Canberra - Native nomads 16/12/06

Beepbeep, beep beep beepbeep.... 6:30am, urghhh <sigh>

'The evil that men do' I mutter as I stagger for the shower, blurred eyes from the previous nights beer antics and B grade movies ( Think 'Deep blue sea', the movie about killer Mako sharks ) make for a grumpy Paffoh until the first cuppa of the day and a lit smoke are safely in my hands and purged ever so slowly into my blood stream.

I had worked my ass off this week somewhat made easier with a trip to Lake Burley Griffin firmly etched in my mind ( Even if it was in the rear of it ), I packed the car on Friday night so I could get out to meet Polar early on Saturday morning before the launch from Yarralumla Bay, im not sure what I like so much about launching here but I could put it down to transportation ease and hassle free rigging... Its a damn beautiful spot and closer to my house than the ramp at BMP.

After a quick chat with Polar ( Nice to meet you, hope you can make it to the AKFF gathering mate ) I spotted Victor and Funda ( Allan ) on the edge of Black Mountain so wandered on over to say hello, It was at this stage I noticed that the weather was not of its usual calibre and the wind was belting my yak around... White caps on LBG made it quite difficult to hold position and after some discussions and advice from Allan we decided to head around to the rock wall east of the boat ramp.



On the way round I ventured into Redfin land only to discover a severe wind knot had ensnared my lure to my rod tip on my braid outfit resulting in a snip which left about 1 inch of 6lb leader, without extra leader I tied my snap on to the remainder and attached my new favourite Redfin lure ( No not a Pakrat, a Craftmaster Merlin straight from Wodonga! ).

Rushing round towards Allan as I exited Redfin land with Victor 100m behind I managed to get a solid hit and reeled in steadily a 30cm Redfin only to lose him next to the yak, bahhhh but never mind, I haven't lost many yak side over the past few trips and LBG was looking dirtier than usual so a feed had already been decided against and was not an option...

The rocks were out of the wind and the rowers heavily present creating for some amusing jostling, towards the rocks was a weed patch offering loads of surface carp and a huge school of juvenile Redfin one of which got foul hooked through its own anus... Even at 10cm it was a great looking specimen and in huge abundance, a guy in a tinnie next to me extracted one on a surface popper ( He was pretty suprised as he was sight casting for carp ).



Anyway enough of this Redfin crap, this day was dedicated to natives and with spinnerbaits the order of the day the willows and snags of the rock wall urged us over, Allan told me about a huge floating deceased Cod he had seen here a few weeks ago and with the fishfinder showing fish around the trees I was hopeful one of us could pull a Golden or even manage a Murray Cod.

After about an hour I noticed a floating blubbery mass entangled in some branches, I moved as close as I could and zoomed in with the camera to identify what I believe was the dead Cod Funda had mentioned before ( given that Cod season was only into its 16th day it was a sad sight to see )... Many people shore based, yak or boat are targeting the natives all over Australia with intent to mame and reduce stocks, These people do not intend to keep there catch but claim they only target the BIG COD but with what success? ( Getting a photo and handling inappropriately, then releasing fish before it swims off then dies? ).

Im just interested in debating the practice of catch and release...



With zero native action Funda and I discussed why they had shut down and headed around the points near the boat ramp to play with some Redfin while Victor hung around back at the wall, Funda and myself hit a school and trolled in some hungry Redfin ( Biggest about 20cm with Allan getting a fish a cast and even 2 fish on the one lure! )... All three of us pulled some fish whilst dodging rowers and even swimmers.

11:00am hit and my belly and dodgy knee told me it was time to leave so I thanked Funda for the fisheries sticker and said goodbye to the boys, one last troll through Redfin land and then a pedal over to the Bay to meet Claire... Couple more small Redfin and a 30cm fish half way back made my morning, even if no natives were caught I met some top Canberra AKFF blokes and took some English Perch on my favourite lake.

Doesn't get much better than that...



Hope you enjoyed the report! 8)