Edithburgh Report

By Steve Boldog

 

  The Edithburgh venue was full of anticipation for all concerned as big snapper were on every one’s agenda.  Angelo kindly donated a couple of GPS waypoints and we were set for an early start on the Saturday morning.  It’s Friday night and Denis and I  are the last to arrive at Coobowie Caravan Park with Spectrum in tow.  We’re met by Martin and Darryl (Orange Roughy) and Twiggy and Kim fishing from the big Southwind.   The accommodation was unique, it seemed to be and maybe still is a community hall and it is a very interesting building with lots of character, I guess it must be somewhere around 100 years old.

 The fishing plan for Saturday was to fish marks that I’ll call Angelo 1 and Angelo 2 and it’s an early start too, be on the water at sun up.  A couple of drinks and it’s off to sleep with Kim doing his usual serenade.  Plan A was in progress, we were all launched and under way as the sun peeked over the horizon on Saturday morning.  The day was not going to be easy, the wind was up to 15 to 20 knots and the water was rough to the point where it was hard work making our way through Sultana Passage beyond was not much better.

 

 Finally we all made it to Angelo 1 and after berlying up and getting lines wet we sat back and waited.  Each of us moved at least two or three times before we settled in for the continuing wait.  Then it happened, I started to feel ill from the sideways rocking of the boat and the rough weather.  Dam, just what I needed seasickness, I downed a couple of tablets and 20 minutes later I was able to pick up a rod again. 

 

More rocking and about half an hour later developed another pain, this time it hasn’t got any thing to do with seasickness, more to do with bowel movement.  I’m sure everyone in this predicament wished for a boat with a toilet on board but wishing just doesn’t help matters.  So I do the only thing there is to do, Warn Denis! And then get on with it.  The next scene is not a pretty sight and I won’t even bother describing it, but as sights go I’ll never forget this one.  Denis, his face around the side clears laughing so hard tears are coming from his eyes saying “No No!!! That’s disgusting” and there I’ll leave it.  Form your own opinions.

 

We persevered for another hour or so and decided to move after bringing in a couple of Rock Cod and not much more that’s worth mentioning.  Our next move was into the shallows opposite Coobowie, this move proved to be quite productive with a couple of nice squid, a few tommies, and Denis turned it on with the whiting.  But in general it was a pretty slow sort of fishing day.Back at the van park it was Kim that blitzed everyone with his 7 kilo snapper, and a ripper fish it was too, well done Kim

 

Sunday was much the same as Saturday, Twiggy and Kim, myself and Denis headed back to Angelo’s spots and Martin and Darryl headed of to the boonies somewhere off  Troubridge Island.

 

Angelo’s spots proved to be unproductive for us on the day so we up anchored and decided to head in to the shallows again.  The wind had eased at this point to a very comfortable 5 knots or so which made traveling quick and easy, about time.  As we came through Sultana Passage I gave Martin a call on the radio to see if he’d had any luck, “yes” was the reply “come on over” he said, “so where are you exactly?” I asked.  “About 10 k north of Troubridge Island” radioed back Darryl “We’re on our way”, with this I opened up the throttle to about 4500 rpm and headed north.  We reached the Northern marker pole and radioed again and got new directions from Martin then we went northwest and still no Orange Roughy.  The consensus on Spectrum was “too hard” so back to the shallows.

 

Later in the afternoon saw us back at “camp” and it seemed Kim’s 7 kilo Snapper was still the fish in number one spot.  So with that we all started the pack up clean up routine and hit the road for the trip home.

 

Edithburgh Was

· Me getting stick all weekend because good wife labeled my lunch boxes with yellow post it pads saying “Breakfast, lunch 1 and lunch 2”.

 

· Battery going flat on Spectrum, lucky I could switch over to the second one.  Then later in the day the sounder screen went berserk and displayed hieroglyphics.  Anyone want a slight used CVS 106?

 

PS. Since I’ve had the sounder fixed. I’m now $300.00 poorer.

Return TO Venue Reports