Up early to pull the pots before breakfast.Saw the little fishing boat in the bay up anchoring at the same time,maybe we have got it right.
Steamed out to the area where we had them marked on the plotter,no sign of the buoys and the tide still running quite hard.
Better go back in and have some breakfast then,the fisherman had quite a bit larger blowup buoys and pulled his.
A bit of a worry but be patient I thought.
Went into a part of the bay where he was anchored the day before and started breakfast,.After a while I looked out the window and saw a rock awash just near where we had been ten minutes earlier,must be more carefull ,this one not marked on the chart.
The tide tables said low water at Swan Island at 10.30 so after breakfast we trolled out past the pots to where some mutton birds were flying about ,some on the water but not feeding,no luck so decided to motor back in to check if the buoys were up yet.The wind still 18 knots ,it has only eased off a couple of brief times since we have been here.
There is one called Bruce,he has eyes like a hawk and picks up things before anyone else.We went over and pulled it ,two Port Jackson sharks.
The other one was just coming up now and then,we had a couple of goes but missed it so decided to give it a bit more time ,if we messed it up and got it around the prop things could get messy.
We pulled it a bit later and got two more sharks but also there was quite a large cray as well,thank goodness for that.I have tried to catch a cray up here for many years but never succeeded until now.
I have found it is a completely different ball game and despite many tips from a lot of people no luck.
Maybe the tide has turned!
We steamed up to Key Island Bay for lunch,we were going to try and catch a few flats off Preservation Island but it was still blowing 25 knots out of Armstrong Channel.
There was a fishing boat from Triabunna anchored there so I marked my chart where he had his gear ,they seem to only put a few pots in during the day up here,most of them on deck.
Jock had the line over as soon as we anchored and pulled up a flathead but the bottom was patches of weed so gave it away.
He seems to be winning the fishing competition as Trap has not caught any thing but a Snook which are really only cray bait.He claims credit for coaching Jock.
We had a lunch of salad rolls and decided to head on up to Trousers Point.
As we cleared Cape Barren Island I could see the waves coming out of Franklin Sound,it was blowing 30 knots NE .Better check things are put away .
We arrived at Trousers without incident and trolled up and down the Rocky shore where I had heard Kingfish are caught sometimes,not today though.
Went offshore a bit and drifted for flats to no avail.I was still looking for somewhere to put the pots,I had been all along the shore before in the dinghy and knew there was no bottom so I was peering into the plotter when I noticed an area about a mile off shore ,better go and have a look.I found some rock bottom over maybe half of which had weed so we baited up and put them in a couple of good spots.Time will tell but I am reasonably confident as the advice I have been getting is this is what they do up here.
As we were doing this three yachts approached from the north and anchored in the bay.Later on two more vessels arrived from the south ,one Minerva which Ralph had done some work on,he had his
Jock put his line in again and caught a monster flat just as Fuggles called up to check up on Trapdaw.
He has a big lead in the competition now but Trap is still confident ,he does seem to change the rules when it suits him!
Bruce put a roast on and with Lesley's fresh parsnip,carrots,beans and silver beet it was a very good meal.
Turned in a bit after ten.
Photo the Mayoral Flathead.
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