[Davey G]

Snuck out yesterday afternoon around 2pm, planning to have a leisurely paddle and troll a couple of lures up to the Audley Weir from Grays Point (return paddle around 5km). Threw in some leftover frozen pilchards as well as there was a deep hole that I knew of where I wanted to have a baitfish. Couldn't be stuffed going to the bait shop for some fresh bait...

Tide was dead low, but conditions were calm and I had the river to myself apart from a few other kayakers in racing skis etc doing their arvo training.

Dragged an SX48 and a Juro Pygmy along behind and I had my flick stick armed with a SX40 which I used to cast towards banks etc as I paddled/drifted upriver.. Absolutely nothing doing fish-wise however I did see a few bream following the SX40 when I cast it out over some sand/weedbeds. Had a chat to another kayaker who was impressed with my fishing setup (well why wouldn't he be!). Paddled up to the fish trap and saw some large fish (mullet?) jumping. PAddled into the fish trap (this is a large stone walled 'enclosure' which was built by aboriginals and nearly drains dry at low tide, trapping unsuspecting fish inside. It's approx 150m long x 50metres wide). Saw some more bream mooching around the walls and near a sunken snag but couldn't tempt them to bite.

Paddled up to the end of the river, had a quick bait fish (caught a couple of chopper tailor) and started paddling back around 4.15. Absolutely glassy conditions, and te SERENITY,, (Hows the Serenity???) 8)

I'd resigned myself to the fact that there would be no fish for me AGAIN today when BANG!, the rod with the SX48 went off. For a moment I thought that I'd snagged, but then the distinct pull of a fish, and a good one at that! A couple of good runs and a bit of surface splashing snapped me out of my trance. This is more like it! BUGGER THE SERENITY! :lol:

A decent fight and alongside came a nice Tailor, who put up a bit more of a struggle as I was trying to boat him. Got him onboard after a couple of minutes and measured him at 45cm. Not huge, but nice and thick through the belly and a couple of nice fillets for tonights dinner!

Looks like my curse has finally broken (haven't caught a decent fish from the yak for a couple of months!) Happy Days!

Attached a couple of pics.

 

[Peril]

Good one Dave. Nice pics too. Looks like you were lucky not to be bitten off - certainly took the lure well.

 

[kingfisher111]

Crikey Davey that Tailor has absolutely woofed that lure down. Well done and great piccies. Steve.

 

[Breambo]

Beautiful fish there dave, lucky the sx survived that mouthful :wink:

 

[Russ]

You are making my mouth water Davey stop it nice pics mate and I cant wait to have a fish in that beautiful waterway. Everytime I drive across that weir my mouth waters. Tailor mmmmmmmmm

fishing Russ

 

[JT]

Nice Tailor Dave. How was the eating?

You said "up to the Audley Weir from Grays Point". I am completely unaware where this piece of water way is. Can you shed some light please? It looks beautiful!

John

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWdm/t3YAAAnXgAASYAEEgRAAPu2XoCAAQNU9D1QxqGg9EeoU0aANAACCMGLXtKF2cyTtZpQkNu+eEKG78BnqPsehWBor1Q0d2qLTA0EYJ+LuSKcKEhs39u7A

 

[Davey G]

hi john.

the area where I paddled is the uppermost reaches of Port Hacking. Whereas most of Port Hacking is a large estuary with deep water, this stretch is river - like with high surrounding hills. The waterway runs through the Royal National Park and it seems like 1000 miles away from civilisation.

THe launch facilities at Grays Point are sensational - level parking with plenty of grassed area down to a nice sandy beach.

I'll have to post up a trip there one of these weekends and anyone is welcome to join.

 

[Squidder]

Woohoo, congrats on breaking the curse Davey, I'm in the same boat regarding no decent fish recently......hopefully this weekend

 

[PoddyMullet]

Once the floodgates are open DaveyG..... Nice tailor and sparkling pics, ya got some great waqter scenics in ya back yard

 

[beefs]

Nice work dave - what leader were you using? Looks like it could have copped a bit of abuse after the tailor wolfed that sx down. Love the feeling where your paddling along, the rod goes off and the thought processes go from Fish ...ohh, snag Hang IT IS a FISH!

 

[Dodge]

Dave

Enjoyable read and pics mate, wherever yakkers paddle in Aust we see nice scenery; seems paddling gives you time to appreciate the area.

Laughed at the fish trap beacon pic; you can now say to yaker 'my beacons bigger than yours' :lol: [see his Peel Island report]

 

[Breambo]

Mate :lol: I like that last photo so much I desktop backgrounded it. Hows the eyes on the sx and the eyes on the tailor :shock:

 

[wrasseman]

Nice way to break the drought, very lucky not to get bitten off though. Guess that tailor really wanted that lure. Good stuff.

Col.

 

[Blaen]

Nice Tailor Davey, can't wait for summer when they fire up down here again.

 

[yaker]

.

 

[hairymick]

Ho Davey, Well done mate,

Beautiful piccies too.