jayneandmarty.com

Yesterday when launching the boat I cut my hand on the boat trailer. Not too deep a cut, but fairly nasty. When we returned (fishless), Jayne thought it would be a good idea to get a tetanus booster. She couldn’t remember what tetanus does to you but she knew it wasn’t good, and my last shot was 20 years ago.

So off I went to the surgery on High Street Belmont, trying to save some money by going to the bulk-billing place instead of the surgery closer to us in Highton Village. Surprisingly I was seen in less than 15 minutes. That’s the only good thing you’ll read here about the High Street Belmont surgery.

The "doctor", if that’s what she was, asked me what I was there for, so I showed her the cut and explained that I needed a tetanus shot. I also explained that when I had my last shot in my early teens I had a reaction to it (my arm became inflamed and felt searingly hot when touched). Immediately she stopped me mid-sentence and told me she couldn’t treat me because of the potential for another reaction.

Momentarily thrown off-guard by this, but nevertheless trusting of her opinion thus far, I asked about tetanus, i.e. if I can’t have a booster, what might tetanus do to me.

She replied, "I haven’t got time to explain tetanus to you. If you want to know about it, look it up on the internet."

I copped that one on the chin too, bit my tongue and decided to give her one last chance, so I asked her what my options were.

She said nobody will treat me, wrote down the words "Immunisation Registry" on a scrap of paper, told me to get the number off reception, and call them.

Unbelievable.

So I walked out, went to the surgery I should have gone to in the first place in Highton, and had a discussion with a real doctor. We decided that the risk of contracting tetanus if I didn’t have the shot was very very low, but that posed a greater threat to me than having the shot and possibly suffering another reaction. So I had the shot. There’s been no reaction so far.

Never again will I go to a bulk-billing surgery.

At the weekend our neighbour told me the reason Matt and I didn’t catch any fish the other week is because they’re all out in the open ocean. Something to do with water temperatures. "Give it another few weeks", he said, "and you’ll be right.".

With that in mind, and given that I was bored today (off work sick), I’ve done some research and hereby present the fruits of my labours. I will follow this knowledge over spring, summer and autumn. Will I catch any fish? I doubt it, but I’ll try.

First of all, I had to have some sort of idea about type of fish I intend to catch, which in turn is mostly governed by where I’m going to fish.

Saltwater

Every now and again I’ll head out in the ski boat with Matt  to Corio Bay and the Outer Harbour. According to fishvictoria.com, there we can expect to catch snapper, flathead, and whiting.

Futurefish.com.au reckons good all-round tackle for those fish off a boat is a 2m snapper rod with 4-6kg line on a threadline or baitcaster reel and suicide or long shank 2 to 6/0 hooks.

Flathead are found on the bottom close to shore or at a drop-off and they are often caught on pilchards, pippies or squid. Drifting in the boat works well and the best rigs are simple round or barrel running sinkers that let the bait move along the seabed.

Snapper are a midwater fish, so a paternoster rig often works well (where the sinker sits on the bottom and the bait is 1-2m above it). They love pilchards, squid and flathead pieces and swim around over reefs rather than weed beds or sand. Berley helps attract them to an area and the best times are early evening and early morning on a tide change.

A snapper, yesterday

Whiting prefer weeds and sand. (A futurefish hot tip tip is to anchor your boat over the weeds and cast to the sand.) They also like their squid and pippies, mussels also work well. Early morning and evening is best and they like a bit of berley.

Freshwater

When I grew up in England I used to love freshwater fishing. In my early teens I’d often load my (ridiculous amount of) gear onto my racing bike and ride the five miles or so to Sonning for chub, barbel, bream and perch, or to the BBC lake to try for a tench.

Imagine my disappointment, then, that here in Australia, in our big brown sunburnt land of high fish stocks, I’ve only caught one freshwater fish – a carp. The carp took a worm on a tributary of the Edward river near Deniliquin, and would have been a highly prized catch in the UK: it was about 60cm long and weighed about 3kg. In Australia it’s against the law to release carp, so that worm was its last. Jayne had to kill it. The pathetic knock on the head that I gave it only stunned it and I couldn’t bring myself to finish the job off. I was brought up releasing everything in the UK.

Anyway. Every now and again I’ll have the opportunity to try for trout in the Eildon pondage, the Mt Beauty pondage or the Goulburn River, and maybe yellowbelly and redfin (perch) at Lake Mulwala or Lake Eildon.

The crafty troutses likes their yabbies, wormses and mudeyes (little creepy-crawlies), and they’ll also take a lure, yes, they will. Use size 4-8 baitholder hooks, light gear (2kg line) and go early morning or late evening.

A fat rainbow trout

If baitfishing a lake or pond for trout, a running sinker rig that allows the bait to sit on the bottom works well. For running water you might not need a sinker if you put enough worms on, and if you see surface activity try a mudeye about 50-100cm under a bubble float. If lurefishing, Fishnet reckons you can’t go past a Tassie Devil trolled behind a boat.

The Tassie Devil

Yellowbelly gobble up yabbies, worms and shrimp and might also go for a deep-diving lure. Stick a baitholder hook on in size 4 to 1/0 and fish around structure early morning and evening. There’s a nice story about fishing around Mulwala for yellowbelly here.

Redfin (English perch) are similar to yellowbelly but smaller, so use lighter gear.

A redfin

Summary

A 1.8-2.0m spin rod with a fairly light threadline reel should handle all that. Then I need two sets of gear: for saltwater I’ll load a spool with 100m of 6kg line and take out decent sinkers and a bunch of 4/0 hooks. For freshwater I’ll load a second spool wth 2kg line and have a lighter set of sinkers and some size 6 hooks, except if I’m going for yellowbelly, when I’ll use the saltwater gear.

Should cost me about $100.

Please please please let me catch you, o fishies.

Oh … I almost forgot. I called this post "Jayne and Marty’s fishing tips". Those tips you just read are all mine (well, I collated them anyway). Jayne’s fishing tip is simple. Buy a $4 handline, borrow a hook, get Marty to put a worm on and you’re all set.

Jayne decided to cook curried sausages and mash tonight, which we’ve done before, but usually from one of those Continental packets. We had no such packet tonight so Jayne thought she’d make it up. Our kitchen’s stocked with all sorts of powders, sauces and such, and all was going well until she noticed a strange smell emanating from the wok. Not unpleasant, necessarily, but certainly strange.

We looked at it.

Looked innocent enough. Curious, she tasted it.

Suffice to say that there’s a reason why turmeric is turmeric and curry powder is curry powder. Yes, although they’re both very yellow, and in our kitchen they’re stored in very similar little jars, they most certainly are very different things.

When we’d stopped laughing, we tried to save the sausages, carrots and onions by putting them in the colander, washing them, then trying again (with curry powder this time). All seemed to be going well, again, until Jayne tasted it, again.

Without telling me she’d tasted it she convinced me to. Never have I tasted anything as weird as turmeric sausages, except perhaps washed turmeric and curry powder sausages. I hope I never have to taste either again.

When we stopped laughing for the second time we cooked cheese on toast.

Stumbled across this website just now when googling "wandana heights" … The National Public Toilet Map.

http://www.toiletmap.gov.au/browse.aspx?type=area&id=8c1f9b06-82c7-44a2-96da-e85496e7ef54

It’s part of the National Continence Management Strategy, which, of course, you knew existed.

When I saw the link to "suggest a toilet" my eyes lit up. I immediately saw an opportunity to suggest one somewhere, get it built, and forever have it known as Jayne & Marty’s toilet.

Alas – Suggest a Toilet is simply a way of notifying the site editor that they’re missing an existing toilet on the site.

Foiled.

(P.S. The red dot is our house)

‘Twas a fine sunny Saturday today so after our morning beach walk with Max we hit the garden.

Part of our backyard is (was) a bit overgrown – it looks nice enough, in a rambling, natural sort of a way, but we’d like to extend our decking out a bit and have a view of the lawn down the back. So we pulled some plants out: an ugly thing, a weird makeshift archway with an out-of-control banksia rose on it, and ivy. Lots and lots of ivy. Jayne spent about an hour pulling the ivy out from between the rocks in a retaining wall and there’s still heaps to go.

Tomorrow Jayne’ll finish the ivy, attack the snakepit, pull out another couple of bushes, and tidy everything up. I won’t be helping her because I’ll be going back and forth to the tip all day. We have three trailer-loads so far and there’ll be more tomorrow.

We’re loving having a big garden to play with. It’s therapeutic, satisfying, and tiring.

Max took this one for us.

Here’s Jayne showing the ivy who’s boss.

And here’s the remains of the ugly bush showing me who’s boss.

More tomorrow.

Two Sundays ago down at Ocean Grove with Johnboy and Damian I caught a pearler of a wave – a clean 4-footer that broke perfectly. I almost lost my balance making the drop, but stayed on my feet and managed to pull a decent bottom turn.

When I looked up at what the wave was doing I realised I was right in the slot, and things went surfingly for once as rode along, carving it up. Seriously, I did.

Until I saw Damian pop up right in front of me after a duckdive, that is.

I’d like to think that I assessed the situation and made an informed, skilled decision about exiting the wave, but to be honest I just bailed, and as my board and I parted ways I was sure that I or it would hit him or his.

And hit it it did. It could easily have been fin to the head for Damian, and with his wedding in less than a month I would have been ostracised from the Dalton/Claydon-Platt community, but luckily, all was well. His board had not a scratch. My board did, however.

Hmmmm. I stopped in at Tonik in Barwon Heads on the way home, showed Tony Tonik the ding, and he told me to try SunCure, a resin that sets hard with less than two minutes’ exposure to direct sunlight.

I can’t work that fast, but it takes longer in the shade, so this weekend I went to work.

It was a bit tricky to work with, but after thoroughly sanding the area and liberally applying the resin I now have a board with no ding. Plenty of resin-y bits to sand off at some point, but no ding.

I’ll post a picture of the fixed board when it’s fully sanded and smooth. Until then, I can report that SunCure seems to work a treat.

Jayne and I just spent 30 minutes trying out Safeway’s HomeShop.com.au, their online supermarket.

Here’s what we thought:

• Of the 40 items that were on our list more than 10 weren’t available online, so we have to go into the shop to buy them anyway. They weren’t exactly unusual items, either. Sweet potato, crushed tomatoes, the type of dishwasher tabs that we use, etc.
• Items are sorted according to the categories chosen by Safeway. I guess we’d get used to them, but it took us more than three minutes and a number of unsuccessful clicks before we found toothbrushes.
• The breadcrumb navigation appears and disappears, seemingly at random. Sometimes I used the nav, sometimes I used the back button. Not ideal.
• We have no idea what brandnames we’re buying most of the time – we go by the design on the pack to remember the one we usually get. That’s not the way HomeShop is organised. They list items by brandname but you have to click an item to see a picture of the pack, and not all items are clickable. If they had a little picture next to each item we would have found it much easier to select the items we usually buy.
• We couldn’t find salt anywhere.

After 30 minutes we had 75% of what we wanted and no chance of getting the remaining 25%. Given that it would have taken us 30 minutes to do this shop in person, we decided to abandon our shopping cart and exit the site.

I suppose it’s handy for people who buy the same things every week, or if it’s too difficult to get down to the local store (no car, small children etc), but it didn’t really work for us.

We might try it again in few years when we have a family.

Take a look at this map.

Then have a read of the accompanying hotspot notes from FishVictoria.com.

1. Inner Harbour

Area 1 is straight out from the St. Helens ramp and starts from the
channel edge to out near the reef area that divides the inner and outer
harbours. Here you may expect to catch snapper, both big and small, and
flathead. The bottom is muddy so there are no real whiting marks here.
Fishing along the main channel is OK and you will find some good reefy,
shelly areas along here using your sounder. Try not to use to much
berley as it will attract those blasted banjos.
 
 2. Shell Refinery

Turning left out of the boat ramp, going towards the Shell Refinery,
you pass Corio Quay and the North Shore rocks. This is a good spot to
fish for snapper but beware of the ships. Fishing out the front of the
refinery pier is a good place to have a go at some snapper both in and
out of season. There is a water cooling inlet and outlet just past the
pier and the water that gets pumped out after being used for cooling
sometimes get fairly warm so closer inshore pinkies often congregate at
sunup and sunset. The bottom around here is muddy.
 
 3. Limeburners Bay

This area  is only 200 metres to the north east. Here you can catch
whiting, big flathead and some very good snapper. The bottom changes
from mud to sand on the east side of the small channel here. I find
difting for whiting (sand whiting) here works well with some decent
sized fish being taken. There is a small ramp here but is only good for
anything around 4 metres at high tide and at low tide you could just
about forget it.
 
 4. The Paddock (between Avalon & Pt. Wilson)

Start off by using a bit of berley to get things going and then settle
in to have a fish for just about anything. Snapper, gummy, flathead,
whiting to name just a few. Let’s just say be ready for the unexpected.
One rod out with ganged hooks and wire trace will not go astray.
 
 5. Pt. Wilson

This has to be one of the prime whiting spots in the whole of Port
Phillip Bay. There are heaps of spots around here and all you really
have to do is move around until you find them. Once you find them,
lightly berley to keep them interested. Also just out from the pier is
a good place to have a go for snapper.
 
 6. The Turning Bouy (out near Clifton Springs)

This is to snapper what the last spot is to whiting. One of the best
spots for snapper that’s going around. Fishing near the edge of the
channel with your baits spread to go into the dropoff and onto the
flats on the side of the channel is a good way to get started. Also, as
with most snapper spots, there can be some pesky flathead but be
patient. When you anchor make sure you don’t swing into the channel or
believe me you will cop a big surprise. There are a few leatherjackets
taken when really close to the markers but not to often.
 
 7. The Chair

Here we can get snapper, flathead, whiting and leatherjacket. There is
alot of weedy/sandy bottom here and this is good for whiting nearer the
shore. There are some reefy areas as well. This is a large area to
cover with most of it being productive. On the way back to the ramp
give the Alcoa Pier a go in winter/spring for salmon that collect there.
 
 Summary

The overall experience of fishing here is very good. If you are going
from the Inner to Outer harbours or visa versa, stick to the main
channel until you get used to the area. There is some very shallow
water on the edges here and it pays to be cautious. Be very alert and
look out for container ships as they can sneak up on you. Remember when
fishing here be ready for an ambush from the big one because it will
happen and if you are not ready it will bust you off.

Then take a look at this photo of Matt.

Can you guess how many fish we caught out on Corio Bay today?

Yes, 0.

It was fun, though, cruising around the bay in Matt’s (unnamed) speedboat. We tried areas 7, 4, 3 and 2 and they gave us nothing, but we’ll be back having done some how-to-fish research, with some berley, some idea about how to rig up the hooks and line, and some warmer clothes. Note Matt’s hands. Yes, they’re the gloves he uses for waterskiing. It was that cold.

Maybe the snappers’ll say hello next time.

Just bought a new mower. We went the ecologically-sound / no cash in the bank route and opted for a push-mower rather than a motorised one, as recommended by our friend Johnboy.

It’s a bit of a beast – those blades whizz around if you push it fast enough. It took me about 30 mins to mow the front and rear lawns. Max wasn’t particularly bothered by it, although he did jump out of the way when I started heading towards him.

Aaaahhh … the smell of cut grass. Summer must be on the way.

Today it’s all about Max, our beautiful, gentle, loyal golden retriever.

We brought him home from the breeders two years ago to the day, on August 4, 2004. When this photo was taken we were on the way home in the car. We had been warned that he might play up or get carsick, but he was totally cool. And gorgeous. Look at those eyes.

He was mildly troublesome when he was 1, but when we hear horror stories from other dog owners we realise we have been pretty lucky. If I knew then what I know now I wouldn’t have disowned him and called him Jayne’s dog for a month or two.

Here he is one year on. He had a party.

And here he is about five minutes ago. This is where he’s spent most of the last year (when he’s not on our bed).