Slinky Kate Sat 21 may 2011

[Norman]

well a report is a report regardless of the catch ..... haha thats a clue .......

Off this morning bright and early (3.30am) Tony and myself with a firm grip on all the relative forecasts that said it would get windy again by 11.00am (ish).
Lots of constructive thought went into the days early start,
1) a visit to St Marys Island last night saw me watching out over calm water as far as the eye could see
2) forcasts all said windy by lunchtime with a veer from westerly to southerly ...... but .. by lunchtime.
3) high tide at 6.30am (whooo hooo break open another packet of shads)
4) 3 quarter moon in a cloudless sky will help the early light.

Al these incidences meant if we got out early, before the wind had started , we could watch the sun rise (and the moon set), whet our lines as the tide flooded and the fish came on the feed, fill our fish boxes and be back, before most has realised the day had begun ....................

"..... soundbite of a scratching record to an abrupt stop ......."

Oh no it didn't ........

well first off the wind was up at 3.30am this morning blowing southerly like a wind in a windy fettle
secondly .... who said shads are all you need

Off we went to a 5 mile wreck with the wind behind and to our stbd ... not too bad on the way out (as all boat lads will know) until you STOP ..... crikey, the holes in the sea were much bigger than slinky ........, nevertheless we've been in seas this big many times so not a problem other than having to hang on a bit more than usual.

Time went on and we tried a number or wrecks and a number of Shads and lures and even the basic squid we had taken for an emergency ... but no , all to no avail there was just no fish (or at least non willing to make an appearance for us today)
Eventually we gave up the wrecks and headed in to hard ground but still the same story (and so it seemed for the other few boats we met on our way today ... very quiet fishing)
I'm not saying we didn't catch, just we didn't catch our intended and sized species in the way we set out to.

We did have what at the time seemed like the worlds smallest scotchie, (several times) and a number of coalies but not one individual big enough to make a plateful, along with a ling that was more like a shoestring and of course as many Mackerel as you ever wish to see, but only one of the target species a codling which we returned gracefully with the respect it deserved

We took the decision this week to be bait free (well almost) since the recent success of shads and lures ....
However, with the fishing so slow we cant help but think ,...... maybe, if we had had our usual complement of baits then the catch may have been better .... it's a real poser ... baits or lures ..... or both!

Still, with an early start we managed to experience all of this and still had time to catch and fillet a boxful of mackerel all before lunchtime .....
mackerel, being expendable due to numbers meant the cabin boy got the job of filleting ............. didn't he do well

just a few pics of the day ......

First Mackerel of the season .........





Ling a ling




Is This the smallest Scotchie in the world ?




Free to "Go Forth and Prosper"




Cabin Boys Duties extended to filleting - temporarily





the spoils, a box of mackerel ...... oh well it's a healthy feed for me tonight





Until next week

cheers

norm

ps, anyone got any good mackerel recipies ...

[boatangler33]

well done on getting out norman and on the catch even though it was just makerel and tiddlers great report as allways

[The Jester]

Thats fishing Norman, ups and downs,certainly looked lumpy in your pics, but at least the mackerel stocks are building in your freezer. Tony looked well rapped up, is it May or December .
Pleased i took Jester out for the week.

[fisherman58]

Well done on your catch Norman,nice report and pics again

[big sid]

Your Just Not Fishing The Correct Times Of The Day Norman, LoL.
A Good Read All The Same Norman, Think Richy Made The Right Call Yesterday To Cancel Todays Contest Between Wind & Sea.

[Norman]

Cancelled trip a good idea? Yeah Graham, to an extent but the only thing we didn't have today was a full box of cod fillets at the end.
What we did have was the laugh at the early start, the camaraderie setting up the gear sorting the ropes, the excitement through the lock so early in the morning with all the anticipation of the day ahead ..... the thrill of the big seas , which, for me is a big part of the experience even if I weren't fishing. As has been said many times I`m sure we've all paid heavily at fairgrounds for excitement on rides much less than that of a big sea.
Also the constant exchange of ideas (and banter)for hours on end as to which will be best rig to use to catch (not that any did today in any numbers but .... again it's the excitement and anticipation which is the height - well almost )

IMHO its the full experience not the result that counts or not even the hardship as, ask any explorer, its not being there it's getting there that counts ....... roll on next weekend

norm

[easyfish1]

if it was easy, everyone would be doing it........pleasures of boating eh.............lol

nic pics and report,[as usual] a good day regardless of catch...

we may get out tomorrow, i'm doing a wait and see plan...don't want to base trip on just the forcast prediction...

[jonny_s]

Good read as usual , understand your point about having a good time regardless of the catch. I am sure the cod will be there next time

Poor Tony having to fillet, I hope he wasnt washing slinky down as well

Jonny

[Norman]

Poor Tony having to fillet, I hope he wasnt washing slinky down as well

Jonny

errrmmm fraid so mate , its all part of the duties

norm

[oldessox]

Cracking read Norman , and I know what you mean about the "getting there" that counts , I don't always consider fishless days as blanks , I often look on them as part of an extended session which eventually results in a catch (it makes sense to me lol)
I go fishing primarily to catch fish , but whether I catch them today or the next time out is immaterial , it's the hunter instinct , I don't need a box full of cod , I need the thrill of hunting , finding and catching them .
No doubt the planning for todays sortie will be redoubled for the next one and the rewards (assuming there are any ) will be even more satisfying.


Ray

[lingking]

nice one norman please send some of those mackeroonies up to amble

[The Great Wallsendo]

Beats sitting in the house wondering...I'd much rather have tried and found out it was fruitless than to have sat indoors all day taking someone elses word for it

my theory? they're about 6 miles off driven into much deeper water by the 2 weeks of strong westerlies...bit uncomfy at 3 miles so no way we were going to try any further - there's always next week

And anyway I'm well happy with my bag of macky fillets - yum yum!

Cheers as ever Norman

[Topfly]

Great report from Team Slinky, cant catch all the time, and when we do, as we say it's a bonus.

[Kev1n]

Nice write-up and pic’s Norman, many of the reports are telling a similar tale. We were out for a couple of hours on a windy, fish free Tuesday evening and saw some big echoes thirty to forty feet in diameter showing on the sounder. I wonder if there’s an abundance of bait fish that the cod are stuffed with?

[joostan]

nice report mate, so far looks like this summer is going to be a corker.