Bicheno Bust

Went to Bicheno for a week. Fished morning and evening. The wind was gale force, but in a different direction each day. The swell was massive. And the fish non existant.

Had to go to St Helen's, and the fishing shop there said the coastal fishing was hard. The better fishing was in Georges Bay. I didnt have the time or a boat to let me fish in the bay, so no luck there.

Finally got a 1m couta on the light plastic rig -- that was a good fight! But for 5 days that was a bust!

Kids'n'Squid

We were chatting with Bob H about finances for our new house. After getting through the details, Bob invited us out on his boat for some squid fishing. I t turns out that he needs an excuse to get out too -- Sheila isnt too keen on going, and doesnt like him going alone. Susan was having a kids free weekend, so I took both kids.

Got to Bob's place at around 9.30 am. Drove down to cremorne and launched his boat -- a smallish twin hull boat with a 40 hp engine. We motored about 300 m offshore and started squid jigging. There werent many tentacled monsters around, so we switched to bait for flathead. Then we started getting squid -- they were on the bottom.

Ended up with a mess of squid and flathead. Susan called right when Alex was bringing in a large squid. She got to hear lots of screaming and laughing on the phone as the squid was squirting and inking all over the place.

Left at 1:00 pm and got home at 3:30 pm after cleaning the catch. We have a mess of squid and flathead in the fridge.

Breaming with a guru

Andrew was a new visitor to the wargames club. Turns out he is a keen bass fisherman too. We got in two early morning hours of bream fishing/ I only had a morning, as I was taking both kids blackberry picking and then overnight at Conningham.

Met at Rosny point at 6:00 am. Andrew showed me a couple of spots -- which was embarrasing, as I grew up on the point! We were tossing soft plastics. We each got 3 or 4 flathead, but no bream. Andrew also showed me a loop knot -- which made the trip more thn worthwhile!

At 8:00 I had to leave. Just as I was about to go a bass boat powered up and started fishing right along the shoreline where we had been fishing. There was a bream tournament, and the pro's knew where the hot spots were. They didnt do better than us, but at least we know we were in the right spot!

An expedition into the wilds...

Cameron and I have been singularly unsuccesful in arranging fishing trips. We finally managed to get away.

Originally, the trip was billed as 'an afternoon on the Tyenna'. But speaking to Cameron the day before, he wanted to try the Weld. Our last trip was a disaster, but armed with a map, we new exactly where to go. So we packed up the pajero and drove down towards the airwalk at Tahune. Cameron's plan was to go via the forestry roads rather than the bitumen, so we got to see a lot of nice country. We were looking for the turn off back up to the other side of the weld river. When we hit Tahune we realised we had missed the turn off! A discussion with a forestry employee revealed that the road was shut for forestry operations, so we had to go the plan B.

The Picton river joins the Huon at Tahune. There is a short walk to a swinging bridge over the Picton, so we decided to walk to the bridge and try the Picton near the bridge. Cameron had a pack with him, but I only had my wader bag, so I stuffed all into the bag and slung it over my shoulder.

The walk up the trail to the swinging bridge was quite pretty. After a short distance we encountered a sign of a parent holding a childs hand and a side trail. A bit further there was another sign with a picture of a ball, and another side trail. But the main trail was easy to see, and we followed it along. There were several more side trails, but then the main trail just pettered out, with no swinging bridge. We kept on, but the trail by now was more of a game track. After a bit we turned back, but when we got to the main trail again, there was no bridge or fishable water. We decided to try the 'game track' for a bit longer, and walked a good 500m further up. With no swinging bridge in sifght, we turned back to just find somewhere to fish. Just then we met two travellers from Denmark, who were also looking for the bridge, and had a map. We were all confused, with no bridge or good trail in sight, so we continued on. Eventually the trail hit the Picton river and ended. Still with no bridge.

We fished for about an hour, but we couldnt get up or down the river. There wasnt as much as a sign of a fish, though I thought I had a strike. It could just have easily been a twig sticking up that my fly nicked. Stymied, we packed up and headed back.

Getting back to the air walk we looked at the swinging bridge on the map and the associated pictures very carefully, only to see they were an 'artists impression'. The Bridge hadn't been built yet!

New years Day part 2

Feeling grumpy, I decided to just blow the coop and go fishing. Went up to the Tyenna, only to find every man and their uncle was fishing their. Found the weir was covered in bait fishers, so I parked and went upstream. In the first pool I dropped a royal coachman in the shade behind a willow and immediately got a nice brown. In the next pool I got no results, but a bit later spotted a bunch of fish and got another immediate rise -- another beautiful (but small) brown. After that I missed a couple, but found the river overgrown, the weather hot, and another horde of fishermen had arrived. Tried a couple of new spots, then went home, grumpy mood removed :)

New years Day part 1

Got up early and drove down the Bellerive Bluff. Was thinking of trying for bream -- but just couldnt get up the motivation. Tried letting soft plastics sink to the bottom. Got 4 flathead in short time, then the tide changed and the fishing suddenly stopped. Decided to go home after an hour.

baby sitting

Had to watch a child while his parents worked at the taste. Took him to bellerive bluff along with Alex and Ella. There was another family there tying into flathead with depressing regularity. We tried soft platics for salmon but got nothing -- till we got a tangle and I let a plastic really sink. An immediate flathead. We tried that for a bit and lo and behold started getting a few salmon too! The day was gorgeous, so we upped sticks and went to Cremorne -- only to discover that there are no dogs allowed on Cremorne beach after 8:00 am. So we went home and had a long cool drink.

Bellerive Bluff 24/11/2006

Had to drop the kids off at scouts, so I went of for 2 hours at Bellerive Bluff. Got there at 7:15, and fished to 8:45. Conditions were good, with a heavy broken cloud, and a downstream wind that was sheltered by the bluff. There was one other fisherman. The tide was very low. Fished hard, and was about to give up at 8:30 when I finally got a nice fish. I was bored, and was trying different casting techniques to see what got the best distance. After one not so good cast I was reelling in as fast as possible when the fish hit. It was under 0.5 kg -- but nice and chunky.

Tyenna River 17 & 18/11/2006

Took the kids camping at the Tyenna

We got there about 3:00 pm. Set up the tent, and then tried to get the kids to fish. They got bored, and wanted to play in the tent, so I walked down to the river. Got two hits in quick succession, so I tried to convince the kids to fish. Finally got them motivated, and went to the weir. Saw a platypus, but didnt manage any fish. Got back, cooked dinner, and went to bed.

The next morning I got up early and went down to the river before the kids got up. Got a small fish, but nothing of note. Then packed up with the kids and came home so Elizabeth could get to her horse riding.

Cremorne Canal 11/11/2006

Alex and Elizabeth had to go over the Lauderdale to play, so I dropped in and fished for an hour at Cremorne canal. Tide was dropping, but the wind was howling! Fished at the lagoon side of the canal. Got one very small salmon after a lot of work.