A Big Dissapointment

[Shark Poker]

Two Saturdays ago, on what was supposed to be a liesurely drive towing my ski up north, I was not happy.
The condition of the roads was just plain awful. How did I get into such dusty, bumpy, corrugated roads while dodging cows and kangaroos?

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109044&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1432720763 (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109044&d=1432720763)
Ever heard of fences?

And the signage was just plain un-welcoming.
http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109045&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1432720835 (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109045&d=1432720835)

There were even bullet holes in a section of the sign as some sort of business-review.


http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109042&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1432720494 (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109042&d=1432720494)

Then finally I arrived at this place called Stanage and got out of the 4WD at their funny looking 2 lane boat ramp so that I could question why there is actually 100m of mud between the ramp and the water. When I step out I am up to my ankles in mud.
My vehicle and jet ski were already brown with dust and there was no phone reception to call RACQ for assistance.
And THAT is when I found out that the town lives on rain water and you are NOT allowed to wash your vehicle or jet ski. And then it started to rain heavily.
Then I drove some 200m to the house I was staying at to be greeted by two men. Let's call them Netmaker and Murf.
They were cooking fish and chips for dinner. I saw cryovac bags marked 'coral trout/1770'.... so.... no local fish on our first night??
It was a miserable introduction to the place. And it was about to get a whole lot worse....

[Funchy]

Classic!!! hahahahaa

[back2boats]

I was almost taken in by the post. I was thinking, luxury. You should have been up at Stanage with us 40 years ago. Now THEY were BAD trips :) No signs, no accom... no nothin... :)

[Crunchy]

To top it all off I here you got a dose of the crabs too Paul.

[Shark Poker]

Funny you should mention crabs, Crunchy.
I took my spearfishing gear and was hoping for a cray. But the visibility in the water around Stanage is about 10mm.
So that idea was out.
The only crustaceans around seemed to be mud crabs. Which was a real disappointment because I am a Sand Crab aficionado myself.

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109054&stc=1'
And besides, muddies are much harder to handle on a jet ski.
And the Stanage crabs are pretty big too, which makes it harder again. Tying them whilst on the ski was not going to happen.
So they went into the box where one of them drank my 'snake-bite-kit' (spare can of beer).

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109055&stc=1

And next thing was chilli crab night. A great way to ruin a perfectly good appetite and your favourite clean shirt as well. I don't rule out Mud Crab completely, but it would have been nice to have some variety.

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109052&stc=1http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109053&stc=1

[groverwa]

And those cows look like steers to me.

[scottar]

No wonder they struggled with the milking

And your right Shark Poker, it is a disappointment. I can't find the GoPro footage of you trying to tie a muddie on the ski anywhere.:P

[Shark Poker]

Are they called steers because you have to steer around them?

[bigjimg]

Are they called steers because you have to steer around them?
No, when you steer at them they steer right back at you. Your not a country lad are you.
Did you have to rebuild the ski when you got there or did the dust hold it together. Sounds like you have some lasting memories for future reminiscence there.
Sounds like you were lucky enough to get there after the gun fight as well....Jim.

[groverwa]

No - it is because when they have a sex change from being a young bull it bring steers (tears) to their eyes. LOL

[Shark Poker]

No, when you steer at them they steer right back at you. Your not a country lad are you.
Did you have to rebuild the ski when you got there or did the dust hold it together. Sounds like you have some lasting memories for future reminiscence there.
Sounds like you were lucky enough to get there after the gun fight as well....Jim.

Not a country lad from around here Jim. We mostly had was buffaloes where I come from.
and it's funny you should ask about the ski.... It did not survive the trip!

[HanginOut]

they're heifers

[Crunchy]

That light brown one is pretty cute

[Shark Poker]

Here is a tip if you absolutely insist upon visiting the area: don't take crab bait.
There is plenty of that on the dirt road. ('roos)

[bigjimg]

A mate of mine took a trip up to Stanage years ago with his brand new Bluefin Mangrove Jack with 40hp four stroke. It was sprayed a very nice metallic blue as well.
It came back from that trip with around 10 yrs of age added in 1 week. The stone chips freckled the front and the skeg and prop were hammered. His comments were when questioned was "Yeah there's lots of rocks at Stanage, in the water and out". Jim

[Shark Poker]

Now here is why a newbie is never going to be able to navigate around Thirsty Sound -
It does not matter how proficient or enthusiastic you are as a navigator.
I am an old school chart & compass man. And that did not help. The GPS Plotter was no better.
The Charts (that's Maps to some of you) show way too many rock bars, creeks, islands. But you will never find them because the five to six metre tides cover everything and you can drive straight over the top of the island that looked so
interesting on the map.
The main passage is over a kilometre wide, but at low tide, at one spot, it narrowed to little more than one hundred metres. And later ended at a place we crossed over the previous day.
At or near low tide, there is not enough water to launch. So most people only get to see the place at 2 or 3 metres above it.

[Shark Poker]

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109085&stc=1

My jetski broke down on the Tuesday morning. A salvage team comprised of two guys named Horse and Boat Hog radioed to announce their imminent arrival, and also that they were bringing a tow rope and a "rated shackle".
Well ol'Boat Hog has gone full circle since his antics on the subject of rated shackles last year!

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/showthread.php/198902-Rated-shackles-now-a-legal-requirement-when-towing?highlight=rated+shackles

And they brought with them refreshments.

Best Search and Rescue Team I ever saw!

[Horse]

It was a pleasure to do business. That's the second vessel to "die" in the same spot. Both had Murf as a deckie. I seem to see a pattern emerging. Anyone up for taking Murf for a run up Thirsty Sound next year. We will have the rope and rated shackle on hand to assist

[Jarrah Jack]

[QUOTE=
looking
Best/\ Search and Rescue Team I ever saw![/QUOTE]

Fixed!.....

[Shark Poker]

The recovery happened only after the crab pots were checked and re-baited. Luckily for us they needed a couple of deckies or we may have been left there.
There was no time to look over the jet ski or cry about it.
They were going to the Percy Islands the following day and there was no stopping them.
I was re-assigned as Horses' deckie which is something probably every Ausfish member would kill for to be in that position.
But I was in no doubt. Suncream, first aid kit. It was going to be dangerous.

[Shark Poker]

In the morning we worked a fishy looking rocky point but only managed a few bite-offs.

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109091&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1433046285 (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109091&d=1433046285)

A little while later we were drifting, catching another nice grassy sweetlip and dropping another one.
But mackerel are my fav fish at the moment and I was looking for an opportunity to catch one.
Then we saw some faint but continuous activity on the surface and approached. Here we go....
First cast was immediately snapped up and a pair of Queensfish jumped out of the water.

What followed was the most ridiculous fishing session I can remember. A shoal of about 50 or more Queenfish were going mental.

Every cast saw multiple strikes as fish slashed across the surface or followed the lure. They even crashed into the boat.

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109099&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1433047722 (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109099&d=1433047722)

Horse gave me a Popper to try out.
I removed this lure from its' package, tied it on and cast it out. Before I could turn the reel it was hooked up already.
Not even one minute out of the box.





http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109098&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1433046929 (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109098&d=1433046929)

There were sharks chasing the Queenfish and Queenfish chasing us. At one point I leaned back to cast and two of them approached the lure behind me while it was still in the air.

[trymyluck]

Paul, next year are you able to do the 2 weeks? Mate the complaints about empty beers and glasses never ended after you left.

[Shark Poker]

I will see what I can do Trymyluck. But if I get back to Stanage I will absent from the house until I come back completely worn out. Again.

That Queenfish session went for a few hours.
After landing a few each, Horse crushed the hooks on his lure with pliers to effectively fish without hooks. (We kept 3 fish and released the others)

I started a new game: how to get your lure and get it back into the boat without hooking up. It was hard work, but with patience and practise and refining the techniques, I started to get results.
It was a sensation when you had beaten them and lift your lure out of the water.

Horse 'fought' a Queenfish that managed to hang on to a hook free lure for a few minutes before letting go. His lure flew barely two metres before being snapped up by another competitive Queenfish.
We also saw Sharks swimming with the Queenfish and at one stage possibly one of those was actually a real big cobia.

All I had hoped for that morning was to troll a gar and hopefully catch a nice mackerel. So the entire fishing day was a disappointment for me.

I gave the Popper lure back to Horse. I did not want to keep it. By the end of the day half its paint was missing and it was scratched to buggery. Plus I never learned how to swim it for a few metres because it just never got the chance.

[scottar]

Huge disappointment when you are too busy catching to do any fishing.

[Shark Poker]

People might think I am just bragging, but we came back absolutely stuffed after the Queenfish day.
We were suffering real fatigue after fighting and catching (& releasing ) just too many fish.
Sure there was the 30 mile drive home afterwards, but that was in very calm conditions.

[scottar]

Oh boo Hoo. Take a tablespoon of concrete and harden the f*#k up or put your skirt on.;D

[Dogtoooth]

Two Saturdays ago, on what was supposed to be a liesurely drive towing my ski up north, I was not happy.
The condition of the roads was just plain awful. How did I get into such dusty, bumpy, corrugated roads while dodging cows and kangaroos?

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109044&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1432720763 (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109044&d=1432720763)
Ever heard of fences?

And the signage was just plain un-welcoming.
http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109045&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1432720835 (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109045&d=1432720835)

There were even bullet holes in a section of the sign as some sort of business-review.


http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109042&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1432720494 (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/attachment.php?attachmentid=109042&d=1432720494)

Then finally I arrived at this place called Stanage and got out of the 4WD at their funny looking 2 lane boat ramp so that I could question why there is actually 100m of mud between the ramp and the water. When I step out I am up to my ankles in mud.
My vehicle and jet ski were already brown with dust and there was no phone reception to call RACQ for assistance.
And THAT is when I found out that the town lives on rain water and you are NOT allowed to wash your vehicle or jet ski. And then it started to rain heavily.
Then I drove some 200m to the house I was staying at to be greeted by two men. Let's call them Netmaker and Murf.
They were cooking fish and chips for dinner. I saw cryovac bags marked 'coral trout/1770'.... so.... no local fish on our first night??
It was a miserable introduction to the place. And it was about to get a whole lot worse....


Harden up princess 💃

[beaglebasher]

This thread has got me interested. Where is Stanage? Can I come next year?