Faltering start to Inaugural Social Fishing Day (SFD)
Recently the club proposed to initiate Social Fishing Days (SFD). With the proposition being warmly received by members, the inaugural event was scheduled for Saturday the 28th February.
Some background
The concept involves having a non-comp fishing outing, with all boats attending fishing together, and ending the morning with a sausage sizzle lunch and beer or three at the ramp 😊. A member volunteers to be ‘Captain of the Day’, sharing some of their fishing methods and providing locations/marks with those who attend.
The event includes a meeting on the Wednesday evening prior to the SFD for a ‘Pre-Fish Meeting’ where the captain of the day will share some juicy titbits about their techniques, rigs, tackle, bait etc, as well as plans for the upcoming outing.
So what happened?
Well member Dave Nash was the first to be silly enough to offer to be Captain of the Day. Dave shared fishing techniques and shared marks planned for the day for all the access. So far so good.
Dave also conducted a pre-fish of the planned marks on the Thursday before the outing to evaluate what the fishing might be like. A very successful day resulted with a bag of trag, 7 flathead and about 15 bonito for bait. With weather and sea conditions looking ok, the prospects for the first SFD on the coming Saturday looked salivating!
Enter the world of boating and fishing: a realm that makes Murphy’s law look entirely predictable!
Beautiful start to Sunday morning.
Saturday morning arrived with driving rain and higher winds than forecast . A bevy of brave members arrived at the Forster Boat Harbour at the scheduled starting time but the decision was made to not go out, and try again the following day (Sunday 1st March).
Sunday thankfully, landed with a sunny disposition and a windless state! With the good fishing outcome from the pre-fish, spirits were high! Hope proliferated. With tangible anticipation, 3 boats headed out in convoy to the first mark for the day. ‘Fisherman Lex’ had left earlier and was already out there, and another member boat was to follow shortly.
Upon arrival at the first fishing mark, the flotillas optimism was further flared by ‘Fisherman Lex’, reporting a full bag of trag in under an hour some 200 metres from the mark. Two of the boats were shepherded to Fisherman Lex’s trag location, while Lex moved on a little to seek out some snapper. Captain of the Day Dave fished on the first mark as he had great results there just 3 days earlier.
And that is where the fishing gods deserted us!
Skipper of the Day Dave did not turn a reel over the next 20 minutes. Seeking to move to another location, his engine proved problematic, so the decision was made to immediately head back to harbour. At least it gave him time to prepare for the BBQ at 11!
Additionally, the rest of the fleet shared no fishing luck. Arriving back at harbour at the scheduled 11am end time, reports of fish caught were virtually nil. And as if to reinforce now deflated dreams (and egos?), the skies opened up, raining on the group just as ales were shared and sausage sandwiches consumed (thanks Frank Harshman and Barry Wrench)!
Nevertheless, despite the worst that the piscean deities could muster, laughter and fellowship was shared around the bbq. Members expressed a clear view of the value of the concept, and plans were made to repeat the event in June with member Martyn Barry agreeing to be Captain of the Day.
Call fisher-folk crazy if you must, but here’s to tight lines in June!
