well.........at least this time the Prom was open.....
I've been talking with a couple of forum members about scouting out a ledge to potentially spend an all nighter or a couple of days on once the weather gets a bit warmer. I LOVE tongue point down at the prom but the 6km walk in puts me off, and I also long Red Point but it's gaining in popularity. If i'm going to put in the effort I want to get the reward, and part of the reward to me is getting to fish with my fishing buddy entirely, completely, and absolutely away from everyone else.
CarlG and I had plans to head down to red point for the 5am sunday high tide and test the waters for an early season Red Snapper. The plan was to collect some baits Saturday night at martha/balcombe then head out at about 2 to be well and truly in place before the tide, fish the high for snapper then the run out for sharks. I packed up all my gear other than my light spin and nat about 330pm on saturday was about to head down to TW mornington then to meet Carl when I realise I told LadyK i'd play host to a couple of her friends, build a fire, grill some snags and try to make mulled wine in preperation for an event we had the next day.
Quick buzz to Carl, no probs, he'll pick me up at 2am instead.
About 20 mins later I ask carl if he's got any baits.......nope.....check my freezer....also nope.......F*ck.
A brief re think of the plan saw us looking to scout a ledge i've had my eye on since the last trip we did. Leonard Point is just south of Tongue Point, and looking at the map, should be way way WAAAAAAAY easier to walk into. A well made path most of the way then only about 500m over the top of a little hill and straight onto a ledge that drops down into 15m of water.
After a quick repack of the gear and a cull down to just 2 rods, i throw my bag along with my rods tied into a sling into the car and get back to setting fire to a historic bathtub.
So Carl picks me up at 5am. Arrives within 60 seconds of when he said he would (god damn i love people who are on time) and we begin the long and mostly dull trip down to Prom. One too many mulled wines the night before (which is a total of 2 for me these days) meant i'd seen better mornings, but the anticipation of seeing something new quicly overcame the dull ache in my head.
The overcast conditions didn't really bother either of us as it was quite warm.
We were willing to walk 305 metres to the viewing platform to have a look but when we saw it was 306 decided against it.
https://youtu.be/_JG_rpCwF9Y
The view from the whiskey bay carpark (not the one we ended up walking into) out to Tongue Point where my previous report was fun. God damn I love this country. Knowing i only had a brief 2km walk into the ledge instead of the 6km walk into Tongue point made me smile.
We rocked up to the carpark just as a removalist truck pulled in and a group started unloading various shite, no idea what they were doing. Thew on my bag and shouldered my rods and commenced the walk in.
The first little bay we came too. Beautifully made flat path with a gravel surface 300m from the carpark. As i turn right to follow the trail instead of walking onto the beach Carl says to me "it was never going to be the close one was it". No mate, it wasn't, and it never will be.
About a 1.5km later the spool falls off my lethal 100 as i'm walking. Obviously last night after cleaning the gear somewhere along the path i havne't put the drag knob back on properly, and the bloody thing has fallen off. A quick backtrack the last km or so revealed nothing. F me. I've only used that reel twice. Oh well, still got the Cabo 40, i'll just spin for the day, no worries.
We bailed off the track where Google maps shows a little beach that it looks like you can get comfortably down too.
https://youtu.be/GLsg-MtBzjU
With a goal to climb down to the little beach and then walk around the top of the rocks to the ledge we want to fish. Should be a breeze, we'll be there in 10 minutes.......
the knee high scrb next to path gave way to shoulder high scrub in a hurry, and our little walk down to the beach turned into a 100metres climb.
45 minutes later we made it onto the first little beach.....
https://youtu.be/nMJ8OLrzJ5o
To say the climb down was steep is a ridiculous understatement. Not impressed with my decision making ability that probably took a risk i shoudln't have getting down this one. Oh well it's easy going from here....
You can see the cliff we climbed down in the background. The scale of this place is unbelievable. Even looking back at the map now it only looks at the most 1/4 the size that it actually is.
https://youtu.be/F5wtbvwHIgU
I was pretty sure despite the efforts it took us to get in there it would be worth it once we started casting.
Looking back towards where we'd come from. A Kayak or a diver would have a freaking field day in this place as the point protects it from the swell.
More of the walk in view from the top of the rocks.
I know I mention it a bit, but the scale of this place is ridiculous, this photo doesn't really do it justice.
Once you locate carl in this one you get a better idea of what we are contending with.
Finally we can see the open ocean and there is literally no safe spot to stand. Either the rocks slope gently into the water or they are so low we're likely to get knocked off by the first slightly heavier than average wave. We climb to the top of the little island to better gauge our options, and then this happens.....
OK,having now been walking for almost 2 hours, this is still awesome.
We decide to fish a ledge facing back into the bay, there is a nice line of white water and a good looking drop off from rock to sand. Another 20 minutes climbing into it and i start spinning whilst Carl puts a bait in at about 10am having been walking since approx 715...
God damn mother f ing wrasse. These things follow us round I swear to god. At least there's no swell sharks.....
I managed to stop laughing at Carl for long enough to get this vid....
https://youtu.be/ykqgexBapCI
Even Swellie thought it was hilarious...
I manage to get both my boots wet as I'm trying to retrieve a bait. A couple of trips back and forth to my bag later, a bit of water has come off them and onto the rock i was walking along.....and i start freaking sliding. I manage to put my rod down and try to get a grip on something but keep sliding.....giving up on trying to stop my fall, i look around to spot my landing and mange to get both my feet on the ground after a 3m ish drop down off the ledge. God damn that was lucky. My right hand is a bit messed up and i've pulled both my hamstrings but escaped a potentially very bad situation.
Next cast my god damn YGK (which is already running low) breaks RIGHT IN THE F ING MIDDLE of my rod at full range. This is what i get for laughing at Carl's swell shark. Realising i only have about 35m of braid left until i hit the 15kg mono backing, i despool the line and respool it with the 50lb off the now disabled lethal. Put the cabo on my shiny new Saltist and have a great time taking turns with Carl to ping 100g ish lures around. Played with some poppers as well. Good times.
About 20 mins before we had to leave.....
Only reasonable fish of the day.
The walk back out was more relaxing now that we understood the lay of the land better. Probably only took 50mins all up. Some good views as well. No matter how often I come to the prom i'm constantly amazed by the sheer natural beauty and scale of the place.
Back to the ledge we were fishing.
https://youtu.be/vA8xjM8gaUY
The place is just utterly stunning, the two of us do not fit in.....
So all in all, a lost drag knob, a lucky escape, a destroyed spool of braid, a bunch of sh!tty fish we could catch anywhere and one acceptable capture leads me to believe I wont' bother with this one again.
There are a few other ledges i'll keep scouting in search for that magical perfect spot. I know it exists. I just have to find it.
