Geoff & Enzo's Fishing Adventures!: Weekend on the Mighty Clarence, 20-21 Nov 2010

Well, after a long time off the water we restarted the tournament with a fishing trip North to bigger waters! Also hooked up with some fellow fisher mates, Craig and Chris, for the 'festival of fishing'. Weather reports weren't great, as it had been raining quite a bit and the forecast was for clearing showers. Caravan park was basic and seemed to be overrun with grey nomads - but did the job (stay in Maclean next time?).

Saturday - on the water at 6am, raincoats on! Zoomed down to Browns Rocks and fished there for a while (Craig had lent us his old electric, which proved quite useful with the current and wind). I'm happy to report that I landed the first legal fish of the weekend (my first and only win) ... a good ole' lizard. Bream were being caught regularly and Geoff (aka Earl) picked up a couple of flatties also. Craig landed himself 2 jewfish (around the 50cm mark) - so none of us were very pleased with him!

We then moved a bit further upstream and fished one of the channels with not much result. So then moved to the rocky river bank down from Maclean ... still not much happening. Off to the pylons on the Harwood Bridge ... very quiet (and a fairly swift current). Geoff and I then headed to Harwood Hotel for lunch, leaving the other 2 fishing nuts to it. Cold beers and great burgers - perfect! After our late lunch we headed up Palmers channel and picked up some more Bream and Flathead in relatively short time. It was about now that Geoff and I realised we really should have put on some sunscreen!

We then headed back to the boat ramp and back to the caravan park where we collapsed with some more cold beers. The other guys had returned earlier and a long-faced Chris appeared from down at the riverbank with his rod tip in one hand and the rest of it in the other - ouch ... an expensive stumble on the bank!

Pizzas and more beer that night.

Back on the water just after 6 on Sunday - weather definitely improving. Back down to Browns Rocks with a number fish being caught (not many by me though), then we headed to Palmers channel and let the tide move us upstream. Quite good fishing with more bream and flatties being caught - including some catfish (Earl getting the first one and the new species point to go with it - damn).

Chris and Craig left to head home early in the arvo, and Earl and I decided we'd had enough to, so back to Harwood Pub for lunch before heading home.

Highlights:
- Harwood Pub
- Browns Rocks
- Palmers Channel
- Slimy catfish (be careful of the poisonous whiskers)!
- Lots of expensive kit + years of experience doesn't always equal a big advantage!
- However, maybe the lighter line/leader concept has more merit than we think!
- The 'electric'

Lowlights:
- Not using sunscreen on Saturday (you Red Panda, me Tonto)!
- 1 dead Samsung mobile phone
- Bait technology didn't live up to the promises on the packaging!
- No Jewfish for me or Geoff
- No automatic tournament winning metre-long Jewfish for me *
- Shrikecaster fails to produce (see *)
- Gold Bomber fails to produce (see *)
- Handing back the 'electric'
- Monday back at work

... and the results:
Geoff - Sat 5 legal & 4 legal + 1 bonus point for the catfish = 10 pts
Enzo - Sat 2 legal & Sun 2 legal = 4 pts