With most of our Christmas stock in and the shelves full we are ready, I think, for the influx of people that are about to arrive at the island for Christmas.
While it was going to be a very busy time over the Christmas holiday period already, with what has happened over the last week in NSW it would appear it might just be a little busier than expected now that 1000s of Victorians will be unable to travel across the border.
The amount of people expected to head down is something that has been spoken about for the last couple of months so everyone should be ready, and it shouldn’t be a too much of a surprise.
Despite it being no secret, I guess the complaint pages in the paper and on social media will still be full of those not wanting to share their little piece of paradise for a couple of weeks venting their disapproval.
From a business side of the argument, we welcome all the visitors to the island and hopefully they leave plenty of money behind before they go home so struggling businesses can survive to service the locals during the winter period.
There has been a steady flow of traffic around the boat ramps already and obviously plenty more to come over the next month or so and the best way to get around the mayhem is to be gone early and back early or leave mid-afternoon and come back towards dark.
It will still be busy but during those times not as hectic.
The other things that can help make things more enjoyable is to be organised so launch and retrieval times are quick. If you are lucky enough to have someone to take your trailer back home then pick you up later you don’t need to worry about the stress of finding a car park.
The water ways will be busy as well so try and find yourself a quiet spot and you might be surprised how many fish are also hiding out of the noise of the boat traffic. Drop into the shop and we can help point you in the right direction.
Fishing this week has been all about whiting with them showing up in every corner of the bay and quality that you couldn’t possibly complain about.
The reports this week came from everywhere you would expect to find them and everywhere you wouldn’t.
You had to pick the breaks in the weather and throw your expectation out the window and make sure you were ready to go because when you found them the bite was short and there wasn’t time to be cutting up baits or re rigging rods.
Why I think they were caught in so many areas this week is because the wind wasn’t always favourable to your normal spot and people were forced to fish somewhere that they would not normally, often areas not associated with catching whiting.
While plenty are still using pippies its almost getting to a stage where squid and pilchards are mentioned in every report we get.
Snapper reports have slowed over the last couple of weeks, but the weather hasn’t been all that good to fish where you need to be.
Most of the reports we have had recently are coming from the corals where it’s a little shallower and the current not quite as strong, so not as rough and a bit easier to fish.
The reports that came in this week were some perfect Christmas BBQ size fish and nothing much over 4.5kg.
Almost everybody that fished this week lost count of the undersized pinkies they caught, and we are even getting the odd report of them from offshore. Not sure this means they are going because now is when they usually show up, so maybe more are coming into the bay.
All we need is a run of good weather and offshore will take off if the reports are anything to go by. The opportunities haven’t been there for most, but the odd bigger boat or more experienced person has headed out for a look and found a few bluefin, kingfish and excellent sized flathead.
There has been a few big schools of salmon and no shortage of baitfish. No makos as yet but I am sure they will be there, just needing the weather.
We will be closed on Christmas Day then going to our normal Christmas holiday hours from Boxing Day, opening at 6am, 7 days a week.
From Robyn, Melanie and myself have a safe and happy Christmas and if you are lucky enough to have some time off enjoy your time on the water or sitting somewhere on the land trying to catch that fish of a lifetime.
If you are visiting from other areas and haven’t been here before, drop in as we have plenty of information sheets to help you find a feed of fish while here.
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