Fishing Club
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This month’s fishing outing was to Clarke Point. The day was a little cool early in the morning, but it showed promise of turning out beautifully, after a great breakfast we all headed to our respective fishing spots.
The day was absolute by 9-00am. and Reno was down to shorts and t-shirt. When you are standing on the shores of Sydney Harbour, and its a perfect day, you can see why people are trying to live here, even with no fish. I couldn't think of a better place to be.
Terry Blackburn did his impression of Free Willy (see photo); Bob Incorvill snared a ‘huge’ Leatherjacket, which was perfect in every way except for size (see photo). It was decided to make Bob Fisherman of the month for his catch - we are still wondering how he hooked it.
After lunch with not much action, we headed home.
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We once again went to Clarke Point Reserve, which has grown popular with a lot of the men, what with the view of the Bridge, the city and just being on the best harbour in the world, plus it’s one of the places we have caught take home fish.
Some 14 men went along to test their skill, and under a very grey sky started the day with a hearty breakfast of Barlow’s ‘Cooking around Sydney’ - doing a great job as usual.
The weather stayed overcast but this did not worry anyone, all fishing with a vengeance, but to no avail. By morning tea time only one legal fish was caught, and that did not change by the time we went home, which made Phil Parsons Fisherman of the month. Ross Person who had the drag on his reel locked up, lost a good fish, which snapped his line when it hooked up.
By 10:45 the sun was well and truly up, and some of us were thinking "is this winter?". While the day got better the fishing stayed the same, so after a BBQ lunch we all packed our gear and headed home.
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What a great sunny, winter’s day we had (after the forecast had threatened winds up to 110kph). The usual fish story though – not much to write home about, however Phil & John have stumbled on a productive pocket of leatherjacket. All-in-all, the tasty curry mince on toast for breakfast, a morning tea conversation and a hearty BBQ lunch all made the trip worthwhile for the eleven who braved the elements.
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Clarkes Point (again) on Wednesday 4th May was another magic day … albeit a little cool in the breeze when it arrived. Around 14 hearty fishermen stumbled in at about 0600hrs (Phil had slept there overnight I’m sure!), to a magnificent BB (that’s Barlow Breakfast) of egg & bacon rolls, freshly prepared with loving fingers, and served on a freshly made Coles bread roll – lightly buttered of course.
Not too much activity early on, but as the morning went on, momentum developed. The Blackfish were on … but alas not for us – two interlopers struck gold there. Not to be defeated, our ‘team’ responded with reasonable volume, if not by way of size - except for Stumpy’s super-magnificent effort with a flathead that won the day (see photo).
The usual half-time break for morning tea was followed by a few more leather jacket … and the cool breeze. After a well-prepared lunch of sausage, rissole and salad, with apples & pears to finish, we all made our way back west.
Guess where we’re going for June …. That’s right … Clarkes Point. Let Reno know if you’re coming.
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April’s fishing trip was to Clarke Point; Clarke has gotten popular with the men for it is one of the places that we stand a chance of catching fish.
I was only expecting around 10 men to attend, as the weather was not looking good and we did get a few showers, but to my surprise we ended up with 16 including Carl, Burkies son who took it all in and thought we were all sick men I don’t know what he told his mother when he got home, let’s see if Burke is allowed to play next trip.
After breakfast of Lamb’s Fry and Bacon, we all headed off to where we were going to fish. Tony Fryer, John Barlow, Phil Parsons and John Cross headed over to were Ron Kelly caught his leather jacket on a previous trip, and after a bit of searching found them, Phil taking home half a bucket of jackets his efforts on the day make him our fisherman of the month, and all this before lunch. There were some small fish caught on the day - the only other fish of note was Herbies Wrasse, but it just couldn’t top Phill.
A good day was had by all, so after lunch, we packed up and headed home.
Reno
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Sixteen men went along to do battle once more. It was still dark when all arrived and sat down for breakfast. After the usual magnificent BBG (that’s Barlow’s Breakfast Gastronomy), at around 7-00 am we loaded the 3 boats and set out for a good day's fishing under overcast but dry skies.
Reno was on Captain Burke’s submarine ... er, boat. What a day! We all caught fish. We must have caught 30 squire - alas all 2 or 3 centimetres to short - but there were also Jewfish (Soapies), Shovelnose shark, stingray, crabs and catfish caught. We had 3 ridges bitten off - that's a 3 hook ridge and 2 traces.
Greg Cant on another boat caught a couple of legal flathead, and they also caught a boat load of squire. On the third boat, Phil Parsons caught a legal Jewfish.
The catch of the day. goes to Bruce Margarity, who caught a flathead nearly as long as he is tall; it was monster; and it makes Bruce fisherman of the month.
It’s good that he bragged and showed it to me, because who ever tied the keeper bag needs to go back to the Boy Scouts, they not only lost the fish that were caught; they also lost the keeper bag so Bruce's fish ended up as crab food.
We returned the boats at 5-00 pm and headed home, all having had a great day on the water, fishing. The old saying rings true:
My worst days fishing is better than my best day at work.
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Fishing Report for February 2011.
Our first fishing trip was to Clarke Point Reserve and was well attended, 13 men going off to try their luck.
The day could not have been better. Talk about good one day, perfect the next! With a gentle breeze coming off the water to keep the heat down, the temperature was at least 9 degrees less than at St Mary’s.
On arriving toast was cooked and all tucked into breakfast, of Sausages and Bacon in tomato and onion sauce; all ate well.
Now to fishing, all spread out and did their level best to catch something. Many fish were caught, but the story never changes ... all to small and were all thrown back. Terry Burn caught a huge cat fish which he eventually threw back after Terry thought twice about eating it; I really couldn’t see Mrs. Stumpy eating catfish.
The fisherman of the day and month was Ron Kelly with a good haul of Leather Jacket. When being told about the catch yours truly ventured down, and was able to catch two fish that were tea last night.
A good day was had by all and after lunch we carried all the gear back to the cars and made for home before the traffic got to bad.
Reno
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November's fishing trip was the last for 2010, and as usual it was our boat trip on the Hawkesbury River.
There were a lot of men away for this trip,so only two boat's were required,we had eleven men so six on the larger of the boats five on the other
Terry Blackburn piloting the small boat, Captain Bourke the other.
On arriving at the wharf, we had breakfast then boarded and set off for a on a day on the water.
The morning passed with very little action, Bourke caught a large catfish, but that was all that was brought on board on our boat until we moved around to the channel marker where we all started to catch fish on Bourkies boat - we must have caught between 30 and 35 Bream but all were thrown back because they were under size, the largest being 23 Centimetres. Ronny Miller's Bream was more than legal, but he lost it at the side of the boat. Four Blueswimmer crabs were caught but only 1 made it on board.
Around 12-00 we were looking for the other boat to have lunch. I believe that there was almost a mutiny on Terry's boat but all ended well, when we found each other, tied the boats and cooked and had lunch - a good feed calming the savage beasts. After lunch we went our way again; we headed to the same marker and again caught bream. As it was getting near time to return the boats, we did a couple of drifts where I was lucky enough to land a 55 centimetre Flathead, making me the fisherman of the month.
We returned the boats, packed the car and headed home, before the traffic built up. Fishing is on the first Wedensday of the month and all are welcome. If anyone wishes to come fishing please let me know for cattering purposes.
Reno
November 2010
