My latest couple of fishing trips have been experiments of a sort.
Fishermen like to try things out occasionally, so you might recall a recent Coastlines tale where I had the audacity to head out when it was blowing easterlies. Who goes out in easterlies, for goodness sake?
Ultimately, it was a successful visit to the lake, as the wind eventually eased, the sun shone, and fish were caught. Flushed with that success, I began thinking of another old adage to debunk. Bananas and oranges are supposedly bad luck, so let’s throw caution to the winds and take both along for lunch. It’s all silly superstition, isn’t it, and anyway, what could go wrong?
But is there more I could do to tempt fate – ah yes, let’s launch on a Friday. The boat, as always, was ready to go, so “Came a hot Friday,” well, a halfway decent one anyway, a beeline was made for the lake. Lakeside was partly cloudy, with some sun and just a breath of wind, with only one other chap who pulled up as I was launching. We had a yarn and worked out where we wanted to go. Turns out he was a good friend of an old mate of mine – everyone’s connected somehow on the Coast!
The results of Spring were evident everywhere, with paradise sheducks and their young grazing the grass by the ramp and families of black swan with fluffy, pale cygnets paddling furiously in an away direction as the marauding silver frog edged closer. Began at what we call Allan’s (bro-in-law) Corner, then moved on to the two dead trees marking where I used to start fishing with Matey, He of the F Word. There is only one of the trees there now, which seems sadly appropriate. Just past that spot I struck one and promptly lost it
The breath of wind became more of a sustained exhalation, so I worked with it, moving along its path. Usually, the shallows are fish-infested, but this day, they were weed-infested. I thought it unusual to have forested weeds right up to the surface in December. Guess you could blame global climate change!
Damselflies were out and about, some coming on board the boat and even landing on me. Closest I’ve been to a damsel for rather a long time!
Between picking weed off the fly, re-positioning the boat as it got blown about in the ever-rising wind, getting grounded and enjoying repetitive casting practice, time passed quickly. Then, the wind shifted and began to blow me the other way. Time to break for lunch and consider options while munching my salad doorstep, banana and having a drink. Hmm, think I might employ the wind to slowly take me back towards the ramp. In the area I first started in, there was a sudden take, a big splash and then nothing – another strategic mid-lake release. Continued the futility a bit longer, then saw my acquaintance from launching coming back, so we waved across the water at each other; then, when I caught up with him, we had another yarn. We both had similar tales of woe. However, the day at least lived up to the old adage, “The worst days fishing is better than the best days work,” There’s always a bright side, and as for bananas and oranges, I might still take them again next time to check just to be sure….. yeah NAH! Seems you need to be fruitless to be fruitful.
