Time for a break.

Hi there,

I am off today for a few weeks of travel overseas to the old country.
Where I will not partake in any fishing...
Because the water will be way too cold for my liking!

So wishing every one who happens to stumble on this blog while I am away a very happy festive season!

And see you next year!

I know your going to miss me...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

And one more fishing lure for the collection!

Hi there,

Yes one new fishing lure has entered my little collection today.
How come you may ask...
Here is the story about it.

It began with a thread that I had started on the FFF forum about two of my Reidy's lures.
Many keen anglers participated to the thread, and some of them posted a number of photographs of some very nice lures on the thread.
This was an interesting discussion for people who like fishing lures...

Then  Geoff Corry of BarraBase said that he had a lure with the marking of Coke on it, and that I could have it if I wanted it...
Ho yes I wanted it!

So we started to swap a few PMs on the FFF web site to see how this lure could end up in my hands. During this exchange came up the fact that I still doesn't have a car, as I am still waiting for the insurance to pay since my car accident.
So Geoff simply proposed to deliver the lure at my work place. This conversation took part on a Friday, and on the following Monday morning he was in my office lure in hand.
This is what I would call a man of his words.

He also offered to help me with my car problems which I declined, but nonetheless this was a very generous offer on his part.

Ok so here are some pics of the Coke lure:

Brand new still in the box!

Yes it's a Taipan from Reidy's.

Some information about it.

Out of the box for a second.

Just so we can see it better.

And yes I did put it back in the box just after the photos were made.

I already had in my office at work a lure that look like a hamburger, this new one will sit next to it: they are the perfect match!

And yes it made me happy.

Ok, so I want it to be clear, that I do not own any share in Geoff's business, and that I don't get any rewards for mentioning him on my blog.

But you have to admit that for a guy who is one of the most famous and talented Barramundi fishing guide in Darwin, with over 25 years of experience in the Northern Territory of Australia, and who had never meet me before, to make the effort to drive to my work place, to give me a brand new fishing lure for my modest collection without asking for anything in return, is a pretty good and generous attitude.

I have never used the service of a fishing guide (Maybe if I had, I would have learnt how to catch some fishes and would not be fishless on such a frequency)

But if I was to use one of them in the Top End of Australia, it would be the guys from BarraBase.

This lure made my day.

So I have not been able to fish yet since the accident, and it sometimes makes me a bit frustrated.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The yellow Halco Trembler.

Hi there,

Here is another lure that has quietly entered my little fishing lure collection.
I found this one high and dry on the rock, one day as I was fishing during my lunch break.

I love fishing during my lunch breaks.
I am yet to catch anything on these very short fishing session.
But to spend 25 to 35 minutes on the water edge, flicking a lure and looking at the sea and the sky usually help me to come back to work a lot more focused and performant for the rest of the day.
Also, to be in the sun for a little while is good, as I work in a room with no windows.
Basically this help to keep me happy...

So what does this lure look like you may say...
Ok, here it is:

The Halco Trembler 110

Halco is another Australian brand of lures. (I find their  lure called Twisty very efficient when I fish for Queenfish).

The Trembler 110 is a fairly small lure, 110mm, sinking lure with two trebles. 

Yes a lure that needs to be retrieved at a rather fast pace.

I have tried it and it is quite nice to see this yellow little fish swim in the water at speed.

After fishing with it for a few times I started to notice that I was not seeing this very colour for this type of lure in any tackle shop.

So I looked at the online catalogue from Halco, and this colour was missing from there too...

Ha, this was beginning to be interesting.

Was it an export or overseas model?

Was it a fake one?

(Yes like with fashion items, there is some fake lures coming from unscrupulous places...)

Was it a prototype for colour testing?

So I made this quick photo and emailed it to the guys at Halco.

And the reply was that this colour had been abandoned probably over 8 years ago.

I don't fish with it any more...

To think that I could have lost it...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The white cars.

Hi there,

So this morning walking down my street, I passed in front of this block of units.
And I looked at the cars...

Parking lot for color-blind?

And then I asked myself if the people who live in there loved white cars?
What do you think?

After all it is maybe just that this is the most popular car colour in Tropical Australia?
Not much surprise there.

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

Visit of the BOM

Hi there,

A few days ago, I was lucky enough to be able to attend with some works colleagues a visit of the Bureau of Meteorology also known as BOM .
In fact as a very keen fisherman, I have the link saved on my personal computer, so I can alway check the forecast before ridding my push bike to go fishing in the early hours of the morning.
No point to start pedaling in the dark, if it is going to rain hard and long in the next hour.

I had checked their web site so many time, and now I was going to be able to see where the information came from, and how it was collated.
So you can guess my excitement when the proposition to visit their local office was offered to me.

This year is a La Nina year which might bring lot of heavy rain and maybe even a cyclone... Lets hope not...
But I can only guess that this is one of the reason that we had the luck to get invited to see the place.

So as we arrived we were given a tour of the offices, and were told that a balloon was going to be released and we were going to see that.
The place where the balloon is launched, made me think of a Dalek factory...

Daleks could be made in there...

Then one of my work mate had the honour of launching the balloon...

This may seems a bit of an anti climax to some of you, but really, how many of you have ever released a balloon knowing it was going to go more than a few kilometres straight up in the blue sky. 

And expand as it rise, to be as big as a building before blowing up and falling back to the ground.

And be tracked by a radar, and send back information from up there?

...

I would have loved to do it, but I also wanted to get a few snaps of it happening...

So no surprise there, I choose the snaps.

So here is just a little pic of it.

It shows the ballon, the reflective material under the ballon so the radar can track it, hanging to a piece of string, the little box that transmit information back to the guys in the BOM, and a moon crescent, in a blue sky.

And this is what I liked about it, the moon crescent is mirrored on the side of the balloon, by the morning light.

It is like if it was a text book image to explain why at time, we only see a moon crescent and not a full moon, like in a book for dummies.

Maybe it is just me, but it worked for me.

Balloon and moon crescent.

After that we saw many other things, and I am sure that all the people on the tour had a great morning, as it was very interesting.

Sorry for such a small amount of images, and the fact that they are just quick snaps, but my back was still a bit too sore for lugging around a full camera bag so I had just one camera and one single short and light lenses with me.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Two new fishing lures for the collection.

Hi there,

Ok, the secret is out, I do collect fishing lures.
Mine is a very small collection of fishing lures, I am more like an absolute beginner than like an expert.
Firstly, I do not go and buy expensive lures at fishing lure auction or specialised dealers.
I get most of my interesting lures from the second hand shop, or even some time find them while fishing.
I have some marked with some beer brands, insurance company, hostel, or what ever.

In fact I do not buy brand new lures for the collection. I only collect lures that have been used, or if new given to me as addition to the collection. But I do buy some new lures (and sometimes funny ones), for my fishing.

And yes it is still fair to say that I am first a fisherman,before being a lure collector.
I still prefer to look at my lures swimming in the water than look at them on a shelf.

So back to the topic, not long ago, I was in a charity shop and found these two lures.
To me they looked like Reidy's lures (An Australian brand of lure from Darwin in the NT) one of my favourite brands of hard bodies lures, as they are the local boys.
But I could not find them in their catalogue...
So I made some quick snap of them and emailed the images to the guys at the lure factory in Darwin, asking if they knew what lures they were.
And the boss of Reidy's answered me back the next business day with all the good oil.

So here they are, first the Aqua Rat:

This lure is discontinued, and was replaced by The Judge, which is still produced today.

And an old Taipan:

The Taipan is still produced, but the bib of the lure is now different, and the eyes have changed too.

I do not know when the Aqua Rat was discontinued or when the bib and eyes of the Taipan changed. If you know or have fished with these lures, you are more than welcome to leave a comment about it.

So this is my new little addition to my fishing lures collection.

I do understand that this is not some sort of incredible archeological treasure...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Bad luck car crash.

Hi there,

So last Sunday I was in some sort of little car crash while on my way to my Unicycle lesson.
Bad luck more than anything else, but as always I had my seat belt and that I am sure, made a difference in the final result.

I have to thank Ms K, my unicycle instructor, as she was quickly on the spot after I called her to say that I would have to cancel the day lesson.
She was very supportive and took care of our car by getting it under cover at her place.
That was a great help at a time when Ms Frugal and I needed it.
Ms K acted as a true friend, at a not so easy time in her own life, thank you for that.

Ms. Frugal did a post of the story on her blog, so I won't write about it for too long.

Basically I was just slowing down to let a big Blue Tongue cross the road when a guy hit the back of my little car with his four wheels drive.
This will teach me to care for our wild life...
Just kidding...

The truth is that i am just very happy to still be able to walk on my feet.
I am just a bit worried about the whiplash now.

Even if we don't have a car any more, as it is a total write-off...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

First test with the pinhole camera

Hi there,

I have this old and absolutely obsolete digital camera, with no resale value...
But somehow I like this old one.
So I did with it something that I wanted to try for a long time.
I transformed it into a pinhole camera.

When I say I transformed it, this is a bit of an exaggeration as really I just bought an accessory that did the deed for me.

And this is my first few test with it...
Nothing special, but I still like it so far, and I am sure that with practice I should be able to do something nice, if not good with it.

So here we go:

First test.

Second one.

And the third one.

I like the soft kind of dreamy nature of the images produced with this technique.

I think that I will try to do some landscape with it, and see what is possible.

It is not prize winning photography yet...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

So much rain that it was a storm

Hi there,

Today we had a big storm...
As we had been flooded on a similar day in the last wet season, I rushed home from work during my lunch break, and the rain was pretty strong.

Our street started to get flooded...

Water from one side of the street to the other.

Then the water was rising and cars could not go down the street anymore.

I started to think about sand bags...

So I went and dug some sand from the little one sandpit and made some sand bags from it. Got drenched doing it.
Started to put them in front of the door, but the water was starting to go down.

So we did not get flooded this time. Yet I have trouble to understand how the council can say that every thing is alright and under control when we get either flooded or nearly flooded every years.

Where is a good planer when we need one?
This remind me of a song from the Pet Shop Boys that go a bit like this: Where is a policeman when we need one...
Strange how the brain works and makes some association sometimes...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

We went Tuna Fishing.

Hi there,

And we got some!

Double Haul invited me to go for a half day chasing tuna around the Fenton Patch.
Yes I know, Double Haul chasing Tuna might sound like an anachronism to some of you, specially when it is not billfish season...
But hey, I was not going to question the invitation!
With my first ever Tuna boated just a fortnight ago, I was more than keen!

So we left the Dina Beach boat ramp early on Sunday morning, with not so many cars in the parking so the launch was rapid and without trouble.

As we arrived to the level of the 6 Miles buoy the water was not as flat as we were hoping for and we tried to drop down some jig a a short while to try to see what we were going to do.
With no bite there the skipper decided to go for Fenton Patches.
And in retrospect, that was a very good decision.

So we start to cruise toward our destination looking for flocks of birds, that would indicate where to found our quarries.

The first flock directed to a school of tuna that would only stay on top for a few seconds.
Basically the time to cast and by the time a lure would touch the water, they would be gone.

So Double Haul sighted another one that was much bigger and zoomed on them.
As we arrived, I was excited, but it was not too bad yet.
So I remembered what he had told me two weeks ago and looked at the direction in which the birds were flying and diving and tried to cast just in front of them, it was a nice cast. Then I did as I had been told: Count to four... And retrieve faster, faster, faster! 
And Bang the line tensed and I was on! 

First cast in this school, and I had a fish on the line!
Double Haul casted too, and got a fish on the line too! It was the first double hook up for the morning!
But only one fish made it to the boat and it was mine... 
The fish gave a nice fight but not as furious as I remembered... 
Was I starting to get blazed? 
No, upon inspection the fish had a wound, from a former encounter with what might have been a shark or a mackerel or something that wanted to do a meal out of him...
But he was going to be my meal and ended up in the esky.

Happy like a kid with a new toy!

At the next school Double Haul was on.
In fact he didn't cast at the school as they had dived by the time we arrived on them, But he saw them swimming in the water on the side of the boat. So he did a rather short cast, and as soon as he started to get his lure back he was on! That was crazy we could see them swimming so close to the boat and so fast! I tried to lob a lure on them a few time but they were no takers. A few follow up, which is nearly as good, but no takers for me.

Then next school, and He was on again, and them me! Second double hook up of the day! 
You could have heard us laugh like to excited kids! But once again just one fish was boated.
But that was still great all this action.

And at one stage speeding from one school to another one, as I was sitting near the front of the boat, at the ready for our next assault, I saw a little sea turtle swimming on the left of the boat, slightly on our left and aiming to our right.
I started to think that the poor little thing was going to attempt to cross our past and started to worry for it and told Double Haul: Hey there is a small turtle just in front! He said what? And by the time I looked at it again it was safely on our right.

It seem that when they want to they can swim pretty fast these turtle...

Then we got some more tuna and Double Haul got as many as I...

At one stage I had a tuna on the deck, and he started to regurgitate (a nice word to vomit really) some of the little fish he had swallowed before taking the lure. I was amazed at how small they were, and then understood why people alway told me that if I wanted some tuna I should use the smaller lure possible.
We made a photo of it, with a little fish in my hand to get and idea of scale... 
So yes I can now say that for "science and mass education" I have had some Tuna vomit on my hand.
I hope that you will appreciate the effort... 

This is Tuna's food, in the name of science...

We then stopped on a mark and dropped some bait while we had lunch.

We then chased some more tuna and started to make our way back.
Stopped again to the six miles buoy o see if we could get a red or two. (Red fish, not red wine...).
But they didn't want to play so we went to the Larrakeya rock wall and looked for Trevally but didn't find them either.
Which as much as I like catching Trevally, did not make me sad at all.
This tuna fishing thing is fantastic and as your at it you don't realise. 
But once you stop, and the adrenaline slow down, I felt spent...
And that was just one morning of it.

So we made it to the ramp were it was pretty calm again with not too many people.
Appart one lady cuting Double Haul trailer, she must have been in a hurry...

So we were back nice and early at around 2:30 and I had 4 tuna in the esky.
So yes this week it will be Tuna week at Pecheur's home.
Lucky me that my family love them as much as i do.

Nice good food!

And because we were early I still had the time to go for my Sunday unicycle lesson...
By bed time I started to think that this had been way too much exercise in a day for me, and just hit the sack like a log.

That was a really good morning and lunch on the water.
And the more it goes the more I like tunas!
I like to fish them, and I like to eat them...

Thanks again Double Haul, I had a really good time.

So we did not see any Mackerel or big GTs.

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

Blogs VS. Reality TV.

Hi there,

For a few days now, I have been wondering about a possible link between the huge numbers of blogs on the web, and the popularity of reality TV shows...
Could we find a nearly filial relationship between the two medium?

Are most of personal blogs just a cheap and maybe more direct, less edited and prepped  experience than Survivor, X Factor, Big Brother, Tool Academy, Keeping Up with the Kardashians and other?
Is this what makes the success of today's blog phenomenon?

From a very long time people have been writing personal diary, but since how long have they been willing to share out these diary with who ever want to read them?
With very little control on the potential or actual readers, yet still being excited by personal rating in terms of visitors, followers and comments.

Some blogs are very personal and describe some very private thoughts or situation, and would in very recent times have been seen as either exhibitionism or breach of privacy.
Are personal blogs another chip taken from the mantle of privacy?
Or are blogs authors always in control of what is written and shown on the different blogs to be found out there?

Is having a successful blog a way for the commoner, to attain a semblance of fame aspired by so many in our celebrity driven society?

Certainly I do not have the answers for all of these questions. But this is some of the things that keep my brain busy lately...
I am sure that someone must have done a PhD on the topic, I would be interested to read about it.

In fact it is a bit like life, so many question, an so few certitude...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

The morning after.

Hi there,

So it was the Monday morning, after the Halloween weekend, and I took my little one to the corner shop. To buy some milk for the rice bubble.

As we were waiting in the queue to pay for the milk, my little one looked at the lady in front of us, dressed in a floral dress full of colours, and asked her with a big smile: "Did you get this dress for Halloween?"

The lady was not too impressed, and mumbled something, paid for her shopping and left without a smile for any one...
The shop assistant gave us a big smile and asked my little one how she was doing today.

So even if I found it somewhat fun, I may have to try to teach her to be carful when asking questions to total strangers. Simply because some people don't understand that they should relax, and take what is coming from a nearly 4 years old with a grain of salt.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My first Tuna.

Hi there,

So it all started as usual, with me dropping my gears at Double Haul house on the Friday evening, after work. A quick little chat about what we were going to do, and this is when things started to change. Double Haul told me to get my spinning outfit, and a tray of metal slugs… You can guess my excitement, not only we were to go and chase Sailfish over the coming weekend, but I was going to be allowed to cast some chrome slices to the rampaging Tuna school that we might come across…
Now, some of you might know, that spinning, is definitely one of my favourite form of fishing, and that I was yet to boat a Tuna… Are you starting to get the clue?

So on Saturday, like before most fishing trip, I woke up before the alarm clock rang, kissed my beloved ones, and was waiting on the footpath for Double Haul to arrive.
Like a kid with a head full of hopes.

He arrived and off we went. The drive to Dundee seemed quick, and the tractor guys know their job and got us in the water in no time. The water was flat and nice.

Flat water.

The plan for the weekend was to spend part of the first day chasing the Sailfish, troll a Mack lure at the same time, (yes I like my Mackerel). And then latter in the day, to reef fish for reefies and maybe some Jewfish too…

So once at the mark we deployed the teaser, and started trolling. As a Mackerel lure I throw behind the boat a spanking Max from Halco thinking that this 80gr, long hard body lure would be the best for the job at hand. In less time than it takes to write it, the rod with the Mackerel lure bent and the reel started to sing! No pulsed by the fact that I was not even holding the rod at this precise time I said loudly: I am ON! Double Haul looked at me calmly and said: that was quick… So as I started to reel in my big Mackerel, Double Haul found himself with the task of getting the other rods and the teaser, all of which had just been dropped in the water, back in the boat. I was the deckie having all the fun while the skipper was doing the hard work… Then he came to my side and asked how I was doing. I said that I was just hoping not to loose this Mac.
Then the Mack started to do one or two circle under the boat. Some of you might start to have an idea of what kind of Mack that was, but to me that was an exciting fish pulling his weight. Then Double Haul asked is it a Mack or a Tuna? Why on hearth would he ask such a thing? I had this big Mack lure at the end of a wire trace, and on the hooks of it was an angry big Mack fighting as good as they do…
Well yes once again the experienced skipper knew before the pumped up deckie what was going on, and the Mack turned out to be a long tail tuna.
Now don’t get me wrong, I was still pretty excited about it. My first tuna, and it was big!
But Double Haul said that it was just a baby and put it back in the water.
So that was no Mack…

Then a Mack jumped with one of the squid from the teaser in his mouth instead of my lure… Like if he wanted to tease me…

Then we saw something strange in the water, and decided to get close and investigate.
It was a group of young Manta ray playing in the water, all swimming in circle, a very nice spectacle.

Then another Mack grabbed a lure behind the boat, but it was a sailfish lure, and it did not hook, but ruined the skirt of it… (What a great line for a fisherman: A Mack ruined my skirt…)
So Double Haul said look at your lure mate, it will scream his T.. off pretty soon. And as on clue the rod bent sharply, but the fish once again did not hook.
So we decided to try to put 2 deep divers in the 8 meters range behind the boat to get one of these Macks.
All the while I would cast a metal slug to the school of tuna that we would come across. This lasted for a little while but for not much results, so we decided to go and reef fish a bit. And on the way to the reef marks Double Haul told me to change my metal slug for one with different colours and if possible just chrome.
I had something like that in my tackle box and did as prompted. We come across a new school of tuna, I cast in the middle of them and bang I am on! My first Tuna on the spinning gear! A Macktuna.

Am I happy or what!

This one will be bait! Now catch another one I was said.
So I tried again and Double Haul too got into the action, and he got one before me then I got another one and he did too again, at the same time. We had a double hook up on tuna…
To say that I was happy and exited would be a huge understatement! After reading so many post on the FFF forum, by Doors Off and others about tuna on spin gears, I was finally in the middle of the action! The sight of the water full of flash as the fish splash and jump the birds diving and then your reel screaming and your line peeling… I want it again!
Talking about birds diving, well a little stern dived a few meters before my lure but got one of her wings all tangled up in my line. So we had to cut the line to let her go, and she flew away, so should not have ended up as fish food.

A bird on the line.

So after a little bit of that we decided to go reef fishing.

And we went to one of Double Haul marks and dropped the bait. Got a few little thing stealing ours bait. Then I got a double with two fish on my line! Ok, one very decent fish for what I am used to, and a smaller one that was to go back in the water. But still that was another cool thing for me to have two fishes in on pull.

Two for the price of one.

I also got my first Grinner, or stargazer, or Monkey fish depending who you talk to. I had never seen one in real life before, and that was cool. What a mouth they have!

Grinners are winners, they said...

Then we got a few little red things with big eyes, and we didn’t know what they were, I should have taken a photo of it. We put them back, but they made me think of Elmo, you know all red with two big eyes… Can you tell that I live with a child?

Then Double Haul said that it was not as good as it should be and that we should go to the jewie mark, and just as he said it my line went very tense. Escaping from the reel faster than I could have retrieved it, and I tried. And the line went very stiff, and the fish had bricked me, taking refuge in a hole or god only knows where, and there was no way I could get some line back. So I gave it a bit of slack and it worked the fish moved! Just to find a better spot where I was to not stand a chance… And we had to break the line…
I don’t know what it was, but it was big!

Then we moved to the Jewie spot. Put the line in, waited a bit for not much action… Then my line again with the rod making a parfait arc, pointing at the water. Once again I screamed: I’m on! Then I started to thing Ho boy this thing can pull, and just then the line broke! Two times in a short space of time I had my line broken by some big fish… And this time it might have been a big Jewie… Ha! I retrieved and show the line to Double Haul, the only thing I could say was Look at the line! I just couldn’t believe that this fish had broken it in such a short fight. Make you wonder of the force in some of them…

Then the storm seemed to zone on us so we decided to head closer to shore to tack refuge for the night close to a beach.

First rain, sign of things to come.

Then Double Haul started to put some snag in a fry pan… Mmmmm the smell of the sausage quietly frying after the excitement of the day and the fatigue starting to quick in… That was pretty close to the best thing possible in the world. They didn’t last very long…

Yummy in my tummy!

Then a little chat and we start to hear some splash in the water. Ho ho why not trow a popper in the dark this direction… I start to do it hoping for a Barra, and Double Haul said something like: That must be a shark…
So I told myself ok just a few cast to be sure what it is…
And that is what I did, honest just a few cast, then a few more, then the five last one, then three more and then ho come on just one more after the next one…
By the time I looked in Double Haul direction again, he was fast asleep on his mattress at the back of the boat…
Once again I had been the over enthusiastic guest who had stretched the limits of courtesy… Sorry.
So I tried to install myself for the night at the other end of the boat, and found sleep in absolutely no time.

Then at around 2am it started to rain and we woke up.
The boat drifted a few times on the chop in the dark. So we had to reposition. Once we were confident that she wouldn’t move any more Double Haul put a tarp at one end of the boat and we stoped to receive the rain in our face. So back to sleep it was.
And believe it or not but getting back in this wet sleeping bag in a rocking boat, in the night, the only thing I could think of was tuna… I very rapidly fall back to sleep, with image of tuna bursting the water all over in my eyes and mind.

Then morning came; hot cafe for him, and chocolate cookies for me, life is great!
We were to try for some more tuna fun, but the water was too rough and that would not have been a very good thing to do.

Yet it was beautiful...

So we decided to try for some reefies and jewie again, and wherever we went, we encountered sharks after sharks, small ones, eating all of our bait.
So still wet and cold from the night we decided to go back home, and arriving close to the ramp, we saw some birds that were diving over a small patch of water but no fish bursting the surface. So Double Haul told me that I should trow a popper in the middle of this to see if I could raise what ever was under… As I was pondering which popper to use, he told me that I should try with one of my ceramic lure. And so I did.
After a few cast, I was on, to a nice feisty little Trevally. We let him go to grow a bit more.

On the lure made of ceramic.

And I continued to cast in the same direction. And as the lure was very close to the boat and I was saying look at the action of it in the water, that’s very nice, one or two, I am not sure fish darted after the lure to give it a miss at the last second. I nearly feel on my bum at the surprise of it, and Double Haul got a good laugh from it.
The after a few more cast I got a wind knot in my line a the lure flew by himself, far away for ever…
So it was decided to go back for good.
So just two sausage rolls and two soft drinks at the shop and we were on the road to Darwin.
All I could think on the way back was tuna on the spin stick and how tired I was…
God this fishing stuff is exhausting!
And this is it folks, the story a quite a few first for me, and of a great trip, once again thanks to Double Haul.

So we did not see a single sailfish for the weekend.

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

Hard life...

Hi there,

So last Saturday I went fishing for a few hours in the morning.
Has you may have already read in a previous post, I did reel in a pretty nice fish on light gears...
Or at least, what could be seen as light gears down here: 15 lbs line, which I know in some place is heavy gears.

As if needed be, just one more proof of the relativity of things...

So I went fishing and I came back with a big blister on my thumb!
just from reeling in the fishes.
You want to see a proof of it, to be sure that I am not pulling your leg?
Ok here it is:

Blister on my thumb, from fishing...

So I am not asking you to cry me a river, no, but a bit of sympathy would go a long way.

Because you know what Ms Frugal said to me when I showed the terrible wound to her?

She said:

"If you get blisters just by going fishing, your life must not be that hard then"...

That is how much care she showed to to my pain and injury...

Ha this is a hard life...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

My first ... Milkfish!

Hi there,

With a few unsuccessful trips in a row it was time to get a few fish...
So Sheeby proposed to Sarrge and myself to have a go at the Cullen Bay Milkfish...
We said yes and we did not regret it!

In fact I had read so much about the run of the Milkfish, that I woke up at 3:00 am and could not find any more sleep, too anxious to see what it would be.
Sarrge offered to give me a lift so no pushbike ridding under the rain for me, that was a good start.

As we arrive we were greeted by a double rainbow over the harbour, a nice thing to see in the morning.

Greetings from the fishing spirits.

We walk down the rock, Sheeby is not yet there and Sarrge start to cast a chrome slice, and before I have even rigged my rod, he is on a nice little Queenfish! On his second cast!
The day is definitively starting well, I tell myself.

Sheeby arrives five minutes after us, and jump in the action the Queenfish are all over the place.
I got one too, and quickly bleed it and put it in my bag.

Sarrge got two other that he keept, yes that makes three fish to take home for him.
And then he hooked a fourth one...
But that was cheating, he hooked it on the tail...
And he was small too, so he put it back in the drink, so it grow a bit more for the next time.
He also hooked another one, and that could have been the biggest Queenfish of the day, but it literaly slipped from his hand, once he had taken the lure out of the fish, and went back for a swim...
I am not sure that he was very happy?

Sheeby so far, was good company, but did not catch much...
And sure enough, Sarrge and I, like the two good fishing buddies that we can be, we don't miss an occasion to remind him what the scores are...

But I have to admit, that with time, he was to have his moment, no doubt about that.

Then, we put down the spinning gears, and start to try for these Milkfish, which from what I was told, can give some pretty big run, and have an impressive stamina...
I was not going to be disappointed...

This is when Sheeby started to shine.
He got the first Milkfish of the day, and I think it is fair to say that both Sarrge and I were surprise and impress by what was happening in front of us.
Even if we couldn't help to ask Sheeby if he was making it last so long because he hadn't landed a decent fish yet...

But he definitively came up with the goods, and landed a beautiful fish.

Now the two novice wanted one...
And I hooked!
A mullet...

Sometimes, you really need a lip grip ...

But he still gave a faire fight, and I nearly slipped in the water trying to reel it in...
This time it was their turn to make fun of me...

But hey, I have no shame about it, it came at just over two kilos, and was a nice fish.
Because Sheeby gave me a Mackerel one of the last time that we fished together, I gave him the Mullet...
Fair no?

Actually a few people told me that they were actually very good to eat, and next time I might keep one for me if I can catch another one.

All this time Sarrge was trying to get a Milkfish on a cheap baitcaster that I had lent him...
I was soon to discover that it was a good thing that he did not hook one on it...
And the way I discovered it, was by hooking one myself, on my whiting rod...

Luckily I had changed the line on it the evening before, full of 15lbs braid and 20lbs leader  on a little Sedona 4000.
The thing just kept peeling line first going for the horizon, then for the left side of the wall, where I thought that I had it. But he started again, making a big circle around the point of the rock wall and jumping and taking for the other side.
I was sure that the line would break on a rock and I passed the rod to Sheeby who was standing higher than I so he could lift the rod tip to avoid the line rubbing on the rocks. I climbed as quick as I could and got my rod back, thanks Sheeby!
Then I spent what seemed a very long time trying to turn the fish toward me, but he didn't take any of it...
I even started to joke with the other that maybe they could come to pick me up tomorrow morning...

Ho they can pull ...

Eventually, the fish was close enough to the rocks for Sheeby to grab it by the tail and pass it to me.
Quick pic form his camera, and release of it...

My first ever Milkfish.

My ho my, they can pull...

Then i felt spent...
And started to flick a chrome slice around to relax.

Sheeby got a second one, which seemed like he was never going to stop.
To the extant that I had to ask him :lol:  if he had got his new reel cheaper because it came without any drag?

The fish looked like he was going to swim for a very long time, but finally was subdued, photographed and released.

And Sarrge in all that?
Weel he did had and encouter with a milkfish...
It didn't last long, maybe one or two seconds...
But that was enough to bend his hook, and give him a taste of what it is all about.

So that was our morning, and we all got back home with some fish and some good memories.
Thank Sheeby to show us how to target the milkfish, and Sarrge for the lifte, God life is becoming good!

So I did not came home with 5 big Queenfish, only with a smallish one...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

The ceramic fishing lures.

Hi there,

One of my new favourite lure for fast spinning or whipping like some people say, is made of ceramic.

A red with black eyes ceramic lure in 1oz.

Ho I can hear you ask: What? you throw around bit of ceramic from the rocks?
And all I can answer is yes...
But they are pretty resistant and strong considering what they are made of.
And they are very beautiful, which for me is part of the thing. I mean, if it is a hobby that you practice to relax and have a good time you may as well do it with what ever tickle your fancy. That is part of the pleasure of it. Like some kind of bling on the terminal tackle, if you want.

The lures comes from Hawaii, they are made by Mark White and work pretty well for what I do.
I get Queenfish, which is my main target, and also Trevally, but apparently some people get all sort of fish with them. Maybe I should use them more often.

They are heavy for their sizes, cast very well and sinks, so need to be retrieved fairly quick. Like a chrome slice or metal lure in fact. But the action in the water is very nice, wobbling and splashing all over the shop, like a fleeing bait.

A little Queenfish on a 1oz.

My favourite at the moment is the black one with red eyes, works well at dusk and dawn, as you can see on the above photo.

I think that this is because the black one gives a better silhouette than a clear one would against the early morning sky, thus becoming more visible for the predators.

But hey, I am not a fish expert, so you can take it with a grain of salt, this is just my two cents of unverified science.

So, you could question my sanity for casting beautifully hand crafted ceramic objects from the rocks in the dark, in the aim of catching a feed...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The translator

Hi there,

As you can now see in my sidebar I now have a translator in many different languages.
As great as this is, I have to say that I did not made it myself...
No, someone a lot more computer savvy than I is responsible for it.
The man is called Chuck.

And here is the address of the blog where I found it:

http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2008/02/make-your-blog-speak-more-languages.html

Thank you Chuck, this is a great addition to an expat blog's.

Yes the translator is from Google and sometimes comes up with what I would describe as some very interesting translation, pretty close of free style poetry...
Yet it is still a great service, even if sometimes the text loose a bit of sense, or become slightly comical and obscure.

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

The Barbie truck...

Hi there,

So my little one really believe that the garbage truck is a Barbie truck...
Honest, I have absolutely not a clues as to where that comes from... ??? ...

But any time that the garbage truck comes down the road in the morning, to pick up our wastes, or when we see one in a street during the day. She becomes very exited and start screaming: "The Barbie truck! The Barbie truck! Look daddy the Barbie truck!"

And she then wave frantically to the guys in the truck.
Firemen, sometimes policemen are more used to this treatment, but garbage truck operators, or Garbo as they are called down here, are usually a bit surprise to see a little one waving to them with a big smile.
And often seem very happy and wave back. Some of them must think that my little one must have some family in the industry, or that here is a little girl who really appreciate their hard work.

And I am happy with that, if she gives them some happiness in their routine of taking everybody else trash, it is not a bad thing in itself.

The only thing that worry's me a tad, is that one day she might do it at school in front of her little friends or in front of someone who might then tell her off and say to her that this is not Barbie's truck, but the stinky rubbish truck.
And that would be a shattering news for her I am sure...

So what should I do as her daddy?
Tell her the truth, or let her live in a perfect world where Barbie often come down the road in her big blue truck? (I mean, not even pink?  ). 
I tell you what, it is not alway easy this parenting thing...

But hey, it could be worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

But my Grand-Ma drinks...

Hi there,

So some times ago, my little one wanted to go fishing.
She really love fishing and last year Santa brought her a really nice pink fishing rod and reel.
And I do like the fact that she loves fishing, as like this we get to spend some time together, so I hope that it will last.

So on a nice and balmy Sunday morning, between 8:30 and 9:00am we took the car and started to drive to the Fishermen's wharf for a bit of fish teasing.
And also have a few biscuits on the water edge, throw some bread to the fishy and look at the boats passing by...
This is all part of a good fishing trip with the little one.

So as I was driving down the little hill, a policeman sign us to stop on the side of the road and starts to walk toward us.
I could see in the background the Breath Analysis Truck, they were on a mission to catch the late revelers, full of alcohol on their way home or to a chill out party.
As the policeman arrived to the side of the car I pulled down the window and he said in his most professional and strong voice: "Hi sir, have you been drinking any alcohol today?"
So I replied: "No officer, I don't drink any alcohol."
And just then a little voice came from the back of the car: "But my Grand-Ma she drinks alcohol! She drinks Champagne!"
The policeman looked inside of the car and saw my little one seated and strapped in her child seat at the back, and very clearly made an effort to keep his composure.

He still asked me to blow in the little tube and I came clear as the day, as I indeed don't drinks any alcohol...

So this was the story of the last time that I got controlled by the police on the road.

But hey, it could have been worse.
Have a good day,
Me.

How cruel is that?

Hi there,

So two days ago, I was quietly plodding along at work, when this message from my mate Sheeby came in:

Hey mate,

I was at East Point cliffs all morning...there are a lot of fish around!

I had the worst luck today.

First I hooked up on to a GT and then it spat it just after. Another had a go at the lure (a stick bait) but missed and flew a couple of meters into the air.

Next there were good macks around the rocks. Some were easily a meter long. I had a live gar out and it kept getting bitten in half just before the hook! A guy and his son fishing beside me were having the same problem but they eventually hooked and landed a 1m spanish mackeral.
I had a big queenfish chasing my gar around but it wouldnt take it! Agggggh!

Once the tide dropped right down ( about 3 foot deep over the flats) there were big fish cruising around. I had a live bait out which got smashed by a small mack when I was on the phone and I missed it. I put a bit of dead gar on and casted near a dark shadow swimming past. The shadow turned and ate it and I was on. It was a BIG barra and it charged out over the flats, stipping a good 50m off the saltist...The 60lb LEADER snapped!!!! 

I think anyone within 500m would have heard me swearing.
The mackeral must've bit the line and weakened it and I hadnt noticed.

Ended up with two huge longtom. 

I have a score to settle tomorrow.

Oh How is work 

I just replied: "Work is great thank you!"

Now how mean and cruel is that to send me this kind of message while I am trying to get some work done...

Ok, he is the guy who gave me a just caught Mackerel last weekend... Still... I then spend the day thinking about fishing.

The following day, I got a call at work from another mate, to go fishing in the evening , with a third bloke.

So we went to a river that I had never fished before...

Well, let me tell you that the place had Big Crocs written all over it, and around 10 billions of hungry mozzies... Very hard for me to relax and enjoyed the moment, thinking about what might be lurking under the muddy waters.

And between the three of us we didn't raised a single scale...

We said that it was because of the storm we went trough on our way to the river, it had cooled down the water temperature and shut down the fishes...

View from the car on our way to the river...

Good fishermen always have a valid excuse...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.