The sun rose on calm morning, with clear skies & balmy temperatures. We had a good turn out which included 2 new boat owners. Damian Webber was keen to “christen“ his newly acquired 4.5 Polycraft as was Rob Harwood with the lovely “Dora D“. Mac Lyall, Chris Bannerman, Richard Hassel, Hamish Read, Andrew Waters launched with Bob Williams, Murray Keating, Russell Piper, Peter Frere & John Robinson acting as swabs.
We set off around 7 & headed out of the breakwall. Maritime Services were out & checking licences, wearing of life jackets etc, your tax dollars in action. The sea was a bit lumpy, around 2m with a 2m swell. The Bommie off Moon Island was well & truly working so Mac & I anchored up, berlied up, I almost threw up then set to the important task of fly selection. Mac had a small head start & was working a small surf candy with a will but I had a hybrid epoxy headed thingy I tied the night before that I had high hopes for. I also had a new 8/9 wt so I was all set, just feed out a little line, flick it back, first false cast & bang! The rod broke. This was later judged to be a “Golden Duck” in rod breaking & saw yours truly on the side lines as neither of us had a spare rod.
Damo & Muz motored south & found themselves in a large patch of rat kings. They tried numerous flies, berly; if they’d had a kitchen sink they would’ve throw that at them as well. Nothing, complete lack of interest. The Maritime guy zoomed up, checked licences, jackets, had a chat then racked off. This also failed to get any reaction out of these fish. Damian reckoned they drifted along with this school for over ½ hr before they pulled the pin & tried their luck closer in. Chris & John had a lovely voyage almost up to Newcastle but didn’t see so much as a scale.
Meanwhile after Mac & I had a visit from Richard we decided to fish closer in as well. Here we found Sticker & Russ & more importantly, a spare rod for yours truly. May your beard flourish flea free for a thousand years most noble Stick man. Back in the game but the new rod brought no luck & although we tried off the beach & the inside channels hoping for a flattie we remained fishless. No so Herr Hassel. He managed 5 Pike 35 to 45cm as well as a slimy Mackerel fishing just off the beach. Rob & Steve also saw some action with Rob christening the Dora D on her first club trip. He managed to fool a rat king with a bread fly tied on a 16 hook. He also bagged 3 butterfish to come third behind Richard.
Who scored the most fish you ask? Hamish & Bob got stuck into the rats catching 20, 3 or 4 beating the magic 70cm mark. They also accounted for 9 sweep, the majority falling to Bob. Hamish won’t have fill up his fountain pen for while either after a large squid donated a couple of litres of ink, mostly onto Hamish’s shirt. They had gone a touch further south than the rest & had again been rewarded. Things like who caught the most don’t matter much especially when the Barbie’s fired up & stomachs are growling like big bore outboards. Mr Harwood was the celebrity chef this week & managed to shut us up, for a little while at least. He also nearly set fire to Damian’s Polycraft but this was put down to the increasing wind & not fishing rivalry. More good fellowship followed with Bob showing us the much chewed fly that worked so well on the Kingies. Swansea has proved a bit patchy for the club with some doing well while the majority scratch their heads wondering what they’re doing wrong. Maybe a human sacrifice will appease the gods; if you’re still limping at the next meeting Russell, watch out |
