A change of location today. I also left the lure gear at
home and packed some crab and fish bait with the targets being tope and smoothies.
This was to
be a proper shakedown bait session on my new rig, plenty of tide and I ended up
with four moves lifting and laying the anchor. The winds were supposed to be
light and they were, from 11am to 12.30pm. After that I had 3ft waves running
down the length of boat till about 3.30pm. I checked the forecast on my phone
at the time, 9mph..aye right. I can’t
say it was enjoyable and the fishing wasn’t great, dogs, dabs, cod and two thornbacks.
Off the water it would be a nice day but while sitting with my feet over the
sides to stabilise things I was cold, two pair of socks, neoprene socks over my
drysuit feet, boots and a wet arse. The revo 16 is a much wetter ride than my
outback but it's a water sport after all. It’s still cool out there at the
minute despite the sunshine.
The Scotty rocket launchers with slip discs worked great mounted behind the seat, my trolley
works better than my old one and the boat is very seaworthy, it really eats up
the miles, wind and waves. I didn’t take as much as a breather when I lifted
the anchor to head in, that was with a headwind and the nose into the last of
the flood. I would have been more relaxed at anchor in the outback but there are positive trade-offs. At one point today I decided to try to catch a dab
for a change of bait for tope swapping a crab bait for mackerel strip on my
two hook uptide rig. Ten minutes later I hooked what I believe was a tope which
straightened the hook! Onwards we go, it’s early days down the SW.
