After having the electric motor fitted to the tinnie for a few weeks now, today Dad and I finally got to test it out properly. We headed to a local creek first thing this morning to fish outgoing tide.
Initially we headed a fair way up a small creek before deploying the electric motor. After only a few minutes we spotted a Barra boof some bait on the other side of the bank. With a quick squirt of power we were over there to put in a few casts. Not having high expectations following our previous successes, Dad was taken by surprise when the fish smacked his lure. Unfortunately, in the fright, he pulled the lure from the fish. Not long later it was my turn to be shocked by a fish. A rather healthy Barra smacked my Flatz Rat right near the surface. I almost shat myself from the smacking sound of the fish on the surface. But I barely felt the fish bump the lure.
From here it went quite, very quiet. And for the next few hours we tried up and down this particular creek looking for the fish. Eventually we ended up back toward the mouth working some likely looking structure as the tide neared the bottom half. We saw a couple of flashes from some rat's but again nothing found the hooks.
Then we came across a nice snag in deep water with the current running nicely by. The snag was sitting deep in the water and I could see Herring rolling around under the water. I held the boat in place with the electric so we could get in a few casts. I didn't take long and Dad was hooked up to a small Barra, but it threw the hook on it's first jump. A few casts later and he was on again, a slightly better fish but still not legal. With a quick pic he was on his way again. My turn next, another small fish boated and released. A few casts later and I was smacked by a better fish, but he took me under the timber. I could feel him there for a few moments, but then the lure came free and he was gone. We managed one more hit before the bait seemed to disappear, and so did the Barra.
We moved on closer to the ramp and worked another good looking edge. We spotted a swirl on the surface and Dad was just sitting there looking at. Then he said something about not looking at it and getting a cast in. It wan't in the water long and he was connected. A nice Jack!
A bit further down I got a nice cast in under some overhanging timber and Bang, another small Barra. Slightly better than my first fish. But again, no keeper. We managed a couple more hits that failed to find the hooks before it was time to head home. So far I am very impressed with having the electric motor. We were able to do things that we normally couldn't do with the crappy 2-stroke. I have no doubt it helped account for the fish we got today.
