THREE WEEKS ON YORKES

Peter Knott relives an enjoyable, fish-filled vacation to Yorke Peninsula.

Boxing Day marks the beginning of our annual holiday to Black Point on Yorke Peninsula. It involves a week with our extended family at one beach house, followed by a week with friends at a different beach house, and then a third week at yet another house with more friends. My boat is the centrepiece of this hectic holiday, and fishing is high on everyone’s agenda.

Boxing Day was a beautiful day, which was unfortunately spent packing after hosting a family Christmas. Of course, as soon as we arrived at Black Point, in roared the south easterlies. But my six grandkids, aged from six months to 15 years old, didn’t care, as they were at the beach to have fun. Black Point beach faces north so it’s protected from the strong sea breezes.

I tried fishing from the beach in front of our shack as my son in law, Tom, had spotted a school of yellowfin whiting in the shallows while he was swimming, but a combination of boats, jet skis and swimmers made catching any very difficult. So, after several days of relaxing, I set off for the beaches between Moonta Bay and Wallaroo in search of yellowfin in quieter waters. Due to some excessive celebrating by the other adults, I made this early morning trip on my own. I had a supply of salted bloodworms as bait, and arrived at my chosen location on high tide. Blue crabs did their best to prevent me fishing, but in between being nipped I managed to catch 16 nice yellowfin as the tide receded.

Yellowfin were a good option when the wind precluded boat fishing

On my return to the shack, my daughter Sarah showed me a Facebook posting of a great white shark which had been filmed only a few hundred metres from the beach at Black Point, and swimming suddenly turned into paddling for the kids! Two days later I returned to the Moonta beaches, again on my own, as sleeping in for the other adults had become the norm. Finding the yellowfin was much more difficult this time, and after an hour I had only caught one fish. After wading in a different direction, I managed to locate a few in very shallow water, which required using a very light sinker, and I ended up with 11 using bloodworms once again.

The summer KG’s were big and fat at Edithburgh

Finally, on the last day of the year I was able to launch the boat at Black Point. My son Paul and I took my grandkids Archer and Olivia, and Olivia’s cousin Charlotte, fishing out past the pole, and we caught a few red mullet and small snapper to keep them interested. Kids are happy if they’re catching something, no matter what it is. Fourteen-year-old Charlotte caught her first fish ever, a snapper, which really pleased her. All the fish were returned to the water until Archer caught a nice whiting. He followed with another soon after, and suddenly we began to take more interest. But then the sea breeze freshened and blew us off our spot, and whitecaps with the possibility of sea sickness with the kids put an end to our efforts.

New Year’s Eve started promisingly. We all gathered on the beach to watch the spectacular fireworks display, but unfortunately Frankie, Paul’s border collie, escaped as the first fireworks went off and bolted for the point. We spent three hours fruitlessly trying to find her before deciding to try again the next morning. It became a very sombre New Year’s Eve! My daughter Sarah had the bright idea of putting out a lost dog notice on Facebook, and good friend Jack Laidlaw, who lives at Port Julia 12 km away, had spotted her the following morning and replied to Sarah’s post. So all ended well, thanks to Jack and Facebook. But that put paid to another fishing day.

Small snapper proved a menace on many whiting grounds

We then had to move shacks, thankfully right next door. As our family members left, our friends Greg and Lynlee Graham and Lynda Millard arrived. The next two days looked much better from the weather forecast, so Greg and I decided to fish Port Hughes, as Black Point seemed to offer only crabs and garfish according to locals. It’s about an hour’s drive over to Hughes, and the car park at the ramp was full, so we parked the trailer in a paddock after I had launched my Cruise Craft. I decided to fish the patches north of the Tiparra Light, and whiting to 42cm responded to our cockle baits on the ebbing tide.

It was typical patches fishing, with some sandy holes holding one or two fish while others offered six to eight. A mesh berley bag filled with pilchards, prawns and squid will attract them. The trick is to keep moving to get your quota. We finished with 20 quality fish before heading to the lighthouse for some garfish. There were only a few boats there, but the garfish were thick and bit well soon after we lowered the berley pot. We stopped after catching 40, as we had a big filleting task ahead of us.

The following day, January fourth, was also perfect, so we decided on a repeat of the previous day’s fishing, as the forecast was supposed to deteriorate from then on. It’s amazing how two consecutive fishing days can sometimes be so different. The wind was blowing about 10 knots from the north and this, with a strong ebbing tide, made anchoring really difficult. As we had to anchor over weed to get back onto our patches, the anchor failed repeatedly to hold, resulting in the boat continually drifting, which was no good at all. After six mainly fruitless attempts, we headed for the Tiparra Light to catch garfish in the shallow water, and also to wait for the tide to slow or the wind to drop. Thankfully, the garfish responded and after catching 50 both the tide and the wind had dropped so that we could return to the patches. We caught our 20 whiting and a few squid, but it was a struggle, and involved much moving and anchoring.

Then in roared the wind, which prevented any further boat fishing for the next five days. By this time, we had moved to house number three, a luxurious two-storey place down near the boat ramp. We were joined by Daryl and Anne Higginson, Graeme and Lexie Anderson and Rob and Tracey McLaren for this final week.

As boat fishing was not possible, four of us headed for the beaches near Moonta. Daryl, Rob, Greg and I found the yellowfin hard to locate, but with persistence we managed to catch 25 fish between us — not a bad effort for land-based fishing, once again on salted bloodworms.

With an improvement of the forecast, we decided to try a different venue for our boat fishing. Edithburgh was closer to Black Point than Hughes, and the drive on a straight road was easier. With five anglers all keen to fish, we decided that three of us would fish from the boat while two fished from the shore, and then the remaining two would fish on the boat the following day, weather permitting. This seemed like a plan, so Greg, Graeme and I headed off in the boat while Daryl and Rob fished the beach.

Edithburgh is a very interesting place to fish. The boat ramp is situated just below the caravan park and the local jetty is a short drive away, so it’s a great venue for boat and shore-based anglers. Troubridge Island is about 7km east of the boat ramp, which has three launching lanes and is protected by a breakwater, itself another land-based fishing location. A friend of mine had given me a few ideas on where to fish, so after we launched we headed for the southern end of Troubridge Island. We counted six tuna frames in the boat harbour as we left, so there is another option for boat anglers.

The launching facility at Edithburgh is excellent

As we approached the island, we noticed long, sandy channels in amongst the ribbon weed beds, and these looked good for whiting. We continued until we reached a sand bar, still 3m deep, and past this the water deepened again. The tide was rushing out and we tried fishing in the patches on the shallow bar, more of a stop to get organised rather than serious fishing. I lowered the berley bag and was rigging up my friends’ lines. Greg was first in the water and caught a solid 42cm whiting almost immediately. We caught six nice fish at this spot before moving several times, each time adding a few whiting and big tommies to the bag.

Occasional squid added to the catch. When the tide turned, I moved to the channels I have already mentioned. The channels were still quite deep, even at low water, but the surrounding weed beds were very shallow, and could be a hazard if you were inattentive. We found a deep hole surrounded by weed beds, and whiting of all sizes bit well. Large garfish could also be seen, but we concentrated on the whiting and achieved our bag of 30. We returned to the ramp and were back at Black Point by mid-afternoon. The only issue with the Edithburgh ramp is the lack of wash down facilities.

A quality mixed bag from Edithburgh

Whiting fillets were dinner that night, with the men watching the cricket downstairs while the women watched a movie upstairs. Perfect!! Some of the ladies have become avid golfers, so the course at Ardrossan was a favourite venue while we were fishing, as well as coastal walks down to Port Julia. A few kayaks added to their entertainment.

Over the next few days the pattern of rotating the anglers from boat to shore continued. A lively competition began, to see who could land the largest whiting at Edithburgh. Greg led the way with a 44cm fish, which I then beat with a 45cm specimen, Rob tied for second place with another 44cm fish, but Daryl proved to be the ultimate winner with a beautiful whiting of 50cm. Graeme’s best fish was a highly creditable fish of 42cm.

The drive home from Edithburgh to Black Point was along the coast, and I fondly remembered long-past fishing trips to Wool Bay jetty for squid, Port Giles jetty for snapper and little-known Klein Point jetty where we caught mulloway, bream and snapper. These structures are still available for anglers today, although you need to check when ships are loading. All these jetties hold schools of smaller species like tommies, trevally, garfish and squid, which makes nearby Edithburgh such a popular destination for boat and landbased anglers.

Our Black Point holiday had been truly memorable, and already we are looking forward to next year.