Went for a quick fish yesterday afternoon with my eldest boy. Lachy has been asking to go for a fish with just him and Dad for a while now, and since Tania had been crook all week and still wasn't in a position to go, this was a good opportunity.
Wind was forecast to be light most of the day, and dropping in the afternoon. Most people probably headed out in the morning, bu other commitments meant after lunch was the only chance we had.
We put in at the Ross River ramp just after lunch, and after the lengthy 6knot run to the mouth, were were able to open up and head to the Weedbeds out the front of Alligator Creek. A solid 10knot afternoon breeze had poped up, but we were easily able to maintain a 23knot cruise speed and were on the mark in about 20mins.
We put out the lures and proceeded to troll the 4m line from Alligator to the Cape. But the only fish were saw the entire way was a handful of grinner. Not a Mackerel was seen! Water temp is still over 23 degrees, and a slack afternoon tide probably didn't help much.
By about 3pm the wind dropped back enough to attempt a quick run offshore wide of the Cape. I ran about 20mins to a mark 8 miles off the Cape and immediately the Humminbird 998 showed a patch of fish on the bottom.
In the hope of a Mackerel I sent down a metal slice. It was hit as soon as it got to the bottom, but was obviously not very big. Turned out to be a little Nannygai. Next drop and the same thing happened. So thinking this might be an opportunity for Lachy to have a little fun, I sent down a Quickcatch hard vibe on the 8lb Stella 1000. I was kinda nervous sending down this little lure in 20m of water into a patch of Nannygai. It was either going to be a lot of fun or complete disaster! Luckily it turned out to be the former, and Lachy proceeded to pull up fish after fish. But after half a doze it was obvious nothing big was down there wanting to play, so we moved to another mark for a look. But we couldn't sound anything up on this patch so headed back for one last play before home.
A 40min run back to the ramp sitting on 23knots the whole way. The water was still messy from the afternoon breeze, but the 485sf sliced through it comfortably. I think 4-stroke Suzuki used less than 20lts of fuel for the entire trip. Even though there was a distinct lack of fish coming home in the eski, it was a really beautiful afternoon. Lachy had a big smile on his face and felt very grown up being able to go on his own. Now I have done it once, we will do it again.
