Monday
On Monday the wind dropped back a bit and the weather warmed up considerably. Everything was blooming and the flies had started buzzing. I drove out to Point Avoid and after catching a few small salmon around dawn, I moved north around the point to fish in the shallow pools, close to shore. The tide was low at about 8.30 am. The wind was now fairly light from the south east but the swell was still big. The rocks further out took the power out of the waves but every 10 minutes or so a huge surge would race up and over everything and then slowly drain out.
I picked a safe spot and cast around with a soft plastic. I was using 12lb leader and a 1/6th ounce, size 1/0 jighead. I was using a GULP 3 inch Minnow soft plastic in the Watermelon Pearl colour. There were sandy bottomed pools scattered everywhere and almost everyone had a resident wrasse. I just dropped the plastic and let it sink. Then, as soon as I lifted it off the bottom they would strike. I lost a few of the bigger ones to the rocks, but I must have caught about 10 before the incoming tide pushed me back. In between the wrasse the odd Australian herring also attacked the soft plastic. At about 9.30 am the surges had pushed me too far away from the fishy spots, so I drove back into town.
I had breakfast and then drove round to the other side of the bay to fish the ledge. The tide was coming in and I started off fishing with some GULP worm soft plastics hoping to find a few King George whiting. Try as I might the juvenile salmon were all I could find.
As I looked around in the shallows I saw a clump of razor fish and quickly harvested a few. I also noticed good sized mussels clumping on the rocks so I collected enough for lunch. I went back to my cabin and cleaned up. I ate the razor fish and the mussels for lunch. Razor fish are delicious – like scallops only sweeter. They are a lot of work for a tiny morsel of edible seafood but it’s worth it. The mussels were also amazing. I just steamed them. The problem with eating really fresh seafood is that it means the shop/ restaurant bought variety will rarely pass muster. I cannot remember the last time I ate fish in a restaurant.
I had a sleep and then drove round to Seal Rock to fish at sunset. The target was the King George Whiting again. I fished through the flies for a couple of hours and eventually, just after dark I caught a couple.
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