Swirling masses of kingfish, piper spraying, surface bust
ups, double hook ups…. fly carnage. All of this on the first day back to work.
With boss and uber boss still on leave, I was made temporary boss and exercised
my temporary boss status to leave the office early under a still blue sky. Coch
was a starter – he needed no prompting whatsoever. I’d heard that the naval
base was holding hordes of bait and predators, but that’s very much an outgoing
tide spot and we’d be starting at the bottom quarter of the incoming. None the
less having launched and pushed the boat out, I decided to have a quick look
down that way, but she was dead as a dodo.
With a few minutes up my sleeve I scoped a few spots around the harbour;
all have good potential to hold a good cruiser from time to time.
With Coch aboard we set off, first for another bypass of the
naval base [no signs of life] and then we set off out into the channel. Plenty
of boats were about and as we began to find plenty of birds. Mutton ducks sat
on their fat asses [they are far from my favourite bird] in hundred square
metre patches and terns wheeled around. Bait balls showed on the sounder…. Sooner
or later there would be some carnage. We hoped for sooner. And our hopes were
fulfilled. We rigged up and first cast against a channel marker saw Coch’s rod
buckle and line scream off as a kingi ate the fly.
The ‘fishiness’ in the atmosphere was palpable; soon a
slight breeze built up and clouds spanned the sky, making the fishing
conditions better than perfect. Schools of kings slashed at piper on the surface
and the bait fish took to the air in waves. Under the circumstances we were
able to fish 2 up and double strikes were common. We got crossed up and had to move around each
other with line screaming off. Netting fish single handed was a challenge I'm used to but what a hoot anyway... and with wind
against tide we were held close to the action and as the sun slowly eased
towards the horizon, and the workup intensified.
Coch and I were able to change flies and
test patterns at a whim; what better situation to test what flies work? I set
aside my usual never fails and tried out flies gifted to me with some success and
some abject failures. It was pretty special being out there as such carnage
unfolded. No style of fishing would have been more suited to the situation than
fly; and nowhere else in the world I rather have been. Our banter was minimal
as we concentrated on hooking, playing and netting fish around each other. With
twilight upon us we made the call to head closer to home and on the way just
had to stop and fish the Rough Rock, scene of brutal hook ups and bust offs in
the past. I reached for the fly box and settled on an EP Flex Calamari in bleeding
colours. We jointly cast and Coch hooked up straight off while my fly was
mouthed but not taken. Finally after several casts I got a good eat and set the
hook on my last fish of the day. It was a stroppy little bugger and why he’d
decided that squid was on the menu…. Well who can say?
 |
| Fly carnage |
The short run back to base was easy on calm seas and my
final blast back to the ramp was a pleasure as a full moon rose swathed in
orange clouds. If only every work day could be so good.
 |
| Showing off, 2 rods, 2 kingis |
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| More fly carnage |
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