Mandurah reconnaissance mission

We went down to Mandurah today as our reconnaissance mission to check out flats down there for potential sight fishing spots for breams (Walpole is a great place but we can drive 5 hours on every weekend).

Being big, flat, and sandy, I thought Mandurah Estuary would be a good place to chase breams, but everyone lives in Manduarh that I have spoken to pretty much said, "It is a good place to catch crabs but I haven't seen any fish there". Anyway it wasn't sounding that promising, but I had to see the place for myself.

新たなクロダイのスポットを探しに、パースから車で南に一時間。

地元のローカル情報では、フラットにはフグしかいないとの事。ただ自分たちの目で見ない事にはやっぱり何とも言えないので、とりあえずフラットを探索する事に。

At first, we stopped at one of boat harbours down there as my source was telling that breams would be swimming around there.

We found breams there as I was told, and they were actually in a good numbers, but we soon realize that they were too smart to fall for our flies.

Also there were too many blowies getting in our ways. So we played around for a half hour or so, and we moved to a flat near by.

フラットに行く前に他の仲間を待ちがてらボートハーバーをチェック。すると良い数のクロダイが大量のフグの群れに混じって泳いでいるのが見えました。

全員集合後３０分程ボートハーバーで釣りましたが、クロダイは投げるフライを全て見切り、フグは投げるフライには全て食い付く状態で、結局ハーバーのクロダイはあきらめて早々とフラットへ移動。

To cut a story short, we didn't see any bream on the part of the estuary we were there today. However we found out that the place was full of whitings.

They were swimming in a very shallow water, and we could sight fish for them. Those whitings weren't as spooky as breams in Walpole, however they were super selective (breams down at Walpole were suckers compared with those whitings).

The whitings were happy to chase flies but they weren't hitting them, and we kept chasing them for a hour without success. As our frustration was reaching at a peak, we came across with a school of herrings, and we were very happy to have them for change as they were very eager to hit flies. It was fun to catch them and see them jumping out of water.

結論から言うと、ハーバーのパイロン周り以外ではクロダイは一匹も見ませんでした。

大きなフラットで透明度も高く、見るからに良さそうなのですが肝心のクロダイの影はまったく無し。代わりにフラットの至る所でキスを発見。ところが見つけるは簡単でしたが、釣るのはクロダイよりも難しかったです。フライには結構な頻度で反応するのですが、追いかけてくるだけで、まったくフライには口を使いません。

フラットを歩きながらキスにキャストを続けましたが、途中の落ち込みの周りでHerringの群れに当たった意外はまったくの釣果。

However a miracle does happen to people with dedication though. Stephen finally hooked up whiting (he actually got 3 hook ups) after making cast after cast at schools of whiting at the edge of a drop off.

しばらくして、目の前の落ち込みの駆け上がりの上にキスが十数匹群れが来ました。そこにすかさず友達がオレンジ色のチャーリー系のフライをキャストすると、待望の当たりが来ました。

I realize that my trusty bream flies weren't working, so I borrowed an orange fly from Stephen, that he got his fish on, but I just couldn't get a hook up. They were chasing the fly to have a nibble, but that was all I could get.

We then decided to head back to the car, and I was still casting at every whiting I could see. I just was desperate to catch one, but the result was the same. They was happy to follow the fly but didn't take it.

As I was almost ready to accept my defeat, I saw a scum line in front of me with weeds drifting on the surface. I was thinking that there might be fish or two underneath, so I cast at it, then strip, strip, and "Bang".

I got my first whiting, and It was a very beautiful fish. It was caught with blind casting, but I was very happy to get that fish.

僕も同じフライを友達からもらってキャストしましたが、フライへの反応は良くなりましたが、相変わらず追ってくるだけでフッキングはしませんでした。

車へ戻りながら、見つけたキスには全てキャストしましたが、結果は同じ。しかし諦めかけた所で目の前に潮の流れに乗りながら流されて行く海藻をいくつも発見。もしかしたら海藻の下にキスがいるかもと思いキャストしてゆっくりと引いてくると待ちに待った当たりが。

結果的にはブラインドでの一匹となりましたが、それでも一匹は一匹、しかもフライフィッシングでキスを釣ったのはこれが初めて。クロダイではありませんが、新たなサイトフィッシングのフィールドが発見できました。




My first whiting. It was a lovely looking fish.