17th FEBRuary 2012
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The weather has been kind to the offshore anglers over the past week or so, allowing many local and visiting boats to venture well offshore in glassed out conditions. The reports in from many boats are that there are a huge number of sharks present in the local area. Bull sharks, hammer heads, whalers and tiger sharks have all been seen free swimming and also taking a liking to big Reds, pearlies and trout that are being hooked by many anglers.
I managed a trip out to Lady Musgrave Island area last days off and worked hard to get a mixed bag of small parrot, hussar and a few nice reds. The fish seemed to be hungry for only a couple of hours per tide and being on the right spot at the right time was the challenge for most that spent many hours on the water for little return.
Live baits and butterflied grinners worked well for my crew and with a Red Emperor of twelve kilos for Peter Evans - a first timer on my boat this fish made his day out a really great day out.
The crabs are working still around the lower reaches of the rivers and putting in the pots using the fish frames from an offshore trip really makes the weekly diet based on some great local seafood.To finish off the report this week, I want to ask all boaties to do a check over your trailers when you come back to the ramp before you load your boat back onto it. A mate had his trailer parked at the Burnett Heads ramp overnight, loaded his boat up and began towing it home, when he noticed a vibration through the vehicle.
When he pulled over to check the trailer, he found 3 out of the 5 wheel nuts had been undone on all his wheels on the tri-axle trailer and the other two nuts loosened off barely finger tight. This luckily only did damage to the rims, bearings and hubs, but could have caused a fatal accident with the trailer wheels potentially flying off at speed and/or likely causing the boat to fishtail or cause the tow vehicle to lose control and collide with other vehicles.
This type of vandalism is in my view one of the most idiotic and most dangerous for not only the boat owner but also the innocent family with kids that may have been killed due to the stupid actions of someone who tampered with the trailer whilst it was parked at the boat ramp car park.
Please take a torch back to the car with you if you come back in from fishing at night and do a walk around the vehicle and the boat trailer wheels checking the nuts are all up tight, check the tow hitch is still hooked on correctly and that no rollers have been stolen or tampered with.
It is very disappointing to hear of this sort of vandalism occurring at our local ramps as we all know that these actions could have the worst possible result in the death of an innocent person. If you see someone tampering with a trailer or vehicle please call the police and report the incident as soon as possible.
Stay safe both on the roads and on the water. Remember if you fall out of your boat without a life jacket on at night, you will most likely not be found... Don’t stow your life jackets, please wear them.
- All articles kindly supplied by Kevin Charteris
