Day 14 – Up the River

I’m living in Ngunguru in a house which is only about 300m from the estuary but apart from the one day I fished off the rocks I haven’t actually fished locally, so tonight I took the kayak off the roof of the car, put it on my C-Tug trolley, loaded all my gear on, and pulled it some 300m to the boat ramp.

It was 7:00pm and high tide was due at 8:00pm so I thought I’d paddle up the estuary with the tide and then come back with the tide later.

My first plan was to go and have a fish in the channel where I was fishing from the rocks the other night, when I got there though, the sounder was reading 14 feet but I didn’t need the fishfinder to tell me that as all I needed to do was look over the edge of the kayak, the water was crystal clear and I could see the bottom, totally devoid of all life…

So what now? I decide to have a paddle further up stream to see if I can find some holes or features that might be holding some fish but I can’t find anything, still crystal clear water and still no sign of life on the bottom.

I got about 1km upstream and found a small cluster of rocks, silently sneaking up on them I find a shoal of reef fish hanging out, slowly drop a soft bait in the water, they take one look, then another, then they scatter…

I carry on a bit further upstream to a small bay of mangroves, there are a couple of small splashes coming from around the edges, so I made a couple of casts, and the small Kahawai where chasing the softbait all over the place, it was great fun. I’m fishing in all of 3 feet of water…

I haven’t fished like this since I was a kid, the water was as smooth as glass, the wind had all but disappeared, there was total silence, reminded me of those days I would spend on the local lakes as a child chasing small Chub and Roach, it was fantastic.

The 30Fish challenge to be honest was definitely losing it’s shine, fishing every day sounds like a dream for most fishermen, but believe me when you have to work everyday, then drag your ass out as soon as you get home, normally missing dinner, to go out fishing for 2-3 hours, getting back home, cleaning and packing your gear away, grabbing something to eat, then posting on this site, makes for a long day and I was honestly losing motivation quickly but that all changed tonight…

As the sun went down, the fish went crazy, there were fish breaking the water all over, now the fun began. Wherever I cast the softbait it was getting hit, either by bait fish or by small Snapper. The hook up rate was quite poor but hey I was fishing with a 1/2oz JigStar jig head and a 5 inch Gulp softbait, way too big for these guys I thought…

Then the bigger Snapper turned up, I landed a total of six, of which half would have passed as legal, all went back tonight though.

You could cast the bait and immediately retrieve it and the fish would chase it across the surface, even to the point of the smaller fish following it right to the kayak and some of them even swimming into the kayak…

You could even see the bow waves caused by the bigger fish chasing the bait fish all over the place, it was fun just being there watching nature at play in perfect conditions.

Only problem now is that it’s 9:15pm and pitch black, I didn’t bring my kayak light, I have no torch, and I’m about 2.5km from Ngunguru… Thankfully there is no traffic on the estuary and and I have my Humminbird chartplotter so I can use the chart to find my way home.

All was good and I got back to Ngunguru fine, only issue I had was trying to find the boat ramp in the dark hehe, a short walk home with the kayak and I’m back inside by 10:00pm.