TOGA FIX - SPOT ??

For the past week I've been batching with 'She who must be obeyed' away in Ballina, so the empty beer cans, one or two empty red wine bottles and a few pizza boxes scattered around the house bear witness to the good time I've been having.  I've had no visitors because Lord Jim, who normally drops around for a cuppa and chat,  has been away in Tassie teaching the boys from Queensland, Victoria and Tassie how to catch fish.

So you can imagine my mood, when, part way through a good bottle of rum late Saturday evening or maybe it was early Sunday (today)  morning, Lord Jim rang.  After I managed to find the phone amongst the cans and bottles etc.  James informed me he had got back around 2am Saturday morning and would be banging on my door 5.30am Sunday morning to take me fishing to get me out of the house and my lonely bliss. He said it had been so cold in tassie he needed a Toga fix and to get out in the heat to thaw out. Bugger.

Sure enough sometime after 5am I managed to stagger out to Jims ute and he drove at that break neck speed that he drives at down to Spot Y, which is really only half an hour away, but it took us a bit over an hour with Jim's sporty diving.

Rising sun was just hitting the trees.

Launching was easy in the freshwater at first light and we were the only people there. It was nice and cool.  There were some threatening clouds off to the east, but they were the dry type that have been around all of 2016.  Water was crystal clear and there were heaps of dragon flies dipping down onto it to lay eggs I think.   I thought the dragon flies only do that in the dry? 

 It wasn't long and James had his first fish,

First toga as the sun rises

James was using an old fly that I think I tied for that bloke Noah who had the big boat and all the animals.  It was in Roger Sinclair's 'Wild Thing' colours which had faded to almost white.  The fly was all bird fur with the long tail from the original large bird fur which is harder to get right now, and it had that wonderful silver thread in it from that fabric you by from spotlight which I can''t remember the name of. Oregano or something like that.   But the fly had a life of its own, while it looked thin and anaemic when it was wet and out of the water, even with no flow, it seemed to fluff up, pulse and move on its own in the still water.  Great fly, because even with no weed guard, it got James seven toga in around three hours on the water.

James stuck with that fly while I tried several made in similar colours but with synthetic materials.  I got one to James seven.  Well I'll call it one, I did release it shortly after it jumped some distance from the boat, but still it was hooked for a short time.

.....and another

A great fish and real fun to catch.

 We really wanted to get onto some of the barra that had been around a few weeks ago, but other than a beauty we saw along the edge making a huge bow wave.  I looked golden in colour and had to be 90cm to a metre which would have been almost impossible to get out of the weeds.

......another!

Bugger him....another one...

The water was shallow and crystal clear.

 Around 10am it got very hot, the weather apps had it at 34C but noted it felt like 42C.  It was hot, and I was starting to melt, I think the rum oozing from my pores kept me from catching as many fish as Jim? (My excuse anyway).

James its bloody hot.....I've got to go home and clean up before Cathie comes back in a few days... I need a beer and I think that bad smell is me?.

We got off the water just after 10am and home with a beer just after 11am.   Its marvellous that we can travel around an hour to a heap of places up here, Bynoe, Corroboree, Hardies and the harbour, catch a heap of fish (well some of us), then get home for lunch.   We live in a paradise. 

Don't know what is happening with this bloody 'wet' but the fish are still around, reports from some of the boys who fished Bynoe are that there are heaps of salmon around chasing the jelly prawns, both the harbours are fishing, Corroboree may be a bit harder, but with luck a bit later wet will have it firing again.

Roggie