bring the trev in & hadn't loosened it .... and the flattie had taken it right into its mouth, shaking its head profusely when it came up .... and it became an expensive flattie! I was unable to loosen the drag before it busted me off with my lure still attached as 'bling'! It would have been about 60cm plus. Most fish I hooked today, got off!! I also had a couple of good hits at the end of the 'small breakwall' opposite the Coastal Patrol boats, but they didn't stay connected either.

Tues I met up with Wendy again & headed towards Nambucca, to have a go in the river there, possibly even Warrell Creek. It was a bit windy & the tide was still going out & it was a long paddle to get to the Creek, let alone go up it ........ so we played around in the shallows - Wendy got a couple of nice flatties & I tried to catch whiting on lures! I got lots of hits & misses, a couple of good hookups that also ended in the hooks being spat & finally landed a small flattie! I had fish climbing all over my surface lures, with fins sticking out of the water, and hooking but getting off! I think they were big gars & the 'fins' were actually their 'snouts' sticking out of the water, trying to get the big hooks into their mouth!! A disappointing day, fish wise! I was really tired that afternoon & thought that the 6 days of fishing 6hrs a day was catching up with me! Must be getting soft!!

Wed, I awoke refreshed & rested in the morning before hitting the road again & trying Nambucca again! I headed further up towards the mouth & threw lures all around the shallows for nothing much! Once again, the decent fish eluded me, even tho I could see them hanging around some submerged trees! Problem was, they could see me too, I reckon! Ne'er mind, once again, it was a lovely day on the water & I ambled home to contemplate packing up & returning to civilisation! Not long after dinner (I was eating early now I was on my own ....) the big southerly moved thru and BOY! Was it BIG! Huge thunder & lightening hitting simultaneously (very spooky, as I am sure I felt the earth move!) and really heavy rain. I was hoping my tent would hold up under the onslaught, which luckily it did!

It was great meeting up again with the guys and gals who had travelled from near & far to be at SWR again ........ shame the water was still so dirty and the bigger fish didn't show, but congratulations go to all who caught tuna & cobia & even sharks ..... Fishing conditions were tough, especially given the colour of the water! When I left last Thurs, the offshore water was virtually blue & clear again & the pros were trawling for fish within spitting distance of the Gaol!! The biggest cobia went 28kg! No marlin this time, tho Paul tried really, really hard to get another marlin & it was definitely not for lack of trying - he was out at 6am every morning for 7 days, fishing for up to 8hrs every day! He put out livies, big sps & lures, to no avail! All up, a terrific week of fishing and lots of fun - looking forward to next year, already!!!

Cheerio

Roberta

Edited March 8, 2009 by Roberta

[james7]

Hi Roberta

I've been waiting to hear about your SWR trip. Shame about the weather and conditions, but it sounds like you still had a top trip. Plenty of good flathead this time too.

How did Keith go in the triathalon at Cronulla? I was fishing only a couple of hundred meters from there on the weekend (wrestling jumping gummy sharks if you read my report). I saw the big buoys and all the tents on shore but didn't know then what was going on.

Great photos! I hope you've got more to show us. I love the "prawn" one.

Shame about the big flattie taking the trev and your lure - that would've been great to see.

A fantastic read Roberta. Thanks.

Cheers

Peter

[arpie]

Just read your report - initially l thought you were the bloke on the beach being inundated with 700 triathletes!!!

hahaha I saw the bloke just up the beach with 2 beach rods & thought "his day is about to get a lot worse!'. He only had the one rod out & I nearly went up to ask if he wanted someone to put out the 2nd rod ..... then the event 'took over' & I was back in 'Triathlon mode' not fishing mode! In hindsight, I wish i had gone up to him ...... but the buggers had already made us walk about 2km down the beach to the 'calmer spot' for the swimmers & I HATE WALKING IN SOFT SAND!!! Keith's brother came over to watch him compete & I said to him ...... I hope someone has spoken to the Fisho, cos he will get the sh*ts when 700 athletes start running into his line as he is fishing!!

Big waves there, eh? Keith had difficulty breaching the breaking waves to get out to the buoys!! Same thing happened there 2 years ago at the other tri he did there. People were being dumped by the breakers when they swam in. 2 girls were pulled from the surf within minutes of starting the race. Many competitors never swim in the ocean & most would not have encountered those conditions before! It was really a Swim, Run, Bike Run ....... not a simple 'tri'!

Keith did well, winning his age group & should have qualifed for the Olympic Distance World Champs on the Gold Coast later this year! Another excuse to go up there with fishing gear in tow! :)

Luckily the weather only played up on the first & last evening of the SWR trip - apart from that, it was great fun!

Some more pics ..... just for you ....

Roberta

I thought This was you fishing on the extreme left of the 2 people walking on along the beach!! Nice sunrise, too!!

60cm flattie

3 flatties before 2 were released (they survived being close to my smelly feet!)

small bream on blade

I changed to Gulp Shrimp & the size of the flatties decreased dramatically!!! Next to my Favourite Squidgy (100mm) this flattie is not much bigger

That one squidgy lure caught all my flatties - in total, well over 20 flatties over a 3-4 day period! It was chewed up & spat out & I ended up rigging it 'upside down' as the big flatties had torn the top of the lure into shreds & it wouldn't sit on the jig head properly. Turn it over & rig it thru the tummy & easy peasy, back into the flatties!! :)

Edited March 9, 2009 by Roberta

[jewgaffer]

A thoroughly enjoyable read Roberta and you did very well under the circumstances. There's not much you can't hook up these days and that includes moored cruisers, yachts and coastal patrol boats, and I'll bet one day you'll hook up the councils ride on mower.

Cheers

jewgaffer

[Hodgey]

Another terrific report Roberta, accompanied by some great photos. The prawn on the lure photo, and the sunrise, are definitely my favourites

Considering some of the ‘sports’ that are recognised by the IOC at the moment, maybe you should propose ‘Fishing vessels on lure’. Should it be recognised, then you would be guaranteed ‘GOLD for Australia’

Huge congrats to Keith on a fantastic performance once again. No doubt he will perform exceptionally well on the Gold Coast also. Maybe you could convince Slinky and Jewhunter into competing?

A well-known fishing journalist (who happens to be a doctor) has always maintained two definitive lure considerations when targeting big flathead – lure size and retrieve vigour. As a general rule, larger lures worked vigorously will be targeted by better quality fish, whereas smaller lures worked slowly (due to their size) will be targeted by all fish, including those little buggers. Whilst there has been a couple of exceptions, since I have upgraded to 5” Jerk Shads I have landed very few fish under 45cm.

Cheers

Ian

[arpie]

Hi Byron - yeah - I am getting pretty good at catching non fishing species, eh??

hehe don't worry, Ian, I have a few pouches of your 5" shads in my tackle box now, too! Don't want to waste them tho, just yet! Perhaps closer to the end of the month, they'll get a good showing in the lake here! :)

I had a good laugh at the prawn shot, myself! It was the Same size as the lure!!

Hmmm, the good Doctor & myself concur on the size of the lure! I've had consistent 'bigger' fish with my bigger squidgy.

I think Slinky & Jewhunter will be competing with me, not Keith! Look forward to heading up to Byron Bay again in May, too! We plan on heading as far up as Tully this time, to catch up with an old school friend of Keith's who lives there. Luckily, he is into fishing too!

Cheerio

Roberta

[james7]

Keith did well, winning his age group & should have qualifed for the Olympic Distance World Champs on the Gold Coast later this year! Another excuse to go up there with fishing gear in tow!

Congratulations to Keith! That's a great achievement! You're both champions!

Thanks for the extra photos. The sunrise picture is great. I took about 30 photos of a Cronulla sunrise from my boat Saturday week ago. I put a few pictures in my report, "Top Day On The Water!". The whole sky was red and pink.

It's amazing how that one sqidgey lure caught all the flatties. You should "retire" it and get it mounted!

Cheers

Peter

Edited March 9, 2009 by peterS

[kero]

Hi Roberta,

I passed you in back creek on the thursday, you were flicking a popper. I was not sure it was you until i read your post. You sure dont take any chances when it comes to sun protection. We trolled slimeys in front of the goal for three hours for nil result. The yaks were there as well dodgeing the three pro boats who were slaying the bonnies, after nearly being run over four times we gave it a miss. Got to admire the yak fishos for there perseverance in those conditions, they deserve every fish they catch.

Kero

[Sandini]

Great report Roberta.

It sounds like you had a great time, storms and all. Can't wait to get up that way, in about 5 weeks, on leave with the much better half. We are heading a bit further north than Nambucca, but are planing to do some day trips to different spots along the coast. Will definitely give the spots you mentioned a go.

Have fished the upper reaches of Worrell Creek near Scotts Head (shore based) for some small bream and flatties. Nothing decent, but they are definitely there.

Note to self - 'Have to try blades'.

Sandini

[arpie]

hi Kero - Yeah, I cover up heaps now! I've had blisters on top of blisters from sunburn before today ....... and also thrown up from sun stroke! Not nice, at all!!

The guys (including Paul's girlfriend, Lynette) were out there every day, doing the hard yards for up to 8-9hrs! That is very difficult to maintain for 7 days! It was pretty choppy most days, too, with only the odd calm one thrown in!

Hi Sandiini - you'll enjoy it up there. Lots of very fishy water!

Cheerio

Roberta

[BTK]

Awsome Report Roberta, Looks like you had a Great time and got some decent fish

Cheers

Cory

[slinkymalinky]

Fabulous report Roberta... seems like the fish are getting wise to you tho

I reckon that the fish have all been reading too many fishing mags and have got you on their 'beware of this fisho' list.

Sorry your session up the coast didn't work out... damn cows

Hope those fish start staying connected for the comp.

Cheers, Slinky

PS... glad you got your Straddie back and looked after.

[jenno64]

Roberta,

That's a great post and I envy you so much travelling around the coast and hititng all the gun spots. Keep it up and don't stop the reports!

[tide'n'knots]

one of these days I will get up to forster and you can show me how to catch wallis lake flathead on squidgies!

great report as usual.

When I was a young guy growing up on the river at north richmond I would constantly be catching willow trees whilst flicking lures at bass - glad to see I am not the only one who catches everything else but fish!

pete.

[glennmreid]

Hi Roberta, glad you had a good time away and got into some good fish. Congratulations to Keith on his win.

[Ray R]

Hi Roberta, glad to hear you had a good time away, that bloody weather can really spoil things but we put up with and keep fishin', you snared some nice fish and the pics a great as well, the prawn is a beauty, do ya think you could enter that in ' lure fishing records'..

Cheers...