Date: 15 & 16 Feb 2014
Weather: Sunny, but wind picked up at about 11pm on the night of the 15th
Crew: Dave, Toon, Willo
Target Fish: Gummy Shark, Tailor, Salmon, Mullet, + anything toothy
Rigs: Paternoster rig, running sinker rigs. Salmon on 3/0 hooks, gummy on 6/0 - 8/0
Bait: Lures - Metal Slugs (halco twisties, gillies), surf poppers, Pilchard, Eel, Squid Heads
Berley: 20kg of chook pellets mixed with tuna oil and black and gold pilchard cat food
Catch: 1x salmon, 50x yellow eye mullet, 500x crabs
Report: Hit the road at 6am stopped at delicious McDonalds at 8:30. Scored a free strawberry thickshake amongst a plethora of hash cookies. Got to woodside spot at about 9am. Unpacked car, hit the surf straight away. A school of mullet in the surf right at the start hoped for a solid day's fishing, however we didnt catch any of them. Spent a good few hours casting out metal lures in chase of salmon and tailor. Dave got hit a few times but didnt manage to hook them. He did catch a lip though. Skull dragged him a little too hard upon strike!!
We then looked to set up some baited rods and bunker in for a while. As Dave and Willo went off to "pitch up a tent" a good sized salmon hit one of the rods that had pilchard tail on it. The rig he hit it on was running sinker and caught him about noon (about 2 hours after high tide). He jumped out of the water and gave a solid fight right up to the surf edge. Took a few snaps and put him in the eski for the night gummies. Hot dogs for lunch were a treat!
Spent the rest of the afternoon casting out lures and catching the small yellow eye mullet in the surf edge. These were fun to catch. Would have been far more successful had we 1/0 hooks, or even some small long shanked stuff.
As the night came, we cooked snags on the beach and started chasing gummies. Not much luck on this front. We had three rods out, one with fresh salmon, one with fresh squid heads, and the other with fresh cured eel. Fished the high tide at 10pm and a full moon. It was at about 9pm that the crabs decided to show face. Within 10 seconds of casting, a dirty crab will have latched onto your bait, and started nibbling away. As the wind picked up at about 11pm we had to pack up shop.
The morning involved bacon and eggs sandwiches and the wind was still high so we decided to clean up and move along. The drive home was a highlight. The discussion about how to become the "king of the road" made this trip all the more worthwhile. Tears from laughter discussing the challenges this involved was priceless. The first to complete wins an Amore Meal at McDonalds.
Rating: 7/10
