Just A Little Mackerel.

Hi there,

This morning I went fishing on the Cullen Bay rock wall, and I came back with just one little Mackerel.
Yet it was a great morning, as I hadn't really fished the place in a long time.
So my plan was to be there at day break, and I arrived there...
Well, let's just say a bit after day break, when it was already full day light...
The first thing that I saw on arrivals was a big sea turtle quietly swimming around along the rock wall.
Good sign I told myself, if the wildlife is there, I might get some action.
So I started to cast a small popper that I had modified around.
Waiting for the big hit to arrive, hoping for a Queenfish or a Trevally.
But instead after about 15 to 20 minutes of casting, I made a nice long cast, and the popper flew away very far... Much further away than it should have, and that was because my leader had broken and it was free of any line to slow it down...
So there I am, not half an hour into the morning fishing and I lost a little lure that I had put a bit of work in it...
I wasn't too impressed with myself, and started to wonder if that would be one of these days, where everything goes wrong.
So as calm as I could I walked by towards my fishing bag, sat down on the rocks, and started to put a new leader on my line and to wonder what lure I could use after that.
I went for a DUO Beach Walker.
As I was attaching the lure to the end of my line, another fisherman arrived behind me and said hi.
We had a bit of a chat, and it turned out that it was a follower from the FFF forum.
He had arrived in Darwin from Tasmania only 4 month ago, for work, and with a contract nearly at its end, was bound to get back to Tasmania in the next few week.
He was fishing soft plastic and I was fishing hard body.
He also had a baited line in the water a bit on the side, and I also had a fishing rod ready with a metal slug in case of a bust up.

As there was not too much action I walked to the end of the rock wall, and casted from left to right covering as much water as I could.
I started to be more and more confident that this was going to be another day without fish, or that I should go and change my lure.
Ok, a few more cast and I might move away...
And then bang!
I was on, It wasn't pulling very hard and didn't seems very heavy, but it looked to be silvery in colour and I wanted to land it.
Only when it arrived close to the rock did I realised that it was a small Mack, and I started to hope that it would not cut my line.
But it did not and I landed it:

Mack on the DUO Beach Walker.

This wasn't a big fish, but it sure put me in a good mood, and a nice little lunch it was going to be.

I was going to eat some fish today!

Yummy little fish.

After that I didn't land anything else, but twice I saw some fish coming for my lure and turning off just at the last second when they had the nose on the lure.

And that was enough to keep me happy.

I had changed my leader after the first fish, as it seemed to me that the knot was a bit on the light side, and I was still hoping for the big strike.

And I did get a nice strike, from what I believed to be a big Queenfish, it hit hard and gave a nice pull on the line.

But didn't stay connected and I lost this fish in about 2,23 seconds...

Ha!

once I got the lure back, a I wanted to check if my hooks were still sharp.

Yes they were still sticky sharp, but my new leader was half destroyed, it wasn't a nice Queenifsh, but a reasonably good Mackerel that had hit the lure.

There must have been a few around this morning.

In fact we did see 4 bust up of little bait being harassed by predatory fish well under casting distance.

Don't ask, yes I tried to throw my chrome slice in there, and didn't get a single hit.

The other guy had three hits, but didn't connect a single time.

We also saw two other bust up that were a bit too far for me to cast to, but someone with a better technic or better gears would have been able to cast to them.

I also saw a Barramundi that would have been just legal or very slightly above legal, swimming against the rock wall, hugging the rocks as close as he could.

But I was not able to tempt him.

The other guy, (sorry I forgot his name) got a nice hit on a baited line that he had put a bit on the side of where we were casting, and picked it up.

It came tight and it fought heavy and down, so he called it for a stingray.

But as it come closer, it showed itself as a shark, not huge but big enough to give a bit of a work out to anyone.

And big enough to eat...

But just on the rock it chewed the leader and swam away...

Ha!

Then I sarted to be a bit hot and thirsty, I had finished my water bottle and decided to go back home. 

All in all it wasn't a bad morning, saw a lot of fish, got a little one, and meet a member of one of my favourite forum.

I did loose a lure.

But hey, it could be worst.

Have a good day,

Me.

Eating somebody's else fish, once again.

Hi there,

Yes, once again, I had a feast on someone else catch...

This could be a long and very embarrassing post about how I went fishing with some friends, and was the only one not catching anything...
Or even worse, on how I got a major bird nest on Sarrge overhead reel, while trying to help him...
Or I could write about how Seano got the hook of one of his own lure stuck just above his left eye, the barb well into the skin. And how he got it out himself while we were all looking at him.

But no, I will just tell you that after all this was still a very good morning, under a very big sky and a very flat sea. The weather was just beautiful, and the air full of expectation, especially for Sarrge who wanted to try his new rod and reel.

When we all arrived at East-Point the scenery was once again for a city boy like me, at it's best. And just after a few cast Seano who was using a small popper was on.

At the first lights of the day, Seano is on.

And he got a nice Queenfish which he gave to Dan.

Seano and his catch under the full moon.

Not long after that he got a nice little Grey Mac on a soft plastic, and kept it for his lunch.

Mac on soft plastic.

About at the same time, Sarrge finally christened his new rod and reel with a nice Queenfish.

Reeling it in.

Happy as a man who just caught a fish.

And that was on a soft plastic too.

Queenfish on soft plastic.

Then Seano got two other little Macs, on chrome slice, and gave them to me. They made a delicious lunch.

The lunch that was offered to me.

Not long after that, just as I finished, with Sarrge help to untangle the mess that I had made on his own reel, the wind started to pick up, and we decided to go back home, for a proper breakfast.

So yes, I totally stuffed up with my mate's reel which made him miss a fish, and I was not even able to catch a single fish despite the near perfect conditions...

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