By David Russell:

Steve said it at the Purrumbete Convention after we had told the usual ones that got away stories, "It must be a comp weekend!" Both Jenny and I had lost good fish over the weekend and seeing lots of top fish weighed in at the convention we were feeling a little disappointed.

Well, this was not a comp weekend!

After I had little or no luck at the convention, Jenny caught two nice rainbows; I was determined to get back to Bullen Merri to try again. As the following Friday's forecast was OK Jenny and I decided to take the tinny down and have another go.

A very early start saw us on the water just after dawn. Despite a reluctant motor we eventually got going and anchored up in about five meters of water to the west of the boat ramp, just past the sandy beach. The wind, which was supposed to be a southwesterly, was blowing gently from the east.

We put out some mudeyes under floats and waited. Things were pretty quiet with no surface fish movement. The water was thick with algae.

After some time I was blessed with a rainbow of about a kilo, which put up a nice little scrap before it was netted. At least I had something a little better than last week's feeble effort.

By this stage the gentle breeze had become a northeasterly wind, so we pulled up the anchor and headed across to the lee of the opposite point. After sounding around for a while we anchored up close to the shore in around 8 meters of water and set our baits out. Once again we waited. Although a little windy, conditions were reasonably comfortable and even pleasant when the sun came out.

A couple of small rainbows which came my way and a couple of baits pinched were all we had to show for our efforts as lunch time neared. Don't you get hungry quickly when you have an early start.

I was nearly pushed over the side as Jenny leant forward to grab her rod from the holder. No line had been run off at this stage but the rod had a healthy bend in it. Jenny lifted the rod to set the hook. The fish showed some resistance indicating that it might be of a reasonable size. A few steady runs and a reluctance to come anywhere near the boat had the pair of us beginning to suspect that she had quite a nice sized fish on the other end.

After awhile, with some adjusting of the drag, Jenny was getting the hang of a new rod and reel, some large boils on the surface and a spade like tail now made it clear that the fish was a beauty. Our first sight of it had us guessing at around 3 plus kilos but we were not sure as to whether it was a brown trout or an Atlantic salmon.

Twenty minutes later, after the fish had swum around the boat a couple of times doggedly resisting Jenny's efforts to subdue it, I leant over the side with net to do the honours. At this stage I realised that the net may not be large enough and in fact my first effort had the fish fall out of the net before I could properly scoop it in. I don't think Jenny really saw what had happened, as she did not say anything. The next try was more carefully executed and I hefted a 3.2kg brown trout out of the water.

The pair of us were elated, Jenny especially so and it took her quite a while to stop shaking and settle down. It was a fantastic looking fish and we were relieved, especially me after my netting efforts, to see it on the floor of the boat.

You hope for fish of this size to come along but they are pretty rare. Jenny made a great job of angling this fish, a task made harder by the fact that she was using new gear that she was still getting used to. She has, however, plenty of patience and she used this to subdue a handsome fish.

Our success could have happened the weekend before, during the convention, but we will take it anyway.

Now, let's see, the forecast for Tuesday is not too bad, I wonder if...

(28 November 2001)


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