For the love of fishing

[Kosta7]

So last weekend I headed down towards Inverloch/Waratah Bay for some land based fishing. Lots of planning prior as I wasn't familiar with the Waratah Bay Area. Pre tied lots of rigs, stocked up on bait and even had some fresh salmon I caught a few days before.

Saturday 7.30am already at Maher's landing moving slowly closer to the channel as the tide was going out. Conditions were horrible 30-40knots SW and rain on and off. I wasn't really intimidated (besides I had 3 days of fishing and was all pumped!)
Morning was horrible, every 5' had to pull my line (sometimes I wasn't even able to pull it out) as heavy weed was just flowing in the channel. Eventually after a few hours and clearing the channel from all the weed I decided to head to my next destination.

Walkerville South beach. Beautiful spot! Protected by the SW winds and a rain still on and off tried my luck on the lures. No action...

Next stop was at Waratah bay. After checking in at the caravan park I headed down to the surf beach. By that stage it was about 3pm and high tide. Wind and rain still around. After many Ks up and down, as the beach is really shallow and you have to wade far to get some decent distance/depth with the casts, I called it a night. By that stage I was exhausted had lost a few rigs and lures by the unforgiving weed.

Sunday morning, perfect sunrise and no winds. Pumped and all excited headed to Shallow inlet. What an amazing spot! After parking my car on the beach I started fishing the channel with my hopes up. Lots of boats on the channel but hardly any land based anglers around. Fishing didn't get any better, despite the great conditions had zero luck. Tried different rigs, baits and spots but with the same result...weed!!!! Eventually as I am wading waiste deep finally hook I beautiful snook! All excited started reeling in. When 1 meter from me it does this beautiful flip and off he goes happy and with a full tummy...This got my hopes up and kept pumping yabbies and trying different set ups. All I got was a little mullet which I reckon could have easily survived in a glass of water...put him back and eventually decided to pack up and go.

Next stop was Sandy Point beach. Put my waders on and tried spinning for salmon. Same result...just fresh air and beautiful views.

Back to Waratah Bay again and still wanting to give it a decent go. Up and down 3 rods up and running. All I managed was to lose a few calories from all the walking and also a few rigs again as the weed started showing again on the run out tide...

Monday morning and still have some hopes of hooking something. Early start and by 8am I am at Inverloch next to the jetty. Some of us have lined up close to the channel waiting for the sambos. About 200 meters from us the seagulls are going nuts diving non stop. We were just hoping that the action would come a bit closer...but no luck!

Next stop Cape Patterson beaches. What an amazing part of the world. Great rock formations and nice small sandy beaches. Found a couple of nice gutters and fished off the rocks trying my luck on the lures again...zero action.

By that stage needed to head back to Melbourne, but I was trying to delay it. Quick stop at Kilcunda. Swell was down and no wind. Haven't seen Kilcunda so peaceful and inviting before. Tried some lures around some gutters and close to the rocks. Still nothing! Eventually I gave up and headed back home.

Despite having no luck, it was amazing being out there fishing and exploring new locations. Land based fishing is by far more challenging and maybe more expensive than having a boat as we spend so much money on lures, gear and bait. However getting to all these beautiful places and meeting the locals it just makes it worth it. And if we get lucky and hook a few fish it's just the icing on the cake!!!

[wazdog]

Sounds like you had a bloody good crack at it,good stuff and nice report :thumbsup:

[hornet]

Golf must look very tempting by now :rofl:

We all have weekends like this, you gotta keep plugging away, sooner or later your luck will change... land based is the most challenging !

[Lightningx]

Nice report and pics. Sounds like you had a great time. It's not always about catching fish :thumbsup:

[rb85]

Good effort did you learn anything in the process?

[Kosta7]

Had heaps of fun and would definitely go out again and give it a go even on days like today. It's just makes me love fishing even more.

Learned heaps about each location and how to handle different situations. Will I have luck next time? Maybe not but won't give up

By the way I hate golf :tongue:

[Kosta7]

Good effort did you learn anything in the process?

At Anderson's Inlet and Shallow Inlet found that upgrading swivels and having a leader around the 30lbs mark helped me lift the heavy weed and not lose rigs. I know this is costing me casting distance and feel for the bites but can't afford being at the tackle shop every second day buying lines and sinkers

[Mattblack]

Great report....made me feel more relaxed just reading it

[purple5ive]

Thats a really good effort mate, the fish will come if your going to eb this dedicated, just give it some time.
Thats a cracker pic too, well done
cheers

[meppstas]

Ripper report, shame the fishing wasn't the same.. still you did get to see some great scenery & met some nice locals which made up for the down side of the fishing..
Perhaps it was just the wrong time to be there, always worth another trip in my books.. well done..

cheers
Adrian