Cape Woolamai 21-Feb-2017 (few fish, but pic-heavy!)
Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 6:05 pm
Made a long-threatened offshore trip yesterday. Forecast was for moderate swell and generally decent conditions.
Met up with Fish Grylls (Tas) and Lvyakker (Tom) at the Cleeland Bight beach. Spent a while hanging around the
old granite quarry, hunting for squid. I managed a couple, as did Tas.
Also came across a bustup of salmon off Red Rocks. I managed one around 40cm. From there we headed around
the corner, where the swell was way up (at least 2m) and the gaps between the peaks were only about 25-30m, which
made things uncomfortable to say the least. It did look very fishy though, with baitfish everywhere and hundreds (if not
thousands) of muttonbirds swarming on the surface and flying overhead. I snagged an angry couta and Tom picked up
a thumper slimy mackerel. Tas and Tom braved the conditions and headed out further, while my guts got the better of me and
I headed in to the relative shelter of the Cape, from where I limped back to the first beach in order to reach dry, stable
land - I kissed the beach on my arrival!
Tas and Tom turned up about 30 minutes later having been beaten by the conditions. We relaxed on the beach and
mugged Tas in order to steal his massive stash of sesame-seed snacks. I also managed (didn't require much effort)
to convince both Tom and Tas that they needed A.I. under them. Each to the boat for a quick spin and returned to
the beach with a glazed, satisfied expression on their mugs, mumbling "A.I... must have an A.I...."
We relaunched and trolled around infront of the granite quarry for a while longer. I picked up another three squid
(all modestly sized - around 25cm hood-length). We then switched to soft-plastics and spent a while bothering the
wrasse around the red channel-marker. Not long after that we headed back to the beach.
Today I did the Cape Woolamai walk (again). The conditions offshore looked superb, with bugger-all swell and a
light northerly wind. The only negative would've been (if I'd been out in the yak) that the wind was due to pick-up
considerably in the arvo, which would've results in wind against incoming tide. Never mind, the walk was good.
I spotted a couple of bust-ups - some salmon about 1km out and a something much bigger, about 5km out.
There's always plenty to see on the walk and today it included snakes, lizards and wallabies. Here are some pics
from both days... Enjoy...
Getting ready to hit the water - calm enuff in Cleeland Bight, but just around the corner...
This was very flat compared to a few 100m further around...
Consolation sambo...
Happy to be back on dry-land and glad I didn't chuck...
The brave adventurers return...
... glad to be back on dry land too...
"Mmm... this feels nice..."
Cleeland Bight was looking good...
So was the end of Cape Woolamai...
Bloody marvellous...
One of the locals just finishing brekkie...
An angry little copperhead, letting me know who's boss...
A friendly blue tongue, with a nasty-looking tick attached (which I just noticed!)...
Swamp Harrier at rest...
White-faced heron hunting grasshoppers among the saltbush...
One of the local cray-boats dropping his pots in a likely-looking bay...
You call this a surf-beach?!? (This was Woolamai surf-beach this morning...)
Met up with Fish Grylls (Tas) and Lvyakker (Tom) at the Cleeland Bight beach. Spent a while hanging around the
old granite quarry, hunting for squid. I managed a couple, as did Tas.
Also came across a bustup of salmon off Red Rocks. I managed one around 40cm. From there we headed around
the corner, where the swell was way up (at least 2m) and the gaps between the peaks were only about 25-30m, which
made things uncomfortable to say the least. It did look very fishy though, with baitfish everywhere and hundreds (if not
thousands) of muttonbirds swarming on the surface and flying overhead. I snagged an angry couta and Tom picked up
a thumper slimy mackerel. Tas and Tom braved the conditions and headed out further, while my guts got the better of me and
I headed in to the relative shelter of the Cape, from where I limped back to the first beach in order to reach dry, stable
land - I kissed the beach on my arrival!
Tas and Tom turned up about 30 minutes later having been beaten by the conditions. We relaxed on the beach and
mugged Tas in order to steal his massive stash of sesame-seed snacks. I also managed (didn't require much effort)
to convince both Tom and Tas that they needed A.I. under them. Each to the boat for a quick spin and returned to
the beach with a glazed, satisfied expression on their mugs, mumbling "A.I... must have an A.I...."
We relaunched and trolled around infront of the granite quarry for a while longer. I picked up another three squid
(all modestly sized - around 25cm hood-length). We then switched to soft-plastics and spent a while bothering the
wrasse around the red channel-marker. Not long after that we headed back to the beach.
Today I did the Cape Woolamai walk (again). The conditions offshore looked superb, with bugger-all swell and a
light northerly wind. The only negative would've been (if I'd been out in the yak) that the wind was due to pick-up
considerably in the arvo, which would've results in wind against incoming tide. Never mind, the walk was good.
I spotted a couple of bust-ups - some salmon about 1km out and a something much bigger, about 5km out.
There's always plenty to see on the walk and today it included snakes, lizards and wallabies. Here are some pics
from both days... Enjoy...
Getting ready to hit the water - calm enuff in Cleeland Bight, but just around the corner...
This was very flat compared to a few 100m further around...
Consolation sambo...
Happy to be back on dry-land and glad I didn't chuck...
The brave adventurers return...
... glad to be back on dry land too...
"Mmm... this feels nice..."
Cleeland Bight was looking good...
So was the end of Cape Woolamai...
Bloody marvellous...
One of the locals just finishing brekkie...
An angry little copperhead, letting me know who's boss...
A friendly blue tongue, with a nasty-looking tick attached (which I just noticed!)...
Swamp Harrier at rest...
White-faced heron hunting grasshoppers among the saltbush...
One of the local cray-boats dropping his pots in a likely-looking bay...
You call this a surf-beach?!? (This was Woolamai surf-beach this morning...)