Who else gets a buz from planning a fishing trip ?

[NAGG]

Is it just me or are there others who enjoy planning a fishing road trip ?

I'm the kind that doesn't need to be fishing every other day ...... but I do need to be thinking about planning a trip.

With holidays at a premium ... I've just calculated that I will have just 1 day annual leave left when I complete my trip next August ...... yep that's how far ahead I am .

as it stands I've got my Christmas Whitsundays , Evans Head (April / May) & Whitsundays (August 21) locked & loaded.

Who else plans these bigger trips ? ..... & what do you have locked in ?


Chris

[blacklab]

pppppppppppppp

[scottar]

Absolutely.........but I have a long history of managing to pick the worst possible weather windows as soon as long term planning and the "F" word are mentioned.

[NAGG]

For me to fish the local bays, I would make my mind up the night before, really just dependant on the wind or if a mate has a rostered day off.

But the road trips, ie Bermagui, that's around 6-700 km's north and normally a bare minimum of 2 days on the water is needed and the near 2 days towing, or best part of.
I'm with youChris, I kinda get a kick out of organising things, myself or others joining in, that's all part of the whole fishing experience I recon..
Your not alone there....
As far as any trips locked in at the minute, nothing pencilled in unfortunately, busy selling up to move north, then those long planned road trips, will only become next day aspirations..

Col

I hear you Col ..... Bermi is a long haul for anything less than a few days - We used to Penrith to Narooma /Bermi to chase tuna or kings - leave Friday afternoon & return Monday. Much easier when you are in your 20s

It's been a few years since I've fished my local waters - Sydney is just too busy & particularly bad if you fish solo.
So these days it's a weekender away (3-4 hrs north) ..... either sleeping at the ramp on Friday & Saturday night ..... or even on the boat. Being a lazy boater , I feel I get bang for buck that way & dont feel shagged out.

The planned trip I love as it usually means these days - a camping trip on an island ...... & that to me is a total getaway . Nothing like watching a sunset or sunrise with pretty well no one else around .
My Evans Head trip has changed from a tent site in a caravan park ( I dont like caravan parks) to a house ...... It's still planned & booked a year out to ensure that I get the same house.
I'm no doubt drawn to the blue waters of Northern Qld & the opportunity to catch some amazing fish .

One of the other things about the planned trip (particularly camping ) is that I tinker around with the car set up (pretty good now) & the boat ..... gear. What worked last time & what didn't
Actually the planned trip is a bad idea ....... it costs me too much money

Chris

[Noelm]

Back in "the old days" when we had 14-15' Aluminium boats with dodgey outboards, a day trip to "the Banks" off Nowra NSW was a mission, even though it's only about a 35 minute run, back then it required planning, gear prepared, boat prepared, no under floor tanks, even the car was a bit "iffy" no GPS, just vague landmarks to even find the place, trips were great fun, plenty of fish, and more often than not, a wet bum from the low sided open boat.....

[NAGG]

Sadly for me with my current employment I have to take the Christmas period off - till the 2nd week of Jan .... I've never liked going away at Christmas & have been lucky for most of my working life to be able to return to work first week of Jan .... hence saving holidays.

While not the best time of year for Qld (weather) - I've found that the Whitsundays wasn't a bad destination - particularly camping on the islands . You can generally get a camp site & once you are on the islands generally protected ...... if the winds are up , you can do stuff & in anything up to 15knots there are some pretty reasonable fishing options .
It's a long haul from Sydney - two 12hr + days towing. ..... but it certainly beats sitting at home.

Whitsundays Naris beach.jpg

Chris

[Noelm]

Always tempted to tow a boat up there, been there lots of times doing "tourist" things, and a few times yachting, it would be good to have your own boat and just do "stuff"

[NAGG]

Back in "the old days" when we had 14-15' Aluminium boats with dodgey outboards, a day trip to "the Banks" off Nowra NSW was a mission, even though it's only about a 35 minute run, back then it required planning, gear prepared, boat prepared, no under floor tanks, even the car was a bit "iffy" no GPS, just vague landmarks to even find the place, trips were great fun, plenty of fish, and more often than not, a wet bum from the low sided open boat.....

Fortunately the Banks was just a day trip ..... early start but you were generally off the water before the Noreaster kicked in .

But I do hear you .... those early days in particular when I fished out of a Nautiglass V150 or V Sea - good boats but those 70 Johnnos were unreliable . Tow vehicles ... Falcons , cortinas & even my V8 torana were all about will it make it there & back. We all had older cars & it wasn't till I had company cars (Falcons / Commodores) did we have any reliability.
My own boat ownership experiences have been reasonably good - but every boat & motor has been bought new ...... I'll still call my barcrusher new as it only had 22 hours on it.


Chris

[Noelm]

Yep, my first trips to the Banks was in a 15' Dehaviland Offshore, rubbish boat, more freeboard in the middle than the bow or stern (upside down banana) why they were built like that I don't know, had a damn Volvo outboard that was a 50/50 chance of starting, and I towed it with a HR Holden Ute, Currarong "ramp" was always a half hour being bogged in the sand, Shoalhaven heads meant a long trip down the river, and a chance of getting bogged on the sand covered ramp....they were the days, I might have on old picture here somewhere of my mate beside the boat with our very first Wahoo, he had upgraded the motor by then to a Mariner.

[blacklab]

ppppppppppppppp

[Sheik]

Absolutely.........but I have a long history of managing to pick the worst possible weather windows as soon as long term planning and the "F" word are mentioned.

Any time I plan a trip with the Dudds, the F word is mentioned quite often, and also the C word; C being for cyclonic winds whenever we head to CQ. Last time I was there in September the winds hit 60kmh so casting intothe wind with anything less than a 7 ball was pointless.

[Sheik]

Actually long term planning is great becaue otherwise my anxiety takes over. So all the ducks have to be in a row and lists filled out so I know what I've left behind when I arrive.

[NAGG]

The early years and the "technology" available, sure did make it exciting !!... but it was character building I guess..
And it seems as though they were the trips we seem to remember and re call.

Col

Good point ..... I still am in awe of those people who would use onshore marks to find their spots - then their paper charts .
I bought my first boat in 1994 & I spent a bomb fitting a JRC cathode ray sounder with GPS .... It was amazing technology for the day specially in a 18ft CC .

One thing that stands true is that my real memorable trips are from periods of my own boat ownership .... maybe it's because as skipper it was my call on when , where & how to fish (a lot of research as opposed to a shot in the dark).
If I was to put down a top 20 of my most memorable offshore trips (incl multiple days) - I reckon more than half would come from the last 5 years ....... Quality , Qty - excitement.

Chris

[NAGG]

What about fishing new destinations ?

Who gets a buzz from going to a place that you've never fished before ...... or fished very little ?

I know there are quite a few destinations that I would love to tow my boat to & fish - SA for their snapper fishing & Cooktown are immediately in my sights .
There has to be something said when you do it all yourself.

Chris

[Dignity]

Love fishing new areas, a bit limited to me these days but still finding new grounds and some have only been just under 2 hours from home.
You might have to wait for SA snapper, isn't there a no take ban on them or has that finished?