We had heard that the Jacks were on the bite in Pine Creek so it was decided to forgo the usual gentleman's hours and hit the water at dawn.Conditions were perfect on Saturday as we launched the boat at Bonville at just after 0500hrs and with much excitement and enthusiasm we motored up Pine Creek to hunt Jacks.
Things started out well for me with a solid hit on the hard body I was using after only my second cast. Shame whatever it was spat the hook. looked like the dawn session was going to be fruitful. Enz on the other hand was struggling with the art of bait caster fishing. Suffering a rather hideous "birds nest" after only 10 or so minutes of casting. Needless to say the bait caster was stowed for the morning.
The first fish landed was an undersized Flathead caught on an Evil Minnow flick bait. not exactly the Jack we were chasing but the change of tactic meant an early lead for me. However this was a theme that continued throughout the morning. We drifted down on the outgoing tide throwing hard body lures amongst all the snags with little result. It needs to be noted that, as an act of kindness, I spent a good 20 minutes removing the "bird nest" from Enzo's bait caster. So that he woul;d be able to resume his quest to conquer the dark art of bait caster casting. I was able to land 4 undersized Flatties on our journey downstream on the flick bait. Plastics being my preferred choice after my Golden scorpion hard body decided to become permanently lodged in a tree!
Enzo continued to persist with the hard bodies as our drift brought us to the junction of Pine & Bonville Creeks. However with time quickly running out he finally decided on a plastic to try and land that one legal fish that would secure him victory. I continued to have success with the evil minnow landing an undersized (21cm) Bream. So I had a commanding lead with 5 fish landed and Enz staring down yet another Doughnut.
At 1015hours we were well overdue, from our stated finish time (0930hrs), and within swimming distance of the boat ramp when I declared my final cast. Promptly my reel began to sing and I was at last on a fish that seemed to have some weight to it. As it turns out it was a rather nice whiting that went 35cm. The one and only legal fish for the day! It sealed the victory and capped off the session. Geoff 1L(5U) Def Enzo NIL
Definitely worth the effort of getting out of bed in the dark. With 18 days left in the year Enzo will need to pull something out of the bag if he wants to at least make a effort to claw back what is now surely an unbeatable lead.
Well at least one of us stuck with the original game plan! I must acknowledge the assistance and patience of Mr Stokes in fixing my birdnest, however only fair in that I supplied the hot coffee! The new baitcaster is a bit challenging, however starting to get used to it with more practice ... a sacrifice I made on the day in leui of using plastics - once I get my thumb technique down-pat then Stokes will truly fear the shrikecaster!
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