I've missed a few trips, and have just neglected to write stories on a couple of trips that I did manage to attend.
Since my last post, there have been a Hillocks trip in February 2018 (I was Gashes winner), Nora Creina in October 2018 (Kym D winner) and two more FWC trips ('18 & '19) (Kym D winning both - with big mullies on each!).
Which puts Kym D on a bit of a hot streak of 3 victories in a row. And so it came to 2020 and with SA coming out of lock down, a plan was floated to head over to the west coast to have a crack at the annual Salmon fishing competition.
This is a trip in the midst of winter, camping on the beach with no facilities nearby. I expected just a couple of die hards might make the trip, but instead, we ended up with 6 Gashes participants (the most since August 2012 at the Coorong - maybe these freezing cold trips have their appeal?). Add in the non fishing kids and wives and there were 11 people all up, a big camp set up!
Also of note is this was Andy's first trip since that August 2012 trip, and the Tucker brothers first Gashes trip together since November 2006!
In the spirit of the Australian Salmon Competition, we decided pre-trip to tweak the usual rules around who wins the Gashes. Instead of overall best fisherman, we said that simply the biggest salmon would win - as judged by Kym's cheap arse digital scales. There was one asterisk to that point - a legal mulloway would trump all (realistically this was never going to happen).
And so, by 6am the convoy of cars started heading in the direction of Sheringa. Kym, Jason (first time Gashes attendee) and I met up with Will & Ellie at Port Augusta and continued on, rolling in to Sheringa around 2pm. Andy & Kelly weren't far behind and we quickly assembled camp before keenly rigging up and getting some baits out in the water.
Conditions were absolutely perfect - it was shorts and tshirts weather on the beach. Unfortunately the fish weren't coming to play early on.
Matt & Sarah rocked up nearer to sunset, towing his caravan into position and he was all set up. How things have changed.
Will did manage to land two small salmon that first night, but neglected to have them weighed in so officially, no one was on the scoreboard at the end of day one!
Another pearler day for weather greeted us the next morning. I was feeling slightly under the weather though and took some time to get going. My timing was perfect though as I landed a salmon with my first cast around lunch time and put the first official fish on the leaderboard at about 800gm. I was laughed at for weighing in, but difficult conditions would have this fish being right up there for a day or two at least!
Jason, amongst a tangle with Kym's line, managed to get on the leaderboard soon after with a miniature 400 gram fish, but it was on the board none the less.
The gutter was small with reefy parts on either end and a strong sideways current, so tangles were common.
Andy put in a very solid day fishing on Monday and picked up some small salmon and tommy ruff on a lure near the right hand side reef. All agreed that such an effort was worthy of a big result, but it wasn't to be.
Without much action from the nearby gutter, some plans were put in place to go on a bit of an explore on Tuesday. Will, Jase, Kym and I set out in the 4wd's and covered the southern end of Sheringa beach. Amongst a few boggings, we threw baits and lures around but didn't put a whole lot of effort in to it and came back with donuts.
Matt decided on an excursion out to Locks Well, and Andy put in some solid family time, perhaps to make up for the fact he was knee deep in the the surf for about 12 hours the day before.
As everyone returned to camp and got settled back in, Matt rolled back in from Locks Well. He was positive when we asked if he caught any fish, but couldn't hide a huge grin when we asked if he had anything to weigh in.
Matt rocketed to top of the leaderboard with a 3.29kg Salmon. At this stage second best was probably around the 1kg mark, so Matt was well on top.
The two 4wd car groups planned on moving up to Elliston to have a pub meal and clean up in the caravan park prior to a drive home Thursday - where as Andy & Matt were both heading home on Wednesday. We decided dropping in on Locks Well was now our best bet of knocking Matt off the top of the table.
By this time, there was an arctic wind blowing at the top of the cliffs at Locks Well. Heading straight to the pub was a highly tempting proposition.
Still, a Gashes win was on the line, so we trudged down the stairs, and thankfully the cliff was providing a fair bit of protection, making it rather comfortable down on the sand. Things started slowly, but before too long we were getting a nibble here and there - fish ranging from half to 1kg mostly. Kym may have finally got his first fish of the trip at this time.
A school must have come swimming through though, as we all had hook ups in quick succession - Will with a 1.9kg, me with a 2.2kg and Kym with a 1.8kg fish. All solid fish, but well short of Matt's stomper.
The fishing was good, and I had multiple double headers, but all small fish. I gave a couple of them to some people walking past, and kept a small one as well as the big one for weighing in. Having not eaten all morning and getting closer to 1pm, we pulled the pin and headed up to Elliston.
After weighing in and checking in at the Caravan Park (around $70 for the two cars unpowered! No wonder we avoid caravan parks like the plague normally) we headed up to the Pub to grab a schnitty and watch the footy. To most of our dismays, they get Vic CH7 and not SA... so the footy wasn't on! Perhaps a blessing in disguise given how crap the Crows went anyway.
The predicted thunderstorm held off so we were able to pack up in the dry and hit the road. A few days later, I found out that one of my weighed in salmon... a 700 gram beast, won the weekly mystery prize, pocketing me a cool $200. But Matt took out the Gashes convincingly to get his name on the trophy for the first time in 12 years. Long time between drinks.
Cheers to Kym for the photos on this one - I was more than slack with the camera.
