|
|
Trip Reports Woody Head, Clarence coast Shark Bay | Shark Bay | | Print | |
| Written by Josh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, 31 May 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Murky, but fishable (flood aftermath) waters  'Ramming Speed' ready to roll I wasn't at all sure what I could expect to find in off shore waters this weekend, especially after the heavy flooding the area had suffered in the week past. Had I listened to most I wouldn't have gone out at all - grim predictions were most commonplace, which I thought understandable. But when a pro fisherman whispered a hint that there were fish everywhere hanging outside of the mouth of the Clarence I thought that made just as much sense, instantly strengthening my resolve to get out there. With weather reports of fresh southerlies predicted I figured a suitable plan would be to launch from Woody Head and then sail down to the mouth from the outside. It was a plan I wasn't game to try and follow through once I hit the water though. Winds were already gusting around the 20 knot mark when I launched at 1:30, coming directly the from the direction I intended to sail. I would have still been able to reach the mouth, but the simplest way of doing it mean sailing due east about 10km, and then south west, back to the mouth. Although coming back would have been simple, getting there would have taken quite a while and I hadn't left a hell of a lot of time. So I told myself to return earliuer on Sunday to try again and instead spent Saturday trolling and drifting closer to the Shark Bay, sharing my time in the bay and out wide equally. There wasn't much of a swell at all, but it was pretty choppy thanks to gusting winds. This made sailing the island a particularly wet ride and with southerlies rolling in I was glad to be insulated from neck to toes with shark skin apparel - that gear makes all the difference in conditions like this. I found myself thinking how much difference the new tramps would make to how wet the ride tends to otherwise be and am now really very keen to pick up a set. With tramps attached it's also going to be easier to climb over and reach the mounted camera position on the amas, which will also prove to be handy. Despite covering some 12 km under sail throughout the afternoon I didn't get a single bite while trolling. I did, however, get a massive bite on the drift (a moment I was able to catch on video) from what was most certainly a shark. Whatever species it was, smashed a Rapala Magnum CD11 and started peeling line violently. I could only watch helplessly as the Godzilla bounced around in it's holder as the beast thrashed left and right, snapping the mainline to leader (double uni) knot with ease, despite a fairly moderate drag setting. Whatever it was, it was pretty damned strong and I'm betting of a size to match it's strength. This lure was drifting only 6 metres out behind me, so whatever it was had no problems swimming right up being the island. All in all it was a fairly easy day on the water, despite fairly windy conditions. The sail did most of the work on the water and the biggest workout I got for the day involved getting the trimaran from the car to the water and back again. This is usually a pretty easy process at Woody Head, although a newly concreted boat ramp was too busy drying for me to be able to use it today, meaning a much longer (and challenging) walk to the beach. It is when one has to make like a Clydesdale horse and drag their heavily laden Adventure Island through beach sand where one of it's downfalls (collective weight) become apparent.
When & where
1:45pm launch,5:00pm land |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
Visit Yakass.net - the spiritual successor to Yakabout
This site is no longer being updated.
