Yakabout - Jervis Bay

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Sunday, 07 September 2008

Spring sunset over Jervis Bay

There were warnings of dangerous surf within todays weather predictions and after seeing what I saw today I have to admit that they got it right once again. Despite these warnings I figured that I could get onto the water safely enough by launching from the nicely protected boat ramp near Murrays beach. The water was actually relatively calm at the ramp, and from that vantage point the bay itself looked reasonable to. Large waves were crashing into the heads of Bowen Island but other than that it looked ok.

As I paddled out I soon noticed more of of a swell than is usually experienced in the bay and the closer I got to Bowen island I started to see why. The swell was much larger where the ocean met the bay, at times well over 3 metres in size. I did venture out into it head on for some distance but it didn't take terribly long for me to turn around and head back to the relative safety of the bay. Although I felt safe enough out there, I figured that fighting a fish in water like this would be difficult at best. I was able to surf some waves on the way back, making short work of my retreat.

Winds were coming in at around 15 knots from the south east and the tide was going out. My initial plan was to take refuge from the wind on the north end of the island, but the swell was far too big there. So instead I spent the next hour or so on the western side, trolling into the wind and then drifting back, rinse and repeating the process a few times. I only caught one fish doing this, a small snapper that fell for a 4" gulp shad, nuclear chicken flavour.

Things weren't looking up and by now I was losing confidence so I looked around for some protection from wind and waves. There weren't many options so eventually I decided to head back a few hundred metres south east of the boat ramp. Along the way I trolled a large Rapalla magnum slash bait, hooking a large stinky pike that I was able to return to the water without touching it. When I reached my destination nearby the beach I hooked onto a chopper tailor, which although a little more spirited than the pike, was also returned.

This is roughly the path I took, a mere 12km covered.

All told I only caught 3 fish today, swiftly releasing all. I didn't even take a moment to get photos of any of them, so uninspired I was by their size. I was fishing for snapper and kingies today and although I did actually catch one of the former, it wasn't even close to being legal. It was pretty quiet on the water, with a notable lack of other fishing boats. The water was cold, murky and laden with scattered sea-weed, and that - according to the one fisho I did cross paths with - is why there were so few fish around. Ah well... shame about the fish, but the photos made it worthwhile. Behold, a spring sunset over Jervis Bay.