Team St Mikes On A So-So Trip

Catch Report 23/9/2006

Team St Mikes had been laid off for almost an entire month for a boat trip. It was due to the wild weather we've experienced in Sydney for the season change which was raining heaps for straight consecutive days. For this trip, expectations were high. Chen went all the way out to prepare his berley which consisted of unbelievable ingredients you could've ever imagined. He kept left-over foods from our dinner at college and actually spent time to grind them up and freeze it. On the actual day, he woke up early and using almost 1/2 my bottle of tuna oil, he made the ultimate Team St Mikes berley stew that weighs a ton in a pail. That's dedication and I salute it!

We made an early out so as to catch the incoming high tide as well as to avoid possible prediction error from the weather watch. It turns out to be a almost perfect condition out in the water. After leaving Rose Bay, we motored out of it to notice heaps of birds gathering on the surface. I was excited and called out to he guys that there might be surface pelagics smashing baits. But as we got closer, it turns out to be false alarm. The birds were just resting and mucking around. Damn it!

Anyway, we got to the cake 1st and turns out there were at least around 2 boats there already. We got to our usual anchored area and proceeded dumping Chen's berley. The water was luckily not crystal clear and soon, Jeff or Phil got a hookup what turns out to be rubbish fish. The action later onward seems pretty consistent. With Jeff and Phil getting onto leatherjackets and silver trevallies. Both of the brothers had one of the best fights of the day, particularly Phil having the best tussle of the biggest trev in the lot. He now knows what the reel drag is for and truly enjoyed the power of a fighting trevally. There was a point in time when the trevs were just around and we had a triple hookup comprising of me, and the brothers. With the sun slowly coming onto us, the heat at some point proved quite unbearable. Seems like just any other ordinary hot summer days and it turn out pretty early in spring.

At some point it turned quite dull, especially on a falling tide. Then an agreement was reached to proceed to Clifton Gardens. Whilst there, we were harrassed by the security guards on the nearby naval wharf shouting to us that we gotta keep away from the naval wharf with a clear sign stating to be 100 meters aways from the warning notice. So we did and eventually they don't seem pretty pleased and still radioed to their naval patrol boat with no naval personnels on board but instead another security guard. He nicely told us that we're not supposed to fish in Clifton Gardens! At this point, I nicely challenged him saying that the notice states 100 meters which we did. But proceeded to state some lines from point A to point B and basically that indicated the whole area! Not wanting to confront him any further, we shifted with disgust. He even said that if he were to call the police, there'll be a $5000 fine, a good threat that basically achieved its goal to get rid of us. Bastards!

So we left and I suggested a quick try at the other cake. This time round, it was a fast flowing fallout tide. The main shipping channel there proved to be too wavy for us and we made our way back to the original cake for a last try. This time round, more boats were there. The current was still racing and we're pretty much done with it. Chen berleyed all the remaining ingredients and I only managed another trev and LJ before we pulled the plug and head back. Left Rose Bay to have lunch at Peter Lam. Overall, a so-so trip we all concurred.

Total tally: 9 x Silver Trevallies, 7 x assorted LJs and couple of yellowtails.

Ronald