March 31, 2009 Opal Mining Update - No 93 More Fish for the Freezer

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As you approach Port Lincoln coming down from Port Augusta via Whyalla, you pass a few houses on the hill side on your right hand side (millionaire row I call it) as on the left is all water, this is the first view you get of Port Lincoln and the Port, what you can see first is the Wheat Silos where the wheat is stored ready for loading onto ships. Here is a link about Port Lincoln should any of you be interested in the area, who knows one of you may come here for a visit one day, this is the  place that we go for shopping, only 45 kilometers (23 miles) from Coffin Bay where we are staying, I am glad to say that Port Lincoln is a very clean and tidy place unlike some other places we have been and stayed at, plenty to see and lots of places to eat and drink at.

This is one of the Tuna Farms just before we get into Port Lincoln and the photo above, I had to use the zoom lens to get this photo as it is way out in the bay I though there was only one with the naked eye, until I got home and processed the photo and saw that there was in fact two of them, as they farm the Blue Fin Tuna here I can only assume that the one on the left is for Blue Fin Tuna and the one on the right is for Yellow Fin Tuna, which we were catching last year in Western Australia, but as we do not eat them what we caught we gave away.

We are now back in Coffin Bay and this is one of the smaller Oyster Leases just as you drive into town along the foreshore, it still has quite a few oyster racks and right now it is being worked on, I have marked where the boat ramps are in the background and taken close ups of it.

Same photo as above, only I have zoomed in and cropped this section so you can see, the last time we were here three years ago these floating pontoons were not here, just a single concrete ramp in the middle, but now state of the art boat ramps and very nice to use, only we do not like fishing this part of the bay, not that we fish around where the ramps are, the main fishing area is round to the right of photo and some 5 kilometers down where there is a small pair of islands called the Brothers, a lot of the locals with small tinnies (dinghy's) go fishing there for Whiting, Garfish, Herring and Salmon Trout and as you know we like to go out to Farm Beach.

And here is the Oyster Boat working on lease, sounds like back home with the mining we work a lease, not as people think or call it, "A Opal Mine" we do not work a mine or in a mine, we lease the ground we want to work from the government just like these oyster people, here you can see they are loading the boat with the with oyster mess baskets, they are plastic containers that hold the oysters and every now and again they are laid on the racks behind. I suppose they are tied on somehow, here it is low tide and there is a skipper in the front of the boat and the feller at the back is pulling the boat along as another takes the containers off and gives them to the guys that are loading them on the boat, after this they will go back to the boat ramp and put the boat onto its trailer and take it back to the factory. How does the oyster grow? South Australian oyster farmers purchase juvenile oysters, called spat, from oyster hatcheries. After oyster brood stock have been induced to spawn in the hatcheries, the spawn is mixed together and fertilizes to become free-swimming larvae. After a period of time, the larvae attach themselves to finely crushed scallop shell. It is very important that this finely crushed shell is sieved to exactly the right size before being put in with the larvae. After settlement, the larvae become very small juvenile oysters which are fed a special algal diet. Once the spat reach 2mm in size, they are transferred to a nursery where they are grown until they reach 4mm to 10mm in size, when they are sold to the oyster grower. They are then put into specially made small aperture plastic mesh trays and placed onto the oyster farm until they reach 15-20 mm in size. From the spat trays, juvenile oysters are graded and placed into larger aperture mesh baskets. As the oysters grow, they are graded approximately 6 times before they are sold. Fewer oysters are put in the baskets at each grading to allow for maximum filtering of water. At full adult size, there may be only 40 - 60 oysters per basket. Oysters are principally cultivated in the inter-tidal range of the water column, which exposes them to air at low tide. This is done by placing them on man-made structures on shallow banks so they come out of the water at low tide. When the oyster industry first began on the Far West coast, growers used the "rack & basket" system, which consists of 2 wooden railings running parallel with plastic mesh baskets containing oysters placed across them. The industry now uses a range of growing systems, with the BST system, invented by 3 Cowell oyster growers, proving popular. This consists of plastic mesh baskets hung beneath taut plastic wire and from where growing heights can be adjusted easily. An oyster eats as it breathes, by pumping water in and out of its valves. They tend to feed on algae and fungi, and an adult oyster (depending on size) can filter between 6 and 20 liters of water per hour. Water flow is very important, and so the size of the mesh aperture compared to the size of the oyster must be correct. Even when oysters have reached adult size (70 - 90 mm), they need to have a plump meat condition before they are marketed. On average it takes two years for an oyster to grow from spat to adult size, so now we both know more about the Humble Oyster.

Wednesday 4th, not a good day, had a lot of wind today and after Pat had cleaned the boat (and everything else) the wind really got up and a big gust blew the rods over, we just prop them up against the house but the tips do lean against a window, lucky for me there was no damage to them, I thought that one or more of the tips may have got broken as this happen to me before some years ago and one rod tip got broken.

This where Pat cleans the boat as the water hose has to come from around the front of the house and will not reach to where I back the boat up to the back of the house, so I normally leave it here, until I have to take the vehicle off, then I have to back it up another 15 feet, now she is already for another fishing day, but Pat cleans the boat the same every time we go out weather we catch any fish or not so she always has work to do.

And this is what we caught today, not a lot but grateful for anything, 6 whiting, one legal size in front and five good ones, also caught one Australian Salmon and when they are small like below, they are called Salmon Trout which are very good eating, bit different when they are full grown not so nice then and have to be bled quickly and if on a beach stick them head down in the sand to drain all the blood out of them and as far as I am concerned not nice eating, they look a bit different in real life as here I have already scaled them on the boat so the colors and spots are missing.

Monday the 9th, here we are at the Farm beach launching the boat, the tide is almost out and where you can see the dark water behind the boat is the drop off where the beach has a small ledge that leads into deeper water as you go out, the tides here are not big only around 1.5 meters is all for a full monthly high tide, most of the boat in time we launch in one foot of water, I normally back the boat trailer in until the wheels are half in the water, then I launch the boat so long as the motor is full up position it floats, the place we go fishing most of the time is to the right about 6.5 kilometers and Point Sir Isaac's is straight out behind the boat some ten mile away.

This is Frenchman's Point, or the north side of it, this day was windy and the sea very choppy as the wind was from the SE and as I was fishing about half a mile south of here and moving around looking for fish, I thought we would try the leeward side of this point where it was calm, but like everywhere else there was nothing on the bite, there is also a cave as you can see, it cannot go in very far as there is no opening on the south side.

So we went back to where we was in the first place and anchored, these 3 boats were tied together and drifting with a dead weight in front of the boat on the right, never saw then catch anything in the time they were drifting and we did not catch any legal size whiting but did catch six which we had to throw back, I caught 5 Herring, a small fish that only has very small fillets and is very tasty, Pat does not like them, but five was a meal for me, nice day except for the fish not being on the bite, (again) who can work them out.

Tuesday the 10th, Our day to go shopping in Port Lincoln, I went into a tackle shop to buy a pair of  Binoculars and what is called a Scaling Bag, the bag they had but not the Binoculars in the strength that I wanted, so bought the bag and got talking to the salesman about fishing here in Coffin Bay, he asked me where I had been fishing as he was going to tell me about a few places but I had already tried them, then another guy came to the counter called PJ and started talking to me about some fishing spots here and he lived just along Farm Beach at a place called Little Douglas and when I said that we had not been catching many whiting he said that he could show us some spots as he was taking someone out the next day we could tag along, so we agreed to meet at 9am in the morning on the beach Wednesday the 11th, When we got to Farm Beach there was PJ and the person who he was going out with had decided to take his wife with him in the dingy, (I thought he was going out in his own boat) so I said that he could come with us, which he did and he took us to Gallipoli which about half way to Frenchman's Point, the face on the other side of that cave above at Frenchman's Point was what I was lead to believe was Gallipoli but was wrong. Anyway this guy PJ said he used to be a professional whiting fisherman some time back for a few years and did he know how to fish, this fish below that he is holding is called a Moon Fish here, this day again the weather was good and we ended up catching 11 whiting of which he caught 9 and only 3 for us, he kept getting bites while we could not and he was fishing with a hand line while we used our rods like always and he put down a burley basket with squid in it, I had not see one set up like he had. I forgot to take photos of the fish today and him, also the scaling bag in action, anyway when we finished and got back on the beach and loaded the boat onto the trailer, I said that he could come with us tomorrow if he liked and he said that he would and could have an earlier start if we liked so we agreed to meet up at 8am in the morning, he did not want any of the fish he caught as he had plenty in the freezer at home, so I got  them all.

Thursday the 12th, PJ turned up right on time and at first we went to the left of the beach and fished in about 6 foot of water, PJ caught one that was just legal size and 3 more that had to be thrown back, so we decided to move and I wanted to go and fish just short of Frenchman's Point, so off we went it took about 15 minutes to get there, started drift fishing an did no good, moved about 3 times and then we was onto them, we had to move around another 3 times to keep on the fish and today for a change they were biting after the tide had changed, the other days they had stopped on or just before the tide turned. Again PJ out fished us, 32 whiting were caught and PJ caught about 22 of them, Pat and he also caught a big Flathead each, but PJ's fell off the hook and Pats is at the bottom of photo, measured in at 54 centimeters long, roughly 1 foot - 10 inches long a good sized flathead, I caught the next biggest one and then Pat caught another, in all it was a great day for us. The only thing that spoiled the day was the scaling bag, as it was a cheap one $18.00, as there are in fact two bags, you put the fish in one fine mesh bag and then tie a knot in it so the fish cannot come out and put it inside the outer stronger bigger mesh bag and then put it over the side while the boat is moving and take the speed up to around10 knots and it worked really well yesterday, all fish scales were removed, but today as I went to use it I found that the inner bag had developed a hole were some stitching had let go, so could not use it. Or did not want to use and take the chance that I may lose some fish, so when we got back to the beach again PJ did not want to take any of the fish, turns out that as he is retired he just loves fishing and goes out quite often with people from the caravan park right next to the beach and help then fish, so when I got home I had all of these fish to scale before I could fillet then, as the scales are quite small and the fish is eaten with the skin on as that is very thin and not easy to take off the fish.

What I forgot to mention was that PJ dropped a fish that went over into the rear of the boat where the fuel tanks are and it wriggled around until it fell through a gap between the back of the boat and the framework that where the floor finishes and the battery and fuel tanks sit, this had happened to me a couple of weeks ago and I have to take the tanks out (no problem) also take the battery out and then undo four screws and remove the battery box and then lift out the two wooden boards to find and remove the dead fish, so after this second time when we went into Port Lincoln shopping which was two days later, I bought a Round Green Float Device from K-Mart cut it in half and trimmed two sides of it and fitted it in the gap as you can see below, now a fish will never get down there again.

Friday the 13th, not that I am suspicious but today all we got was this "Nannygai", (Red Snapper) legal size and just a well or we would have gone home with nothing, hard to believe that we were fishing in the same area as yesterday where we got most of the fish above, the sea was good for fishing but nothing was biting, makes me wonder how I managed to get this little feller, still that's fishing here today and gone tomorrow, its not that the fish are not around, its just they are not hungry and on the bite, so we just have to go out and try when we can weather permitting, this fish is also known as a "Orange Roughy".

I have for some time been wanting to purchase a "Scaling Bag" so I bought a cheap one for $18.00, it consisted of two bags the inside bag you put the fish in and tied a knot in the bag so the fish could not get out and then you put that bag in the outer one and put it over the side while bringing the speed up to 10 knots to scale the fish and it worked real good but lasted one day, the day we got 11 whiting with PJ, the next day when we had the 32 I found that the inner bag had devolved a hole at the bottom where some stitching had come undone, so did not want to use it again as I may have lost some fish. So when we went back into Port Lincoln on the 14th and I took it back to the shop and he took it back and I bought the up market one for $55.00, as you can see it is made of a very strong mesh with a float on the end, so this should last me for some years.

I also bought 2 big hand casters (empty) for storing 4mm rope on and 2 x 6 inch hand casters with 50lb line on them and have set them up with a hook and sinker ready for fishing, then I bought 2 mesh baskets that are used for bait and putting in Cray Pots, I want to use them for bait but hanging down off the boat and leaving a trail of smell for attracting the fish, so I hope, this is similar to what this PJ used, but the fish still have to be there and on the bite, this can only help us to catch more fish if they are there in the first place, I have put a one pound weight in the baskets to help them hang straight down as much as possible, this set up is only to be used when drift fishing.

Monday the 16th, went out fishing and again we only caught 1 whiting, the wind was up and too strong for drift fishing which is the best as you are covering new ground all the time looking for fish and not sat there just waiting for a fish to find your bait on the floor and when we threw out the pick (anchored) there was no action except we was getting a lot of rock and Roll with the boat which is not comfortable when out just for a days fun so quit early and came back in and home. Tuesday the 17th, out again and today caught 4 whiting, one nice flathead again and this Cuttlefish, first time I have caught one of these, the weather today was great but the wind dropped again and the sea went calm and the fish went off the bite as usual and again did not come back on again after the change of tide which was around 11am.

This is the first time we are using this scaling net, there are the four whiting and the one flathead in it so not a lot of weight, but have to try it out and see how good it is or not as the case may be.

And this is the scale bag in action, I have got it anchored to rod holder on the side of the boat, but I had to do this three times to get the scales off, as the mesh is thicker it did not work like the thinner and cheaper one, I had to go faster, 12 knots and as there is not much weight which I suppose will make a difference to how it operates, I will next time have to anchor it in the next rod holder back so it can get closer to the wake of the engine, as it is supposed to move around and roll over as it is working, but this did not do that this time anyway, it just sat on top on the water flat as you can see here, but did remove all the scales, will take me a couple of times to get to know what speed and how long to leave in in the water.

This is today catch, all done, filleted and draining, I will never bring home another Cuttlefish should I catch one, I will return it back to the water, they are a real pain to clean, not worth the effort as far as I am concerned, better to catch Squid easier to clean and quicker, anyway got a good feed today so cannot complain and when they have drained and are dry I will vacuum pack them, so few more bags for the freezer and to take home.

Thursday the 19th , Went out fishing, turned out to be a beautiful morning again on the water, with a slight wind at about 4 or 5 knots, fish were biting and we caught six whiting, four dropped on the hook as we was bringing them in and we had to throw five back for being undersize and then the wind dropped again and the sea becalm calm and the fish went off the bite, we waited until the tide had turned but the fish never came back on the bite again, even thought we mover around we could not get any bites so had to call it a day and come, was disappointed to say the least as it could have turned out to be a good day with the fish if the wind had not dropped, this has happened on a few days now, where the weather has turned out to be great but the fish do not bite on it. Friday the 20th, I cooked a couple of microwave puddings last night for desert with some ice-cream and it gave us the runs so we had to stay at home today just in case, could not see me with my ass sticking out over the side of the boat out there, so we played it safe, but turned out that we could have gone out as we did not have any more stomach problems that morning, too bad as we missed another good fishing day out there. Saturday the 21st, Forecast was for rain today and it looked like it when I got up to check at daylight so we stayed at home, it did produce a shower mid morning so could have gone out, but better to stay at home when not sure how its going to be on the water, can handle wind and waves but do not like to get a wet backside if its going to rain heavy, so another fishing day gone. Sunday the 22nd, Been invited to a BBQ at my friends home, Peter who I used to mine next to on the 11 mile field, he lives just a round the corner from us no more than about 300 yards and he throws a very good BBQ was at one that he had 3 years ago, so we are having the day off as the tides are not that good and if we go out we could come back late in the afternoon and that would not be good for Pat as she has to clean the boat, well she don't have but doe's and would not feel like going so better to stay at home and have a DVD day, so another fishing day gone but worth it. Monday the 23rd, Again a beautiful morning it turned out to be with a wind of around the 6 to 7 knots mark, perfect for drifting but again no fish on the bite, cannot seem to win with these fish here, still they have had a hammering just lately, a lot of people come here to fish for them and even though it is the off season there are still lots of boats out there in a week looking for them and as I have been told the main months are when it starts to cool down here in Coffin Bay, which is this month and the next two, but so far this month there has not been a lot where we have gone fishing, they are good spots when they are there on the bite, but that's fishing, if I don't get then this year it will be next. Tuesday the 24th, The forecast for today is Thunder Storms, just our luck with two days fishing time left, and it was raining when I got up at 6 am, so back to bed for a while but it rained all day none stop which is good for filling up the rain water tanks here as the house is on rain water so they need to be topped up every so often, but for us this is the end of our trip, they have forecast rain again for tomorrow and we need the boat dry inside so we can pack things in for home, so hoping that it can dry in time for us. Wednesday the 25th, No rain to day as forecast thankfully, so Pat has cleaned the boat (got it wet inside) and now to let it dry out and hope that it does not rain during the rest of the day, looks like it could but keeping the fingers crossed it doesn't and as it turned out it did not rain anymore today and we got the inside of the boat dry and got the storm cover on as there is now a lot of dew out at night and everything is wet through in the morning so without the cover on the boat would be wet through again and I got to pack up some of the fishing boxes ready for packing in the boat tomorrow, after cleaned the boat which was about 9 am when went into Port Lincoln to do the last minute shopping, check out the supermarket for any specials that we can use.

Thursday the 26th, So here I am packing up some of the fishing equipment that I bring, (to much) have done the rods and packed the reels away, this is the veranda that we have at the rear of the house to work under, pity it does not have any cover at the side to park the boat under liker the last house we rented in Western Australia, but apart from that we cannot complain it has been good house to rent and hope we can get it again for next year.

These are some of the fishing rods that I have, the rest are at home, these are the boat rods and the ones at home in two plastic contains are beach rods, there are two rods (on far left) that are for casting from the boat and are the longest two here and the rest are just boat rods, five are for deep sea fishing and can handle quite big fighting fish and I bought two more this year just for the whiting that are more sensitive at the tip, they were combos, that is they came with reels, it was the reels that I wanted most as I needed two more small reels and as they were cheap I bought them, bad mistake from this shop anyway, the reels were shit, worked well for a while till they rusted up on the inside, got them to work until I had finished but one was starting to seize up again, so threw both in the rubbish bin, the rods are OK, so will have to buy a couple more small reels from the normal supplier that I get fishing gear from on the net later in the year, just doe's not pay to buy cheap stuff sometimes and this was one of them.

Nice bit of Sunshine out right now and the boat is dry, so it time to start packing it and I have a lot to put in it, we have bought a few bits and pieces, Pats got new curtains for the front room, I have bought a bench vice and a 8 inch Bench Grinder (that stays in the 4x4) plus other stuff for me that I will need for working at home, there will be shopping in bags that need to go in the boat that take up room so just as well I have this or we could not bring stuff back with us.

This is the veranda from the boat side of the house, lots of room, the white table in front there is mine, I carry that on top of the 4x4 on the roof rack along with the spare wheel for the boat trailer and take that with me every year where ever I go so I have a table that I can sit down at and fillet the fish on, this year I just used it to put some of the fishing gear on that I was not using, after today we are off back home in the morning (Saturday) will be up at 6 am and off as soon as we are ready, just have to open the cover at the back of the boat on one side and put in the bed linen, pillows etc which are all in black plastic bags and we are off.

Here we are at a place called Whyalla, a town that produces steel and is also a shipping port, I have meant to take a photo of this last year as I drive past but as it is on the main hwy I am on it before I see it and it is too late as I do not want to turn around, there is a medium strip here and I would have to go quite a way up the road to turn around and come back, so this year I missed it again on the way down, but made a mental note to stop and take a couple of photos on the way back and here we are, this is the visitors centre, I have never been in here but as what I stopped to take a photo of is right next to this building I thought I would take a photo of it for you.

And here it is, an old warship called Whyalla, this is a front view and what you see when you park in front of it like I have just done, I took this from where I had parked the vehicle across the road, it is because of these tress and the fact that the Visitors Information Centre is past it that you can almost drive straight past before you realize that it is there.

Side on view, I do not know the history of this ship although I am sure it has plenty but that would be in that Visitors Center for sure which I have not been in as yet, may try to stop and have a look next year and find out what it did and why it is here on show, but looks like an old and slow ship by today's standards and nothing like the designs of today.

Now we are on our way back home and not that far to go (254 kilometers - 2.5 hours) this is the last stop for us before we get to Coober Pedy, in fact it is the last stop before Coober Pedy going north to Alice Springs, called Glendambo, there are 2 roadhouses here (gas stations) and here we have one of our big Road Trains, this one is or was carrying Aviation Fuel and in fact believe it or not is the first time I have seen one of these (aviation fuel that is) in all the years we have been driving on the roads around Australia, maybe they travel up at night when it is cooler in the summer and not as dangerous for them as during the day time heat which can be up to 60C (140F) in the direct sun during our summer.

Here is the so called Road House, nothing like in America that's for sure and these two are pretty dismal by anybody's standards, as we went down there was new managers in and new ones again on out way back and the toilets were filthy, so Pat told them about it and the other road house is worse which is why we stop at this one for a P-stop and a cold drink, may have to try the other one again next time down, which will be in about 5 weeks time when I go back to Port Lincoln to pick up our new kitchen we are having made down there as Flat Packs, I will be going alone and I do not stop here on the way down I stop at the next stop called Spuds another 164 kilometers south of here, better place.

Home at last, was backing in the yard at 7:25 pm, as you can see the old 4x4 is pretty well packed could have got a couple more items in we had bought more, but really got enough weight in there, I have 3 tins of paint for the kitchen at the back, that big white box is a heavy 8 inch bench grinder plus all the other stuff we take and bring back plus the two freezers are full so there must be around 35 to 40 kilos between them, as we brought back, fish of course but not as much as we would have liked, even bought a kilo and bit of flathead fillets and then we bought specials on Prawns, Chicken Breasts, Chicken Maryland's, Lambs Fry, (lambs liver) Fillet Steaks, Porterhouse Steaks, Beef Schnitzels, so we have enough to last us a few months as it is all Vacuum Packed and will last for many months.

And here is the boat, which I could not have got another thing in, it was fully loaded, the most I have ever squeezed in, the boat and trailer is beautiful to tow, you would not know it was behind, so this is the end of out trip for this year, now to get back to our normal life here.

Pats starts back at work on Monday morning and it will take us all of tomorrow to unpack this lot above and a lot longer for Pat to put things away, me I have to go and see if Ross is back in the workshop and then I have to take back all of the pipe sleeves that I was working and finish them off, among other things that will want looking at. Sorry that I did not have more photos of fish to show you, but was lean year this year for us and many that was at Coffin Bay fishing, fish were caught on many days but not at all places that boats were fishing so if you were not in the right place on the right day you missed out and we missed out quite a few times this time round, still they will be bigger for next year. I spoke to my friend Boro this morning (Tuesday 31st) and he went to a place called Streaky Bay some 300 kilometers north of us and just down from Ceduna, he went around a few days before we did but only went fishing for about 5 weeks and he also found the fishing not good at this time. I was told that the King George Whiting do not start to come good until March and then its on for the next two months as well, so they are coming good when we are leaving, we will go a couple of weeks later next year, so we may do a bit better at the end of the trip, but who knows. At least Pat had a good rest, when she was not cleaning the boat and the holidays was good, nice little place nice and quiet at night and fishing on the water is the nice and a good day out most of the time if its not blowing a gale, they had some beautiful days there on the water and after all catching fish is a bonus, so as we brought back about 15 kilos of whiting we caught we did not do that bad, 1.2 kilos we bought and around 10 kilos of prawns. So now we have to wait until next year and I am counting the days already, love fishing. Again I Hope you have enjoyed this issue and look forward to the next one, hopefully I will have some more good photos to show you in the next issue and maybe some of Good Looking Opal and lots of it, I am still hoping that this will be a good year for us, but only time will tell, so stay with us over the next few months and find out what goes on in our part of the world as far as Opal Mining goes. Stay Tuned for the next Issue, who knows what I will have to report. Until the next issue......... and wish me lots of LUCK. Cya Later, Stuart Bird. To return back to the Archived Page for more Updates click, Here!

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