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Trip Reports Maclean Rocky Mouth & the Broadwater | Rocky Mouth & the Broadwater | | Print | |
| Written by Josh | |
| Monday, 12 October 2009 | |
Mediocre fishing conditions Typical of the fish I was catching throughout the weekend High seas dominated weather predictions for the weekend just past and for the 1st time in a long time I was deterred from heading out to sea because of it. So what does one do when the Clarence coast is shut down for kayak fishing? One goes forth and fishes the Clarence river instead, which is precisely what I did on Saturday and Sunday. I was joined by Doug and Tim on both days, and also tailed by new-Island owner Col on the Sunday, though he neglected to pack a rod. Maybe he knew something the rest of us didn't. To summarise the results it would be fair enough to say that by the typical standards of the Clarence, pickings were slim. I did manage to catch multiple fish on both days, though none of those captures were inspiring enough to result in a fresh-fish meal. We got off to an early start on Saturday, sliding our kayaks into the water at around 6:30. I'd boated the 1st fish by 6:35 - a modest gulp minnow-gulping bream that was happy-snapped and quickly returned. All the other fish I caught that day were taken on the Berkly Frenzy hardbody lure, which is quickly proving itself to be quite the performer around the waters of Maclean. Three more bream were added to the tally, as was a small flathead, all of them caught within the space of about 3 hours, mainly via cast & retrieve. Eventually all of the casting started to wreak havoc on my injured shoulder though and feeling uninspired by the size and might (or lacktherof) of the fish I was catching, decided to call it a day.  Doug likes to take advantage of his height when fishing from the Island Sunday started out with puddles in the streets and foreboding skies - it had been raining half the night and threatened to do some more, so although I'd planned to go fishing with Tim again this morning, an early morning discussion found us agreeing to give up on the idea for now and revisit the idea in a few hours. So instead I put my head down to try and get some work done on the website, although I didn't get far because a couple of hours later I peered out the window and saw a speck of blue sky poking through. That was enough for me. I called Doug and Tim to see if they were still keen and 45 minutes later Tim and I were pedalling upstream towards the broadwater with a coffee in our hands. Doug met us on the water when we got there (having sailed from his riverside home instead). I had no interest in casting today, just trolling. I think that's the main reason why I didn't catch as many fish today, despite travelling at least 5 times further than the day before. I did manage to catch a few fish though - a couple small bream and a pint-sized flatty, once again all safely returned. Tim did a lot more casting & retrieving and failed to hook up, though felt many bites. He's pretty damned new to this kayak fishing caper though and hasn't got the biggest selection of lures at his disposal just yet. But in a few weeks I'm expecting Tim to be quite an expert on catching Clarence river fish because in just a couple of days, he's embarking on a kayak camping, fishing & sailing journey upstream towards and beyond Grafton. He's expecting to be on tour for up to four weeks. Man, I am jealous.  Welcome to the Adventure club Tim! Tim is an interesting guy, riding in to town on a push-bike last week. He's on long-service leave and has toured his way down from Brisbane, camping his way along from spot to spot. He stopped at Maclean, liked what he saw, popped into the shop, found himself even more taken by the kayaks, asked some questions (including the price) and walked out. Then walked back in a little while later, took an Adventure for a demo and then promptly bought one. Every day since he's spent playing around on the water, preparing himself for his kayaking expedition. This is the kind of spontaneity that I really admire - a week ago he'd never even seen a Hobie kayak, nor was he planning on embarking on a kayaking tour of this nature. But with a simple decision Tim's long service adventure took a drastic detour from being a simple biking odyssey to a biking and kayaking odyssey. Here is a man determined to live each day to the full. That's a trait I truly admire, which is why I've made time to help introduce him to the nuances of Hobie mirage kayaks, the sport of kayak fishing and camping. Expect to see some great photos from his trip to appear here soon after his return.
 Preparing for launch, Maclean boat ramp, Sunday    |
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