Got off to a great start by leaving the hatch over at home so I had a big hole into the kayak that any water coming over the front would get funneled into. Oh well, I had a bilge pump and I certainly wasn't turning back to pick it up.
I launched at St Leonards near the tennis courts and headed over to FV member Denis Barden's secret gar spot that he very kindly told me about. As I approached I saw someone was parked right where I was hoping to fish... turned out it was Denis. I should make clear at this point that the thread title does not refer to Denis in any way, shape or form!
After getting a bit of burley going and a couple of baits out the fish started coming in. I started with pilchards but that attracted tommies so I switched to prawn which got the gars going. I did try and get some maggots but Mario's had sold out unfortunately. Not long after tide change I had a handful or so of gars and a squid on the teabagged jig, more than I'd caught in all my previous attempts put together which was nice. I'm not sure if it was the spot that made the difference or the new burley I was using - I have recently bought a 25kg bag of pollard which gives a much much finer cloud of burley than chook pellets and none of the solid lumps of grain that sink fast and probably feed the fish too much.
Here is a blurry photo of what was a stunning sunrise taken on my long suffering phone
Denis nicked off after some squid or something at about 8:30 and I went looking for some whiting. I tried a few spots but couldn't get a bite, and going by the boats constantly moving around I don't think I was the only one struggling. Eventually I found a likely looking spot a little bit away from the boats and anchored up. This time I clipped the burley pot to the anchor chain to see if that made any difference. I discovered that because the bucket was designed to float the short length of rope allowed the bucket to float a meter above the seabed and bob around in the current. No idea if that helped but I'm sure it didn't hurt.
Not long after anchoring up I started getting bites and soon had a ting in the net. It was a steady trickle of fish from a bit before midday to mid afternoon when I pulled the pin. FV member ducky wasn't having much luck so I called him over and he started getting a few two. During the afternoon a couple of boats came and went without catching anything while I continued to get my trickle of fish. That sort of thing is good for your confidence.
Not long after Ducky arrived the fun began...
Some absolute flog of a bloke saw us catching fish and decided to come over. Me and Ducky were anchored up at most 40m apart, close enough to have a conversation if we raised our voices. This bloke decides to try and anchor up next to the boat Ducky was in, and was promptly asked if he was taking the **** trying to get that close. That put him off but he decided to come and anchor up next to me instead.
I mean right next to me.
I could have touched his boat with a surf rod if I had one on me.
I normally cast my two baits out at about 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock to the front of the yak but this guy was so close he was casting over my line and getting tangled. I suggested that maybe he'd parked too close after one tangle and got a sarcastic apology in response.
Anyway, I was still getting fish on the other line much to this p****'s lack of amusement as they weren't getting anything. Over to their left Ducky was killing it, and the wanker next to me was getting more and more annoyed, starting to swear at his old man who was in the boat with him, missing bites. At one point the bloke got on the phone and called his mate over who hadn't been getting any fish either... calling people onto your own fish is one thing but calling people over when other people are catching them and you aren't struck me as pretty funny.
The tide had started to slow and with the lack of current I was getting quite concerned that their boat would start to swing at anchor over into me.
After half an hour I had 6 fish, Ducky and his mate had heaps, and they'd got 1 so they decided to head back and annoy Ducky.
After they moved I was still getting fish, I could see Ducky was still getting fish but the flogs were barely turning a reel. Their mates eventually arrived and also didn't appear to be getting any fish and it looked like Ducky and his mate were packing up.
Suddenly I hear about 200 horses getting the absolute crap revved out of them and a chorus of swearing... Ducky's mate had repaid the favour fanged it away 5m past the back of their boat right over the top of the lines. I nearly killed myself trying not to laugh too loudly, the flogs were PISSED (despite acting like total flogs all afternoon and definitely having it coming) and I didn't really want them to start doing donuts around the yak or something.
I got a couple more fish after that and knowing I was close to my bag let a few of the smaller ones go. About 3:30 I pulled the pin and made my way back to the car.
Ended up with 19 whiting, 9 gars, 2 tommies (I don't normally keep these but they're good bait so if they're gut hooked I'll keep them), and 1 squid.
Obligatory sink pic
