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.

The unicycle...

Hi there,

Yes I do practice the noble art of unicycle ridding...
Or to be more honest I should say, that for a very long time I have tried not to fall once perched on the machine...

Practice make perfect they said...

I have this unicycle for nearly ten years now.

At the time I kept saying to my partner that I truly believed that this was the best transportation system for a big city.

It keep you fit, it is faster than walking, you can take it in an elevator, shop, office or where ever you want to. No really I believed that, they look so easy to ride...

So she got me one for my birthday...

Very excited I tried it, and was quickly shown why it is not the most popular device on the planet...

It is hard, pretty hard to do.

So I more or less left it at that for many years.

Then last year talking with a friend she told me that she loved to ride her unicycle...

So I quickly jumped on the occasion and asked her if she wanted to be my teacher so I can ride mine.

And I was back into it...

I have a lesson every week, along the Nightcliff jetty as it is a very convenient place to train. And I can even see some people fishing while I practice.

And despite the regular falls, I am sure that one day I will be able to do it properly.

But I still love it and would still argue that it could be one of the most efficient locomotion apparatus in big cities where parking is always an issue. 

It does keep you fit, if you ride on a regular basis you will have some abs and legs made of steel.

It is fast and doesn't require to much storage room.

Imagine Amsterdam full of unicycle instead of bicycles...

So yes, I am far from the perfect ridder, and very often my legs hurts a bite and feel stiff after the practice. And some people must think terrible things of me when they see me ridding this thing on the jetty... And my progress on it are slow and laborious... And I can't yet ride it to go to the corner shop to buy some milk...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The photo in this post is copyrighted by Peter Zeroni 2010.

I came home with a fish, but it wasn't mine...

Hi there,

And before you start to ask any question, no I did not steal it... And I did not go to see the fishmonger on my way home either...
 

No, but I will tell you how it happened.

So this friend and I had decided to go to the Cullen Bay rock wall.
It was a long time since I had hit the spot so was somehow keen to try it again.
After all this is the spot where I landed my biggest Queenfish so far.

The Cullen Bay rock wall.

So with an early tide we had decided to meet there at around 6:00am.
Wich for me on the push bike basically meant getting up at 4:45... Nice...
Any way, it keep me fit (or so I believe) so it was ok, and I even arrived a good ten minutes before him.

So we started to cast some poppers around, then I tried my ceramics lures, then some chrome slice, then a lure without bib to skip it on the surface, then back to the chrome slice then back to another popper...
With him doing more or less the same, and not much action for any of us.

Only some birds diving but close to the sand bar, a bit far to cast, even on a good day, with the wind in our back...
  

My friend even tried to put a line in the water with some bait, and also tried to get a livie, but to no avail...

We were starting to think that we would go home with not even a real good hit when we saw this boat on our left coming and casting lures all around them. This finally caught our attention and we then noticed that some fish were busting the surface close to the boat.
Then they drove their boat straight in the middle of the splashing bait...
We looked at each other and said, they will just scare them away...  Maybe they will even scare them away in our direction!!!
And yes this is actually what's happened, this school of busting fish that were a bit too far to reach came just at casting distance...

Of course, I had a popper on when I need a chrome slice, and my fishing bag was at the other extremity of the little rock wall...
My friend said: Just choose one in my box don't wast time, take the one you want.
I then told him: But I will certainly loose it you know, and he said not to worry about it...
 

I choose a Halco Twisty 40gr.

So eager like two schoolboys we started to cast in the middle of the school.
And the usual happened the school dived down.
 
Then it bursted again even closer!
 
Quick we casted again...
And I was on! 
 
I started to get real happy even if I keep saying: It is not a very big one, it is not a very big one....
Then just at our feet... The line got cut...
  
They were not Queenfish, they were Mackerels...

I had dutifully lost my mate's lure, and my fish, two birds with the same stone as they say...

So this time I run (more like hoping from one rock to the other) to the opposite side of the rock wall and re-rig my rod, with a new leader and a new chrome slice and as I was on my way back, and he was on and landed a nice little Mackerel...
Just to show me how it is done...
  
But by the time that I arrived again to the water edge, the fishes had disappeared...

Then he said do you want my fish, I still have 5 kilos of fish in the fridge so if you don't want it I will throw it back...
What a show-off...
   

I actually said yes, thanks.

After that we just waited, having a little chat, to see if they were coming back, but did not...
So I started to leave and he was going to do the same. As I was climbing up the rocks I heard him calling!
I turn around and see the fish bursting the surface again just in front of him, way under casting distance!
He had already started to pack up, so he quickly put a new lure on the line and tried to get some but this time they went down for good.
They must have done that just to tease him... 

My friend being teased by the fishes...

So this is the story of how I came back home with a fish that I didn't caught.

It was a slow starting morning, but was well worth it, just seeing those fish bursting so close to us and getting one on the line was exciting enough.

So I did not get any fish, and got slightly sun burnt...


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

Why why why?...

Hi there,

Why do I like fishing so much?

The NightCliff jetty at sun rise.

Well, this is one of the very few places and instances where I can really empty my head of every things else, the water edge, and focus entirely on the task at hand.
A bit like in my work, but without the stress, pressure or politics of work.
And I am part of the lucky ones who really enjoy their job...

Fishing to me is like being a kid the night before Christmas again.
All the anticipation of maybe getting the big one.
And not getting it most of the times, which makes you want to come back to get it the following time.

Also, even if some of the fishing gears might seems a bit dear in the first place, it is still cheaper than going clubbing all night long in a club full of cigarette smoke.
And sometime you come back home with a feed.
Sometime, is the keyword here...

But yes it is more healthy than some other hobbies, cheaper than some and it is outdoors.
That is also one of the things I like about it.
All the wildlife that I get to see. The fishes of course, but in my part of the world, also dugongs, birds, turtles, dolphins, dingoes, crocodiles, Manta rays, and so many others.
For a guy like me who comes from the city, it is like the discovery channel, except that I am in it.

Basically, most of the times I come back refresh, happy, with some new memories.

But often sunburn and not with a fish every times...

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

The Miller's damselfish

Hi there,

A few days ago, I was fishing with some friend when I saw this little critter swimming in a puddle behind me.

Ok, the pic is pretty bad, I have to admit, but, seeing it for the first time, and not knowing what it was, I decided to pursue the matter...

So I asked to Dr. Richard Willan at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory if he knew what it was...

It didn't took him long to tell me that this was a juvenile Miller's damselfish.

A very juvenile, who was going to go through a stage where he would be all blue, loosing his yellow underbelly, but gaining a black spot near the tail. And then become an adult fish in the greyish/blueish colours, but still be a fish of small size.

And he showed me some photos of this fish through the different stage of his life.

I found all this fascinating.

And then proceed to tell me that this was a very common fish...

And I had never noticed one of them before!

I felt very happy to know about this little fish and a bit dumb a the same time...

You know with not seeing it before despite being on these rocks every second weekend and all... 

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Don't go there!

Hi there,

Yesterday morning as I was leaving the nest to go to work, my little one asked me: "Are you going to work Daddy?"
I replied: "Yes, and today I will even go to the hospital for a meeting with.."
And she started to cry and said:" No Daddy don't go there! Don't go to the hospital, I don't want you to go to the hospital..."
So I had to tell her, that I was not going to see a doctor and that I would not get a big needle in my back, that I was going there for an important meeting to talk about data storage and archival... That it was ok that I was fine and happy to go there...

Poor little thing, she's afraid of doctors.
Which I can understand, as most of the time she had seen them so far it was for her injections...
It is funny/strange the things that we take for granted and easy but that can still be terribly scary for a little one...

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

She found it!!!

Hi there,

My little one finally found the lure she had picked up for me for Father's Day!!!

Here it is:

It is a Killalure, Made in Australia, Barra Bait +8

I did not have one like this before, so I am eager to go and test it.

But at the same time there is a part of me that want to keep it in the wrapper, it is the first lure she has given to me, you see...

Ha decision decision...

So I finally got it a few weeks late and now I do not know if I want to use it or just keep it as a memory...

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

The new spot

Hi there,

So it all started with a thread on the FFF forum, where a forum member asked for some land based Barramundi spot information...
So did I get a Barra I hear you ask...
 

No, no do not look at the pics yet, that would be cheating...
 

Well in fact the reply that caught my attention in this previously mentioned thread was one that said something along the lines of: Under the deck chair cinema is good for Queenies and Trevally...
Yes you guessed it, from a full post about Barra, I extracted and memorised the only info about Trevally and Queenfish... 
 

So I went there early this morning, arrived there at first light, and for once had taken a second rod, and some bait with me. (Frozen Mullet), as I usually fish only with lures.
So I put the line with the frozen mullet in the water, just a simple rig, running sinker, steel trace big hook, small mullet and cast away.
And I started to do my thing with the other rod and my chrome slices on the side of it.

Then three young blokes came along, and put their line in the water on both side of me... 
I must have been in the good spot I then told myself...
 

We have a little chat and nothing happens.
Them fishing with prawns and me with my frozen mullet and my chrom slice, trying to cast straight in front of me, so I don't get over their line.
Then I look at my rod with the frozen bait, and it is totally bent toward the water.
Quick quick I beat all my retrieve speed record on the chrome slice and grab the other rod.

No real need to hook the fish has already done the job for me, or so I think...
A short but pleasant tussle ensue, and i start to see my line going for one of the other lads line.
I say carful your line might end up in the way, and the guy just looked at it, don't even move toward his rod...
And yes my fish got under his line, so I grab his line and passe it over my rod.
(I think that they were young blokes without much experience, or without much sleep, not sure which one?)
Then I finally got to see the fish and it is a small Golden Trevally.
I got it in the water at my feet, half on a rock and half in the water, when I grab my lips grip and come close to it, when...
The hook just poped out of the mouth of this fish looking at me...
Like if he had just waited to make eye contact before spiting it in my face... 
 
So in just one move I dived the lips grip toward him and grabbed his lips...
One of my luckiest catch so far!
Kind of made me happy, you see. 
 

And one of the lads took the photo for me.

Then the three guys asked me on what did I catch it, I told them a frozen mullet, and they then asked if I had a spare one.
Because they were young and seemed ok, I said yes.
That I had a few and that they were welcome to use some of them.
So they tried, but didn't catch any thing with it.
One of them caught a Parrot fish on some very tinny little live bait.
Then they left.

And then the tide was falling and I started to think that this fish in my bag was enough for today diner, so I left, and that was it for today.
Well nearly...

While I was fishing there I noticed a shinny little thing in one of the mangrove trees in the water.
But too much water to go and have a look at it.
So I went back later when the tide was real low.
And I find the shinny thing, it was a beautiful rapala lure in excellent condition.
I looked online for the price of this lure: $24.95!
A lot more than what I usually spend on my lures, I would not have bought one at this price.

So thanks again for the tip about going fishing under the deck chair cinema. I like these Barra spot threads...
 

I got no Queenfish, but a nice enough Trevally, and a new lure...
Better than a day with no fish where I lose three lures... 
 

So yes just one fish for the morning, in this new spot.


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

The new not so secret spot.

My little Golden Trevally, dinner!

Lost...

Hi there,

So the other day, my partner took our little one to the corner shop.
Outside the shop, sit a notice board, where any one can past his or her own notice.
So they look at the notices, and the little one ask what is the one with a picture of a cat?
My partner answer: " this one is saying that someone lost her cat, and that she want some help to find it back".
Then the little one point to one with the photo of a dog: "Mummy, what's this one?"
The answer: "Well, this one is about someone who lost his dog and.."
Before she finished the little one points to a notice about ballet lesson, with the photograph of two ballerina...
"Mummy! Mummy! Look someone lost two ballerina!!!"

Yes she is very sweet, but still need to learn how to read...

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

Camo ???

Hi there,

So yesterday morning going to work in the small car, I saw this guy on his big bike stop next to us at the traffic light.
So the guy is wearing camouflage cloths from head to toes, in the grey and white colours.
You know urban camo...
And on his arm, stitched to his camouflage jacket a light reflecting armband...

Now is it just me or is it a bit strange to try to camouflaged yourself, and to wear some fluorescent reflecting material at the same time? Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the camo suite?

He got me a bit perplex there.

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

Build up.

Hi there,

It seems that the build up is starting in earnest.
Today the forecast says it will be 34. celsius or 93.2 on the Fahrenheit scale.
With maybe a shower in the afternoon...
Humidity should be high and UV alert at 11 (extreme).

Another nice and sticky day in paradise...

Sunrise at East Point.

Rainbow at East Point in the morning.

East Point is where I saw the big croc swimming not so long ago.
Used to be my favourite fishing spot, but I have not gone back since then...


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

The new lure

Hi there,

Today for Father's Day, my little one has "given" me a fishing lure.
That is, I will have it as soon as she remember where she hided it...
;-)
Isn't she more than sweet?
She got it for me, and hided it till Father's Day, but now just can't remember where it is...

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

Frogs Party

Hi there,

Today it has been raining like if it was the wet season...
Albeit just for a few hours, but that was nice to see, and feel.
(And it washed the car too).

The garden's frogs were happy as...

And even if it is early in the season and it didn't last for a full day, I am sure that some old frog told themselves that it was nice.

Even if we are still to have the stinking buildup, and then the wet in proper.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Here comes the rain again.

Hi tere,

Do you remember this song?
"Here comes the rain again..."
Well this is what happens here this morning.
It is still dark, but I wake up because of the rain. First one of the season.
I do not know if it is just a one off before the monsoon, or if it started in earnest?
Still a wee bit early me think.

But it will refresh things, and I don't need to water the garden! And maybe the pawpaw and passion fruits will have a kick out of that!
And my daughter beans and carrots too!

And I just had a quick look at our local paper, and they predicted that this wet season will be a big one in regards to cyclone...

Yes, I won't be able to go fishing this morning... On the other hand, I will be able to have a bit of paper work done.

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

The crocodile.

Hi there,

So about two weeks ago, I went fishing to my favourite spot...
And I saw this Ho so massive croc swimming in the sea all around the rock ledge I was standing on, that I finally felt not too good, and decided to go back home...
Call me chicken if you want, but at least I am still alive to tell the story...

And I have not been back there yet...
Maybe next weekend if I find the time to...
But I won't be fishing there in the dark any more...

So here come two little pics to give you an idea.

This one is from far away, to give you a sense of scale.

And this one is zoomed in.

So that was a no fish day... Sad because some of them are really good to eat.

But hey, it could be worse.

Have a good day,

Me.

Politicly correct, me?

Not !

My ho my, how do I hate the politicly correct...
Don't get me wrong, I do not support abuse or cheap sniggering at the expense of innocent people. I am even quite often  appalled by the way divers TV show take an easy and unfair advantage on some people, be it in a racial, classist, sexist or any other kind of ways.

No, but still a spade should be called a spade, and an idiot an idiot...

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