So much to report. I am writing this at today's date and not a few days later. Well where do I start. The morning after I arrived here I had a walk around, met my next door neighbour, John, who has been coming here for 8-9 years. In fact most of the people here have been coming for many years. The good bit is they are not stuck up and are glad to have a chat and too include you. Most are really nice.
These are some photos of my set up and the park
The next is the view from my annexe
Got the boat all setup ( more stories on the boat later), found out so information on where to fish, what baits etc. Most people fish for Grunter and today one of the guys ( Roy) caught what I believe is the largest this year - 65cms, that's one big grunter.
Lucky I bought the cast net as everyone gets their bait ( prawns) for around the jetty. My first attempts where ordinary to say the least so I asked one of the regulars for some tips. He was only too obliging and with his help I have pretty well master cast netting. Yesterday, I was netting for prawns and I could see plenty at the top of the net but when I brought it in there was only 1 or 2. Talking again to the guys, I went to Ayr and purchased a draw string net from a tackle shop that gives discounts to people from Groper Creek.
Fishing
Have only been out twice as at today due to boat problems. the first day I didn't catch anything as I only had squid for bait and really in truth was more scoping out the place rather that serious fishing.
Yesterday I went out and had a good bash at fishing and also put the crab pot in.
Started with catching a catfish of 50cm and then a bit later a 50cm grunter - really good fun.
The crab pot was baited with a tin of cat food and the left over squid from the previous days fishing. While it did have a couple of crabs, they where too small. One of the crabs was generous enough to leave behind his two claws as I was releasing him. Matter of fact I just put them in the pot now to have for lunch.
The water temp is still a bit low but when it heats up I think there will be some great fishing stories to be told.
Boat
The first day I took the boat out it felt as if it was surging. I put that down to not much use of the motor for a while. I also realised that the trim pin was not with the motor and that was resulting in the bow being very low when on the plane.
The next day I took the boat out it was going great in the morning. With one person in the boat I estimate that it does about 15 kts. Pretty good. However, when I was about to come home the motor felt like it was cavitating when I did anything over about 4 kts. Therefore my trip home took almost an hour. I was trying to work out what was the problem and I thought that the prop bushes where failing, so when I got back I was lucky enough to have a spare prop. I put the spare on the motor and took the boat out for a trial and guess what, it was working perfectly, problem solved or so I thought.
This morning I was really excited, I had fixed the boat, I had good bait and I knew where I was going to fishing, what a beautiful day I was going to have. Murphy's law always comes into play. First the dolly wheels kept falling off so I looked like a fool getting the boat to the ramp. By the time I got the boat in the water I was stuffed. But never mind I was going to have a great day fishing. Then I power it up, hit the throttle and it was doing what it did yesterday. SHIT.
I now have the motor in at the Yamaha dealer in Ayr and we will see what the outcome is. I have been around boats big and small all my life and I am stumped, and so is the dealer. Anyhow tomorrow is another day. I will go and top up my supply of prawns this afternoon seeing I have no fish to clean.
What today has done is give me a chance at some housework, like washing. I didn't realise how much washing I had, so at least it is done now.
Will let you know the outcome of the motor episode when it is finished.
I will post again in a few days.
Life is good.
