Finally A Bream In Double Bay

Catch Report 28/10/2006

It's been quite awhile since I've actually went for a lure and I couldn't bear to wait any longer and decided to head out on saturday. The winds on that day was forecasted to be blowing a strong southerly and I thought what better to go check out Double Bay since it's been almost months I've visited that area. But, the heavens played a prank and it turns out to be blowing from the west, making my casting totally crap. Anyway, since I was there, might as well give it a go. Tried cultiva but was kinda weedy and the hooks kept getting weed on the retrieve. After Steve Irwin's mishap with stingray, I was very cautious when wading in the water. I thought my crocs will protect me but I was just not confident to go very deep as I've always spotted small stingrays and numbrays swimming in the shallow water. Anyway, the fishing was crap, probably due to the winds, and I reckon I'm such a wuss when it comes to fishing in the wind. I just couldn't concentrate and enjoy the thrill. Decided to give soft plastic a go and since I was having lots of success with the bloodworm colour in that area, I tied on a 3inch bm. I was using only 1/16th oz jighead and it was hard to feel the lure. So at one point, I gave a fast straight retrieve and out of the sudden, bang! A fish took it very near where I was and the line peeled for awhile. I could instantly see silver flashes and wasn't sure what it really was. As the fight progresses, it became more characteristic of a bream. Cool, I beached meself my 1st bream from that spot. It measured 28cm and was released. I tried a little longer for a super small baby flattie before calling quits after an hour over there. I'm still not truly satisfied and must find another time to cure the itch after I finish this bloody journal. Oh, not forgetting I still have a thesis to do, I'm so f**ked!

Ronald

Lousy Fishing & A New Lure

Catch Report 22/10/2006

So busy these days with my journal writing but still can find time to squeeze in fishing, excuses.. excuses.. But the fishing is lousy so I cramped in some entries in a post. Getting lazier nowadays to even blog, damn it. Even so, guess fishy news nobody is interested. Enough blabbering. Went to Hen & Chicken Bay on Sunday late afternoon to catch the low-High tide which happens to be at night. Tried a variety of Smilin' Jacks but the water was too damn low. As soon as the day breaks, the mullets were getting busy by doing heaps of acrobatic jumps. Since it was a few days ago catch report, I couldn't remember what I had encounter only to get a 30cm bream on a new camo sandworm. It didn't even put up a good fight though the hook was embedded deep onto its chin. Just before I caught the fish, an old aussie couple walked up to me as they were luring along the stretch. The male uncle asked me the usual question "anything?" just any fisho would ask and obviously I had nothing to brag. Then he proceeded saying he and his wife had a few breams and flatties up stretch where they came from. Then he suddenly said that my Cultiva lure which I was using at that time was very suitable to imitate a mullet. He said he caught a 20kilo jewfish using a hardbody lure (look like an attack minnow version) and showed me the rusty used lure. I was like.. wow.. 20kilo?? Big cannon you reckon? Pfft... Anyhow, I actually believe it since it sound kinda logical and jewfish do really like to eat mullets. So I pounded the water to froth with my cultiva only to have a dropped flathead. That's it, I'm gonna still continue and fall for it, hehe..

Catch Report 24/10/2006

Chen had wanted to get some stuffs for the boat from Super Cheap Auto and so I suggested an early morning session at Kogarah Bay and we can go straight from there to Rockdale's branch. Had quite an early start and luckily by the time we hit Grand Parade road, it was jammed on the opposite side leading to the city. Reached there to only find that the water wasn't so high yet and there was an ugly slick at secret spot. So we moved up to the rocks and casted from there. I tried with the watermelon bm and lost a small flattie with lousy hookup. Nevertheless, it was a good start, only to finish with a lousy result. Continue with the bm and had a noticeable take and a lousy fight from a 41cm flathead. At first I thought it was just a legal fish but after measuring it, turns out over 40. Maybe because the fish looks skinnier than usual. After her release, I got another smallish undersize flattie at the same area. But as all soft plastic fishing will definitely result in a snag and that's the end of watermelon. Chen tried with camo sandworm and had it's 3inch bitten off becoming 2inch. But once he re-rigged a new one, he caught a good size bream. After that, he got another small bream on a virgin pinkie. That was it, a lousy session after being there for 2 hours. We packed up and head over to Super Cheap. Chen bought a 10m trailer light cable and a lens replacement cover for the bulbs as it's essential to get the lights working to prevent the cops from pulling us over for busted lights. Saw a few life jackets which was pretty cheap and seems like we'll be back to get it also.

Then, this afternoon I went back to my room for lunch break to find a small little parcel in front of my door. It's a Jackall Bros Diving Chubby 38 I bought from Japan via eBay! My 1st Jackall lure and the most expensive to date at $22 a pop! Oh my, but sometimes a little indulgence shouldn't be neglected. Yes?

Ronald

A Little Preview

The acquisition of Team St Mikes official boat had finally been done. I went on early friday morning with Chen to Turramura for the pick up. A quick lesson on mounting and towing was acquired. The current job task is to get the trailer sorted with registration and stuffs. Further mini projects on refurbishment will be carried out. Okay, back to my journal writing.

Ronald

Jialiang's First Bream On Fly

Catch Report 19/10/2006

With the talks of our recent boat acquisition got Jialiang pumped once and he wanted to have a lure session after his Wednesday assignment. Then on Thursday, seeing that the wind had kinda changed, I opted for Kogarah Bay and asked him if he wanted. Initially his girlfriend was supposed to go but end up pulling out and so took my vintage Honda Civic to Randwick and pick him up. He gave me a gift he bought while holidaying in Melbourne and it's a T-shirt with the words "SHUT UP AND FISH" bolded in front, how cool is that? Thanks brudder!

It was a less trafficky trip down to my surprise. We left late and I thought we were gonna get caught in the after work traffic but it was kinda smooth. Got down to the spot and saw some truckies emptying toilet bowls just where we were fishing! Yuck! But luckily there wasn't any smell so all's good. I started with SX40 first as usual at this spot and had 2 hits but no hookup. There was a lot of surface activity and we were very excited. Jialiang only had his fly gear and he proceeded flying there with ample backroom for his cast. But to our frustration, the luring wasn't easy. I had probably changed lures like many times but it was not what we would like it to turn out. Until one point Jialiang told me he was onto a small bream, he didn't even need to winch the bugger in but instead strip it back just like handline style, haha..

After that, I gave SX another go and to me and Jialiang's amazement, the Kix suddenly zzzzz but within few seconds later, the lure bounced out and almost hit Jialiang! Argh!!! I lost a good fish! He predicted it to be easily 30's range bream. Anyhow, I kept plugging away but not everyday is Sunday. Tried soft plastics too but only to get my grub tail snipped off as well as snagging a brand new camo sandworm. By then, it was dark already, I gave SX another try and this time, I got a hookup but only a small bream.

After this little fella, I got another clone. Nothing spectacular until one point I snagged SX! I thought it was a simple snag but try lots of flicking in different direction it just won't come out. Till then, I knew the lure retrieval inflatty had to make another guest appearance. Bugger it since it was snagged pretty much near to us! Anyhow, I gave a quick semi blowup and hastily put into the water and paddle up there quick time. With the 90 degree upward retrieval, the lure came out easily. Jialiang suddenly wanted to try out being on the inflatable so I gave obliged him with a half deflating boat! He sure had a ball paddling around at times doing circles in the water, haha.. nice going brudder! By then we were buggered and head home.

Ronald

Another Best Mate Left

Catch Report 15/10/2006

Sad.. My best mate Kenny has left Sydney for good. It's so ironic when I think back how I actually become best mate with him. I remembered officially meeting him when we were in some dance party of something. He was introduced to me by my mate Dylan as they used to play soccer together. When we actually know each other better was when I tagged along with Dylan to their fishing and they actually just started not long ago. From then on, we got to know each other better when we were fishing hard out at Old Mans Hat and Greenwich. Ah.. those were the fun days when me, Dylan and Kenny hang out late at night to catch that elusive Jewfish and had a cracker of a night. Oh well, time flies and he had finally completed his studies. I sent him off at the airport and he seems pretty happy and excited to be back in Singapore. Ken, I'll see you there mate!

Anyway, seeing that the weather was overcast and a light breeze was blowing, I went fishing straight from the airport. Headed over to Hen & Chicken Bay with little traffic. Upon there, I saw a group of fishos which were familiar. Apparently they were the same people I saw while at Canada Bay the other time. I've seen that guy in the AusBream forum before. He was quite unfriendly when one of his mate call out to him to check out my flathead but he just simply walk past me in a hurry. Why? Scared I eat him ah? Crap..

An asian family had just pulled up with their minivan and the father asked if I've caught anything but I too just arrived. I've tied on 'goldie' and within first few casts, I got a take and it was a so so fight but still interesting. And up came a 25cm bream.

Then the father had finished setting up their camp and rod and began casting out. I moved down away from his line and the next cast I got another 25cm bream but this time on 'pinkie'. The fight was the same but still had me pumped that there were fishes everywhere.

Next up I changed to 'brownie' and had a take but didn't managed to hook it. Damn, must be the big sacrifice of modding it by having short of one treble in front. By then, I was fishing quite near the lurers. I changed to the Gulp sandworm and the bites were ferocious! Suddenly I heard the nearest fisho beside me having a loud zzz from his reel and when I turned my head to look, he didn't get a hookup. Man, the overcast day must have caused a feeding frenzy! There were heaps of mullets jumping and they were huge. Soon, I got hookup to what feels like a flattie and it was quite a good fight near the bank. This one came in at 43cm.

It was at this time one of the young lurer came and congratulate me on a good size flathead. He asked that AusBream guy to take a look but he simply walked past us hastily, maybe because I can bite! Haha.. By then, my sandworm was devastated and so I changed to a new one. The 1st cast with it I felt the fish took it on the drop and the line was pulled. I applied pressure without striking and the reel had a burst. Damn, I didn't hook it! Suddenly I felt the jig was light and so brought it in to have a look and the whole worm was gone! Must have been a big bream biting on the tail and rip it off from the jighead. So sad, that was really a good fish. Later on, there were many many hits and misses with not much luck of hooking it and I called it off to head back for nancy's food.

Ronald

Boat Fishing In Pittwater

Catch Report 13/10/2006

Kenny is leaving Sydney on Sunday and I've planned a boat trip to take him out. However, our usual joint at Rose Bay is no longer gonna do weekday businesses anymore. This is quite a devastating blow, since the Kingfish season is starting soon and hiring boat on weekends will be first-come-first-served basis. Anyway, Jialiang suggested another alternative and that is to go Old Mans Hat for rock fishing since it used to be me and Kenny's playground. But, since I've asked Chen along and he's always keen on boating, I tried looking up other hire services but the alternatives are really pricey. Then, I knew there's a hire service at Palm Beach and so I gave a call and book it.

Some homework was done to research the waterway that we're gonna fish and that is at Pittwater. It's a waterway that's stretched from Broken Bay which also runs off to the Hawkesbury River system. Chen did the bulk of findings and with little information in hand, we were enthusiastic to fish in uncharted territory. Jialiang came over and parked his car in StMike while Kenny stayed over my place the night before. We geared up a bit late but to make matters worse, Uncle Sam's car had a flat tyre! I quickly drove it to the nearest petrol station and pump it, only to discover that a screw had lodged into the tyre, causing it to deflate! But seems like the leak wasn't extremely bad and so we still drove it anyway. The ride was long, approximately 40km! It took about an hour to reach Palm Beach and it was everyone's first time heading to the northern beaches area!

We found the place without much difficulty and it was quite a cool place. Just seem like some holiday resort with people chilling out at the cafe and enjoying the seabreeze. Paid $65 for a 4 hours hire and the boat was prepared for us to board from the jetty. That's service! However, the tinnie was smaller than our usual Rose Bay 6 seater and apparently it was a 5 seater. There was a canopy and the boat was clean and dry, which was the plus sign. This time round, Jialiang skippered the boat and Chen did the berley duty as usual. There was quite a strong Northwesterly wind and the boatman had advised us to fish on the western side of the waterway. 1st spot we went to this place call Portuguese Bay and attempted to anchor but it was deep, plus the bad thing is having a short anchor rope! Anyway, tried bottom bashing only to have a bloody strong current! Everyone later on started using ridiculous weights such as a 4oz sinker just to be able to touch the bottom. But alas, it was just crap, with only Kenny getting a small flattie and small snappers.

We kept changing spots around Portuguese Bay with the same effect. We tried drifting but it only makes matter worst by dragging more line out because of the current and drift. Probably spent around 1 hour mucking around that area before I said let's try a nearby bay called Coaster's Retreat. It was better here as we were totally shielded from the wind. But the current seems to haunt us again and we didn't decide to anchor. Slowly, we were drifiting out from the middle and soon, everyone looks tired and demoralised. By then, I called for a change and chose the front of Great Mackeral Beach.

This choice was a top choice. Jialiang motored to the adjacent cliff face and I picked the middle of both cliffs. Anchoring was done and funny thing was it was very shallow! Probably 3-4 meters tops during the highest tide! Oh well, thought we're not gonna do well here as well. Turns out the current wasn't moving at all so I changed to smaller weights. As soon as Chen dropped his trademark berley bomb, I hooked up the first fish of a small Silver Trevally! Woohoo! Finally we got a decent one! Then, all hell breaks loose as Chen did some mod this time to his berley technique and the Trevs went berserk! They came and they came non stop, while we hook onto them non-stop! The characteristic of trevs is that when they appear in school, they usually hang around for awhile before disappearing and never comes back which is common in Sydney Harbour, but in Pittwater, they just kept coming back! Probably with a pause of couple of minutes. By then, we scored a few trevs, while Jialiang was using his trademark cubing style and striking fish like a pro. Kenny was the star of the day, he wasn't interested in small fishes and opted to go big baits. He persistence paid off with a huge ray fish (still unknown to us) and a average shovel-nose ray shark! The fight on the ray fish was exhilarating, taking line out from the Daiwa Samurai reel and Jarvis Walker rod I loaned to him. He had the photos of his catches in his camera.

By then, Jialiang tried lots of casting direction, and on one particular cast, he got a good fight from a bigger trev. Suddenly I had this thinking that the bigger ones might hang above the smaller schools and so I opted mid water. Bang, straight up I was onto a big trev. The bad part about pittwater trevs is that they are harder to hook up on size 12 than compared to their counterparts in the harbour, which is alright since I quickly changed to bigger hook in the earlier part and we were catching trevs non stop and had the best time ever. We reluctantly left after extending one more hour but it was still good fun after all, with Kenny having a good time tackling big fish on light tackle.

Total tally: 25 x Silver Trevallies (countless lost) and 1 x Chen's personal best Yellowtail

Ronald

Too Much Sunburns!

Catch Report 11/10/2006

The day before I asked Chen if he wanted to lure today's morning and obviously his itch is there and a yes was in order. It's been quite sometime since we get out for a quicky just before work and somehow from fishraider forum, someone had posted a good session being held there and so a drive was made to Hen & Chicken Bay's drain.

We got there quite late as the highest tide still had about 3 hours before reaching it but nonetheless I started with my only SX48. On my 2nd cast at the infamous snaggy drain, it got snag even though I was cranking slow and steady! Damn, there was no way to free my modified lure and so as you'll expect, my inflatable boat was used again. Put it out at one of the steps and I was so careful to get on board as not to rub the exterior against the oyster crusted banks. Anyway, I paddled out and it was damn tiring. Held onto my line while Chen grabbed my rod, I twitch it 90 degree upwards and it got freed. To my amazement, the treble held onto a leader of another snagged soft plastic which was rusting big time. Who cares, and I paddled back to the steps becoming more tiring! Disembarking had more drama than embarking but still managed to get out dry which was good. Stupid inflatable, it got soft again and definitely it was a defective product. I'm so gonna try and get an exchange or something.

Moved away from the drain and kept on with the SX. Had a bream followed it to the bank and took a mouth of it but alas, no hookup! Continued with it with 2 more touches but nothing. Found out that small little breams seems to be very cautious when trying to attack a lure, pretty frustrating stuffs! Well, feel like jumping to the highlight of the day and that is a super good run from a 35cm bream which Chen was right beside me hearing the drag sound of my Caldia Kix sang for a solid 5 seconds.

It took a camo sandworm rigged on a 1/0 Gamakatsu jighead that Chen helped me buy from ebay. I also used the new fluorocarbon line (Yamatoyo Famell) today and seems quite alright. The whole session resulted in 3 flatheads of 39, 41 and 43cm as well as a 25cm bream before we call it off.

We didn't realised that the sun was pretty strong and I felt burnt after we came back, which makes us kinda tired and sleepy very typical of being under the sun for quite sometime.

Ronald

Team St Mike's "Perfect Storm"

Catch Report 8/10/2006

This boat trip turns out as another memorable outing for me as well as the team mates. Phillip was granted the gracious off day from church by his commanding officer (CO) Amy to attend boating with us instead. Chen as usual got all his preparation ready in 1st hand. He made his infamous 'berley bomb' beforehand and he already had acquired 2 bottles of tuna oil! That's dedication. Jeff our manager was good to go as usual with his cool undetered look before fishing. Mind you, he has already mastered the art of angling, this trip saw him fighting the fish with abso'bloody'lutely without any facial expression, like he's treating big trevallies fight as "Is This The Best You Can Tussle With Me" kind of feeling.. hahaha..

This time round, my fishingkaki mate Rocky wanted to go. I've promised him a few times to bring him out and so he could make time and get out finally. He brought his newly acquainted girlfriend and his girlfriend's friends which made out 4 persons on another boat. Vance, our usual friendly boatman wasn't there that morning and so his sidekick, whom we don't like, handled for us. He emphasised that we need to be back before 12pm as there's a strong wind warning. Anyway, he prep 2 boats for us and our team ended getting onto a 4 seater! Chen was fuming mad that he felt we were mistreated and worse of all, we had to wait for him to slowly come and get us connected! Anyway, we didn't wanna spoil our moods and so everyone let it rest. Rocky had to get a crash course from the sidekick on boat driving but soon we were out and headed straight to the cakes.

Once there, we anchored first. Rocky had no drama too in anchoring and seems he had gotten a sweet spot right almost next to us. So practically we were fishing side by side. Soon, Rocky's boat were on fire, pulling in trevs after trevs! By then, almost all his rods were going off, and his female companions were pulling in fishes like no tommorrow. The team were starting to get agitated but in a fun way. Luckily this pumps us up and in no time Jeff started to crank the 1st trev up. In no time, me and Chen got constant hook ups and our boat looks more promising now. Of course nothing spells competition and we make sure everyone had a ball. As usual, the trevs come and go in a short window of time but we were still able to get the odd one up. This time round, we kept all the yellowtails, as Chen's workplace had a malaysian auntie who requested for them as she wanted to cook up some malaysian style deep fried fish in special chilli paste.

Then, I had one paricular "the one that got away" story to be told. While I was busy with my paternoster rig, my surecatch rod with a drift cubing bait got smacked and the rod almost fell into the water if not for Phillip's quick reaction to help save it! Thanks Phil! I didn't even need to strike as I could already feel the strong hookup. The fish was heavy and the run was fierce. Still, after about a minute to 2 of fight the sad thing happened, *ping*. I lost it. The hook was gone but my 12lb leader was still there. Damn me! For using such a low poundage and not properly snelling my hook! I'm still mourning the lost, we were all curious what that big fish was.

Soon, it was time to pack up as we had wanted to return the boat on time. But we only managed to leave that place right on 12. The trip back from the cakes to the Rose Bay entrance was calm. Then while we were right in the bay, the wind changed drastically. It blew from Phil's side at first and then turned right in front of us as we were heading in the southerly direction. It's the worst situation you'll ever want to be in as the boat copped lots of water and chop and the wind was like a 40knots "perfect storm" style but in a dinghy version! Long story short, we made it back but everyone was shaken and cold. All of us were totally drenched. The worse is Rocky's boat was always behind us but till about 1km left to shore, their boat engine died. We could clearly see their boat being stranded in the middle of the bay and luckily the boatman plus Vance was there went out to help them out and tow them to the nearest beach in Vaucluse. Chen was pissed at the sidekick's remarks of hastily asking him to get out of the boat. Vance was directly the opposite, saying encouraging words that we made it back in time. Still, I kinda felt bad that we didn't heed the sidekick's advice to return early but hey, we're customers, aren't we?! Alright, enough of whinging, team stmikes spirits are still strong and we've definitely learnt our lesson.

Me and Phil did a "brokeback" style photo but this is only the 1st of future sleazy installments. Hehe..

Total tally: 12 x Silver Trevallies, 21 x yellowtails. ( 1 dropped LJ, damn! )

Ronald

Happiest Luring Session To Date

Catch Report 7/10/2006

As usual, woke up late on a Saturday and went into office almost in the afternoon. Didn't do much also, and was just fooling around with my excel simulation. From office, I sms'ed Jialiang asking him if he wants to go KB for luring. He replied that he can't as he has essay due. So I went by myself but decided to go late since high tide comes at a very late timing.

Reached there at almost 5pm and the sun was starting to get down. However, the water was still surprisingly low but at least I get to see some of the productive spots which we had success earlier. It looks surprisingly fishy but still there wasn't enough water yet so I went up to the storm drain and tried my luck. I tied on my one and only SX40 and cast right smack in the middle of the drain mouth and found it to be too snaggy and lifeless. So a change was needed and I fished back the direction where I walked from. I hopped around the rock embankment and cast and cast multitudes of lures without single touch except for a dropped flattie on the SX. It was getting depressing but on a positive note, I was outdoor rather than in. The wind makes things worse by howling behind me and it was quite cold as well. By then, it was really getting dark. Walked past a couple fishing there with baits and the lady asked me if I caught anything but of course, I replied "nada". When I reached the starting point, I thought I was gonna pack up until the following events changed everything.

Chen had success previously with a good size bream being caught there. I too had a immediate hookup when using the SX before. But then, I was using the camo sandworm and thought just persist with it until it got snagged! Damn it. So I attached my SX40 and started pounding that area. Soon, I caught a 39cm flathead.

Suddenly, I felt that the area is teeming fishes. I worked my SX real slow even though the wind was still blowing behind me. At one point, I went next to an adjacent wall and cast it parallely. When the SX was near where my head-torch was shining, a big flattie ran up and took the lure! It was a magnificent view! But I reckon the hookup wasn't good and my drag was set a little too loose. Just as you know it, the zzzzz sound came to a halt. Damn!

The next hookup totally changed the events of the evening. I walked back to the angle where I caught the 39 and gave a good far cast. Couple of cranks later I felt a big bump on my rod and a gentle strike was made. The weight of this fish was massive, but the initial pulling in was easy as the fish cooperate. But then, I reckon when it saw the street lighting and shore, it made a hard dash, easily taking 1/3 of my line out from the spool. I was pumped by then, always telling myself in the head to play the fish slow and steady. A group of chaps came up to witness my fight for this biggun. By then, when I saw the side views of this flathead, I knew it was BIG! I tried very hard to bring it up but it was stubborn and didn't wanna hold still for a lip grip. Long story short, I successfully managed to land this 80cm Dusky Flathead all by myself.

My personal best record to date. A very very happy Ronald indeed! After her release. I was too shacked to continue and hungry as well. Quickly pack up and head to Randwicks indo store to have my nasi campur fix. Yum..

Ronald

Another Product From The Land Of The Rising Sun

Konichiwa!

Yeah yeah yeah.. Stupid Ronald trying to act Japanese but hey, my blog what! Shit, I'm mental man. Anyway, just wanna rave about another item I've poach from ebay and no, it's not a lure, but fishing line! It's actually being used as my transparent leader line (the line I tied onto my 'visible' fireline). I was reading about some stuffs on good quality Fluorocarbon leaders and came to know of this brand called 'Yamatoyo'. 100% quality fluorocarbon are said to be invisible to fish underwater as it can 'defract' light due to its material, don't know true a not. Anyway I'm currently using the Berkley Vanish which is also fluoro material and it has been ok. They are said to be sinking material as well, thus aiding lures to stay underwater longer. Somehow I stumbled upon this item and including the postage it cost me like AU$12 which is pretty cheap compared to Vanish for a 100m roll.

Since I am going to run out of my current 6lb Vanish, I thought why not give a try with this brand and see how the 8lb performs. Hope it makes the knots strong and be as sensitive to 6lb but giving me the extra strength edge.

BANZAI!

Ronald (mental)

Not Really A Top Arvo But Still Fun

Catch Report 3/10/2006

I went for my X-ray during lunch time and thought what the heck, I'm gonna walk to the RPAH medical centre instead of driving for some exercise I reckon. Once I reached there, the reception told me the X-ray machine is down and I have to come back in an hours time! Wasted my freaking trip! Anyhow, I took the car the 2nd time I went back. Shit, I had to do a total of 3 X-rays for quite a lot of areas on my lower body. Damn it, so much radiation! Still, it had to be done and hope the film turns out well.

Jialiang called me for a late 'arvo' session down at our usual haunt, Iron Cove. Once I was finished with my X-rays, he came pick me up. It's been a long time since he has fished there and the condition was perfect for the rowers club shoreline which we always liked. Jialiang then came up with the idea of yet another competition between us to 'spice' fishing up. So, 1 point will be awarded for flatties and 2 for breams. Any other 'exotics' will be 2 points as well. I rigged up a 2inch bloodworm grub (previously used) and Jialiang had snagged one plastic in the early casts. While he was re-rigging, I got my 1st flatty probably on my 5/6th casts.

After he was done, we proceeded moving down further from the rowers. I was still pulling in flatties and they were getting smaller and smaller which were all undersize for sure. I told Jialiang it's better to change the rules by only awarding points for legal sized fish. After my 3rd flatty, he got a solid fight and his Shimano Sienna reel was going ballistic. Looking at the bend on his rod I knew it was a big fish. The line starts going sideways towards the banks and we all knew this is characteristic of breams. He gutsily hoist up the fish and caught his long awaited big bream at 36cm taken on a 3inch pseed bm.

Well, after that magnificent fight, the action later on was pretty much dull. I kept on getting flatties and it just somehow reminds me of the days when I just kept getting smallish flatties non-stop, sort of haunting me! Still, I manage to get about 7-8 flatties with the winning fishes being a 36cm and 37cm plus the earlier unmeasured ones to clinch me a total of 3 points to beat his 2 point bream. We could have a tie if not for one of the flatty he pulled up to only hit 33cm. Still, it wasn't a convincing win but I'm sure he'll not let this lying down for sure.. haha..

Ronald

Finally Caught Bass! But Not Me...

Catch Report 2/10/2006

It was Labour Day holiday in Sydney and the last day of the mid semester break for Jialiang. Both of us coincidentally fell sick during the weekends. I've bugged him couple of times about catching our first bass this season and he was keen for monday even though he said he was only about 70% fully functionable. The steel will of a crazy fisho.

I've asked around for information on bass fishing in the local forums and have gotten some general easy to reach locations. This time round, we head over to Penrith Weir Reserve. Yes, Penrith, which is almost to the Blue Mountains region. It was going to be 1 hours drive and we manage to reach there fast due to smooth traffic along the way as we cruise through M4 on my trusty old 85' Honda Civic. We were impressed at how much petrol my car takes that barely moves the fuel meter. So economical, sadly, I'll miss this car too when I leave Sydney.

We were actually fishing near the Penrith Rowers Club along the Nepean River. It's a freshwater river and surprisingly the water there is so crystal clear with not much weed as we've anticipated. There were families there fishing as well using floats and presumably they are using baits. We rigged up at the rowers club launching platform and I took some photos.

Downstream from the weir.

Upstream to the weir.

We were basically fishing to the weir direction. The land base option at that stretch is very limited. We can only cast at tight spots in pockets of exposed overhanging willow trees. We had not much information of suitable lures to be used for targetting bass except for the fact that we know we will use surface bug imitation lures such as the River2Sea Buggi Pop 35 in black colour. It actually resembles a cicada and the hooks are bloody sharp! The key is to cast out the lure and let it sit on the water for couple of seconds before doing a very slow 'jiggy' retreive. This is to imitate as close to the movements of insects falling from the overhanging trees. At one point, while Jialiang was at this extremely tight pocket, I saw not far from a distance a group of fishos was fighting a fish and I was curious what it was. Suddenly Jialiang called out to me and told me he got something on his buggi pop. It turns out to be his first ever Australian Bass!

Wow, not bad for a less than 10 minutes start! By then, I've realised that the group had landed a huge carp and I meant huge! After taking photo for Jialiang, he had to remove the trebles and poor thing, both the hooks had lodged hard into both the bass eyes, ouch! After the poor buggers release, I tried to cast next to Jialiang and bang, I snagged onto a nearby tree branch! Damn it, it was a stupid cast and practically impossible to unsnag it! This time, Jialiang said I've no choice but to utilise my inflatable and luckily I remembered to bring it. I ran to the car and blew up the boat in double quick time. I self carried the boat to the place that I got snagged and board it with some difficulties as it was full of branches and slippery rocks there. Nonetheless, it was done with some awkwardness and I manage to retrieve my lure obviously with more awkwardness! Jialiang was laughing non stop at my poor rowing skills and I was looking like a clown navigating in tight spaces! Suddenly he saw some surface activity and casted hurriedly to that spot. But alas, he snagged his buggi pop as well! So Ronald to the rescue yet again and I manage to save his as well. Wow, this boat proves to be the star of the day, saving 2 lures which would have cost us $20! Anyway, since I was in the boat, I thought might as well fish from it. Jialiang went on upstream casting from the banks while I slowly get accustomed to rowing a boat. Basically I was struggling big time as I've never done it before but once I managed to get used to it, casting from a low vantage point proves to be awesome! I can accurately and confidently cast to tight spots with ease but still, I caught shit! By then, suddenly I realised why the inflatable was somehow squeezing around me! It had slowly deflate and I knew I was in trouble! I tried calling Jialiang but stupid 3 network sucks in remote Penrith area! Luckily I was close to the banks and therefore with quick paddling, I could get to the banks with ease. Without much drama, I've successfully unloaded myself from this crap inflatable. I continued fishing upstream while carrying the deflating boat for a zero result. By then, it was getting dark. There was a lot of jumping mullets but they were small. I kept changing lures but there were no touches at all. Jialiang had come up to me and we decided to pull the plug. Overall it was a good place to fish, and we concurred that we'll be back again in the hotter months to try and get my 1st bass as well as for Jialiang to get a bigger one. Bloody defective inflatable!

Ronald

A New Spot @ Hen & Chicken Bay

Catch Report 1/10/2006

Damn it, I didn't realise today's the 1st as in childrens day cos' my cousin is celebrating her 1st year wedding anniversary and I forgot to congratulate her! Oh well, I hope they have a good celebration. I was actually down with a minor flu as I was experiencing nasal congestion but took some clarinase and panadol to cool things down. My leg pain in the morning was super excruciating as if I was unable to walk! Luckily the panadol probably helped killed the pain and I was feeling better during the afternoon. With a little uncomfortness, I still went fishing!

It was blowing a strong northeaster, and so I thought I'll give a spot at H&C bay a try whether there's a possibilty to wet a line or just simply to have a walk I just won't mind as I wanted to get outdoors. I proceeded to what in the end I found out was named Canada Bay. There was beautifully constructed walkways and some lavishly built condominium units right along the banks of the bay. There were signs erected to explain the work done on the mudflats over there to support sea and bird life. I walked to the likely spot that had the wind blowing from behind me and was fishing right next to the end of the mangroves. I could see directly opposite me there was also a group of people luring as well. From far it looks like someone I saw before his photos in AusBream forum. That forum is very show-off I reckon, cos' it's mostly talking about competitive breaming this and that. But somehow that group were pulling in quite a few fishes, while I was only concentrating on my own spot where there was a tree shielding the sun for me. In the end, i only managed to pull in one small flathead after changing many lures. I believe this flatty was the same one which I didn't manage to hook up on other failed lures. In the end, it fell to a 2inch bloodworm grub.

Crap, I think I wasn't fishing properly that day. But still, it was good to be out anyway for a short while.

Ronald