revs57
20-01-2006, 03:15 PM
We left for Minnie on the 17th Dec...packed up the camper aqnd the new riptide and off we went.
Got down there and set up without oo much drama. Checked the weather, tides and had a look at the Bay...all looking very promising
We hit the water first light the next day...I must admit I was a little nervous beach launching the 6metre rig....but it was such a breeze...put the trailer extention on and pushed the trailer out...no problems at all.
We headed out the the 5 mile...burleyed up and caught vermin...Dave must have caught every red harry around...big and small...we nicknamed him verminator...I think Kingtins reputation may fad into oblivion in the wake of Dave's effort. Les picked up a couple of pearlies and a parrot...enough for a feed but that's about all...definitely no snappery things...We got back to the beach a little nervous about retrieval but brought the trailer down and drove it up...no sweat...
That week we got out most days but only scratched around for a feed...It seem that everyopne was in the same boat..the current or what there was of it was running up hill...not a good sign.
We headed back to Brisvegus for Christmas and fed around 120 new settlers and refugees at the CarewerX community Centre Christmas Day...what a blast...I was great to see so many people enjoying being in community together...
Back to Minnie Water Boxing day evening for Round 2.
The weather pattern was still holding so I teed up with Birdy and his mate mick for an outing...Back out to the 5 mile and I picked up a good Cod about 20lbs...but they are protected down there...so we performed some minor surgery to deflate its swiom bladder and after 15 mins of helping it recover it swam off...Great to see such a majestic fish recover and head for the depths. The pod/transom on the Riptide was a brilliant landing deck and swim platform...very impressed. We scratched around and got a feed but had to work pretty hard.
The next day we went to some marks toward the north but still not a lot happening, the day after we found a piece of rock that looked pretty promising between some marks around the five mile we thought we'd give a go...Birdy was back in Brisvegus so his dad was the deckie.
We hadn't long pulled up and I got a monster run...after about 20mins this ginormous cod comes to the surface...biggest thing I'd ever seen in this type of fish...Lance gentle gaffs it in the mouth and struggles to lift it up...Its over a metre long and Lance reckoned at least 100lb...bl@@dy huge...about a foot longer than the 130 litre evacool esky. Well weI tried to pick it up for the photo...couldn't get it off the deck (missed out on my wheeties that morning) so we took a couple of photos on the deck and following some more minor surgery swam it off the back and away it went.
The following day we headed out to the nine mile and drifted past a really nice Bommie out there. A Mate Chris was in his boat and he and his boys had just caught an 8kg and 12 kg jew...we started into the Trag and soon had 6. My son Luke picked up a nice squirey snapper about 2 kg...the only one for the whole holidays...but we pulled a reasonable mixed bag that day.
The weather window closed for the next week so we returned home having had a great holiday and caught some nice fish...even if we had to return some to the depths.
The Riptide exceeded expectations handling the variable conditions in its stride and proved itself a safe and stable platform. A couple of the return trips were in 2 metre plus swells with a metre or more of sea stirred up by the southerleys in the arvo...we still pulled in at 4000 revs and 44klm/hr...Very impressed with the way this big dry hull handles.
All in all the Family had a great time...we'll be back
Rhys
Got down there and set up without oo much drama. Checked the weather, tides and had a look at the Bay...all looking very promising
We hit the water first light the next day...I must admit I was a little nervous beach launching the 6metre rig....but it was such a breeze...put the trailer extention on and pushed the trailer out...no problems at all.
We headed out the the 5 mile...burleyed up and caught vermin...Dave must have caught every red harry around...big and small...we nicknamed him verminator...I think Kingtins reputation may fad into oblivion in the wake of Dave's effort. Les picked up a couple of pearlies and a parrot...enough for a feed but that's about all...definitely no snappery things...We got back to the beach a little nervous about retrieval but brought the trailer down and drove it up...no sweat...
That week we got out most days but only scratched around for a feed...It seem that everyopne was in the same boat..the current or what there was of it was running up hill...not a good sign.
We headed back to Brisvegus for Christmas and fed around 120 new settlers and refugees at the CarewerX community Centre Christmas Day...what a blast...I was great to see so many people enjoying being in community together...
Back to Minnie Water Boxing day evening for Round 2.
The weather pattern was still holding so I teed up with Birdy and his mate mick for an outing...Back out to the 5 mile and I picked up a good Cod about 20lbs...but they are protected down there...so we performed some minor surgery to deflate its swiom bladder and after 15 mins of helping it recover it swam off...Great to see such a majestic fish recover and head for the depths. The pod/transom on the Riptide was a brilliant landing deck and swim platform...very impressed. We scratched around and got a feed but had to work pretty hard.
The next day we went to some marks toward the north but still not a lot happening, the day after we found a piece of rock that looked pretty promising between some marks around the five mile we thought we'd give a go...Birdy was back in Brisvegus so his dad was the deckie.
We hadn't long pulled up and I got a monster run...after about 20mins this ginormous cod comes to the surface...biggest thing I'd ever seen in this type of fish...Lance gentle gaffs it in the mouth and struggles to lift it up...Its over a metre long and Lance reckoned at least 100lb...bl@@dy huge...about a foot longer than the 130 litre evacool esky. Well weI tried to pick it up for the photo...couldn't get it off the deck (missed out on my wheeties that morning) so we took a couple of photos on the deck and following some more minor surgery swam it off the back and away it went.
The following day we headed out to the nine mile and drifted past a really nice Bommie out there. A Mate Chris was in his boat and he and his boys had just caught an 8kg and 12 kg jew...we started into the Trag and soon had 6. My son Luke picked up a nice squirey snapper about 2 kg...the only one for the whole holidays...but we pulled a reasonable mixed bag that day.
The weather window closed for the next week so we returned home having had a great holiday and caught some nice fish...even if we had to return some to the depths.
The Riptide exceeded expectations handling the variable conditions in its stride and proved itself a safe and stable platform. A couple of the return trips were in 2 metre plus swells with a metre or more of sea stirred up by the southerleys in the arvo...we still pulled in at 4000 revs and 44klm/hr...Very impressed with the way this big dry hull handles.
All in all the Family had a great time...we'll be back
Rhys