Stokes Bay last night - 01/08/10

Raskusdrotti · #1 08-02-2010, 04:09 PM

Hi All,

Having found out I am on late shifts this week (start work at 1) I decided to go for a couple of hours last night at Stokes Bay.

Low tide was at 21:10, so I got to the bay at about 21:15.

Having just returned to beach fishing after a pretty mahoosive layoff, my casting was rubbish last week when I went. To remedy this, I spent several hours of my day off watching casting videos on youtube and various other places to try to remind the old grey cells what to do. I’d just like to point out that my main outfit is a Century and slosh, so 50yd overhead thumps aren’t really that acceptable!

I put out my second rod about 75yds with a two hook flapper loaded with rag and then proceeded to play around with my casting. I’ve probably added 50yds to my cast already so was able to put a two hook clipped down rig past the 120yd mark without too much trouble. (Although it was dark, so potentially read 120yds as 80yds)

To make things easy for me*, I was fishing rag on both rods at different distances to see what was around.

*I had a wonderful bait collecting session planned on Sunday afternoon, collecting cockles, slipper limpet, and a bit of lug to supplement my shop-bought rag followed by a lovely ice-cream and all round satisfaction. When I turned up at the beach at half past-four - just before low-tide – I found out that the website I had used had given completely the wrong tides. I decided not to collect much as I hadn’t brought my snorkel!

So, with my first choice bait, I settled in for a rip-snorting session. The first hour and a half went by with only a slight tap on my close rod to show for it.

My other hobby is wild camping and bushcraft, so the obligatory alcohol stove was brought along for a brew. Cue no matches or lighter, and no sticks to make a bowdrill either. I had abandoned all hope of a hot brew when I remembered that I had put some strike-anywhere matches in the car’s first aid kit! Now for those of you who have not been in the army or outdoor pursuits – these matches are massive with an inch of red sulphur instead of the normal dot. Now just a point to observe here – don’t hold the red bit when striking them, as it buuuuurrrrrnnnnnnsssss! Cuppa was nice though!

I got my first positive bite at about 23:30 and reeled in a little schoolie bass of about 25cm, closely followed by my first smut of the year – a monstrous puppy of about 35cm. The rest of the evening saw me land another 3 schoolies, all around the same size as the first one.

It was a very pleasant session all round (other then the burnt finger) lots of casting practice included, and has made me think about more low water fishing in the future.

Thanks for reading!

P.S: I will be packing a proper camera in the future, as the iPhone shots lit by a headlamp don’t really cut it…