Surf Casting and Angling Club of W.A. (Inc.) November 2001 Fishing Field Day Cervantes.

The view from the Black Point Reef was impressive. The waters were shallow and calm and the light wind ruffled the surface of the green waters. The oily slick from the burley trail was dimpled with rising fish and every now and again a small beak waggled about above the surface. As my burley cage splashed down, thin green missiles homed in with malicious intent. Garfish were in abundance and true to form were proving difficult to entice. Not so for Damian though. He was hooked up again and another silvery shape skittered across the waters and soon joined a growing collection in his reef bag. My only fish had earned an unintentional release when it wriggled free from my grasp to freedom. I never did land a gardie and when the bite shut down with the rising sea-breeze we headed back to Cervantes. It was early on Saturday morning and the signs though were looking good for one of the traditionally more popular field days. The sign-on was well attended with 22 anglers present including a number of visitors. With the formalities over, engines were started and a procession of vehicles headed northwards along the track towards Hill River. We headed to a place that had been fruitful in previous trips, driving along the back of the dunes and checking out the options along the way. This was my first trip along these parts and I must say I was not inspired by what I saw. Shallow water protected by distant off shore reefs, extensive weed banks, no significant surf and a southerly wind blowing strongly.

The Club owns an air conditioned holiday house at Kalbarri which is available for rent to the public and club members at competitive rates

We arrived at the designated spot. This was it? It looked barren and desolate and anything but inspiring. It must have been a great spot though for in no time four vehicles were parked there and keen anglers were out on the beach planning their strategy. We opted to move a bit further away and set up about 500 metres down the track. Not much to choose from really, the beach has a certain sameness about it.

Pete Brightman and Dan James set up alongside us. Soon we had rods rigged, baits in the water and we were fishing. Well technically, yes, but the howling wind made detection of anything other than a suicidal bite impossible. But we stuck to it, cowering from the gale and regularly reeling in empty hooks and rebaiting. A light rod and ultra fine hooks were used by Damo to register the first catch. The smallest sand whiting I have seen. These were about in moderate numbers it seemed and were thoroughly enjoying all the mulies we were donating.

The afternoon was a hard slog. The wind howled. Sand whipped along the beach and there was nowhere to hide. With the onset of evening the wind started to abate. As if on cue the tailor started to bite and for a short while it was quite hectic as chopper tailor and occasional herring were landed amidst whoops of delight. The wind dropped further and with a few fish in the bag and a glorious sunset painting the western sky, matters were distinctly on the improvement. In the growing darkness the heavier rods were rigged and large baits sent out.

The glow-stick on Damo's rod was the first to register some interest. A run was followed by a hard and stoic but unspectacular fight and a moderate eagle ray was beached, unhooked and released. Next up was Dan who had a strong run on his light rod and soon was embroiled in a tussle with a good fish. But the nylon trace did not hold and with much muttering it was back to the tackle box for another rig. The mullet head on my rig was the next to go and this time a similar fight resulted in a small bronze whaler being gaffed and landed. Delight all round and for a while the hopes were high. But the top of the tide saw the action drop off and only occasional herring and small pike keeping the interest up. Dan had a live herring out while he readied his swag for the night ahead.

A twang of line had him bolting down the beach to his rod only to find he had been spooled and the noise being the snapping off of the last loop of line. Another missed opportunity. The next morning the wind was back with a vengeance. But this time it was an easterly and blowing straight out to sea. Damo sent out a live herring on a balloon. Other balloons could be seen in the distance also eagerly prospecting for that elusive mackerel. I tried for some slightly larger whiting and flathead on the edges of the drop-off but succeeded only in catching lots and lots of good sized herring. The action was relatively slow and in the hope of getting some gardies we packed up and headed back to Black Point. The water was beautiful and calm. Schools of hardyheads were everywhere and we soon had a large slick marking our efforts. But the gardies were very tentative. They were hanging well back in the water and were not playing the game. Lack of appropriate bait may have been our downfall in the end. Damo did get one lovely specimen and a nice skippy made my efforts worthwhile, but my gardie drought continues.

With the flies in plague proportions and the sun beginning to bake, we packed it in and headed for the weigh-in. This as usual was a fun event full of banter and laughter. Lots of tailor were weighed-in, with many members getting bag limits. Herring were abundant and a few pike, flathead and tarwhine were recorded.


Pete Brightman, Dave Maxted, George Holman and Eric Parker weigh a typical tailor.

The Hunt family fished with Ross and Julie Kember, and while Ross was devoid of fish, young Jessica and Daniel showed him how with some herring each and a nice flathead for Jessica. Tony D'Alonzo managed the best shark at 5.2 kg and his efforts in relocating late at night were rewarded when he added blackfish and wrasse to his winning bag.


Damo with John Jardine's bronze whaler.

Tales of missed opportunities and reports of lots of North-West Blowies abounded. No mackerel were landed. Some anglers had done well and others rued their missed chances. All seemed to have had a very good time. With a wave and a cheerio the car park emptied and the wind blew the last dust clouds away.

John Jardine

Field Day Officer.

=============

At the sign on, people who had been for a look along the beaches gave us the news about the spots and the beach conditions, and the sea breeze was already pushing in. George Holman and his crew had left their trailer up the track, and invited Eric Parker and me to fish near them.

Looking up and down the beach, it was soon clear that nothing much stood out - a lot of it looked exactly like all the rest. Now George is very experienced at reading the beaches, but it turns out that the parking spot was chosen because it was somewhere reasonably easy to back the trailer in. Still it turned out to be a good spot for the tailor.

About 1:30, Heath Holman started fishing, and after a few missed bites, soon had the tailor on the go. The rest of us, Dave Maxted, George, Eric and Terry were soon rigged up and in the water.


Windswept and sand blasted on the beach !

In the wind whipping along the beach, it was hard to feel the bites. But there wasn't much drift and no seaweed, so it was very fishable. Well you couldn't call it a hot tailor session. Many of the fish I caught were just lipped on the bottom hook, and I lost a few while bringing them in, despite taking it easy when winding in. It seems they would have a nibble as you moved the bait, and most didn't attack like tailor usually do.

They stayed around for some hours, and there was another one caught ever so often. That was better than a quick run of bites as soon as your bait hits the water but which is over in a few minutes. Soon we had enough and it was release time. They seemed to be gone by around 5:30 or so.

The wind kept going but finally eased off as the sun set, and we hoped some bigger fish would turn up, but nothing showed. The wind swung around towards the east and got stronger and we spent some of the night listening to the tarpaulin flapping and the wind trying to tear it off the 4WD and trailer. Heath looked a bit bleary eyed in the morning and said he didn't get much sleep. The older ones of us were too tired and slept anyway.

In the morning, there were quite a few herring around, lots of hardyheads and some small gardies in the burley, but just a couple of tailor. George put out a balloon in the strong easterly and was rewarded (?) with a north west blowie.

For us it was another great Cervantes Field Day with enough fish for anyone. As someone said, if that wind could just drop off 5 knots or so it would be a lot more pleasant.

Terry Fuller.

Results.

Attendance: Seniors - 16, Juniors - 0, Mini Juniors - 0, Visitors - 7 Total - 23.

Sportsperson of the Year Section Winners for November.

Field Day Prizes for November.

Masters Fish.

Field Day Sections up to November.

Field Day Top Ten up to November.

Copyright © 2001 Surf Casting and Angling Club of W.A. (Inc.)

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This page last updated 26 November, 2001.

Display of this page was updated on 21 January 2013. Contents updated as above.

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