Vince's Personal Space

I finally managed to take a few days off to purge and replenish the brain. My idea was to head north to the S-Bends Caravan Park and fish the coast there. It’s an old stomping ground of mine and a great place to catch some quality fish from the shore. I headed off Friday morning and after an event-free trip of some 4 hours the Dog and I arrived safely. After booking in to the park I put the feet up for a while and forced down a few well deserved cold beers and tried to get some circulation back into my legs.

Mid-afternoon I decided it was time to explore and decide where I was going to fish that evening. I headed to Flatrocks first. The wind was howling from the east and I have forgotten how bad the flies can be in those conditions. It was almost unbearable. It was about 30 degrees and the surf was pumping. I estimate the swell over the weekend to be around 2-3 meters and rising. Great for the surfers but not so great for the fisherman and the coastline is very rugged with main fishing holes located off the land based reefs. The flies were that bad I decided to head back to the park and fish Lucy’s Beach later on.

Mid-afternoon the breeze suddenly turned SW and magically, the flies disappeared so the dog and I headed out to Lucy’s Beach and set up there. Below is the trademark artwork that greets you on the way in. It used to look like a woman but it’s been dressed up a bit lately by the looks of it.

You will notice the home made surf poppers. Well done Wendy! As per usual, after being so excited the fishing was somewhat poor albeit the conditions were next to perfect. I stayed until just after sunset and then decided to head back and have a cook-up (and a few more beers of course).

Early next morning I headed south toward Flatrocks again. The wind was howling again but this time from the NE. Flies were about early so conditions again were very trying. The shot below shows the hole I fished.

The result here was a few small Tailor and a large Herring. Nothing to get excited about given the reputation of this spot and the storeys coming out of it. Then it was back to camp for a feed and a few beers with other hopeful travellers. The local residents were not that hospitable this time around and seemed to be somewhat reluctant to mix with travellers. I think They have probably lived there too long…. Anyway, in the evening I hit Lucy’s Beach again and I wasn’t alone!

The sunset was magnificent! There was some action up the beach with a shark being landed and a couple of nice Tailor. Nothing early for me. At sundown I started to get lucky.

First fish was a Snook bearing a very ugly set of teeth. I decided to keep him for Mulloway bait.

Shortly after I landed a very nice Tailor which I estimate weighed around 2 kilos. Next a small Mulloway followed by another nice Tailor similar to the first. Then again, another small Mulloway and then… nothing! The weed started to drift onto the beach so I called it a night feeling rather satisfied with myself. I was really stuffed so after a glass of red wine I hit the sack.

Up again early Sunday and back around Flatrocks. The weather had changed again and there was this pea soup like fog.

Despite what I consider perfect conditions the fish just didn’t want to play. I caught a couple of healthy looking Cod off the reef and got hammered by Blowfish. Disgruntled, I headed back to camp, rested up a bit, packed up, cleaned up and headed home.

This fish was my only keeper. I figure transporting more fish home would be stupid as Tailor don’t freeze and Wendy and I can only eat so much at a time. Next time, I hope the fish realise I catch and release and give me some more action. All in all though, it was a trip I needed and the result could have been much worse!

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Check this out for a great sized Leatherjacket and also it's beautiful colours. Thanks Rod for taking me out yesterday. It was hard work but we got there.

The fish has ended up in a pot of fabulous fish soup and my terminally ill Father will enjoy it very much.

I needed a few brownie points so I decided to try a Jamie Oliver recipe. Check out the size of the Yorkshire Puddings LOL. The missus is spewing because she has never managed to get them to turn out like this. I guess I get to do the roasts from now on......

I finally managed to take a few of days out to refocus and just fish! I have been itching to fish the S-bends for some time now however it's been a matter of finding the time and making the 400km trip north. S-bends is located some 30 km's north of Dongara (or 30 km's south of Geraldton).

I packed up the 4WD, loaded the dog in the back and kissed the wife goodbye. I then headed off with the stereo blaring and feeling very excited. After some hours of travel we booked in to the caravan park located at the S-bends. The first beer was cracked and we soon headed out exploring. The conditions were MAJIC and I couldn't wait to get some fishing action happening.

The first evening I spent most of the time experimenting and assessing the location and conditions. No fish but a couple of major hook-ups. God knows what fish decided to snavel my baits that evening but they would have been way too big for my smoker! Home for a rest and a few beers before an early night and an early wake-up. The morning was more productive with a very decent Tailor weighing 2.5 Kilos being the highlight. In the evening I used poppers from the reef edge and had some great fun with more Tailor to 2 kilos. Rumours have it at the caravan park that a couple of weeks earlier a visitor jagged a 6.8 kilo Tailor! WOW. That's massive. I bet he had sore shoulders after that fight. Tailor are awesome fighters.

The S-bends is an awesome location and I will always look forward to trips there. Thanks to everyone at the caravan park for being such good friends!

Hi again folks.

I would like to introduce you all to my very good friend Ngo Quang Hung from Hanoi Vietnam. Hung as we affectionatly call him is about to return to his home country after a period here in WA where he spent time volunteering on the Blue Sky Dreaming project and gained some much needed Certificate 4 accreditation along the way. Hung is very busy managing his Peace Village project in Hanoi and his blog has been set up to allow him to share his experiences and to keep us all informed as to the progress of this very significant project and the Blue Sky Dreaming project.

I hope you all take some time to view his blog and I am sure he and his project team would be delighted to receive feedback and comment from time to time.

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Welcome to the Peace Village Hanoi Blog

Welcome to the Peace Village Hanoi blog. The Peace Village project is designed to provide community support for children with disabilities and those with Agent orange symptoms in Hanoi.

 

This project is part of a much larger project "Blue Sky Dreaming", an international project where young people will:

 

• Design, develop, implement and evaluate community projects initially in Vietnam, Australia and papua New Guinea using a ChangeMakers model
• Become leaders competent to work on social ventures in each other's cultures
• develop the ability to build trading relationships between the participating countries at all levels in the private, community and government sectors

by engaging in entrepreneurial community-based projects (partnered with industries and government). This project has the potential to be an international venture working in all countries.

I will be adding posts from time-to-time to let you all know of progress made with my project and the Blue Sky Dreaming project. Please stay tuned and please, I welcome your comments and feedback at all times.