Yeah well. This is Dave Freer we're talking about. Willy Weather said we'd have 1 knot winds last night. He lied, but still, we went down to Lady Barron to see if it was true, at about 7.45PM where indeed the Trevally are all around the wharf. So are teen-age yoof and their music and entertainment on a friday night... (clubbing is a bit limited here) so, although B got one squid, we retreated to the flounder grounds, even if the water was riffled a bit.
We were alone there, never a good sign, as Bud and Rex know good conditions better than most of the world, and show us yoof ('cause we are, to them) how it is done. The wind ripple was a bit much, really. It was patchy though. Anyway. We walked... and walked - about mid/upper thigh water, maybe a kilometer or so. And saw... squat. Well, a 3 foot wingpan skate, and a trevally accomanying it.(I had a go at the trevally but missed). No I AM NOT spearing a 3 foot skate ... with a vicious barbed spine in 3 feet of water. Unless I killed it outright, I will get spiked, or lose my spear. Besides I have a soft spot for them, and the only time I had skate wing, I didn't like it much.) A lot of puffer-fish. 3 little garfish (scooped 2 successfully, lost the other due to having a go at the next while it was still in the net. duh) Flounder = 0. I was blaming the bright moonlight. At this point real doubt that you can actually see flounder is creeping into your mind - as well as water creeping into your toes. B's new waders didn't leak but mine do. The only comfort was we'd seen no jet-trails of flounder stirred muddy water either. Anyway we came back shallower because it's less hard work... and within 150 yards of the truck found flounder and squid. There is quite a different strategy to spearing both - Squid, I have found are happy to believe they can't be seen in perifery of the light.If you shine a light directly on them for more than a few seconds, they're offski... The flounder are easier - as long as you spot the eyes, keep the light Anyway got 7 and 2 squid (lost one squid before I learned the light-trick) and came home with my wet foot, and B just generally frozen. Then of course the fish still had to be cleaned and freezer/fridged. At midnight, it was done.
And so like woos I went to bed and did not post.
