Estuary grand slam

I got a few bream, a few grunter, and one flathead today, and I would get a grand slam, if I was able to catch a blowfish (usually it is hard not to hook up blowies, but I wasn't able to do that today for some reason).

サイズ的には、手のひらサイズばっかりでしたが、クロダイ数匹に加えてGrunterとFlatheadと、今日は、まずまずの結果です。これで、外道のフグを釣ればグランドスラム達成です。

ところが、何時もなら至る所にいて、毛鉤をバラバラにするだけの邪魔な奴ですが、今日に限ってクサフグが一匹も釣れません。おかげでグランドスラムならずです。

I got a few fish on the weekend, but all fish were small like this.










Where is your big brother?

A river walk

I went to fish for a hour or so in the late afternoon yesterday.

Now my car is sitting at a panel beater to get its tail end fixed, I walked to a river, and it was kind of nice to do that. I was strolling along the river bank, casting here and there while watching sun going down, and walked back home when it got dark.

I got a few fish, but it didn't matter that much. The sun set was beautiful, and I was in peace with fish or without fish.

Osprey Aether

My new backpack, Osprey Aether 70, has arrived.

Compare to my old backpack from Mountain Designs (Columbus 75), Aether is much lighter and more comfortable to carry it. As the name suggests, it is like air.

I put all the stuff I took to NZ in January into Aether to see how it feels on my back. I remember it was one hard work just to walk from one bus stop to another in Christchurch with all gears hanging on my back. With Aether, it felt like I can almost run to catch up with a bus leaving me at a bus stop.

I was wondering, if 70 litter is going to be too big, and perhaps would be better to get 60 litter one. After packing everything, I am now glad I got 70. After putting all camping gears, plus wader and wading shoes, the pack is fully filled up. It looks like I may have to attach my tent out side of the pack, if I am going to carry food and water for walking on a track for a couple of days.

新しいバックパックが届きました。OspreyのAether 70です。今まで使っていたバックパックに比べると、パック自体の重量が格段に軽く、背負い心地もまったくの別物です。

夏休みにニュージーランドへ行った際に持って行ったバックパックの重量は、１５キロ位でした。普段は、車で釣りに行っている、なまくら野郎の僕からすると、そんなパックの重量でも、背負って歩くのは、正直しんどかったです。同じ物をAetherに入れて背負ってみましたが、驚く程軽く感じられて、下流に泳いで行く魚を走って追いかけられる位です。

Free to roam, free to soar, and free to fish.

I took the pack to a local outdoor shop (Paddy Pallin) where I got my pack from (I actually bought it from their online shop).

At the shop, they heat molded my hip belt to fit to my waist. The belt was comfortable enough without the molding process, but I am sure it will fit me even better now.

６０リットルか７０か迷っていたのですが、７０にして正解でした。テントなどのキャンプ道具一式にウェーダーやウェーディ ングシューズ、フライベストなどの釣り道具を入れるとなると７０リットルでも少ない方かもしれません。実際に、NZ釣行に使った物を全部入れると、食料と 水を入れるスペースがありません。なので、バックカントリーに２、３日行く様な場合は、テントを外付けする事になりそうです。

土曜日は、地元のアウトドアのお店で、Aetherのヒップベルトをカスタムフィットしてもらいました。ヒートモールドと言うらしいのですが、してもらう前でも十分快適でしたが、これによりさらにフィット感は、良くなったような気がします。

Osprey's heat molding oven for hip belts.


Adjusting a heat belt to my waist.

After came back from the shop, I went to fish with Mike for a hour or so. Fishing was slow and I could only manage to land a small fish and drop another one.

キャンプ道具やの帰りに、１時間程、釣りに行きました。結果は、小さいクロダイが一匹とバラシが一匹と、パッとしませんでしたが、まあ釣れないよりは良かったです（ちなみに、日曜の今日は、まったくの結果でした）。

My poor Honda

This is how my poor Honda looks like now.

It got hit from behind at an intersection on Friday.

It's back part is badly smashed, but luckily my bmboo rod wasn't damaged (it was sitting in the boot). That would be a real blow to my fishing spirit.


金曜の仕事帰りに後ろからぶつけられ、この有様です。

僕も後ろの車も交差点で左折しようと待っている所でしたので、スピードが出ていなかったので両者とも怪我も無く助かりました。

不幸中の幸いと言えば、トランクには竹竿が乗っていましたが、これも無事でした。骨は、折れても元に戻りますが、バンブーロッドは、そうはいかないですからね。

Herp Derp

Fishing was good on Saturday. The weather was beautiful in the morning and I got a couple of fish.

The sky was gradually gone dark in the late afternoon and it started to rain. However, it didn't bother fish much as I landed a few fish for a half hour of fishing.

It was a different story today.

The rain kept falling over night but the sky turned to blue around lunch time.

Fishing didn't improve like the colour of the sky though. We flog jumped from a point to point, but we did not hook up a thing.

I think the only interesting thing I found today was this cute sand painting drawn on the river bank by some local artist. The creature says "Herp Derp" which means "No fish you idiots" in the ancient language of the fishing kingdom of Breamtania.

Afternoon at the estuary

I was fishing at the Mandurah estuary this afternoon. It has been a while since I fished there last time, so I was interested to find out what fishing is like these days.

I got a lot of fish in the estuary last winter, but this season hasn't been that good for me, so I was happy to catch anything today. I got a few herring and kept a couple for dinner tomorrow.

Thrombolites

Our school was hosting a group of Japanese students from our sister school, and I have been driving around to show Japanese teachers different places in Perth and around our school for the past weekends.

On Saturday, we headed down to Lake Clifton to see strange living fossils called thrombolites, as they have requested. I haven't seen these things before, but many of our students were saying it is a waste of time, so I wasn't expecting that much. Contrary to the teenager's dry and apathetic view of the natural wonder, it was quite interesting and our visitors were impressed with a scenery as well.

After that, we went to look for kangaroos, and after searching here and there, we finally found a kangaroo hot spot with a help from a family of our students. One of the Japanese teachers also found out that it turned out to be a tick hotspot as well.

先週からオーストラリアに来ている大阪の姉妹校の先生方を連れて、土曜日は、生きた化石と言われている thrombolites というマリモのお化けの様な物を見にLake Cliftonへ行って来ました。

地元の生徒からは、見に行くだけ時間の無駄と前から聞かされていたので、実際に見に行くのは僕も今回が初めてでしたが、これはこれで見る価値はあると思いました。

On Sunday, I finally got some free time to go fishing and fortunately the weather was right as well. It was nice to be on the water again and I was happy to get some fish too.

日曜は、天気も回復し、釣りに行く時間も出来たので、２週間ぶりに釣りに行きました。数匹釣って満足して帰りましたが、その後に同じポイントに行った友達はアタリの一つも無かったそうです。

やっぱり良い潮の流れを外すと、良いポイントでも良い結果はでません。その辺が海の釣りの難しい所でしょうか。