It was still dark as I drove south down the F3 which afforded me a good view of a large cloud mass. It was easy to see as it was lit up every few seconds by bolts of lightening. The forecast had been for showers. It seemed this had been upgraded to ‘Rain with attitude’. Oh well I thought, too late to turn back now. I arrived at the ramp just before 6am in tandem with John Roberts to find Richard Hassell and Mac Lyall, our skippers. As Richard had to leave early he and John started early and were soon lost to view. Mac and I enjoyed a more leisurely kick off which involved a cup of tea and a light repast while we discussed tactics.

We decided to motor slowly and look for sign of feeding fish. By now the wind was from the west and ‘fresh’. How fresh you ask? Well just before we left the ramp I saw a brass monkey with his legs crossed and a decidedly worried expression on his dial. I put my sunnies on in a vain attempt to add another layer then blessed Mac’s windscreen. At least it wasn’t raining although the sky still looked very ominous. But if it wasn’t raining neither was it ‘fishing’. The wind made it impossible to see if fish were feeding on the surface and our other tell tale, the birds, were not any help either.

Mac tried some spots just inside Brisbane water which had come up trumps in the past but to no avail. ‘Pittwater it is then’ we said. While it was, to quote Mac ‘colder than a mother-in-law’s heart’ it was still great to be on the water and swapping yarns with my mate. The skipper rigged up a teaser while I harled a minnow pattern as Mac had his heart set on Bonito sushi. I’m a firm believer in the use of harling to find fish whereupon when one is caught the old ‘tether and cast’ method is then employed. It was much more pleasant once past Commodore Heights as we were in the lee of the hills and the sky was a bit brighter. The colours of the bush, augmented by the rich warm tones of the sandstone foreshore made for a very pleasing picture. We idled along without a care, or a fish for that matter.

By and by we spied a couple of blokes standing up in a tinny. Had to be fly fishers and so we scooted on over. Sure enough there was the Ginger Ninja [Murray Keating] and Bugs [Steve Bunney] flogging the water white. The lads reported it had been a quiet morning so far yet all was not lost as Muzz had scored a new species although he was unsure what it actually was. More about this anon.

We continued on our way, poking about the oh so pretty bays of Pittwater and just past ‘Currawong’ Mac’s teaser came up tight and he soon had a 70cm Tailor on ice. As this species is his wife’s favourite this meant he’d got to go fishing AND got brownie points to boot. There’s a lesson there gentle reader; ignore it at your domestic peril. Chuffed at this success we fired off casts left right and centre. It took a little while to realise this was either a solitary animal or the school had well and truly moved on. So we did too. As we approached The Basin we ran into our early morning mates, Richard and John. They too were having a hard time of it and we each assured the other that if either boat hit the mother lode then urgent phone calls would be made, in between skull dragging mega fish presumably.

Bidding our friends au revoir we paused only to try to profit from some small children’s berley [they were feeding little fishies from a wharf and no, we have no shame] then circumnavigated the bay. Seeing a wharf [Bennett’s Landing I think] I ventured it was worth a cast. Mac duly did so and was rewarded first cast with a Pike, a new species for him. He proved it wasn’t a fluke by landing a second. Me? I’ve already caught a Pike so I left him to it. Right. Lets just say Mac did good, OK?

Time for another cuppa and some tucker. A quick think and it was decided that Barrenjoey was the next stop. By now the weather Gods were smiling. While not exactly balmy it was warmer, nice and sunny. A quick thrash in the Cruise Craft and we were near the infamous Barrenjoey Bommie. Time to go a’harling. We motored up and around the headland then returned. Second pass I had a big hit followed a brief fight then nothing. Third pass same thing; big hit near the point, fish on fish on fish on………..bugger. As we could almost smell the Barbie firing up the fourth pass was ‘last pass’. Yet another hit and this time my tormentor was revealed. Not the sought after Bonito but a Frigate Mackerel. Oh well. As his name was Neville No Friends we wended our way back to the ramp.

Once there we were reunited with our fellow CCFR members Steve Tizard, Gary Kent, Malcolm Holden, Dave Witham, Jimmy Hyatt, Bugs and Ginge as well as Len Verrenkamp and his ‘oppo’ Scott Nomates. Here Murray’s mystery fish was identified as a Pike, which meant two of our blokes had the same new species. Apart from that and one or two other captures it seems our piscatorial adversaries were having a day off. However, one of things [and there are many] why I like this club is that the members don’t think that fish owe them anything. Therefore catching bugger all doesn’t unduly upset them. A days fishing with mates, a chance to catch up afterwards and a few laughs shared with good company are recompense enough. Didn’t catch anything? No worries. Next time mate, next time.