Forster Social Day 2 Sunday

[arpie]

Up bright & early today - down at the jetty at 7am!

I was celebrating already - my husband Keith had been named "Triathlete of the Year" the night before at the AGM of the Forster Triathlon Club! How good was that??

Sunday morning loomed cool & crisp, and a few of us went back to the Tikki, where we had seen the monster fish the day before. There was a mist on the water & it was beautifully quiet & peaceful. Mr Dalucius/Geoff was on one jetty & I was on the other when, nibble, nibble, my float bobbed around a little bit! Hmmm, a bite! Nibble, nibble ... nothing big here, I think, as I raise my rod to set the hook .... then it takes off. The fish put up quite a fight & luckily Geoff was there to net it for me, as I didn't want to lose it close to those oyster encrusted pylons (like Brett, the day before!) In the bag!! Yahoo!! A couple of quick pics & back to fishing! Roosterman arrives with Brett (they had been at the pool) and then the girls and Sails arrive. Sails didn't have his rod, for some reason .... not sure why! He was happy to guide the girls, Jill & Peta, in the hope of getting them into a fish.

Roberta's fish - a very well-fed, fat 35cm

Geoff reckons Roosterman jinxed us .... we had plenty of 'downs' before he arrived, then they dried up completely! Not long after, Roosterman pulls in a small blackie that is immediately tossed back. We had seen some monster blackies lurking between the boats, but too difficult to fish.

We only had till 10am, as Sunday was the final day for weighing in! As 9.30am approached, we started packing up, in readiness for returning to camp. A final check that the jetties were clean and we headed for the vehicles & home.

A small group was gathering around the BBQ area and I brought out my fish for 'official' measuring & approval by moderators. Official photos were taken & as no-one else had weighed in a bigger fish, I was duly declared the winner!! Would you believe it - it was the only legal sized fish I had caught the whole weekend! How lucky was that??? I quickly filleted it & rubbed some brown sugar on & salt, as I had brought my smoker, to show folk how to smoke fish. With the fish being 'very fresh' it curled up a bit, but most who tried it enjoyed it. I prefer to leave the fish (filleted with skin on) for 24hrs before actually smoking it. Blackfish, mullet & tailor all smoke well!

Stewy was a great MC & lots of photos were taken of one & all. Unfortunately, Rayven & Jaytee turned up shortly after everyone had dispersed, so missed out on the 'official pics!' Shame. Better timing next time, guys!

After the official presentation & farewells, some Raiders had to head off then & there, for the return trip to Sydney, so a bunch of us headed to the Main beach (immediately behind the camp ground) and started a worming lesson! Colbra, Jill, Peta, OutdoorDan, Sails and Ladslad all got into the activity! The worms were huge & strong & we busted off more heads than ever! Managed to get a few complete worms out, but only with Col digging down beside my 2nd grip, to have another go at it! We all got rather wet, which goes with the territory ..... but smiles all around when we got the worms! Happy campers went off with a couple of worms each & I am told on good authority that they were put to good use on Sunday night - I heard a rumour of jewfish being caught off the marina wall!! Will await confirmation of that from those in the know!

All in all, a fantastic, friendly get-together of like-minded folk - fishing fanatics, all of us! Perhaps we should start a splinter group ... Fishaholics Anonymous!!! I'll be the first sign up!

I hope you all enjoyed your time in Forster & will return when we have a rematch next year ..... this time it will be a bit later in the year, to make sure the fish are really on the chew!!! Funnily enough, the mullet are running 'late' this year too! The guys are sitting at the end of the breakwall in Tuncurry, complaining! They should have been running weeks ago, apparantly!

Many thanks one & all, for making the weekend the success it was. We have made many new friends, re-newed 'old' acquaintances & just had a bloody good time!!!

Cheers for now

Roberta

See you next year (& in between as well, if you are passing thru Forster! Give me a call!)

Edited June 4, 2007 by Roberta

[arpie]

Roberta's 35cm winning blackfish

Jill & Peta fishing the jetty

And a special thanks to Lyn & Geoff - I dropped by this morning in time to farewell Coollamon, Wrongsize, Jill & Peta, Sails & Ladslad & Lyn & Geoff! They gave me a fanatastic fish measurer as a 'thank you'!!! It is a wider one than the one I owned & I'd only spotted the other one after I had made the purchase!!! You are little treasures!! Look forward to seeing you on your next travels north! We'll definitely get you into blackies!

Cheers

Roberta

Edited June 4, 2007 by Roberta

[Dalucius]

Thank you to Roberta & crew for all the effort put in to the Forster social.

We had a great time even though we didn't get to weigh in a Blackfish.

Great weather, great company.

Sunday afternoon we went outside and had a fish with coolamon (safety in numbers )

The fish were a bit slow but after I flashed a BANANA to coolamon I quickly caught a trevally.

So much for the 'Banana rule'.

[bart]

G,day Raiders, I will add my two bobs worth . Enjoyed the weekend at Forster also. Look forward to another outing in the future. Cheers BART.

[arpie]

....I flashed a BANANA .....

Funny you should mention Bananas ..... the girls had 2 bananas on their boat when we were fishing the channel on Saturday!!! Hmmmm....... the Kiwis fully believe the 'Banana Theory'!

Cheers

Roberta

[jill7779]

Hi everyone

OK, the fish were not on the bite ,but, hey, that is fishing!! There are other matters to consider, location, relaxation, the new friends you make and just having a great time with like minded people!

Peta and I had a ball!!!

We would like to thank everyone for making us feel very welcome and very much a part of the "fishraiders group". Stewy and Donna, your forum rocks, thanks for giving us all a place to meet, swap stories, make new friends and have these fantastic socials.

To Roberta, what can we say? Your blood is worth bottlin', you are a treasure! Your gesture at the presentation came as a complete surprise, we were quite speechless and very moved. Thank you for the time you spent with us teaching us the finer points of fishing for Blackies. This covered rod and line set up, knots, you name it, gosh, so much knowledge and given so freely to "the girls" you met on the forum

The Sunday worm catching class was good fun and the backside had a break from the hard seats in the tinny.

Outdoor Dan, Roberta, Colbra (Col), Jill7779 and Sails (Cameron) learning the art.

I finished the day joining Coolamon, LadsLad, Sails and Peta on the wharf, not a lot happening but did catch a couple of sand whiting on worms caught earlier in the day.

Great time had by all, will be back next year!

Jill and Peta

Edited June 5, 2007 by jill7779