This time the club was off to Singleton and carp fishing at Lake Liddell. The lake was formed to service the massive coal fields and the nearby power stations. We met up at the Macca’s opposite Bertie the big bass. Mackaway’s has closed now and Bertie has moved on to greener pastures[?]. Anyway after a hasty tasty at Rotten Ronnies it was off to the lake. Angling appetites had been whetted after Damian Webber and Peter Frere had fished the lake a fortnight before and reported good water levels as well as good numbers of river rabbits. After arrival members meandered around and eventually two groups emerged, one mob following the bank around to the south east, the other headed towards the north west with most concentrating on the area near the rail viaduct. Bob Williams could only spend a limited time on this trip and so he brought his tinney which he shared with Jim Hollet. Dave Witham brought his “stealth” kayak and he and new guy Richard Hassall headed off in an easterly direction.
The fishing started slowly with Ken Colmer bucking the trend and fishing blind. It worked, Ken catching and dropping several fish. Our new members also started to hit their straps and were pleased as punch with their efforts. The trusty egg sucking leech did about 90% of the damage with egg flies bringing up the rear. The higher the sun rose the more fish were sighted, cast to and played. Heavy leaders meant hook ups usually meant captures, these fish just don’t seem to care sometimes. The boaties did well, being able to target the bigger fish lurking off the deeper weed beds. Jim Hollet hooked one that towed the boat around for 5 minutes before a knot gave.
Nobody seemed to want to stop for lunch but eventually they came back in 1s and 2s like brown’s cows around 2pm. Honours were shared between the northerners and the southerners, although those at the viaduct did reckon theirs was the better spot. Only 2 anglers failed to hook up and ironically it was Damian and Pete, the forward scouts. They were also the only ones with out waders or even gum boots for that matter. As always lunch was superb with people mucking in and getting it done in true club spirit.
A head count revealed 16 made it on the day, one of our best efforts. Well done guys.
It was almost time to go home when rather than go back for his ninth snag sanger Mac Lyall had a flick off the boat ramp and bagged yet another carp. Pete and Damo vowed to stay untill midnight if necessary but they would make it a clean sweep for the club. Jim Hollett stayed as well and threw himself into the task, literally. After they wrung him out and bade him good bye the scouts settled into the task and were finally rewarded; Damo 2, Pete 1. So that was it, but to misquote Big Arnie “ We’ll be back!“ |
